Free Shattered Vows by Carol Townend Page B

turned their backs on her and walked away. ‘My God,’ she spoke through gritted teeth. ‘My God.’
    ‘Come, lass,’ Alfwold said, very gently. ‘I’ll take you to the castle.’
    Rosamund felt him take her by the hand and pull her towards the turn in the road. She must be in shock, she couldn’t believe this was happening.
    ‘There must be a way out, what if I refuse to go?’
    He gave her a straight look. ‘They’ll probably hang me for breaking my oath to Sir Geoffrey.’
    ‘Oh.’
    She believed him. It wasn’t fair, but Rosamund knew that an ordinary man like Alfwold could do nothing against the might of a lord. It was the way of the world. There was a short silence while they walked through the violet evening light. Overhead, a house martin arched through the darkening skies.
    ‘Alfwold, whose idea was it?’
    ‘Not mine, you can be certain of that.’
    ‘Aye, but whose? Was it Aeffe?’
    He shook his head. ‘This had nothing to do with Aeffe. Osric and I went to the castle alone. Sir Geoffrey was in the hall at the head of the table. His chair had a back on it like a throne. We went up to him and he asked us our business. Osric told him. The baron asked your name and Osric told him. Baron Geoffrey asked if you are comely.’
    Rosamund almost tripped. ‘What?’
    ‘You heard. I told him you are very comely and he gave a little smile. Seemed to think it amusing.’
    ‘Amusing!’
    Alfwold’s chest heaved. ‘Then Sir Geoffrey told us that he’d let your father off paying the merchet if we brought you straight to the castle after the ceremony. He said that he’d never claimed the right of the first night before, but that he was going to do it today.’
    ‘The right of the first night?’ She stared. ‘Isn’t that a myth?’
    ‘Not according to Sir Geoffrey.’
    ‘And you accepted it,’ Rosamund said, bitterly. ‘Without a word.’
    Alfwold swung round to face her. ‘Not at first I didn’t. You must know me better than that. But Baron Geoffrey was dead set on having you...er...on you going up to the castle. Rosamund, lass, I had no choice. You’re not the first person in the world to have things foisted on you.’
    She put her head in her hands. ‘I wish you’d warned me...’
    He pulled her hands from her face and steered her inexorably on. Towards the castle.
    ‘Rosamund, I know this must grieve you, especially with that vow you have made.’
    ‘Vow?’ Her brows knotted, and then she remembered the lie she had fabricated and laughed aloud. ‘Oh, aye. My vow.’
    ‘I wanted to marry you, lass. I won’t hold it against you that you do not come a virgin to our marriage bed.’
    ‘How kind.’
    Her sarcasm was lost on him. ‘Well, my lass,’ he said reasonably, ‘I don’t see how I can blame you. It’s not your fault. The baron will only have tonight. We’ll have the rest of our lives.’
    Already, they had reached the castle footbridge. In another moment or two they would have passed the sentries and she’d be inside. At the mercy of Baron Geoffrey of Ingerthorpe whose whim it was that she should spend the first night of her marriage with him and not with her husband. He even thought it funny.
    God save her.
    ***
    Rosamund lay quaking in bed. Waiting.
    She was so full of anger and fear that she was oblivious to the luxury of her surroundings. She could hear, floating up from the hall below, gales of drunken laughter. What kind of a monster was Baron Geoffrey that he should decide to take, sight unseen, an unwilling girl to his bed?
    She hadn’t had to face the devils carousing in his great hall. The porter at the castle entrance had dismissed Alfwold and summoned an elderly woman. The woman’s face, if Rosamund been able to see past her fury, had been kind and full of sympathy. She had been led up a wide, twisting stairway past the hall, and higher still. She had been taken along a cold, dank and badly-lit corridor between the castle walls. To this bedchamber.
    She had been