The Conquest Read online

  She drew the little eating dagger from her belt, turned, and held it out as though she meant to thrust it into him. "If you ever touch me again, I will kill you," she said.

  He, the hideous, odious man, smiled at her.

  Zared lunged at him, but he easily caught her wrist and pulled her into his arms again.

  "I have a half-healed knife cut and a bruised side because of you. I do not want more wounds."

  "I will cause you a great deal more pain if you force yourself on me again."

  "Force?" he said, still smiling, then he bent his head as though he meant to kiss her again.

  Zared turned her head away. "No," she whispered.

  He released his hold on her, and when Zared ran from him she could hear him laughing behind her.

  Chapter Eight

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  She ran all the way back to the tent, and when she arrived she was shaking. Severn was lounging on his cot eating an apple, and he turned to look at her when she entered.

  "Someone chasing you?" he asked. "Colbrand's squire after you again? I do believe the boy senses your sex. He seems to have the brains his master lacks."

  "Haven't you something to do?" she snapped. "No swords to sharpen? No women to court?"

  "I have won all the women," he said smugly.

  "Except the Lady Anne."

  He finished his apple and swung his feet to the floor. "Where is Smith? Did you see him with another woman—has that put you in an ill temper? Beware, little sister, that you do not play too hard to get."

  "You know nothing!" she yelled at him. "Nothing!"

  He chuckled at her as he left the tent.

  Zared sat down on her cot, her body stiff with anger. She was angry at her brother for being able to see nothing, at the Howard man for coming into her life, and at herself for the way she had acted.

  "It would have happened had any man kissed me," she whispered aloud. "Had Colbrand touched me…" She trailed off, remembering the way it had felt to be touched by the Howard man. By any man, she corrected herself. It would have felt wonderful to have been held and kissed by any man at all.

  "Yes," she said, standing. She was a Peregrine, and as her brothers liked lots of women, she, no doubt, liked many men. It was a shame, perhaps, that her family's sworn enemy could make her react, but that was the way of the world.

  She just had to keep her wits about her and not allow the man to make her lose sight of what was really important, she decided. He was a Howard, and he had put himself in the Peregrine camp for a reason. Since Zared was the only one who knew who he was, did he mean to seduce her so that she would begin to believe him?

  She didn't yet know what he hoped to gain from his disguise, but it was her duty to protect her family.

  "And that does not mean succumbing to his kisses," she told herself. It won't happen again, she thought. She wouldn't allow him to touch her, and if he did happen to touch her, she was not going to fall against him like some peasant girl. "I'll take my knife to him before I allow him to touch me again," she said, chin in the air.

  Hours later she was in bed, her eyes tightly closed as her brother and her enemy came to the tent. From the way they laughed and staggered she thought they must have shared about half a hogshead of beer.

  "Sssh," Severn said loudly. "Can't wake my little sister."

  "I'll take her back to bed," Tearle said even louder, and both men dissolved in laughter.

  Zared slammed her fist into her pillow and turned onto her side. Her anger and indignation kept her from sleeping—and if anger hadn't kept her from sleeping, the drunken snores of her brother and that man would have.

  She was just about to go to sleep when she heard the Howard man rise very quietly from his cot and leave the tent. She looked at Severn and saw he was still sleeping, so Zared got out of bed, slipped her tunic on over her head, and followed the man.

  Severn was awake the moment Tearle put his foot to the floor, and he lay there watching as the man took his sword and left the tent. For all that Severn liked the man, he was always cautious, and Zared's continued animosity made him less trustful of Smith than he might normally have been.

  He and Smith had gotten drunk together—or at least Severn had pretended to get drunk. He hoped to pry some secrets out of Smith, to find out how he knew of weapons yet didn't fight, and where Liana had found him. But Severn had discovered nothing about the man. He was very good at not answering questions and at revealing nothing about himself.

  When Severn saw his little sister slip out after the man he relaxed. He was glad Smith liked Zared, and Severn knew he could trust Smith to protect Zared, just as he had when the horse had nearly trampled her. He lay back on the cot and went to sleep.

  Zared followed Tearle as he made his way through the people who were still awake. She watched as he slipped in and out of shadows; it was easy to see that he did not want to be seen. Twice Zared had to slip into darkness to keep him from seeing her.

  After many twists and turns he slipped through a door in the stone wall that surrounded the Marshall castle. Zared could not follow him without being seen, and it took her a while to find a tree that she could climb to see over the wall. She had to climb slowly to keep from being heard, and when at last she was high enough to see she gaped in openmouthed astonishment.

  The Howard man hugged Lady Anne, then he whirled her about, her pretty skirt belling out around her. He set her down and soundly kissed both her cheeks.

  Zared wanted to see no more. She climbed down from the tree.

  For a while, as she walked back to the tent, she couldn't think clearly. She had discovered the reason for the Howard man's interference in the Peregrines' lives. He wanted to prevent the Peregrines from marrying into the wealth of the Marshall family. He wanted to make sure the Peregrines were never wealthy enough to conquer the Howard stronghold.

  She went back to bed, but she did not sleep. When the Howard man at last returned to the tent her body grew rigid, and she lay there awake all night, not sleeping until nearly dawn.

  In the morning two things happened: one, the practical jokes started, and two, the Howard man disappeared.

  Severn overslept, and when he awoke to find Zared still asleep and the other cot empty he was annoyed with Zared, saying she had done something to anger Smith. Severn said he needed Smith to give him advice on the day's fighting, and he was sure Zared had done something to make Smith leave.

  Zared had no way to defend herself. She had kept too many secrets for too long to begin to reveal them. Her only consolation was imagining telling Severn the truth when they were once again at home. She hoped her brother would have the courtesy to apologize to her for his accusations.

  But for the time being all she could do was clench her fists at her sides and repeat that she had no idea where "Smith" was.

  It was once they were on the tournament field that the "jokes" began. Severn put on his helmet and found that the inside of it had been coated with mud. At his first charge his lance broke away in his hand before he ever reached his opponent. Someone released bees from a hive, and while the bystanders swatted at them they came to land on Severn because parts of his armor had been coated with honey. When the Peregrine banner had been unfurled, instead of a white falcon on a red ground the banner had been replaced with cloth that was painted with a picture of a satyr chasing a nubile young girl—and the satyr looked remarkably like Severn.

  With each of these harmless but mean little jokes the crowd laughed, and their laughter increased until at midday the mere sight of a Peregrine caused gales of laughter.

  Zared looked into the stands and saw Lady Anne and her father laughing and pointing. Zared was glad the king had left the day before, but she had no doubt he would hear of how the Peregrine knight had been made to look the fool.

  Severn instructed one of his men to stay with his armor at all times to see that nothing more was done to it. Zared had to ask other knights for lances, for all of Severn's had been sawed nearly