Betrayal (Book 2: Time Enough to Love) Read Online Free

Braeton bent over her, chaffing her hands. As the princess entered, he looked up, his face set in harsh lines. “She swooned, Highness.” He scooped Alyse into his arms, gazed around the room then looked beseechingly at the princess.
    She understood well the depth of feeling between her waiting woman and Geoffrey Longford. Alyse would need many days to recover from this blow. “Take her to her bed chamber, Lord Braeton. When she wakes, she will likely desire the comfort of her own room.”
    The courtier nodded and strode out of the antechamber, not waiting for direction.
    The princess sped behind him, almost running to keep up with his hurried pace. The other women followed in her wake. The limp, insensible form cradled in Lord Braeton’s arms did not stir. Perhaps this respite from sorrow would prove a blessing for Alyse.
    Lady Anne wrung her hands, perhaps even more remorseful for her earlier comments, and ventured her question once more. “Highness, pray God tell us what has happened. Is Sir Geoffrey… dead ?” The girl barely whispered the word.
    Joanna turned to the women as Thomas paused, uncertain which hallway led to Alyse’s chamber. “Sir Geoffrey,” she said slowly, “married my cousin, Lady Mary Percy, early this morning.”
    “Mother of God!” slipped from Maurya’s lips, and Anne gasped, too stunned to speak. Both women halted, staring at her with dazed eyes.
    She ignored them and continued up the corridor to Thomas. “To the left, there, Lord Braeton.” She gestured to the courtier, impatiently searching for the correct hallway. “The last door on the right. Anne,” she spoke sharply to the young woman, who still stood staring in astonishment, “open the door to your chamber and show Lord Braeton the bed. We must attend to Lady Alyse.”
    Spurred by the princess’s unusually harsh tone, Anne shook herself and raced ahead of Thomas to do her bidding.
    Gently, Thomas laid Alyse on the bed. Again he chaffed her wrists then listened for her breathing. He nodded to himself then straightened to stare at the women. “Highness, she lives, but I know naught of such an illness.”
    Once again, Joanna employed the sharp tone she had used so seldom until today. “Go swiftly, Maurya, and fetch my father’s physician. Say only that one of my ladies has become ill and I have requested his assistance. Do you understand?”
    The older woman nodded then fled the chamber.
    Joanna hoped Alyse’s plight would be overlooked in the general uproar over the news that had reached the court that morning: Sir Roland of Longford had succumbed to his illness the week before, and Robert, Earl of Longford, had privately petitioned the king to set aside his sole surviving son’s betrothal contract to Alyse de Courcy and allow the contract between Sir Roland and Lady Mary Percy to instead be honored by his brother. Joanna, whose own marriage had been arranged without any regard for her wishes, understood her father’s reasoning well. He would see little substance to marriage beyond an arrangement for wealth or position. And her father himself had wanted the alliance with Longford. It mattered not which son.
    She sighed. Publicly, she would have to withhold judgment against her father for allowing the contracts to be altered. Men seldom took into account affairs of the heart. Knowing Alyse, however, and her devotion to Geoffrey, Joanna privately condemned her father’s decision for the lives it had rent asunder.
    Her only hope now was that her Alyse would grieve but a short while then accept the inevitability of another betrothal. Perhaps when they reached Spain, an arrangement with a Spanish noble would be acceptable. Joanna resolved to speak to her father about that possibility immediately.
    Joanna glanced at the handsome courtier still standing over the small form on the bed, regarding Lady Alyse with a look of compassion. “Lord Braeton, I thank you for your assistance with Lady Alyse, but you may retire. The