“She’s comely, aye. But there are dozens of comely women in Llandovery. He assured us all, even the villagers, that this marriage was for peace only.”
“And it is. Now rest your tongue, damn you,” Madoc warned him again.
“But look at her all tangled up in his arms. She’s got him—”
Madoc’s elbow smashed into Alwyn’s nose with a resounding crack that made even Hereward cringe.
“Don’t speak of her as if she were the same wenches you take to your bed, Alwyn. I warn you for the last time.”
Holding his nose that had already been broken so many times it refused to bleed now, Alwyn cast Madoc a look of pure astonishment.
“Don’t speak the treason of what you’re thinking, either.” Madoc’s voice was low, deadly. “She’shiswife. She put her life at risk for my brother, and for that, I owe her mine.”
He stood up and called to Cian. When his brother reached him, Madoc swung his arm around his neck and walked him to his pallet.
*
Tanon was thefirst to awaken the next morning. She began to move away from Gareth, taking care not to wake him. But the sight of his sleeping face made her heart grow still. Saints, but he was familiar, like a favored blanket. The longer she looked at him, the more she wanted him to wake up. She wanted to see those incredible blue eyes looking back at her, so strong, so reassuring. She sighed. Fighting his effect on her was futile and tiresome. She would simply have to keep herself from expecting anything more from him. She nodded to herself and stood up. She must remember that he had returned for peace. Not for her. She was fortunate that they liked each other but she wouldn’t let herself hope for more than that.
Smoothing the wrinkles from her gown, she looked around the camp. Rebecca was still asleep, curled up on her pallet. Tanon quirked her brow, certain that Hereward hadn’t placed his sleeping bed so close to Rebecca’s the night before. She shrugged her shoulders and stepped over Tomas’ sleeping body, then made her way to the dying campfire. She picked up a stick and poked it into the embers, sending them into the air.
“Needs more leaves.”
Madoc’s voice above her sent her sprawling to the right. Without looking at her, he squatted and dumped a handful of dried leaves and twigs into the fire.
“You frightened me.” She righted herself and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.
“You should be used to that by now.”
“What do you mean?”
“You avoid my gaze since the night of the attack.” He turned to look directly at her, testing his theory.
Tanon blinked but fought the urge to look away from the depthless charcoal of his gaze. He had such a hard face. Like a warlord detached from the blood that drenched his sword. She tried to forget the merciless rage in his eyes just before he sliced the head from the man who had tried to kill her, but every time she looked at him she saw the face of a cold, unyielding warrior.
“You have my allegiance for what you did for Cian.”
She nodded but said nothing and finally lowered her gaze.
“You’re afraid of me.”
She laughed softly, pride forcing her to look at him again. “Non,I am not.”
“Aye, you are. But you don’t let your fear stop you from doing what’s needed. Even as a babe you faced down a tyrant.”
“Pardon?”
“Roger deCourtenay and your pig, Lily,” he explained.
“Petunia,” Tanon corrected him with curiosity knitting her brow.
“Aye, Petunia,” he agreed with a smile etching his mouth. “Gareth and I were friends when he first traveled to Winchester. When he returned he told me about the day he met you.”
“That wasn’t the first day,” she said faintly. There was something terribly heartwarming about Gareth telling his best friend about her thirteen years ago.
Madoc shrugged his shoulders and returned his gaze to the flames. “It was for him.”
It was the first day of their friendship, Tanon recalled. It was the day she finally told the truth about how she lost her tooth. It had felt so good to do so. Even though they had some trouble communicating, it hadn’t stopped them from filling their days with laughter. Tanon didn’t realize how much she missed those days, until now.