Page 55 of While Angels Slept (de Lohr Dynasty #1)

Myles came to a halt, inwardly groaning as the physic made his way towards him. In fact, he was rather desperate to remove Val so he gently turned her in Arabel’s direction.

“Go with Arabel,” he said. “I will join you in a moment.”

Val started to agree but the physic started talking before she could move out of earshot.

“My lord,” the physic said again. “It would seem the woman has a disease of the lungs. I have seen it before. It is indeed contagious but should not create an issue if we keep her isolated and keep her mouth covered so she cannot breathe out her disease on others. I believe I can keep her contained.”

Val heard him. She came to a halt, looking at the physic curiously even as Myles tried to turn her around.

“What woman?” she wanted to know, then looked at her husband with concern. “Do we have sickness at Rochester?”

Myles shook his head and started to reply to her, but the physic interrupted. “They call this disease phithisis ,” he said to them both. “The woman coughs up black blood. I can hear her chest laboring. She is far gone with the disease and will not live much longer.”

Val looked very concerned as well as puzzled. “But I have not heard of anyone at Rochester being ill,” she said to Myles. “Is this woman from the village? ”

Myles sighed heavily, glancing at the physic and making a gesture for the man to vacate.

As the old surgeon wandered back towards the shack, Myles turned his attention back to his wife.

Gazing into her dark eyes, he knew he had to tell her.

He could easily make up another story to satisfy her, but his conscience would not allow it.

He had never lied to her before and wasn’t about to start.

Moreover, Tevin was sure Val could identify the woman if, in fact, it was Louisa.

He put his arm around her shoulders and turned in the direction of the shack.

“Early this morning, we had visitors,” he said quietly. “I must ask you now to keep this to yourself until Tevin informs Cantia. It is important.”

Val nodded seriously. “Of course, Myles. What is it?”

Myles began to escort her towards the shanty. “Did Cantia or Tevin ever tell you about Gillywiss?”

Val nodded. “Cantia told me,” she replied. “He was the outlaw who saved her from Dagan, was he not?”

Myles nodded. “Indeed,” he said. “He also formed some kind of strange attachment to Cantia. He made her a promise.”

“What do you mean? What promise?”

“That he would discover Louisa’s fate so that Tevin and Cantia could be married.”

Val’s brow furrowed. “Why on earth would he do that?”

“As I said, he formed a strange attachment to Cantia. When he appeared this morning, he said that he did it because they had something in common, wanting things they could never have. He also did it because she saved his sister’s life and he felt indebted to her.”

Val came to a halt at the door to the shack, looking at him with an utterly baffled expression. “What did he do?”

Myles lifted his eyebrows at her. “I am hoping you can tell me.”

He pushed the door open, exposing his wife to the dark and unsettling world inside.

The physic and the serving woman were there, washing out some clothes in vinegar to put over the patient’s mouth so she could not cough out her germs. Wary, Val stepped in with Myles behind her.

He took her over to the straw mattress where a small figure lay, now with a cloth over her nose and mouth, and still swathed in jumbles of dirty blankets.

She smelled like a sewer. Myles glanced over his shoulder at the physic.

“Remove the cloth on her mouth,” he instructed. “I want to see her face.”

The physic slid into the space between Val and the bed, peeling off the vinegar-soaked cloth. A very pale, very fair face came into view and the physic pulled back the blankets around the woman’s head so her hair and features could be more plainly seen.

“Tell me who this is,” Myles whispered to his wife.

Perplexed, Val bent over to gain a better look.

She truly had no idea who she was looking at until the woman shifted and more of her features came into view.

Then, an inkling of suspicion gripped her and Val peered more closely at the woman, drawing on distant memories to put a name to the face.

When the woman sighed faintly in her sleep and a big dimple appeared on her chin, Val was seized with recognition.

She grabbed Myles as if something had just terrified her.

“Louisa!” she gasped. “It… it is Louisa !”

Myles held on to his stricken wife. “Are you sure?”

Val nodded, so hard that her hair flopped over her cheeks. “My God,” she breathed, blinking back tears. “I knew her. I thought we were friends. That is her, I swear it.”

Myles pulled her away from the bed, gesturing to the physic, who went to his patient and covered her mouth and nose again with the soaked cloth.

Meanwhile, Myles pulled his wife all the way to the door, kicking the panel open to get her out of the diseased hut.

He had a strong grip on her because she was shaken and upset.

“Listen to me,” he whispered. “You cannot tell Cantia. Tevin must tell her.”

Val lost the battle against the tears. “It is not Cantia I am worried over,” she wept. “Arabel will be devastated. All she knows of her mother was that she abandoned her and did not love her. Dear God, why is that woman here? What will we tell Arabel?”

Myles put his arms around her to comfort her. “You will tell her nothing,” he said soothingly, steadily. “That is for Tevin to decide. I simply needed your confirmation that it is indeed Tevin’s wife. You have done that. You must let your brother take care of the rest.”

Val was wiping at her eyes with shaking hands. “That… that outlaw actually found her?” she was flabbergasted. “How did he find her?”

“He has family in Paris,” Myles replied. “Since Paris was the last known location of Louisa, Gillywiss apparently went there looking for her. It took him months to track her down, but he did, finding her in a brothel. He brought her back because he promised Cantia he would.”

Val was gazing at him with a wide-eyed expression, full of incredulity. “ Promised her? But I simply do not understand. For what purpose?”

“I told you,” he said patiently. “I can only surmise that it is so Cantia can know the woman’s fate and, in knowing, pave the pathway for her and Tevin to be married. At least, that was the gist of what I understood.”

It made some sense, but Val was still reeling. “I can hardly grasp all of this,” she breathed. “Louisa has actually returned.”

“Aye, she has.”

She started to reply but the words caught in her throat and her expression changed from disbelief to one of sorrow. Her gaze moved to the mighty keep of Rochester soaring over their heads.

“I must speak with Tevin,” she said, moving for the keep and pulling Myles with her. “He must know… my God, what must he be thinking of all of this? He must be astonished at the very least. The woman humiliated him, abandoned him, and now she is returned.”

Myles took her hand to both slow her down and steady her. “Your brother can well handle his feelings, Val,” he said softly. “I know you want to protect him, but he is a grown man. He can handle himself.”

Val knew he was right but she didn’t like his answer.

Val had been watching out for Tevin for many years, as the younger sister to a powerful brother.

There was something vulnerable about Tevin in her eyes and her protective instinct for him had only gotten worse when Louisa had deserted him and their month-old infant. She could feel her anger rise.

“You were not there when that… that woman discarded Tevin and Arabel like so much rubbish,” she said, pointing angrily in the direction of the smithy shack.

“She ran off with another knight, a man from her homeland. She never wanted to be married to Tevin but she went through with the marriage anyway, eventually leaving him with a sick baby and humiliating him. I know my brother can handle himself in any situation but it does not stop the sense of protection I have for him and for Arabel. I have tried very hard not to hate Louisa for what she did but right now, all I can feel is fury.”

Myles was calm as he watched her. “Then what would you have me do with her?” he asked softly. “Do you want me to dump her in a church somewhere, with a charity where she will be cared for until she dies? Do you want me to send her away from Rochester to save your brother and Arabel’s feelings?”

Some of Val’s fury seemed to abate and she grew uncertain. “Tevin already knows she is here.”

“He does, but he is not sure it is Louisa. He said you would know for sure. Would you lie to your brother and tell him it is not Louisa and we can simply rid her from Rochester?”

More of her fury took a dousing. After a moment, she shook herself, struggling to calm.

“Nay,” she muttered, averting her gaze. “I would not lie to my brother, no matter how much I want to protect him. He should make the decision on what to do with Louisa.”

“Then let us go and tell him the truth. Louisa has indeed returned.”

Reluctantly, Val agreed.