CHAPTER 8
We lay like that for quite some time, him stroking my hair as both of our high emotions cooled off. It would be dark soon, and I knew Father would worry if I was not back. I brushed Guy's hair away from his beautiful blue eyes and smiled. "I must go," I said gently.
He sat up and looked at me longingly. "Come back to Gisbourne Manor with me," he said taking my hand.
"I won't and you know it," I said. Of course, my body had fully agreed on the spot that I should go with him. "I cannot leave Father's house until I am wed. And I will be no man's mistress."
He frowned, slightly annoyed. "Well, this is certainly the most awkward marriage proposal I've ever heard. Or is it bribery?"
"You tell me, you're the expert," I said, stifling a giggle. Guy's lips twisted in an attempt to hide a smile, but he continued to frown. "You drive a hard bargain, little lioness," he said, lightly tapping my nose. "I have already confessed my love to you. Isn't that enough?"
"Perhaps it is, for many," I said. "But not for me. I will be an honest, respected woman with a fair trade, and no one will take those things from me."
He propped himself on an elbow, regarding me quizzically. "What if they did?" he asked quietly. "What would you be then?"
"I would still be Nyssa," I said. "And I would still have, as you put it, my beautiful heart."
His eyes narrowed. "And if someone took that too?"
"I won't let it be taken," I said firmly. "They'd have to kill me to me make me an ugly person."
He considered this, stretching into a sitting position, his long legs slung over one of mine. "Well, I suppose you win all around then." He looked about the grove. "Why were you here taking a bath, anyway?"
I paused. Had he overheard my conversation with the thief? I hoped not. "Charmaine told me that my mother used to come to this place. It's where she found my lilies," I said shyly. His face softened a bit from its usual serious demeanor. "That's the story behind the lilies, why you cherish them so." He stroked my hand with his thumb. "Did she die very young?"
"Scarlet fever. When I was three, so I don't remember a lot of her but the scent of those flowers. They always smell like her to me." I thought of her signed parchment in the mill, and wished I could tell Guy, but something stopped me. I looked up at him. "I have to go."
"Fine," he said gruffly. "But I was will escort you back to your house. After all," he grinned. "you don't have the poker with you today."
I assented, and he swung me up onto Aomir, getting up afterwards himself and leading Gywnna behind. She seemed fairly content to follow Aomir, and it took us little time to make it down the hill, past Charmaine's house to the town road. We arrived at my house just as the sun was setting, and Father hurried out the door, chagrined to see me on Guy's stallion with Gwynna.
"Nyssa! Where have you been?" His eyes flicked to Gwynna's bare back, as if to ask me Did you find a place? I nodded back with my eyes and said casually,
"I found Mother's lilies in the woods, Father, and Sir Guy was of some assistance in saving me from a forest bandit." Guy had now gotten down from the horse and gently lifted me down as well. I felt very light in his arms, and I saw Father tense.
"A bandit? Well, then I thank you, Sir Guy. It is odd to me that you always seem to find my daughter alone," he said with apprehension.
"I know it, Master Edan." Guy answered, nonplussed. "I wanted to come here today so that you will know my intentions towards your family. I would like your permission to pay court to your daughter."
Both of us stared at him.
"Pay court…?" Father stuttered.
"Aye."
"You wish to marry Nyssa?"
"I do."
Father could not seem to understand this. "But, you are a lord and we are your vassals, Sir Guy."
"I don't care, Master Edan," Guy said simply. "Your daughter makes me want to be a better man. I can think of no better reason to take a wife."
I took a deep breath, before exploding into one of the biggest smiles I had ever experienced in my life. "Please say yes, Father," I said quietly, barely able to contain my excitement.
Father regarded Sir Guy carefully. I could tell he was not pleased by the idea. "I must admit, this match feels very odd to me. Tradesmen's daughters do not marry knights. Suppose things went poorly and she wanted to leave?"
"Then I would do anything in my power to stop her," Guy said. His hand gripped my shoulder tightly. "I would make right whatever was not."
Father continued to eye him. "That is not the answer I was hoping for, Sir Guy," Father said candidly.
"Master Edan, would you have let your wife go if she was unhappy?"
A pained look crossed Father's face. "I suppose not," He still hadn't let her go, I thought, after seventeen years. He stepped back, and said. "I shall see how you treat her, but for now, every visit is chaperoned. And I reserve the right to break off the courtship at any moment if I suspect you are abusing her."
"I would expect no less," Guy replied. He gracefully took my hand and put it into Father's, then slung himself up onto Aomir. "I will call on you tomorrow for Nyssa, Master Edan," he said, reining Aomir to the left, and then urged him into a gallop in the direction of the Manor.
"Stop staring," Father snapped as I watched his retreating figure. "Have you lost your mind, Nyssa? Why would you encourage that man?"
"Because he loves me," I said simply, and Father stiffened. "He told me so today, after he had saved me from the thief."
"Knights say many things to foolish girls to get what they want," Father retorted.
"He is not who you think!" I cried back. "He was so gentle to me today. Did you know that it was the Sheriff, not him, that gave the order to cut off Delaram's finger? And that he has forgiven the tax on the Sewards?"
Father mirrored my own reaction to this news. "And this is out of the goodness of his heart?" he said slowly.
"I believe so, and his love for me."
Defeated for the moment, Father sighed. "Come into the house, Nyssa. You're shivering." He opened the door to the warm kitchen, where I smelled bread baking. Lydia must have come by earlier. I turned to him. "So are you going to ask my permission if Lydia can court you?" I smiled.
"Of course not!" he snapped, flushing pink. "You know I have no interest in that woman –"
"—other than her bread," I said, and I had to agree. She was the finest baker in town and my mouth watered at the smell. Father laughed a bit then. "Well, yes. Come and have some dinner, then. I made a vegetable stew." Famished, I sat down to the table with him and devoured everything on my plate. He regarded me silently as he ate, and I could tell he was thinking heavily on Sir Guy's courtship.
"Nyssa," he said.
"Yes?"
I knew what he wanted to ask. He was worried that Guy had today conceived a child with me, but he was afraid to ask. I cut across his question smoothly. "There is no need for concern, Father." He opened his mouth and then shut it again.
"Fine. He comes tomorrow, then."
