Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 95326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
“Yet he sent the three of you there,” Cavell reminded. “It is his help you need to free your sisters.”
“Then I will return home and speak with my da.”
“Nay, you will not,” Cavell ordered and pressed his finger to her lips when she went to argue. “Your da presently is the enemy until we can prove differently. That means we find out why he sent you and your sisters to the abbey before we do anything.”
It also gave him time to find out if she was telling the truth or, if as the monk said, she was insane. Although, from their conversation she appeared to have her wits about her. But then he had seen men who had appeared the same as her only to find out too late that they were raving madmen. And he would not stay wed to an insane wife, no matter how pleasurable she was in bed.
“Does it not strike you as odd that my da would send all three of his daughters to an abbey that cares and treats the insane?” she asked.
“The thought has not been lost on me,” he admitted. “And it also proves an excellent reason why we need to discover the reason he did so before we do anything else. Need I remind you about the part of being a husband where I make all the decisions for you?”
Fear prickled her skin when she thought to voice her opinion on a husband’s dictate but worry and limited freedom had her wanting to speak up. “What if your decisions prove wrong?”
“I am never wrong.”
That he spoke with such confidence about an obviously flawed thought had her smiling. “No one is that perfect.”
There was a prettiness to her face when she smiled, and he couldn’t help but smile in return which unexpectedly caused him to rediscover his once effortless charm.
He continued smiling as he proudly announced, “I am cursed with perfection.”
Elsie laughed. “I do not know if I am blessed or cursed to have such a perfect husband.”
The sound of her genuine laughter poked at his heart. It seemed like forever since he had heard a woman laugh in response to his charmingly, teasing manner and he realized how much he had missed it. It also made him realize that Elsie might just make him a good wife as long as she wasn’t insane.
CHAPTER 4
Elsie was so hungry that she had to clasp her hands tightly together to keep from reaching out and snatching a piece of bread and cheese that her husband had pulled from a sack and placed them on it. It had been a whole day since she had eaten or had it been longer, she could not recall. She had found some silverweed and eaten the roots. Before that, and having no choice, she had dared to eat a small amount of blackthorn berries, knowing too many could make her seriously ill. But she had had no good, solid food since leaving the abbey and her stomach gurgled, reminding her of that.
“When did you eat last?” Cavell asked, hearing her stomach protest, and ripped a piece of bread off the loaf and snapped off a hunk of cheese to hand to her.
Her mouth watered for both, and she wanted to shove both into her mouth and finally silence her complaining stomach. But she didn’t. She took a small bite and finished chewing before she answered him.
“A day or more.”
“Eat,” Cavell said, imagining how harrowing her ordeal must have been and wondering how she had survived it.
Elsie had no problem doing as he said, her stomach grateful as she began to fill it and chase away the gnawing emptiness that she had had no choice but to ignore.
Cavell waited while she got some food into her then asked, “How did you ever escape that place?”
“I watched the daily habits of the monks and listened as they talked in our presence as if we did not exist. It was when I heard one monk complain that he believed another monk had stolen his robe after it had been washed, something they did not do often enough, that I knew if I could snatch one of the monks’ robes then I could easily walk right out of the monastery and be free to find you and have you help me free Leora and Sky.”
Curious to know how she had accomplished that, Cavell asked, “How did you get the robe?”
“It wasn’t difficult. I learned quickly upon arrival what happened when you didn’t stop protesting your internment there.” Her glance strayed in the distance from where they sat on the ground, past the stream that flowed busily nearby, it all disappearing as the image of that day returned to her. “Several monks tossed me into one of the large vats where their robes are washed. Thankfully the water had not been recently refreshed or it would have been scalding hot. It was barely warm. They dunked me beneath the water repeatedly, holding me under until I finally stopped fighting. Then they dumped me in the chapel and forced me to kneel in front of the altar and ordered me to pray for my madness to be forgiven. I was left alone for hours, no strength left in me to do anything but comply with their demands. I realized if I could be left alone again like that, then I could manage to steal one of their robes from the baskets the monks dropped their soiled or worn robes in to be washed or repaired. It sat just outside the washroom. I could grab one and make my escape. I managed to alert Leora to my plan and told her I would return with help and prayed she would relay the message to Sky so she would not lose hope.”