Free Queen of Lost Stars (Dragonblade Series/House of St. Hever) by Kathryn Le Veque Page B

for he spent money foolishly, so she wondered what she was going to find upon returning home.
    It made her sick to think about returning to that home where her father cared nothing for her and she lived in loneliness. Perhaps that had been her main reason for marrying Cairn; to get away from the loneliness. But at least in her father’s home, she wouldn’t feel as if she were a burden like she would if she remained at Lavister.
    The morning progressed as she continued to walk, moving along the edge of the road, trying to keep her head down and not make eye contact with anyone. It was incredibly foolish to be traveling like this but she had little choice. Her body hurt badly but she ignored it, trudging along, trying not to think on what she’d left behind. A dead husband, dead sons … that was all she had left behind. A life that was over before it ever really got started. She missed Cairn’s guidance and protective instincts but, strangely enough, she also missed the feel of Kaspian’s arms around her. Those few short days with the man, sleeping alongside him, knowing he was dependent upon what she could provide… instead of bonding to her child, she had bonded with a grown man.
    And she felt guilty as hell about it.
    So she moved quickly down the road, scurrying along, praying to make it to Wrexham before dark. All the while, she kept her thoughts on what lay ahead, on what she would say to her father when he saw her standing on his doorstep. But no matter what she said to him, she knew what he would say to her…
    Foolish wench!
    She thought on resuming her old life, on seeing her old friends, friends she hadn’t seen since she had married Cairn. There were the baker and her daughter, and the butcher’s wife down the avenue. Round women with lips that were perpetually blabbing everyone’s business. She thought on what she would tell them about her life at Lavister, being married to a powerful knight. She knew that whatever she told them would make it all over town in minutes. She was thinking so much on seeing her old friends again that she failed to notice a farmer and his son who had been trailing her.
    The pair had passed her going the opposite way about an hour earlier and they had eyed her with great interest. A lone woman traveling down the road. The farmer had been more interested in her than his son had been, for the farmer had recently lost his wife and had been on the hunt for a new one for some time. This lone woman traveling might be the perfect wife for him. A lady that surely had no one, for no man would allow his woman to travel alone as she was. He had caught a glimpse of her face beneath her hood and from what he had seen, she was pleasant enough to look at. And that gave him an idea.
    So he turned the wagon around and began following her, far enough back so she couldn’t hear noise from the horse or the creak of the wagon wheels. Surely she didn’t have any kin or even a husband if she was traveling alone, which was why the farmer thought he might very well like to pluck her right off of the road and take her home. The son wasn’t so keen in abducting the woman but the father was. He needed someone to cook and clean and sew, and he’d been unsuccessful in finding a wife candidate on their weekly visits to town. Some women seemed to react adversely to his one brown eye and one milky eye, and also the fact that he reeked of cheese. It was an appalling smell but the farmer had never really noticed. He didn’t particularly care.
    If he couldn’t find a wife, then he would take one.
    Unaware of the danger behind her, Madelayne’s pace was slowing as her exhaustion increased. Her legs hurt, her belly ached, and the area between her legs was sore and chaffing. She could see Wrexham in the distance, nestled amongst the green Welsh hills, so her goal was in sight. Just a little further and she would be able to rest under her father’s roof. Already, she was thinking ahead to what possible mess