Page 100 of Fortress of Snow

“I thank you.” Sir Berenger reached out and put his arm around Mazelina.

Her heart was so full, tears welled up in her eyes.

“But as these are merely small requests, there is still the matter of a reward. And since your ward, Juliana of Bristow, is the heir of Bristow Castle, and since I wish to bestow a reward on you for yourselves and your heirs, I have decided to create a new title. From henceforth you shall be Berenger Raynsford, first Earl of Saynborne, and your holdings will be Saynborne Castle and all its demesne. It is not far from Bristow, so I believe you shall be able to watch over both until the child is of age.”

“That is very generous of you. I thank you, on behalf of myself and any heirs God shall bless me with. We are very grateful, Your Majesty.”

“Very grateful,” Mazy echoed, unsure what else to say. She knew nothing of Saynborne Castle or its holdings, but Sir Berenger seemed sincerely pleased.

The king sent them on their way, and as soon as they were outside the doors of the king’s chambers, Sir Berenger embraced her, holding her tight and burying his face in her hair.

He murmured something that sounded like, “Back from the dead.”

“I can hardly believe it. All is well.” Mazy squeezed him as hard as he was squeezing her.

Sir Berenger held her for a long time, right there in the hall with the king’s guards and Giles looking on. When he finally loosened his grip, he was blinking fast and his eyes were watery.

She wished he could kiss her privately. But when they left the palace, their arms around each other, Sir Berenger stopped her on the green for a long kiss.

Sir Berenger gave her a quick peck on the nose, then asked, “Where would you like to get married?”

“Dericott.”

“Not Wexcombe?”

“No. Your sister is more my family than anyone in Wexcombe.”

“We shall do whatever you wish, for I want you to be ecstatically happy.”

Her wonderful Sir Berenger. Her future husband. How she loved him! She even loved how dramatic he could be. Her brothers were both so unemotional, undemonstrative, uncaring; she was filled with joy to be with someone who was just their opposite.

Twenty-Eight

In the few days before leaving London to travel to Dericott for the wedding, Mazy and Ro hired a man to help Anselm at the Swan, and Mazy hired another widow to help in the market. Mazy and Sir Berenger asked Giles to help Ro with gathering the goods from the various suppliers, who were mostly widows. And Mazy turned the entire market business over to Ro, as Mazy would be too far away to travel back to London often enough to keep the business going.

When Mazy, Sir Berenger, and Juliana departed, Ro wished them well and saw them off, intending to travel with Giles a few days later after she had made sure everything was running smoothly with their market booths and the Swan. Ro was also tasked with informing Martin Fisher that Mazy would not be able to marry him, though she thanked him for his offer and wished him well.

Lady Delia was there when they arrived at Dericott Castle. She helped Mazy design her dress and had her own seamstress sew it. The dress turned out quite beautiful, with an embroidered and fitted cote-hardie, an embroidered belt at the hips, a bright-blue silk bliaud over it, which was open on the sides, and a light silk cape attached at the shoulders that went all the way down her back to her ankles.

Ro arrived the day before the ceremony, and she and Lady Delia helped Mazy dress the morning of her wedding, which dawned bright and clear, with only a few fluffy white clouds in the late winter sky.

Mazy made her way down the steps in her flowy, brightly colored dress, and Sir Berenger was waiting for her in the front entryway of the castle. If it had not been for the way he looked at her, with his deep blue eyes staring at her as if he could not believe his good fortune, she might have been impressed by his six handsome brothers standing around him. But she locked eyes with his, and no one else seemed to exist.

“You are so beautiful,” he said, reaching out with one hand, his voice starting to choke up on the last word, his eye shimmering with tears. He cleared his throat, as if to dispel the tears.

“You are so handsome.”

And he was. His face was clean-shaven, and his blue eyes seemed even more distinct and bright. His brown hair was perfect in its slight unruliness. He wore a blue sleeveless tunic, embroidered with silver thread, that perfectly offset her blue dress. And his white shirt set off his tanned skin, his perfectneck and throat, his masculine chin, and his hair, which was nearly touching his shoulders.

But the best part of her new husband-to-be was the sweet look of love and tenderness on his face.

She’d thought she wanted to travel with her father, that that was her dream and dearest wish. Then she’d thought she wanted only to take care of herself. And finally, she realized she wanted someone who would love her and whom she could love. But with Sir Berenger, she had all of that and so much more. She had someone whose gentle, kind heart was all hers, and yet he was his own person, and he respected and admired her for being her own person as well.

They belonged together, and they loved and respected each other enough to let them be themselves, a whole person whether they were together or separate.

But they much preferred being together.

All of these things went through her head as they walked, arm in arm, toward the church in the village below the castle.