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Prologue

York, the north of England

Late summer, 1072

Briar lifted aside the heavy tapestry screen and peered cautiously through the narrow gap The large, well-lit room beyond was filled with shter had made a worthy alliance, and the celebrations were to be stretched over several days Presently thethe last course of a sumptuous feast, but soon the trestle tables would be cleared, and the entertainin

Briar cast her gaze over the crowd She dishter and her ladies, the i wenches

The ht was on his own

She had hated hiht of little else Without that consuht she would long ago have died of hunger or cold or simply walked into the sea and let the saltwater take her In a strange way, her hatred of this man had kept her alive

Briar’s eyes hts and their servants, as well as the merchants and the clerics and the other important men of York So, while others pawed drunkenly at the serving wenches who ether in conversation, or sweated on the fall of the dice, or roared laughter at a bawdy joke And then there were the men who neither drank too much, nor said too much The men atched and listened and waited

In Briar’s experience, these were the men to be taken seriously, to be feared, the ones who held authority over the rest And it did not surprise her that it was aht

He was standing beside a rowdy group, half listening to their conversation, and yet he was apart Alone He was big, a wolfskin cloak draped about his broad shoulders, while his wild and tangled dark hair fra lost about hi and passionate, were as black as his soul Aye, o sold his soul to the devil

Her breath checked in her throat Her fingers tightened upon the eehere she stood fro warhter faded, and for a brief irl bereft, and yet trying to be brave, while the armed men bluntly inforer hers…

It was but a ain

Ih! This was no ti Briar focused her eyes onceher time as she examined the shape of him, the look of him, the essence of him

Her heart gave a single, hard thump

It was the ht; she couldn’t possibly be ht, and there was no one else in the roo, so dark, so fierce It was as if a certain power emanated frooose buun that terrible chain of events, which had blighted her young life, her future and all her hopes Aye, it was he There was no doubt in her mind

“Jesu, protect me, and allow me to complete my task,” Briar whispered, and then shuddered uncontrollably

Strangely, the shudder wasn’t due to fear, or dread, or terror of as to co Her mind was full of all she had plotted for, since her world becarasp this cul moment in her hands And hold on to it

“Briar?”

A soft voice behind her, the sweet scent of roseainst her shoulder Briar turned and faced her younger sister, Mary, trying to school her features into serenity when her heart was thundering and her throat felt tight Those familiar dark eyes searched her own

“Briar, what is it?”

Mary had seen at once that so, and even as Briar prepared to soothe her, she resigned herself to her sister’s eether; she would be foolish to think she could dupe Mary easily Still, Briar gave a reassuring smile as she took Mary’s hand in hers

“’Tis nothing, sister I aht, that is all What think you, e sooth these savages with our songs?” And she lifted aside the screen again, to reveal the noise and laughter

Mary gazed dutifully into the room “You will have them quiet as mice, Briar, as you well know,” she replied, with an unusual touch of asperity

Briar smiled a secretive smile “We shall see”