Medieval Ever After Read Online Free

toes. “I am a knight in the service of King Edward, as I also served his father. I am Baron Lamberton of Ravensdowne Castle in Northumbria and will inherit the title of Baron Pembury upon my father’s death. I am also formerly a member of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta. I am therefore an accomplished knight with wealth and status and you, my lady, are to have the honor of becoming my wife.”
    He looked at her as he finished his sentence. Joselyn stared at the man, digesting his words, her features registering shock, surprise and disbelief in that order.
    “Wife?” she repeated, stunned. “But… but I cannot marry.”
    “You can and you will,” Stephen told her, “and before you throw yourself into fits of hysterics, know that this is not my doing, but the king’s. He has ordered us to wed to cement an alliance between the rebels and conquerors of this city. To resist, for either of us, would be futile.”
    Joselyn’s pale blue eyes were wide with astonishment. She felt so much shock at the announcement that it was difficult to comprehend. She also felt a great deal of fear and embarrassment, knowing that the reasons behind her resistance might very well negate the deal. They were reasons she’d not spoke of since they had happened. But now, cornered by the big knight who was to be her husband, she found the horrific reasons filling her thoughts. It was making her ill simply to recollect that which she had tried so hard to forget.
    “But you do not understand, my lord,” she said, her voice quivering. “It is impossible for me to wed.”
    “Why?”
    Her face, even in the dark, flamed a deep, dull red. She knew she must tell him but it was a labor of the greatest strain to bring forth the words.
    “Because I have been living in a convent since I was eleven years of age,” she replied. “I am meant for the cloister.”
    “Those plans have now changed.”
    “But they cannot!” she snapped, banking swiftly when she saw the look on his face. She had a healthy fear of this knight whom she did not know. “Please believe me, my lord, it is nothing against marriage in general. I have never been meant for any marriage.”
    Stephen inhaled deeply, wearily, and rested his enormous hands on his slender hips. “I understand your commitment to the cloister,” he moved towards her slowly. “I, too, was committed to a monastic order but that is no longer the case. Sometimes the needs of country and king overshadow even those of the Church. Surely you understand that.”
    She moved away from him as he came closer, the tartan falling away from her head. She had cascades of luscious dark hair, slightly curly, giving her an ethereal loveliness in the weak light. For as much turmoil going on inside of him, even Stephen noticed it. With her pale blue eyes, nearly black hair and finely sculpted features, she was an exquisite creature.
    “I suspect my reasons for committing myself to the cloister are different from yours,” she inched away from him as he drew close. “Perhaps you recanted your vows, but I will not recant mine. My reasons are firm enough that I cannot ever marry.”
    “Have you actually taken your vows yet?”
    She almost lied to him but her truthful nature had her shaking her head before she could think. “Nay,” she murmured. “Not yet. I am due to take them after the New Year.”
    “How old are you?”
    “I have seen twenty-two years.”
    He lifted a dark eyebrow and halted his advance; he could see that she was moving away from him. “If you have been in the cloister eleven years, why have you not taken your vows before now? If you were serious about becoming a nun, then you should have taken those years ago.”
    She lowered her gaze with uncertainty. “I… that is, the sisters would not let me. Not yet. They said that I still had penitence to do.”
    “Penitence for what?”
    Her eyes flew to him and her breathing began to grow