Page 19 of Retribution

“Cambridge, of course. I belong to him.”

I belong to him.

The conversation Aidric had had with Britt and Dirk and Bennet began coming back to him. He has a Jewel, Dirk had said.

It suddenly occurred to him who this woman was.

He’d been a fool not to realize it before.

“You are a Jewel,” he murmured.

She looked at him as if surprised he should say such a thing. Or even know it. Unsure what to say to him, she lowered herself onto the end of the bed, sitting heavily. She seemed to be suddenly, and completely, weary. As if the fact that she’d been targeted was weighing her down most powerfully. As her guard went down, her composure went with it.

“You know that we do not call ourselves that,” she said softly.

“What do you call yourselves?”

“Various things. Mostly, the Chosen.”

He nodded. “That sounds more… elegant.”

“And less like a possession,” she said. “Men possess jewels. But if you are Chosen, it sounds less like a possession and more like a position of import.”

“Are you permitted to tell me your name, my lady?”

She sighed faintly. “Since you have risked your life to protect me, it would only be right that I do,” she said. “My name is Cleodora Leonora Elizabetha de Beaumont. My father is Everald de Beaumont, Lord Nalliers.”

Aidric dipped his head politely. “Lady Cleodora,” he said. “Thank you for telling me. And I do not know your father. Where is his seat?”

“Lerryn Castle in Cornwall,” she said. “Actually, it is my mother’s family home, but my mother was an only child. My father’s title is hereditary, from his father, but his lands are in France and unspectacular. Because of his marriage to my mother, he will inherit Lerryn when my grandfather, Lord Lerryn, passes away.”

“I see,” Aidric said. “What is the name of your mother’s family?”

“De Sauster.”

He cocked his head curiously. “Where have I heard that before?”

She smiled weakly. “If you are familiar with Cornwall legends, my family plays prominently in several,” she said. “You see, rumor had it that, long ago, a wounded warrior washed upon the very shore where Lerryn was built and a siren tended him. They married, and the House of de Sauster was born. We are supposedly descended from the sirens of the sea.”

He grinned. “I can believe that,” he said. “You look like a magical creature. I thought that when I first saw you in Adelie’s shop. You have a very rare beauty, my lady. I do not say that to flatter you. I say it because it is the truth.”

Her smile turned real and she lowered her head modestly. “My mother was the beauty in the family,” she said. “Or so I was told. She died when I was very young, so I do not remember her, but my father says I look just like her. I inherited my hair from her. All of the de Sauster women have pearl-colored hair, which, I suppose, lends credence to the legend that we were born of a siren. It makes for an amusing story, anyway.”

His gaze lingered on her, a smile still playing on his lips. “At least your family legend has dignity and beauty,” he said. “My grandfather was known as the Demon of Eden. Sounds horrible, does it not?”

She chuckled. “Who would call him such a thing?”

Aidric shrugged, glancing from the window again because something caught his eye. “Who knows?” he said, watching an armed man walk down the street and pass the inn. “People make their own stories, but in my grandfather’s case, it is because he was a fearsome warrior. Quite fearsome. Eden is the name of the family castle.”

“Where is it?”

“Cumbria.”

“Is that where you were born?”

He nodded. “Aye,” he said. “But I do not hold fond memories of it. Or my father.”

She grunted. “Then you and I have something in common,” she said. “At least your father did not sell you like a whore, to the highest bidder.”