‘I see.’ And Lucien did. It was the personal losses that made a man or a woman fervent and Alejandra was certainly that.
‘Are there other relatives?’
‘An uncle down south somewhere, but they are not close.’
‘Friends, then, apart from you?’
‘This is a fighting unit, ranging across this northern part of Spain with the express purpose of causing chaos and mayhem. Most of the women are gone either to safety or to God. It is a dangerous place to inhabit.’
‘Here today and gone tomorrow?’
‘Exactly.’
‘Was it Alejandra who hurt your wrist?’
‘It was. I asked her to be my wife and she refused.’
Lucien smiled. ‘A comprehensive no, then.’
‘The bruise on her face was an accident. I dragged her down the stairs with me after losing my footing. She said she would never marry anyone again and even the asking of it was an insult. To her. She never listens, you see, never takes the time to understand her own and ever-present danger.’
‘She loved her husband, then?’
The other man laughed. ‘You will need to ask her that, señor.’
‘I will. So you think her father would harm her?’
‘El Vengador? Not intentionally. But your presence here is difficult for them both. Alejandra wants you well enough to travel, but Enrique only wants you gone. The title you hold has swung opinion in your favour a little, but with the slightest of pushes it could go the other way and split us all asunder. Better not to care too much about the health and welfare of others in this compound, I think. Better, too, to have you bundled up and heading for home.’
A safer topic, this one. But every word that Tomeu had spoken told Lucien something of his authority. A man like El Vengador would not be generous in his fact sharing, yet this young man had a good knowledge of the conversation he had just had with Alejandra’s father. Lucien had seen him glance at the signet ring back on his finger and in the slight flare of his eyes he had understood just what Tomeu did not say.
He was a lieutenant perhaps, or at least one who participated in the decision-making for the group. The young face full of smiles and politeness almost certainly masking danger, for the lifeblood of the guerrilla movement was brutality and menace.
Had Alejandra’s father sent Tomeu to sound him out? Had Alejandra herself? Or was this simply a visit born from expediency and warning?
Thirty-two years of living had made Lucien question everything and in doing so he was still alive.
‘What of her groom’s family? Could she go there to safety?’
‘My cousin, señor, and they want the blood of the Fernandez family more than anyone else in Spain. More than the French, even, and that is saying something.’
This was what war did.
It tore apart the fabric and bindings of society and replaced them with nothing. He thought of his own immediate family in England and then of his large extended one of aunts, uncles and cousins. Napoleon and the French had a lot to answer for the wreckage that was the new Europe. He suddenly wished he was home.
‘I am sorry...’ Lucien left the words dangling. Sorry for them all. It was no answer, he knew, but he could promise nothing else. As if the young man understood, he, too, turned for the door.
‘Do not trust anyone on your trip to the west.’
‘I won’t.’
‘And watch over Alejandra.’
With that he was gone, out into the fading night of a new-coming dawn, for already Lucien could hear the first chorus of birdsong in the misty air.
The anger in Alejandra was a red stream of wrath, filling her body from head to foot, making her hot and cold and sick.
Tomeu had left, travelling south into more danger, and the Englishman was in his usual place on the pathway between the olive trees, struggling to walk.
Up and down. Slowly. He was not content with a small time of it, either, but had been there for most of the morning, sweat everywhere despite the cold of the day.
He was getting better, that much she could tell. He did not limp any more or lean over his injuries like a snail in a shell, cradling his hurt. No, straight as any soldier, he picked his way from this tree to that one and then back again, using the seat on every third foray now to stop and find breath.
Stubborn.
Like her.
She smiled at that thought and the tension released a little. She knew he must have his knife upon him for she had been into his room whilst he was out there and checked; a poor choice that, an act of thieves and sneaks. It was who she had become here, in this war of Spain. Her mother would have castigated her severely for such a lapse of decorum, but now no one cared. She had become part of the campaign to please her father, dressing as a boy and assembling intelligence because he was all she had left of family.
Lucien Howard suddenly saw her for he raised his hand in greeting. So very English. Someone like him, no doubt, would keep his manners intact even upon his deathbed. It was why his country did so well in the world, she reasoned, this conduct of decency and rectitude even in the face of extreme provocation.
‘I had a visit from your friend Tomeu last night.’
Shocked, she could only stare at him.
‘Well, that answers my first question,’ he returned and sat down. ‘I thought you might have known.’
‘What did he say?’ A thousand things ran around in her head, things that she sincerely hoped he had not told this Englishman.
‘That you were married to his cousin. For a month.’
‘A short relationship,’ she gave back, hating the way her voice shook with the saying of it.
‘Tomeu also confided that he himself had asked you to be his wife, but you had refused.’
All of the secrets that were better hidden. ‘He was talkative, then.’
‘Unlike you. He implied you were in danger here.’
At that she laughed. ‘Implied? It surrounds us, Capitán. Three hundred thousand enemy troops with their bloodthirsty generals and an emperor who easily rules Europe.’
‘I think he might have meant danger on a more personal level.’
‘To me?’
When he nodded she knew exactly what Tomeu had said, for he had used the same arguments on her when she had broken his wrist.
‘He talks too much and I did not ask for your help. It was you who needed mine.’
He ignored that sarcasm. ‘He said the trip west might be difficult. The power your father holds has aggravated those who would take it from him, it seems. Including Tomeu.’
At that she smiled. ‘When my father asks you again to aid the effort for Spanish independence, say yes, even if you have no intention of doing so.’
‘Because he will kill me if I don’t?’
‘He is a man with little time to accomplish all he feels he must. To him you are either the means to an end or the end. Your life depends on how much honour you accord to your word, Capitán. My advice would be to allot it none.’
‘A promise here means nothing?’
‘Less than nothing. Integrity is one of