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This had been the running theme since Delaina’s arrival at Lonsdale.

Denys had brought her in at death’s door and Kirra worked hard to bring her back to health.

These days, she could stand up and walk, and she could even go outside to walk around the compound.

There was no fainting or extreme weakness, but the bleeding had never really stopped.

That was the only thing of concern, but the physic said he’d seen it before.

The truth would be known once she gave birth.

Which, evidently, wasn’t too far off.

“I will not worry,” Delaina said, though she wasn’t sure she meant it. “But when do you think it will happen?”

Kirra handed her a cup of warmed milk with nutmeg and honey.

“Who’s to say?” she said. “Babies can take hours or they can take days. I will summon the physic and his wife this morning so that they are here when the pains start in earnest. This is an exciting day, Violet. Your child is preparing to come into the world, and I am very excited to meet him.”

Violet. Delaina always thought it was very strange to be called that.

She’d never liked it. But the earl had started the illusion, and she simply continued it.

However, she didn’t like deceiving someone who had been so kind to her.

As Kirra moved toward the door, Delaina reached out and grasped the woman’s hand.

“Wait,” she said softly. “I want to… I simply want to thank you for all you’ve done. You have been kind and generous to a woman you do not even know, and I am so grateful. Whatever happens with this birth, I want you to know that you have been an angel of mercy to me.”

Kirra smiled, squeezing her hand. “There was never any question,” she said.

“My husband feels that you are important, and so do I. It has been an honor to know you, Violet. I hope that even after the birth, and when your husband comes for you, that we may still be friends. I would like that very much.”

Delaina was struck by her words. God, how she’d hoped to hear something like that her entire adult life, but no woman at any time had ever offered her any semblance of friendship. But here it was, even if it was all based on a lie.

Gazing into Kirra’s sweet face, she could feel the guilt consuming her. Kirra had been lied to about everything, and although it wasn’t Delaina’s place to contradict the earl, she’d never liked that he’d lied to his wife. She knew why he did it, but she still didn’t think that it was kind of him.

She didn’t like deceiving a woman who was the only friend she had.

“As would I,” she finally said, feeling defeated and upset that she couldn’t tell Kirra the truth. “I hope we are friends for a very long time.”

“We shall be,” Kirra assured her. “And everything will go well with the baby. You’ll see.”

Delaina simply nodded as Kirra let her hand go and continued to the door. But the moment she touched it, Delaina called to her.

“Will… will you be with me the entire time?” she asked. “When I give birth, I mean. I am afraid to be alone.”

Kirra smiled. “Of course I will be with you,” she said. “I will not leave you, not for a moment.”

That gave Delaina so much comfort, but she couldn’t look into that friendly face and keep lying. Something inside of her was demanding she be truthful so that the friendship, if it continued, wouldn’t be based on a lie. She simply couldn’t do that to Kirra.

Quietly, she closed the gap between them as Kirra stood at the door. Delaina fixed her in the eye, reaching out to take her hand again.

“When this is over and if I survive, I should like to tell you more about myself,” she said timidly. “I realize that I’ve been quite mysterious since I arrived, but that was only to keep the gossip at bay. There is much more to tell, and I hope you will forgive me for not telling you sooner.”

Kirra’s blue eyes glimmered warmly. “There is no need,” she said softly. “I already know everything I need to know.”

“What do you know?”

“I heard my husband speaking to de Winter, the knight who brought you here,” she said, watching Delaina’s expression ripple with fear. “I know enough.”

Delaina sucked in a shocked breath. “You do?”

Kirra nodded. Then she grasped Delaina gently by the chin, leaned forward, and whispered in her ear.

“Do not be troubled, Delaina.”

With that, she quit the room and shut the door quietly behind her, leaving Delaina awash in tears of joy and relief.

She knows, and still, she wants to be my friend .

The realization fed her soul.

Somehow, it fed Kirra’s, too.

*

There were rumblings in Manchester.

Morgen had received a dispatch from Trevor de Lara, Lord of the Trilaterals, which was north of his properties along the Welsh marches.

Trevor had three strategic castles, called the Trilaterals, and control of a section of the Welsh marches, but the specific rumblings he was relaying to Morgen had to do with the Earl of Lancaster and his opposition to the king.

Since summer was coming and the de Lohrs would be heading back to their seat of Lioncross Abbey Castle, Trevor wanted to let Morgen know that rumors were suggesting that Lancaster and his supporters were preparing to move against Hugh Despenser for slights and violations they considered unacceptable.

More than likely, that meant military action.

He wasn’t thrilled.

“Morgen, my love? Are you occupied?”

Morgen looked up from the missive to see Kirra entering the solar. He put the vellum down, smiling lazily at his wife as she came into the chamber, crossed the floor, and went to the windows.

She pointed. “Did you give the boys permission to play by the river?” she asked.

He stood up and went to the window, focused on what she was pointing at. “Nay,” he said. “But if you look over there, to the east, you’ll see Marcellus standing there. Nothing will happen to them if he is in charge.”

Kirra sighed heavily. “You know I do not like them by the river,” she said. “I do not need for them to take another raft downriver because they want to be pirates.”

He turned to her, grinning. “I thought it was very ingenious.”

“You would.”

“And why not? It was very clever of them.”

Kirra would not be swayed. “Blake and Bing do not know how to swim,” she pointed out rather heatedly. “Did you expect Christie and Kurtis to save them should they fall in? The Thames is treacherous. I do not like them playing at the river. At all.”

Morgen conceded, as he usually did, and pulled her into his arms, kissing her.

When he tried to kiss her deeply, just to assert himself, she pinched him, and he yelped into her mouth.

She pushed herself out of his arms as he rubbed his buttocks where she had pinched him with her slender, but hard, fingers.

“Do you want me to tell Marcellus to bring them in?” he said. “If that is your wish, I will do so.”

“I simply do not want them to drown,” Kirra said. “I should think you would not want them to do it, either, but I could be wrong.”

He sighed, defeated. “Sometimes I want them to float away for a few years and return to me when they are well behaved, but nay, I do not want them to drown,” he said. “I will tell Marcellus not to take them to the river.”

“Thank you.”

“Is there anything else you wish, any desire I can fulfill?”

He was being the slightest bit facetious, but she ignored him. “There is, in fact,” she said. “I also came to tell you that Lady Violet will be delivering her child soon.”

His expression tightened. “Have her pains started?”

She nodded. “I think so,” she said. “I have already sent a servant for the physic and his wife. I suspect we should see her child in the next few days.”

“Let us pray she lives through it.”

“She will,” Kirra said confidently. “Will you not send word to her husband?”

He averted his gaze. “I did when she arrived,” he said. “Do you not recall?”

“I recall.”

“Hopefully, his arrival is imminent.”

Kirra watched him as he went to sit down at his table again, picking up the dispatch he had been reading when she walked in. She went over to the table, casually, standing there until he looked up at her.

She smiled. “I hope you do not think that you married a fool,” she said quietly.

He frowned. “You are the furthest thing from a fool that I have ever seen,” he said. “Why do you say such a thing?”

She folded her arms and appeared thoughtful. “Let me see if I can explain it sufficiently,” she said. “I suppose I will start by asking you a question.”

“Ask.”

“And you will answer me truthfully.”

“I am always truthful with you.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “Then can you explain to me why you introduced Lady Violet de Lohr to me when her name is Delaina?”

Morgen looked at her. After a moment, he shook his head, like a man who knew when his efforts had been fruitless.

In truth, he wasn’t particularly surprised, because Kirra was very astute.

Things in her world rarely escaped her notice, including a mysterious distant de Lohr cousin who wasn’t a cousin at all.

Standing up, he went to the solar door and shut it before turning to her. “Where did you hear that?”

“From you,” Kirra said. “The day Denys de Winter brought her to us. I heard you speaking to him, and I heard you call her Delaina.”

“I did.”

“Why did you tell me her name was Violet?”

He made his way over to her. “Because it was safer that way.”

“For me?”

“For her.”

“But why?”

Reaching out, he took her hand and pulled her over to a leather-bound chair near the hearth. Sitting down, he pulled her onto his lap.

“I suppose I knew I would have to explain this to you at some point,” he said. “Please do not think I did not tell you because I do not trust you. I do, implicitly. But servants have a way of hearing things. They talk. And this is talk that cannot get out, Kay. It is very important that it does.”

She looked at him with concern. “You know that I will not repeat it,” she said. “But why all of the deception?”

“Because Hugh Despenser wants that woman,” he said quietly. “Magnus asked me once to help conceal her, so I am doing that.”

“But why does Despenser want her?”

“Because she is a courtesan, one of the most in-demand courtesans in England. I am certain it did not escape you how lovely she is.”

Kirra wasn’t particularly shocked by the revelation, but so much was becoming clear to her now. “She is exquisite,” she said. “She is also extremely intelligent.”

“That comes from a good deal of education,” he said. “The lords that have courtesans want them to be smart and entertaining.”

She nodded in understanding. “I heard you speaking to Denys about Delaina and Magnus de Wolfe,” she said. “I heard you speak of Magnus enough to know that he must be the baby’s father. They are not married, are they?”

It was more a statement than a question, and Morgen shook his head.

“Nay, they are not,” he said. “But he loves her and wishes to marry her. I suppose I did not want to tell you that part of it, but the reality is this—being a courtesan, she is not accepted by noble society. To have that kind of woman in a respectable home such as ours can be… problematic.”

“You mean if it were to ever get out that we gave her shelter.”

He nodded. “Aye.”

Kirra pondered that for a moment. She was a reasonable woman, accepting and mostly nonjudgmental. That was one of the things that Morgen loved about her. What he’d done, he’d done to protect her and his household. The less people knew of Lady Violet’s true identity, the better.

“I am not entirely sure the nobility of England would shun the House of de Lohr if they knew we harbored a courtesan, but I understand your point,” she said. “Particularly if Despenser is still looking for her. Is he?”

Morgen shook his head. “I have no way of knowing,” he said. “I’ve not heard anything, and I’m certainly not going to ask.”

“Then we must keep this very quiet,” she said. “We will continue to call her Lady Violet. It is safer that way.”

“I agree.”

“Is Magnus truly coming?”

Morgen shrugged, pulling her close. “I hope so,” he said. “I sent him word as soon as Denys brought the lady here, so he has had time to receive the missive and start his journey southward.”

“Unless he comes in the next few days, he will more than likely miss the birth,” Kirra said. “She still believes she is going to die, Morgen. I do not know how to convince her otherwise.”

Morgen rolled his eyes unhappily. “St. Blitha’s has seared doom and gloom into her brain,” he said. “Those nuns nearly killed her with their mistreatment. Thank God Denys had the sense to bring her here when he did.”

“Thank God, indeed,” Kirra agreed. “I… I feel a good deal of pity for her. She is so sad. So very sad. She wants to be friendly, and I believe she wants to smile, but it is as if something is missing in her. Something is broken that cannot be repaired. She never speaks of Magnus, but I sense that her melancholy is because of him. She misses him. God help us if Magnus refuses to come at all.”

Morgen didn’t want to admit that it was a distinct possibility. According to Denys, the lady had rejected Magnus. It was possible the damage was too great.

“We will know soon enough,” he said quietly. “But if he does not come… what do you want to do with the lady?”

Kirra didn’t hesitate. “She will stay,” she said firmly. “Her son shall be raised with our children, and she shall be their tutor. As I said, she is very smart. She would teach them a great deal. Mayhap she can be my lady in waiting. I do not have any, you know.”

“I noticed.”

“She would be a fine one, I am sure.”

“Then you will not send her away?”

“Where would I send her to, Morgen? If she had any place to go, she would not have been brought here.” She shook her head. “Lady Violet stays, whatever happens. And so does her child.”

He squeezed her, kissing her cheek. “Ever charitable, my lady,” he said, admiration in his tone. “God has a special place in heaven for people like you.”

Kirra smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, when there was a loud rap on the door. Startled, she climbed off Morgen’s lap as he went to the solar door and opened it.

The housekeeper, a stout and strong woman, was standing at the door.

“My lady,” she said. “You must come. Quickly.”

Kirra was already on the move. “Why?” she said. “What has happened? Where are my children?”

The housekeeper shook her head. “Not the children, my lady,” she said. “Lady Violet. The child is coming and her waters have broken.”

Kirra rushed out into the entry, heading for the mural stairs, with Morgen and the housekeeper on her heels.

She could hear the groaning by the time she hit the second floor.