The Black Lyon

damp eyelids. He saw that her tears began anew. “But you are still as a duck, a most beautiful duck, but a duck nonetheless.”
    She smiled, her tears ceasing and she snuggled again on his shoulder. “What think you of the duck you have made of me?” She covered his hand with her own and the child’s sharp kick was felt by them both.
    “Does the child move?”
    “Aye.” She felt him straighten in pride.
    “He is strong then.”
    “I am sure he shall be born with a lance in one hand and a sword in another,” she answered sarcastically.
    “I would hope he’d have more consideration for his mother. You have not changed. You are as insolent as ever.”
    “Then you do remember me? You have not forgotten?”
    “Forgotten? I could no more forget you than I could forget … to carry my right leg with me.”
    “Ah, so now I am compared to your leg. You are a most unromantic knight.”
    “You dare to call me unromantic! Look you at what I wear! I dress as a serf. This horrible wool has worn me raw as no chain mail ever could. I have even chopped wood so that I may be near you. And you say me to be unromantic. I have gone through hell to be here.”
    “Ranulf, my sweet. I am sorry to have caused you so much misery. It is all my fault.”
    “Here, do not cry again. The wetness makes the wool scratch worse and the smell blinds me. You will get no argument from me. It is all your fault and I demand to know why you left me. You constantly tell me I am ignorant, but never have I come near to equaling this stupid act of yours.”
    “I have not told you you are ignorant,” she said.
    “Do not evade me. Tell me why you left me.”
    “Ranulf, this is not the time. You must leave before those men find you are here. Alice tells me often of their treachery.”
    “Bah!” He waved his hand. “They are little more than an exercise before dinner. How can Alice tell you aught of them when she is a mute?”
    “You know overmuch of me. Why do you not kiss me some more?”
    “Nay.” He pushed her back down to his shoulder. “I will not fight my son for you. One of us at a time will be in you.”
    “Ranulf!” She gasped at his crudity and then giggled.
    “Now tell me why you left me.”
    “You are most persistent. I worry that my skin will never return to the way it was, that it will always be stretched and loose.”
    “It will always be filled with my daughters, Lyonene!”
    She understood his command. “I thought you would marry Amicia. She said…”
    “I know of this. Hodder has told me. I want to know why you believed the woman and why you did not trust me.”
    “I trusted you, but men always take other women.”
    “Do they? You know this for fact? And if they do, do they always marry them and forsake their wives?”
    “Nay, but Amicia said King Edward…”
    “Edward is my king, but he does not rule my life. He cannot force me to do what I would not.”
    “But what of Gilbert de Clare? He has left his wife to take a daughter of King Edward.”
    “You met Gilbert at court. You would compare him to me? He is a greedy man and Edward has been warned about him often. You will see problems with the man soon. He does not wish to please his king as much as equal him. Now what other puny reasons do you give for leaving me?”
    “I do not know. They seemed so logical, Amicia’s words. I saw letters from you. She had the ribbon. I saw you kiss her.”
    “Nay, you did not! You saw the woman wrap her ugly body about me. I had to restrain myself from tossing her to the ground.”
    “Ranulf, I have not seen you for a long while. Why must we speak of this unpleasantness? I have come to my senses. I know Amicia’s words were false. I heard her tell Sir Morell how they plotted it all.”
    “We have all night, for I do not plan to take you from here until dawn and I wish to know what caused you to believe the woman’s words. Had you more faith in me you would have seen a hundred letters and would not have believed them.”
    “It is as you say, but there were some things that I knew were certainly true.”
    “Name them.”
    Lyonene was silent for a moment, wishing Ranulf would not force her to speak of her doubts. “Amicia said that when she first looked at you… I know,” she cried desperately, “I know her feelings. It was the same with me. Ranulf! You laugh at me! I tell you my innermost thoughts and you dare to laugh at me!”
    He caught her hand as she swung to strike him. “You will not injure my