Hiding her intimidation from the spectators who watched her progress through the campsite proved somewhat unsuccessful judging by the feral grins, knowing grins that met her whenever she chanced a glance around but Rowena judged there to be at least a dozen men and women-- not including the wolf...men.
Wolf-men
. She felt light-headed at the thought. The beasts wandered about so casually and she was intensely aware of their sharp claws scraping across the earth as a few trailed behind her.
A wolf could cut open your belly with a single swipe of its nails or maul you beyond repair if he did not achieve that goal -- Bryce, one of her father's men, had been slashed in the face as a youth by the wolf he had eventually killed and he bore a grotesque six inch scar across his face for his efforts. All were taught from birth to fear the wolves for the violent, cunning creatures they were.
Following behind their leader who walked in measured strides, Rowena felt disappointment when she didn't spy her brother -- but not hopelessness. She had been around cruel, wicked men all her life to know that the man who had taken her was nothing like her father's brutish men...he was not so simple or so easy to read at least. At the same time, she wasn't so naïve as to trust him fully.
So caught in her thoughts was she, Rowena slammed straight into the stiff back that suddenly stopped before her and Cedric turned to face her. Taking hold of her, his fingers rough against the skin of her arms even through the fabric of her dress, he favoured her with a long, probing look before releasing her.
'Get inside,' he motioned towards the tent they had paused before which appeared larger than the others littering the space and her stomach tightened at the implication of it. She would share the lord's tent...
'I wish to see my brother -- will I not be bound with him?'
Lips turning down -- lips that were still slightly swollen from kissing her -- Cedric eyed her for a protracted moment, his cool, unyielding look making her squirm. 'What you wish is of no importance to me. You will not command me.'
Rowena turned away in embarrassment and met the narrow, glacial stare of a tall, winsome woman with white-blonde hair. Her arms crossed over her chest, she made for an impressive figure, adorned in a dress of deep plum with gold trim. In her coarse serfs' gown, Rowena felt rough and simple in contrast. The woman looked upon Cedric with such glowing, heated eyes -- a look of intimacy, Rowena decided -- that she felt like an unwanted intruder.
His wife, perhaps.
Something in her chest tightened at the thought.
'She has quite a tongue on her, my lord Cedric -- but that can be easily remedied,' a honeyed voice declared as the woman stepped closer to them.
'Leave it be, Mariah.'
Rowena threw My Lord Cedric a filthy look at his placid toned warning and he appeared thoroughly unmoved by her dislike.
'Get in the tent.'
Shaking her head, Rowena refused to be cowed by him but neither would she needlessly antagonise. She needed to assure herself of Edwin's safety and believed she was in a safe position to be bold in this way: he seemed, after all and despite the circumstances, a fair sort. Had he wanted to kill Edwin -- or hurt her -- wouldn't he have done so by now? Her rationalising gave her the courage she needed.
'My lord. Please - I merely wish to see to his welfare...he was badly beaten when I saw him last and-'
'Badly beaten?' Cedric bit out harshly and the hum of voices that had surrounded them before petered off. 'Nay, lady, not that - merely cuffed once or twice to subdue him which was nothing compared to the mutilation he inflicted on
my
brother's body.'
As the image of the broken body, the proud face of the wolf, flashed before her eyes, she felt grief pass over her. 'I would never have wished hurt to your brother. Please believe that if my brother had known of you kind, neither would he.'
'What is your name?'
It was said so abruptly that Rowena flinched, the instinct too ingrained from her years of abuse at her father's hand.
'Forgive me -- I did not mean to frighten,' Cedric murmured, concern showing in the way he took a small step back as if to reassure her, in the way his eyes flashed in curiosity at her reaction. 'I told you I would not hurt you. Where is the fire in your eyes I saw before? You are a strange one -- trying to seduce me to your cause one moment and antagonising me the next.'
Confused at his teasing tone -- and embarrassed that he would bring up her clumsy invitation of a few moments ago for all to hear -- Rowena uttered incredulously, 'You took me from my home and have my life in your hands -- and my brother's.'
'I did those things,' he agreed, closing the gap and gentling lifting her chin, earning a feminine gasp of outrage, no doubt from the fair-haired beauty close by. 'But you need not fear pain at my hand and I do not make oaths lightly. Your life is not in my hands -- you are free to go if you so wish it though I hope that you stay. But your brother is my prisoner now and I will do with him what I wish,' the last was delivered with icy emphasis. 'So, do you stay or do you go?'
'You mean just like that... you will allow me to flee?'
Broad shoulders lifted. 'Should you so wish it.'
And there it was. He knew she would not leave without Edwin -- and even had she been the unconscionable sort who would take the offer, without horse or money or escort to ensure her safe passage away from this unidentifiable place he had set up camp, it would be futile. She was safest right where she was and he knew it well.
'Very well, my lord,' Rowena said at last and allowed him to push her not ungently onto the pallet within the tent. With a final, brooding look, he secured the flaps and closed her in.
*
Coughing on the mouthful of chalky cheese lodged in her throat, Rowena dry swallowed and stared miserably at the fabric walls of the tent. Much time had passed since she had been secured in the tent and the only source of light was from the flicker of a fire outside. It was strangely quiet beyond and not even the hum of voices could be heard - yet she didn't feel unsafe. Not like she had back at the keep, around her father's men with their leering looks and wandering hands. Every night had been a constant source of tension...but then she had had Edwin and his presence had brought her a measure of continued comfort. Had he not been captured, he would have been set to marry Lady Sylvia mere days from now.
He may still yet. Surely father will search for us
? Or Edwin, at least, for her he was his heir...there was pride in those eyes when they looked upon her brother in the rare moments they were not unfocused and reddened with intoxication. With that comforting thought in mind, Rowena settled onto the pallet and prayed that her alert mind would give into the deep exhaustion of her body.
She wasn't sure how long she slept but her body protested as she was awakened, unsure of what had roused her. The tent was pitch black, the fire outside having died out. Still half asleep, Rowena felt around the ground near her head for the last bit of cheese to remove the sour taste from her mouth. She had been given the small meal some time ago by a silent boy with watchful eyes and had tried to engage him in conversation but he had merely stared at her before leaving her alone. It seemed like that had been an age ago and the urge to talk and hear noise about her was strong.
Sitting up on a groan of weariness, she stiffened and blinked at the luminous eyes bearing down on her, belatedly coming to herself. Crawling to the farthest end of the tent, Rowena found that her body was tight with indecision but little fear.
Feeling a fool, she licked her dry lips and said: 'Cedric?'
The wolf -- she could not think of him in any other way in her mind - remained utterly still, its pale eyes unblinking as it watched her.
Throwing the square of cheese still clasped in her hand at the wolf's feet, Rowena watched in bemusement as its shadowy form bent, sniffed and turned its proud head away from her offering with a snort of disgust. It approached her slowly then, closing in on her until she could feel the heat radiating from its large body.
She could deny it no longer. Those eyes...
Reaching out a slightly unsteady hand, Rowena tentatively stroked the fur at the wolf's neck, feeling reassured when it closed its eyes in a gesture of acquiescence. She continued thus for a moment, her motions becoming bolder as she reached behind its ears and rubbed the softness there. The wolf purred, its eyes rolling back in pleasure, its tongue lolling.
'Cedric,' she repeated the name with growing confidence, continuing her ministrations. 'Was it your intention to see me expire from thirst?'
Reluctant eyes appeared to focus on her and the body beneath her fingers stiffened. Rowena's hand fell away as the wolf rose to its full height -- as imposing as she remembered it on those mornings he had come to her. From her position on her knees, she had to crane her head to meet its eyes.
Motioning with its head in a very humanlike gesture, the wolf turned and shimmied out of the tent and Rowena scrambled to follow, her legs feeling numb after hours of disuse.
As she emerged, she took a moment to breathe deeply of the fresh air, to stare up at the starlit sky above before searching out the two glowing orbs of the wolf's eyes. When she approached it, the wolf turned and strode off, moving away from the silent campsite and into the forest and without a doubt, it seemed, that she would follow.
*
Clearly used to being obeyed, even in his wolf state, the beast -- Cedric -- clamped its teeth around the sleeve of her dress once his patience had worn thin with her, tugging enough to make her rise from the stream but not enough to tear the fabric. Rowena gulped down a last handful of the cool water before rising and following behind her guide and as they re-entered the campsite, she said:
'My brother -- please, let me see him. Cedric...' she knelt on the slightly wet grass and held out a hand in appeal. 'You're not unfeeling, or you would not have taken me to the stream. I suppose that was my test for you but you have been fair to me even before now. You abducted me, yes, but you didn't take me from a loving home and I think you knew this if you listened to any of my words on those mornings,' she paused. She found it easy to speak so when she didn't have his mesmerising beauty or cool eyes to intimidate her. 'I have to wonder why you didn't leave me at the keep -- why you have played me with such a gentle hand. Why you returned on those mornings to seek me out...there is something, Cedric...some compassion or feeling within you for me, I think.'
