"Ye were poisoned, child," the woman told her. "Don't ye recall? Ye were sick the night through. The only thing Dulonget managed to plant was his palm on yer forehead as he held ye while ye tossed yer innards out."
"What?" Willa gaped at her in horror. "Nay!"
"Aye."
"But you said he would plant twins in me the - "
"I said the first time ye were together. Last night wasn't it."
Willa slumped where she sat, pondering this unwelcome news. She'd been so sure she was with child... well, with children. She grieved that loss briefly, then as Eada's other claim sank in, she straightened and confessed, "No one poisoned me. I took too much of that potion you gave me."
"Aye, ye did. And that's what saved yer life. It didn't sit well. Started ye purging before the poison could do much damage."
Willa frowned at this news. "You mean to say that someone truly did try to poison me?"
"Aye. 'Twas in the meade."
Willa grimaced as she recalled the bitter tasting meade mixed with Eada's herbs. It had not gone down well. She did recall feeling ill, then her stomach trying to fight its way up her throat, but everything else was rather fuzzy. Willa had assumed the nausea was caused by too much food and drink, nervousness, and Eada's herbs reacting badly together. Instead, it seemed someone was trying to kill her again. That was a depressing realization.
Willa had grown up knowing that someone hated her enough to wish her dead. That reality had affected her whole life. It had stolen loved ones and even her childhood. But there was nothing she could do about it. She didn't even know who or why someone wanted her dead. That was something Uncle had refused to explain to her, no matter how she begged to know. The pitying expression on his face made her suspect that learning who it was would be unbearably painful to her. Which had made her think it was someone who should love her... like her father. This suspicion was only increased by the fact that the subject of her father was another one Uncle would not discuss.
All of it was terribly upsetting and frustrating. The only way to cope was to put the matter from her mind. Hugh was her husband now. He would keep her safe. She had other problems to consider. Like the fact that the marriage hadn't been consummated last night as she'd assumed. Now she would have to get through another anxious day and night of anticipating the act yet to come. Bloody hell! Willa had thought herself an old hand at it now - an ignorant old hand, but an old hand just the same. Instead she was still an untried bride. This was awful! She had yet to suffer the pain of the first time.
Willa felt anxiety begin to swirl within her and forced herself to take a deep breath. She let it out on a sigh. They would consummate the marriage tonight and be done with it. She would conceive her twins, and he would... well, with luck he would live to see them. Eada hadn't made any promises in that respect. In fact, the old woman had bluntly told her that the future was murky on the matter. Hugh might live. Then again, he might not. She had best get the twins off him tonight, Willa thought. Just in case it worked out the "might not" way. Then she frowned and rubbed her stomach. She was still suffering from mild cramps.
"You are sure there was no consummation?" she asked hopefully.
"Nay. Ye were in no shape for that." Eada's lips curled with amusement at the disappointment on Willa's face. "Trust me, my girl. When it happens, ye'll recall. Ye won't be having to ask the next day."
"Oh. I suppose," Willa said doubtfully, then asked, "You are sure there is nothing I need know? Nothing I should do?"
"I told ye, child. He will know what he's about and tell ye what ye need to do. I have already told ye what to expect. There is nothing for ye to - "
"Well then, is there anything I should not do?" Willa asked.
Eada started to shake her head, then paused as Willa began to look fretful. "Very well. There may be something I can tell ye not to do."
Willa perked up, her expression becoming expectant. "Aye?"
"Ye know how ye like to talk? How ye tend to babble on endlessly about everything?"
Willa bit her lip to keep from laughing at this accusation. Many was the time she'd driven the old woman wild with her babbling over the years. But that had been due to loneliness. She'd had no one else to talk to. She hadn't yet shown that side of herself to Hugh. Willa supposed she wasn't completely comfortable with him yet. She didn't mention that to Eada though, but merely nodded.
"Well... don't!" Eada said firmly. "There's nothin' a man hates more than a babbling bride in his bed. Just keep yer mouth shut. Say nary a word. That shall please him more than anything else ye could do, I'm sure."
"No babbling," Willa murmured and nodded. She could do that.
Chapter Eleven
Another coughing fit seized Hugh. He reached for his ale, grunting and nearly slopping the liquid everywhere as Jollivet began thumping enthusiastically on his back.
" 'Twould appear you are ailing, Hugh," his cousin commented cheerfully. "You would not be planning on dying, would you? If so, 'tis terribly kind of you to leave the field clear for me to marry Willa."
"Ha ha," Hugh growled, knocking the other man's arms away with his elbow so that he could soothe his throat with the ale. "Do that again, and you shall be the one in danger of dying." That comment was followed by another round of coughing. Hugh was gasping for breath by the time it ended.
"You really do not sound well, friend." Unlike Jollivet, Lucan actually sounded concerned. But Hugh was now feeling too miserable to appreciate it. He'd had a runny nose and hacking cough all day, but the coughs were growing deeper, stealing more of his breath with each onset. Perhaps some rest would help.
Hugh sighed at the thought of actually sleeping. How long had it been since he'd had a full night's rest?
"Perhaps Eada has something to ease that cough," Wynekyn suggested as Hugh was wracked with another bout of coughing.
Grimacing at the very thought of the old witch and her potions, Hugh shook his head and stood. "Sleep will set me to rights. Good night."
He went up the stairs without waiting for a response. Willa had retired several minutes earlier. Once again Hugh had waited so she would have a few moments alone to prepare. They were newly wed and hadn't yet enjoyed the intimacy of an actual wedding night. She would still be shy around him. Hugh had no desire to make her uncomfortable. It had been a long day. Hugh had personally questioned everyone with any reason to be near either the kitchens or his bedchamber. Unfortunately, no one had admitted to delivering the poison or even seeing it delivered.
He also had arranged for Alsneta's nephew, Gawain, to act as taster for Willa's food and had set Baldulf and two younger men to guard her. He'd sent men out to learn all they could about the name Evelake. He'd instructed them to find the family, learn its circumstances, and discover Willa's connection to it. They also were to discover what possible reason there could be for someone to wish her dead. He hoped these inquiries would be more successful than those about the poisoned meade.
Hugh also had planned to search his uncle's room, but had been distracted by pressing matters concerning the estate he'd inherited. He was coming to learn that there was more to running a castle than hiring skilled men to do it for you. There were several questions he'd needed to answer, decisions to be made, men to yell at. It had all been very satisfying, he thought with a smile as he reached the top of the stairs and started along the hall. Still, he really would have to search his uncle's room on the morrow. He had to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding Willa's past. The longer the mystery remained unsolved, the longer her life would be in danger, and Hugh found he didn't like that at all. He might not have wished to marry her initially, but she was his now, and he'd be damned if anyone was going to take her from him!
Recalling the state she'd been in last night, he felt his teeth grind together. She'd been pale and trembling. He'd felt sure she would die. If she had, it would have been his fault. Willa deserved some happiness and he was just the man to give it to her. Of course, that would have to wait a bit. He knew she must be drained and exhausted, as he was. But just as soon as they were both rested, he would set to the business of making her happy. It was his job. He was her husband.
Nodding at the men standing guard outside his bedchamber, he opened the door and strode in. However, Hugh paused after taking a single step through the door. He had expected the room to be dark with perhaps a dim glow from the dying embers in the fireplace. It wasn't. The chamber was aglow with light, both from a roaring fire in the hearth, and a dozen candles placed about the chamber.
He would have to talk to Willa about waste, Hugh thought. Then his gaze landed on the bed. His wife sat upright, the linens resting at her waist, revealing the top of a thin chemise... a very thin chemise, he realized with dismay. He could see the aureolas of her n**ples through the cloth. A rustle behind him reminded Hugh of the men in the hall and he promptly stepped forward and pushed the door closed.
He hesitated a moment then, trying to make his weary brain function and work out what the woman was up to. Hugh had been quite certain that she would be asleep on his arrival and found it difficult to understand why she wasn't. But then it struck him that she had probably thought he would wish to consummate the marriage. No doubt she had stayed awake to accommodate him as a good wife should. Hugh relaxed. She would probably be relieved that he didn't intend to bother her this night.
Offering a smile, he moved around the room, blowing out the candles one after the other. Once the last taper had been doused and the room was filled with only the fire's soft glow, he approached the bed and began to strip. Aware of her steady gaze on him, Hugh felt oddly self-conscious as he removed his clothes. Her gaze prompted him to move a little more swiftly than he normally would have; just moments later he slid into bed next to her. He hesitated, then offered a gruff "good sleep" before turning on his side away from her. Hugh settled down to sleep, sure that his wife would do the same... until the bed shifted and he became aware of the patter of her feet crossing the floor. The sound returned a moment later and the bed shifted again. Then he felt her lean against his side and there was suddenly bright light shining through his closed eyelids. He lay still for a moment, but when she stayed where she was, Hugh opened one eye curiously.
She was leaning on him, as he'd thought, a candelabra held bare inches from his face. Hugh scowled at the sight of the lit candles.
"Wife?" he asked, keeping his tone pleasant.
"Aye?" came her equally pleasant response.
"What are you doing?"
"I am waiting for my husband to do his duty. What are you doing?"
"What?" Hugh rolled over abruptly, sending her flying backward. Catching Willa's arm before she could tumble off the bed, he snatched the candelabra she was waving wildly around. Maintaining his hold on her, he twisted to set the candleholder on the chest on his side of the bed, then turned back to glare at her.
"You cannot wish to consummate the marriage now!" he cried with disbelief.
"Well, of course I do not wish to!" When Hugh stiffened at the insult, she said, "Eada explained that 'tis going to be unpleasant and painful the first time. Of course, I do not look forward to suffering pain. However, it must be done and I would rather not spend another day agonizing over what is to come. Two days of worry are quite enough. So, if you would be so kind, do you think you could plant the twins now?"
Hugh felt himself sag. It hadn't occurred to him that she would be full of worry over the deed to come. That had been rather short-sighted of him, he realized. After all, even he had been suffering some mild anxiety over his first time with a virgin, but at least he knew what was to come. It was all a new and frightening experience for her. Of course, she would be anxious. A huge yawn escaped him, ending in a cough, and he saw concern enter her eyes. It seemed cruel to put her through another day of anxiety. Weary as he was, he would manage the task for her.
"Very well," he said with a long-suffering sigh.
"Oh, thank you, my lord," Willa breathed with relief, then promptly fell back on the bed pulling the linens up with her. She lay with her eyes squeezed shut and the linens clutched tightly to her throat, knuckles growing white with the pressure of her hold. She was as taut as a bowstring.
Hugh stared at her with pursed lips. She looked as if she expected either to be beheaded or raped, he thought with a sigh. Then she puckered her lips as if having sucked on a lemon. He presumed that was an invitation to kiss her. I really don't have the energy for this, he thought miserably, but merely cleared his throat.
Her eyes popped open at once, a question in their depths.
"The... er..." He gestured toward the linens she was so desperately clutching and she glanced down with seeming surprise.
"Oh!" She flushed. "I suppose we shan't need these." She tossed the linens aside, then hesitated and slid out of bed.
"What - ?" Hugh began. The question died on his tongue as she bent to grab the hem of her shift and tugged it upward.
"Eada explained everything to me," she told him, continuing to draw the shift up to reveal legs, hips, belly... "From what she said I suppose this will get in the way, too." She pulled the gown up over her head and shrugged her arms free. Her face was cherry red with embarrassment. She briefly used the material as a shield to cover herself from upper thighs to the tops of her n**ples, then quickly scooped her hair before each shoulder with one hand and dropped the gown. As a cover, her hair was both effective and ineffective. It covered her br**sts, flowing down over them from her shoulders and continuing down to the front of her legs. However, it left the outsides of her shoulders, the curve of her hips, and the juncture of her legs bare. Hugh had a moment to ogle her, then the golden tresses went swinging as she scrambled anxiously back into bed. She quickly tugged her hair to cover herself before settling, eyes squeezed shut again, and hands once more fisted at her sides. It took a moment for her to remember; then she puckered her lips, as well.