Page 84 of Fortress of Snow

“We will take you away from here, to a safe place. You won’t ever have to come back here. Would you like that?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s pack up your things.”

Mazy helped him stuff the child’s clothing into a bag that they could tie onto a saddle.

“What is the meaning of this?”

Lady Bristow stood in the doorway. Her eyes were as black and cold as the bottom of a well in January.

“I told you, we are taking Juliana on a trip to visit my sister.” Berenger went back to gathering the child’s things, but since she had very little, they finished quickly.

“The king will have your head for this. She is my ward.”

“She will be safe with us.” Berenger bent down as Juliana reached up to him. He picked her up and carried her with onearm while he carried Mazy’s saddlebag and the child’s bag in the other hand.

“How dare you?” Lady Bristow reached for Juliana, but she cried out and wrapped both her arms and legs around Berenger.

He and Mazy walked past Lady Bristow.

“I will send my guards after you,” the lady said. “You will not get away. The king will not let you take her from me.”

“She is coming with us.”

He could hear Lady Bristow’s footsteps behind them, Juliana clinging to him.

Mazy walked close to his side and said quietly, “I have my knives.”

Mazy did not even look frightened as she put her hand in her pocket.

“I shall tell the king what you have done,” Lady Bristow threatened as she followed them out to the stables. Her soldiers were standing to the side, watching them.

“Guards,” she said in a sharp voice. “Stop this man and this woman from taking my child.”

Berenger’s men stared hard at Lady Bristow’s guards, who looked uncomfortable, shifting and whispering among themselves.

“Hear me!” she screamed. “Detain them. Now.”

“This child is now in my protection.” Sir Berenger addressed the guards as he kept moving. “I am not doing anything wrong, and you know me well enough by now to know that the child will be safe with me.”

The guards looked from Berenger to Lady Bristow and back and did not move.

“I will have you all flogged,” she screamed. Running into the stable, she came out with a riding crop. She tried to hit the nearest guard, but he yanked the crop out of her hand.

Meanwhile, Mazy’s guard, Giles, appeared, having already saddled his and Mazy’s horses. He started helping Berenger saddle his own horse.

“Get out of here, if you are not here to help me!” Lady Bristow was screaming at her guards. “Go on! Leave me!”

Juliana kept hold of Berenger’s leg with one hand while he worked to saddle his horse, and she kept her other hand in her mouth, sucking on a knuckle.

By the time they were ready to mount their horses, Lady Bristow was nowhere to be seen.

Sir Berenger placed Juliana in front of him on the saddle. When everyone was ready, they all set out toward Bedfordshire and Strachleigh.

Twenty-Four

Mazy’s heart was full as she sat with Lady Delia, her husband, the Duke of Strachleigh, their child Alfred, whom she had not seen in more than two years, and a new baby.