Samantha James by My Lord Conqueror Page B

herbs and remedies; if nothing else, perhaps she might sell them for the coin they would bring. But first she must see to Aubrey.
    Once in the village, she veered straight toward the old man’s hut.
    Aubrey sat near the fire, his gnarled hands stretched toward the flames. His head swung in startled surprise as she rushed through the doorway.
    “Alana!”
    She fell to her knees beside him. “Oh, praise God you are safe!” she cried. “We must leave, Aubrey. We must leave now before it is too late!”
    “Leave?” Bleary eyes searched her face. “For where, child?”
    She tugged at his arm. “It does not matter where. London perhaps, for I can stay at Brynwald no longer…nay, I will not! I must leave, and you must come with me!”
    He shook his head. “Alana,” he said gently, “I have spent my life here. Do what you must, but I cannot leave.”
    “Aubrey, you must!”
    “Nay, Alana. I cannot.”
    “Aubrey, you do not understand! I must flee. I must flee him .”
    “Merrick of Normandy?”
    “Aye!”
    He stroked his wizened cheeks. “Why? He has not harmed you, has he?”
    “Not in the way that you think.” Oh, how could she explain? She could hardly confess what he would inevitably do, not to Aubrey! The shame was simply too much to bear. She wrung her hands, and added, “But he will be the death of me yet!”
    Aubrey smiled slightly. “Death will be at my door far sooner than yours, Alana.”
    She shook her head wildly. Her breath came jerkily. “If I stay, something terrible will happen. I know it!”
    The old man pursed his lips. “How? How can you know this?”
    “Because I dreamed of him, that’s why! I dreamed of him, and never have my dreams led me astray, Aubrey. You know this better than any other. I dreamed of death and darkness and blood.” She was half-crying now. “And he was there, Aubrey, he was there !”
    Aubrey sighed. “Alana, at first I, too, was convinced Merrick of Normandy was the monster all claimed him to be. But he has sent food from the keep for me daily. Only yesterday hedelivered it into mine own hands. He asked if there was aught else that I needed. And when I asked after you, he said you possessed a most hearty dislike of all things Norman, most especially him. But he told me you were well.” He laid a hand on her shining head. “And you are, child. I can see it. So calm yourself. There are storms to be weathered, but your fears are for naught. I know it, Alana. I feel it.”
    Alana stared at him, her stomach churning. Could it be his mind was no longer clear? Yet one thing was very clear—Aubrey would not listen.
    And he would not be coming with her.
    Her heart wrenched as she watched him struggle to rise. “I must rest,” he murmured. “Come back when I am not so very weary.”
    Springing to her feet, she helped him to his pallet against the wall. Never had he seemed so—so very old! So frail and weak.
    In that instant, her heart was surely breaking. How could she stay at Brynwald? Aubrey might believe Merrick of Normandy posed no threat to her, but she knew better. She’d heard the deed threatened from his own lips yet! And then there was her dream, that horrible dream…
    The ache in her chest was nearly unbearable. She seized Aubrey’s hand where it lay upon his sunken chest. Tears stood out in her eyes as she brought it to her lips. “You will be in my prayers with every breath I take,” she whispered. “God keep you, Aubrey…God keep you.”
     
    Even as Alana ran south toward the village, Merrick rode in to Brynwald from the north. He tossed his reins to Simon, vastly irritated that of late his attention was oft not on his duties, but on the blond, beauteous Saxon wench who even now laid claim to his thoughts. Mayhap, he thought darkly, she was Satan’s handmaiden after all. For in truth, she was a temptation no sane man could resist.
    The servants in the kitchen flung their heads up and stared wide-eyed as he entered their midst moments later. He