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Chapters (76)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. Dedication
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. PART I
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EIGHT
  14. NINE
  15. PART II
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. PART III
  27. TWENTY
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. INTERLUDE
  35. PART IV
  36. TWENTY-SEVEN
  37. TWENTY-EIGHT
  38. TWENTY-NINE
  39. THIRTY
  40. THIRTY-ONE
  41. THIRTY-TWO
  42. THIRTY-THREE
  43. THIRTY-FOUR
  44. INTERLUDE
  45. PART V
  46. THIRTY-FIVE
  47. THIRTY-SIX
  48. THIRTY-SEVEN
  49. THIRTY-EIGHT
  50. PART VI
  51. THIRTY-NINE
  52. FORTY
  53. FORTY-ONE
  54. FORTY-TWO
  55. FORTY-THREE
  56. FORTY-FOUR
  57. FORTY-FIVE
  58. INTERLUDE
  59. PART VII
  60. FORTY-SIX
  61. FORTY-SEVEN
  62. FORTY-EIGHT
  63. FORTY-NINE
  64. FIFTY
  65. FIFTY-ONE
  66. FIFTY-TWO
  67. PART VIII
  68. FIFTY-THREE
  69. FIFTY-FOUR
  70. FIFTY-FIVE
  71. FIFTY-SIX
  72. EPILOGUE
  73. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  74. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  75. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  76. Newsletter Sign-up

They were insulted by the constant escorts, and they festered an anger that Lord Raymond had obeyed the call to war. Neither Arable nor William saw it, but everyone’s account was that it happened so quickly. While she was innocently giggling in William’s arms in the stable loft, William’s clueless escort went searching for them and stumbled upon George and Hugo instead, attempting an escape.

Apparently there was shouting, and pleading, and apologies. And most of all, confusion. Nobody could tell who made the first move. But by the end of it, George and Hugo were dead.

Arable had never seen William cry before, and she would never see him happy again.

The news from the war trickled in. The Earl’s siege of Nottingham ended in failure, as did King Henry the Young’s war against his father. Lord Ferrers remained the Earl of Derby but was ripped of his lands and other titles.

The boy who brought news of her father’s death had a crooked nose and a dirty woolen cap.

Every night for a week she fell asleep crying, curled up at the crack of her father’s door, whispering for him to change his mind, to come back.

A panel of justiciars awarded the Burel estate to Lord Beneger de Wendenal as recompense for the loss of his sons. Roger de Lacy was on that panel, though he dissented. Lord Beneger had Arable’s family manor destroyed, every brick of it. Then every brick down to every pebble, then every pebble to dust.

Unsatisfied, he gave her family one day of warning that they would be hunted and tried for the deaths of his children. Her family disappeared overnight. Her mother and brothers begged her to leave with them, while she begged them to stay. Back then, she believed in the impossible. She was still so certain, so very very certain, that everything would be better once she and William married. It had become the only truth she knew, she couldn’t understand how her family couldn’t see it as clearly as she.

They would not tell her where they were headed, for fear she had turned traitor to side with the Wendenals.

Arable spent that night with William, in the loft of the stable they had spent so many nights in before. He swore he would speak with his father, and make him understand that she was innocent. She had once been close to Lord Beneger, and he would understand. William promised Arable he’d return the next night with an answer.

He didn’t.

On the second night, he still didn’t.

When Lord Beneger’s men came for her, she ran.

IT WAS YEARS BEFORE she even heard news of William again. She never reached out to him, for fear of being discovered. But now when they spoke it was like nothing had happened.

The stable loft. I’ll be there. I promise.