Seduced (Thrice Blessed Book 3) Read online

  “He said he’s feeling fit this morning.”

  “He just wants to return to training his men as soon as possible,” Marina countered. “He would say anything to make that happen as soon as he can.”

  Charles nodded. “You do have the measure of my brother.”

  Marina smiled at that. “Our brother.” She led the way to Roland and Christiana’s bedchamber, finding her patient there, pacing like a caged animal. “Sit so I may assess the damage you’ve done to yourself with your fidgeting.”

  Roland glared at her, but he sat on the edge of his bed. “I’m tired of being treated as an invalid.”

  “I know you are. Act like one anyway.” She reached out, hovering her hand over his side. “You are no worse than last night, but no better either. This is going to take time to heal.”

  “It doesn’t hurt as much as it did. I feel ready to return to work.”

  Marina put her hands on her hips, her eyes meeting Christiana’s over his head. “The only work you’ll be doing for the next fortnight is planning your attack. I’m done healing you, so you will have to mend the rest of the way yourself.”

  “Why do you not just heal me? What is preventing you?”

  “The magic of the sword is preventing me. It was an evil object. I do not have the ability to heal more without harming my sisters. Now that I know you’ll live, I’m not willing to put them through that.”

  Roland huffed, but he said nothing else. He knew the damage that type of healing did to his wife and sister-in-law, and he wasn’t going to insist they do it. If Marina said it wasn’t worth it, then he’d have to believe her.

  Christiana stepped forward. “Is it too much for him to sit at the table and plan out the battle he expects to fight against Walter?”

  “Not at all,” Marina said. “I think it’s even good for him, because it occupies his mind and keeps him from wanting to run down and stab someone with a sword.”

  “I’m sitting right here, listening to every word you say,” Roland said, a frown on his face.

  Marina patted Roland’s shoulder absently. “Keep him occupied,” she said to Christiana.

  “I will.” Christiana’s grin told Marina that she recognized that they could have had the conversation in their minds to keep from annoying Roland, but sometimes annoying one’s husband was a joy not to be ignored.

  “It’s time for you to learn to use your new dagger,” Charles told her, then turned to the other couple and said, “We’ll see you both later. There is some serious training to be done.”

  Marina frowned. “I will never use it.”

  Christiana pushed her thoughts into her sister’s head. “You would if Walter was threatening me or my babe. Or Eva. Or Charles. Go with him and learn.”

  “I will, but I won’t be happy about it.”

  “No one expects you to be happy about it. Like Roland must stay indoors and rest, you must learn to defend yourself. There is no option.”

  “Let’s go,” Marina said to Charles. “We’ll see if I can learn to use that ugly thing.” She nodded at the dagger in his hands.

  “This one has been dulled,” he said, opening the door for her and waiting for her to precede him down the stairs. “I thought it would be easier for you to practice with one you knew couldn’t hurt me.”

  “It will,” she agreed. “I’d rather not practice at all, though.”

  “I know.”

  The training session went as well as Charles had expected it to. Marina was half afraid of the dagger, even though it was dull, and she refused to use it as she should. “We’re going to practice with this every day. I still expect him to show up in the manor some night while we’re all asleep.”

  “So will I be expected to wear the dagger to bed?” Her question was sarcastic and she didn’t really expect an answer.

  “I’m not going to insist upon that.” Charles smiled down at her, kissing the tip of her nose. “I like it when there’s nothing between us in bed at night.”

  That afternoon they allowed the sick and injured peasants to return, and Marina healed as many as she could without help. She still worried that the power drain would hurt the baby Christiana was carrying, but she checked her regularly, and the babe appeared to be fine. He seemed stronger after each use of her powers, which surprised Marina, but she accepted it was just part of the mystery that shrouded her and her sisters.

  One of the peasants brought in a sick boy, who was covered with pox. “I didn’t think you’d be willing to heal again before we lost him,” his mother said, with tears streaming down her face.

  Marina frowned. “You should have told the guards that he was dying. You would have been allowed entrance.” She put her hand over him, and concentrated her power. He was burning up with fever and the pox seemed to cover every inch of the boy’s body. He was only five or six, and Marina could feel the despair coming from his mother.

  The healing was simple, and the boy blinked his eyes. “I’m hungry,” he said.

  His mother dropped to her knees and wept, kissing the edge of Marina’s gown. “Thank you, milady. Thank you!”

  Marina held her hand down to help the woman to her feet. “God gave me my power to help others. Do not kneel at my feet. You remember what I said. If it’s life or death, just tell the guards, and they will always let you come up.”

  After the boy and his parents had left the chamber, Christiana stepped close to Marina. “Did that one drain you? It seemed like a bigger heal than usual.”

  Marina shook her head. “It wasn’t bad. Do you think my powers are expanding?”

  “I think you have practiced your powers enough that they’re getting stronger, but I don’t think you are experiencing the expansion that Eva and I have yet. Give it time.”

  “I’m strong enough to do a few more.”

  Christiana nodded. “You are. We’re here to help if we need to.”

  That night as Marina lay with her head on Charles’s shoulder, her breathing returning to its normal rate after their lovemaking, she sighed. “I wish I knew what to do to expand my powers like Eva and Christiana. Christiana knows but she won’t tell me.”

  “Mayhap she doesn’t think you’re ready.” Charles stroked her hair away from her face, still amazed that he was married to this beautiful woman that he loved. “We will work more on your dagger training on the morrow. I want two hours per day with the dagger until you are proficient.”

  Marina groaned, turning her back on Charles. “I hate that dagger.”

  Charles curled his body around hers, making her feel safe and secure. “I know, love. I know.”

  Marina drifted off to sleep with a smile on her lips. He’d called her his love. Mayhap he hadn’t told her he loved her yet, but that was close. She would be satisfied with it.

  A week later Marina was much more proficient with the dagger than she would like, though she still hated it. Before going down for her training with Charles, she stopped in to see Roland. “How are you feeling this morning?”

  Roland grumbled under his breath. “I feel like I’m perfectly fit. There’s no reason for me to stay in this room any longer. I need to be allowed to train with my men.”

  Marina held her hand over him and frowned. “You are getting a bit better every day. Mayhap today you’d enjoy going downstairs and working on your plans instead of staying up here all day? I still insist that you nap this afternoon.”

  “Naps are for babes. Can you not see I’m no longer a babe?” Roland spread his arms to his sides, obviously frustrated with everything around him.

  “I know you’re not a babe. Just like I’m not a killer. If I have to learn to use a dagger, you have to nap every afternoon. That’s the way of things.”

  Roland frowned. “So this is revenge for forcing you to learn to use a dagger? Is that it?”

  “Not at all. This is making you do what’s right to heal your body and not mess up my good work.” She nodded at Christiana. “We’ll be healing this afternoon. How are you fe
eling?”

  Christiana put her hand over her belly. “The babe and I are fine. I feel strong and healthy.”

  Marina walked to her sister, letting her hand hover over her as she did every morning. “He feels strong.”

  “You believe it’s a boy child, don’t you?”

  Marina nodded. “I do. I feel it.”

  “And do you think you’ll lose me?”

  “I hope not.” Marina’s eyes met Eva’s. The two of them worried greatly over the possibility. “I’ll start healing you a bit every day when you’re nearing your time. We’ll make sure you survive. I won’t lose you, Christiana.”

  “No, you won’t.”

  As she and Charles left the others, Marina sighed. “I wish I was as certain she would be fine as she is.”

  “Christiana seems to know things that the rest of us don’t.”

  Marina nodded. “Yes, but she’s never been able to see the future. I wish she could.”

  “Is it possible she can now? Since her powers expanded?”

  “I don’t think so. She’d have said something by now. And she’d have let me know just what to be watching for.” The coming battle loomed oppressively over the household.

  Charles sighed. “I was hoping she knew something we didn’t.”

  “I wish she did. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her alive, though.”

  “Except put your own life in danger, right?”

  She shrugged, refusing to answer that. Christiana’s life was more important than hers. She’d always believe it to be so.

  Charles sat with the other men around the table that afternoon while the ladies healed the peasants. One of Roland’s most trusted men stood guard.

  “Marina is worried Christiana won’t survive the birthing of her babe,” Charles told Roland.

  “Eva has the same worries,” Hugh said. “I don’t know why they feel so strongly about it though. They are fulfilling their destiny. Won’t that break the curse of only being able to have girl babies?”

  Roland frowned at them both. “Who knows how their minds work? I think they worry for nothing. Christiana is strong. The sisters were able to heal me from my magic wound. Surely they can keep their sister alive through something as natural as childbirth.”

  “I worry that Marina will sacrifice herself for her sister,” Charles said softly.

  Hugh nodded, saying nothing.

  Roland sighed. “You are borrowing trouble, just as the ladies are. There is nothing that will prevent her from having a healthy babe. All will be well.”

  Charles knew that the subject was closed as far as Roland was concerned, but he hated it. “I hope so.”

  Marina was in the middle of healing a peasant child who had broken her leg falling out of a tree when she heard Christiana gasp. She finished the healing and waited until the girl and her mother had left the room before spinning to look at her sister. “What is it?”

  “Evil is here. I can feel it.”

  “Is it Walter?”

  Christiana concentrated for a moment, but then shook her head. “No, it’s not. Someone else is here, looking for you.” She shuddered. “I’ll tell Roland.”

  Marina and Eva exchanged a look, their fingers entwining. “Charles and Hugh are going out among the men to see if there’s someone new,” Christiana finally told them. “We still haven’t found the traitor among Roland’s men either. I feel like we’re surrounded by the enemy.”

  Eva sighed. “We are surrounded by the enemy, but we’re also surrounded by men who love us. They won’t let anyone get to us.”

  Marina felt a tear drift down her cheek. “You both have men who love you. I have one who lusts after me and married me because he wanted to bed me.”

  Christiana shook her head at Marina. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

  “Of course, I do! He has never said anything to make me believe differently.”

  Eva frowned. “Think about it, Marina. Why wouldn’t he marry you when he first came here?”

  “Because he didn’t want to spend his whole life under his brother’s rule. His plan was always to go and earn his fortune.”

  “You’re forgetting one part,” Eva said softly. “His plan was to earn his fortune and then come back for you. He never planned to stay gone forever. He wanted you to have your own household to run. He didn’t want you to live with your sister forever. He was thinking of you.”

  Marina frowned. “Mayhap he was. I think there’s a good chance that he wanted to be out from under his brother’s rule.”

  “I don’t think so. Didn’t he agree to marry you when you told him you didn’t care if you lived under your sister’s roof for the rest of your days? I do believe that’s what you told us.”

  Christiana stepped forward putting her hand over Marina’s. “That sounds like the actions of a man in love to me.”

  Marina shrugged. “If it were so, he would say it. Don’t try to blind me to the truth. I’m content with my life as it is. At least I’m free to love him. Someday we’ll have children, and I can give them all the love that he doesn’t give me.”

  Eva’s eyes were sad for her sister, but she didn’t continue to argue.

  Christiana grew silent for a moment. “Roland says they’ve found him. They want me to go down and identify him. They want to be sure they have the evil I sensed taken care of.”

  Marina drew herself up to her full height. “We go together.” She tucked her hand through each of her sisters’ arms. “Where are they?”

  “In the hall.”

  “Then that’s where we go.” Marina walked with her sisters down the stairs and into the main hall. She didn’t meet Charles’s gaze as she strode into the hall, knowing it would anger him to see her there. He thought she should be hidden away until the danger passed. She knew better. It was her job to face it head on.

  Chapter Eight

  Christiana approached the man Charles had gripped by the arm. “Were you sent by Walter?” she asked softly.

  The man jerked at her words. “You know the master’s name?”

  Marina looked at Roland. If they hadn’t been certain before, they were now. “Where is the master’s camp?” she asked.

  “I would not tell you if I knew.”

  Roland got to his feet, walking toward the other man. His movements were still slower than they had been, but he betrayed no pain in his stride. He could show no weakness before an enemy who had some sort of power. What if he could communicate as Christiana could? The master did not need to know he was not yet recovered from his injury. “Are you trying to tell me you don’t know the location of the camp of the man who sent you to kidnap my sister?”

  The man continued to stare straight ahead, seeming to stare straight through Christiana. “This is the man whose evil I felt,” she said softly. “Who is the traitor in my husband’s camp?”

  When there was no answer, Roland walked to him. “We could torture the information out of you.”

  “Nothing you can do would be worth what the master would do to me when you were done. I will reveal nothing.”

  Charles sighed. It had been the same with every man they’d captured over the last two months. There had been at least a dozen of them, and none had been willing to reveal anything for fear they would be harmed by the master. “Walter must have some kind of hold over his men,” he said softly.

  “What is your power?” Marina asked. “We know the men the master sends all have a power.”

  Again, there was no answer. Charles looked at Roland. “I’ll take him outside and deal with him.”

  Roland nodded. “Please do.” He walked to his wife and stroked his hands up and down her arms. “Thank you for coming here to identify him. I didn’t want to think that I’d stopped the evil, only to find out later that I killed the wrong man.”

  Marina shuddered. “Must we kill them all?” She hated the very idea of people being killed, but knowing it was done to protect her made it even worse in her eyes.

&
nbsp; Roland shook his head. “What would you have me do? If I don’t kill them, I would simply keep them prisoner, and with their varied powers, there’d be a chance of escape. I’m doing what I can to keep all of us safe.”

  “I know. I just hate that men are being killed, especially to guard me.”

  Christiana turned to her sister, hugging her tightly. “They’re being killed to guard all of us. Think of your sisters being safe, and you’ll get through it.”

  “I’ll try!” Marina couldn’t imagine anything making it easier for her to bear people being killed on her behalf.

  Charles came back into the manor a few minutes later, carrying a small child. “His mother refused to come in, but she said he is ill.”

  Marina hurried over. She saw the blood on her husband’s hands, but she couldn’t speak to him about it. “Did she say anything else?”

  “Only that she wants him to live, but she refuses to be in the presence of witches. She’s certain that the three of you would curse her and send her to hell for all eternity.”

  She shook her head. “So it’s all right for her son to go to hell but not her? It’s a good thing we would have no idea how to do such a thing, isn’t it?” She placed her hand on the boy’s head. “He has a fever.” Her hand moved down his body. “He is very ill.” When Christiana walked toward her, she shook her head. “No, I believe I can do this one alone.”

  Eva frowned at her sister. “You’re doing them all alone these days.”

  “If I need help, I’ll ask for it. But I can’t get stronger if you two are constantly helping me.”

  “Don’t hurt yourself,” Charles said to her, a concerned look on his face.

  “What does it matter to you if I hurt myself? Why would you care?” Marina snapped at him. She knew she was being unfair, but she was stretched to her limit. Death surrounded her, and no one let her have any time alone. No one allowed her to be outside. She hadn’t hunted in more than a month, and she missed the outdoors. She needed some time to walk alone under the sun…or in the moonlight. She didn’t care if she walked alone in the fog. What difference did it make as long as she could feel the wind on her face?