Free Knight of Westmoorland: The Queen and the warrior by M. S. Toboorg Page B

his abdomen. He winced, drawing his breath through clenched teeth.
    A movement from the window caught his attention and he raised his eyes. Queen Gracelyn stood in a beam of sunshine, the light creating a halo all around her. She was facing him and she smiled softly, but her eyes were sad and her face was pale.
    She crossed the room and picked up a mug off the bedside table. With one hand behind his head, she held the mug to his lips.
    He swallowed the water, winced, and swallowed again.
    She returned the mug to the table and picked up a bowl. “Gaius, should I wait until you’re done?” she asked softly.
    “No, go ahead. We don’t know how long he’ll be awake.”
    The warrior couldn’t tell what was in the bowl but he opened his mouth when the spoon approached.
    He made a face. It was a thin gruel, milk-based and bland, but salty.
    Gaius chuckled, smearing the ointment gently on his chest. “I know it doesn’t taste very good but it is good for you. Your body needs nourishment.”
    The warrior nodded, accepting another spoonful from the Queen. He watched her face, thinking how different this was from the last time she’d fed him, and the question tormented him again.
    Had she known? Had she given the guard permission to do…whatever he wanted?
    After several spoons of the gruel, the Queen held the mug to his lips and he drank the water. When she offered him the spoon again, he shook his head.
    “Marcus said…you…”
    She silenced him with the spoon and he swallowed the gruel, watching her. When she met his gaze, anger flashed in her eyes.
    “It appears Marcus coerced his friends by saying he had my permission to be there, in the dungeon…to do…” She shuddered. “He lied. You must know that…you must! I would never allow anyone—especially him —to touch you. I had a standing order. No one else was supposed to touch you. You are mine and they all know that!”
    She fed him more gruel and he noticed her hand was trembling. She lowered her eyes to the bowl, refilling the spoon. When she met his gaze again, her cheeks were wet with tears.
    “I’m sorry. I should have had a guard posted, but I…I never dreamed… ” She shook her head. “My orders have never been disobeyed. Not…like this, with such…insolence.”
    Sighing, he closed his eyes. The weight lifted from his heart. She hadn’t known, hadn’t allowed it.
    But…was she angry enough to punish the guard? Did it mean—did he mean—that much to her? He opened his eyes and looked at her.
    “What…will you do?”
    She growled softly. “I’d like to string him up by his thumbs, roast him slowly, as he tried to do to you. But…I can’t. What’s done is done.”
    He frowned.
    She searched his face and saw his frown. “You don’t know, of course. Marcus is dead.”
    His breath caught in his throat. Seeing the surprise on his face, the Queen nodded.
    “When we found you…in the chaos of dowsing the fire and bringing you up here, Marcus and Nathan escaped. It seems they argued. They were found, the next morning. Nathan’s neck was broken. Marcus…” she paused to clear her throat. “He was stabbed. Repeatedly. In the stomach. Nathan used the dagger Marcus had on him… your dagger. Marcus bled to death.”
    The warrior closed his eyes with a sigh. Stabbed in the gut, Marcus had bled out like a pig. Even though it had not been by his hand, it had been by his dagger. And Nathan was dead, as well. He was avenged.
    Gaius began dressing his wounds and the warrior winced. Queen Gracelyn’s hand slipped into his, giving him a gentle squeeze.
    “I know it hurts. I’m so sorry,” she murmured.
    Gazing into her eyes, he returned the squeeze and tried to smile.
    Gaius finished and walked to a table on the other side of the sunlit room. The warrior could see books stacked on the table, along with beakers and other equipment. Gaius retrieved a bottle from a cabinet and poured liquid into it from a beaker. Returning to the bedside, he slid