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"Lady none-of-your-concern," Hugh snapped at the saain
"Lady Willa of what?"
"I ae that," Wynekyn said
"Well, surely - " Jollivet began on a laugh, but Wynekyn shook his head firmly
" &039;Tis for her safety," the oldat his cousin and turned his glare on the older man instead " &039;Tis not safe for us to know even her naht to know her naree with you on that count matters little, my lord, since I odfather"
Jollivet gave a titter of laughter at that "You do not know her full nah spared a rimace his displeasure at his cousin, then asked Wynekyn, "Why would you agree to be her godfather when you did not even know her nairl The first time I saw her she was just a babe She was lovely as a princess even then Big gray-blue eyes and little wisps of that glorious blond hair Richard showed her off to me He was as proud as a father, and probably not unlike yourself, I assumed she was his When he lifted her up and turned her for ht at er out, she clutched it in one of her wee hands and gave a little chuckle" He shook his head slightly "She stole odfather because she clutched your finger and chuckled?" Jollivet gave a giggle and Wynekyn frowned at hiodfather until much later Afterthe incident," he said
"The incident?" Hugh asked
"Aye Your uncle was living at Clayan then He had done so since he and your father had their falling out Willa was about ten at the tian and had become quite fond of the child But that tiether Since Clayan was on the way toon home, but e arrived we found the castle in an uproar Richard had a cook whose daughter was about the sa They had sneaked out of the castle - they were not allowed to play outside of the keep, you see Anyway, they had apparently gone out to play Their absence was discovered and half of Richard&039;s guards were out seeking the every corner of the castle itself"
"I take it they were found, all ell, and that hen uessed
When he shook his head sadly, Hugh scowled "Well, they must have been found, Wynekyn Willa is here"
"Oh, aye They found thereed "But all was not well Eada had barely finished telling us they were ates was cradling a dead girl in his arht Richard would have an apoplexy when he saw theates, but then as they drew closerthat &039;twasn&039;t Willa, &039;twas the cook&039;s daughter Willa was huddled up against the second rider, silent and pale I thought her dead, too, at first until they reached us and I saw that she was shivering h asked curiously
"Her neck was broken," he announced bluntly Wynekyn allowed ato Willa, they were playing chase Cook&039;s daughter, Luvena, was a good distance ahead Willa chased after her into a clearing just as the lass fell froirl must have tried to climb a small cliff to hide froht Luvena was like a sister to her"
A brief silence filled the room; then Wynekyn went on, " &039;Twas shortly after that incident that Richard asked odfather I had always assumed, like yourself, that she was siht on the matter He assured me that she was neither a bastard nor his own She had been placed into his keeping, willed to him in effect, which hy he named her Willa And he had vowed to protect her with his very life He loved her as his own Of course, I could not refuse She was such a char smiles"
A soft chuckle slipped from his lips "It see about with Wolfy and Fen, charging after the birds" He sighed, his eyes gone soft with memory; then he frowned "She never played with other children, however She never ain I - "
"Just a h interrupted "When did Uncle Richard and Willa ot to tell you that part, did I not?" Wynekyn clucked and shook his head with ust "After the murder, he decided Willa would be safer here and - "
"Murder?" Jollivet cried shrilly "Whatimpatient with the constant interruptions "I ahter"
"The cook&039;s daughter? Murdered?" Hugh questioned When Wynekyn nodded, he protested, "But you said she broke her neck in a fall"
"Aye Well, that e assuirl&039;s neck was broken, we decided &039;twas not from a fall There were bruises on the child&039;s arhly There were also marks at the base of her neck, and red rabbed her face and jerked it to the side and up Richard thought, and I had to concur, that someone had broken her neck deliberately"
"Why would sohter?" Lucan asked with confusion
"He would have thought Luvena was Willa," Wynekyn explained patiently "Cook&039;s daughter was a fair-haired child and she and Willa had traded gowns that day The ed "At any rate, &039;twas Luvena&039;s death that persuaded Richard Willa was no longer safe at Clayan"
"Safe from what?" Jollivet asked with fascination "Who to harm Willa?"
Wynekyn shook his head "I do not know He never explained that to me He only said that &039;twas a very powerful rew silent, his expression thoughtful then he glanced at thereat pains to keep her safe He had Willa and Eada sht to the cottage here at Hillcrest Three of his most trusted and skilled warriors were sent with theht here to the castle Everyone but the irls was told that Willa had died and that Richard could not bear to rean with the hter The men themselves were sworn to secrecy Fortunately, the ones who found Willa that day were Richard&039;s , he paced a few steps before adding, "Richard did not just place Willa in the most remote part of this estate Once he had moved here himself, he not only refused to allow her entrance to the castle, he would not even allow himself to visit her for the first five years" He shook his head, his bewilder "She missed him terribly, of course, but still their separation was harder on him, I think He adored the child He wrote her letters every day For five years that was the only contact the two had with each other Letters and sifts she sent back Your uncle also grilled the ht on his return I witnessed this on several such occasions Richard would ask what Willa was doing, how her health was, how she had played that day, every word she had said" He smiled faintly at the memory "I was questioned myself every time I stopped to visit on my way here He was quite upset about her refusal to reatly, but he we none of us had any idea how to ain"
"You mentioned that before," Lucan said "Why did she refuse to have friends after Luvena?"
"We never understood why, ourselves, until Eada explained it Willa apparently overheard Richard andabout the child&039;s death and our suspicion that she&039;d been ain lest sohunpleasant under his breath and Wynekyn nodded
"Aye It made a lonely childhood for her, I think She allowed only the old witch, her guards, Richard and myself close to her Her only playuards my uncle sent with her What happened to the third one?"
Wynekyn glanced at Hugh in confusion "What?"
"Wilf and Fin They are her guards?"
"Oh" He gave a slight laugh "You uard"
"You said she had three guards," Jollivet pointed out
"Aye She did Howel and Ilbert were also her guards But Richard&039;s steward died some five years after the move here Hoas the onlyhad happened in all those years to suggest that Willa was still in danger, he called Howel back to be his neard here That is also when he finally allowed his were always clandestine"
"What happened to Ilbert?" Lucan asked when Wynekyn fell silent
"He died a year ago" When that announcelances from all three men, he quickly added, " &039;Twas of natural causes He fell ill A fever That left just Baldulf to guard her Richard debated sending another ainst it in the end There seemed little need"
"So where is this Baldulf now?" Lucan asked
"And who are Wilf and Fin?" Hugh asked irritably
"Wolfy and Fen?" Wynekyn h&039;s question first "Are they still about? Goodness I would have thought they would have h repeated
"Wolves"
"Wolves!" all three men exclairihtly
"Aye, I reacted much the saot caught in a snare Or was it Fen? I cannot reht in a hunter&039;s snare Willa found hi his - or her - own foot off She soet him undone and tended his injury, then fed him or her and the mate Wolves mate for life, you understand, so she knew the mate would not be far away The injured one was so weak, it could not travel for a bit and she fed and tended the beast until it uess even a wolf knows a good thing when it coriood thing" as they should have As even a as sh to do
They were all silent for a htened his shoulders and raised his eyebrows questioningly "So, when is the wedding to be?"
Hugh knew they were all waiting for his answer, but his thoughts were in a bit of a an to pace He would have liked to have said right away Unfortunately, he very much feared that was not a likelihood He suspected he would have to ree tothat would take Oh, how quickly the ht Then for a few glorious days he had believed hiantly as any of those woht with self-disgust Noas a poor earl and it did not seeht In fact, it seeaze slid over the servantsbusily about Dear God