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beautiful than any gown. She was a small woman with curves to make a man gasp. Her auburn hair hung down her back to her waist, ending in heavy curls. Her strong jaw was set and she held her chin high. Even now as she thought of the dreadful events to come, her lips were full and soft. But her eyes were what riveted attention. They were a rich, deep gold that grabbed the sunlight and reflected it off the gold of her gown.
    She turned her head slightly and looked outside at the beautiful day. At any other time she would have been pleased by the weather, wanting to ride across the fields of fragrant flowers. But today she sat very still, careful not to move and crease the gown. It was not the dress that kept her so still, but the heaviness of her thoughts. For today was her wedding day
    —a day she had long dreaded. This day would end her freedom and all happiness as she knew it.

    Suddenly the door burst open and her two maids entered the large room. Their faces were pink from just having raced back from the church where they had gone to get an early look at the groom.
    "Oh, my lady," Maud said. "He is so handsome! He is tall with dark hair, dark eyes and shoulders… !" She held her arms out to their fullest extent. She sighed dramatically. "I don't see how he managed the doorways. He must turn to the side." Her eyes danced as she watched her mistress. She did not like to see Judith so unhappy.
    "And he walks like this," Joan said as she threw back her shoulders until the blades nearly touched and took several long, firm strides across the room.
    "Yes," Maud said. "He is a proud one. As proud as all those Montgomery men. They act as if they own the world."
    "I wish they did," Joan giggled, then rolled her eyes at Maud, who tried hard not to laugh with her.
    But Maud was more interested in her mistress, and for all their teasing, Judith had not given even a hint of a smile. Maud held her hand, signaling Joan to be silent. "My lady," she said quietly, "is there anything you wish?
    There is time before you leave for the church. Perhaps—"
    Judith shook her head. "I am past help now. Is my mother well?"
    "Yes, she is resting before she must ride to the church. It is a long distance and her arm—" Maud stopped, sensitive to her mistress's look of pain. Judith blamed herself for Helen's broken arm. Her own conscience was enough without Maud's clumsy reminders. Maud could have kicked herself. "You are ready, then?" she asked gently.
    "My body is ready. It's just my thoughts that need more time. Would you and Joan see to my mother?"
    "But my lady—"
    "No," Judith interrupted. "I would like to be alone. It may be my last moment of privacy for some time. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?"
    She looked back toward the window.
    Joan started to reply to her melancholy mistress's words, but Maud stopped her. Joan could not understand Judith. She was rich, this was her wedding day and, best of all, her husband was a young and handsome knight. Why was she not happy? Joan shrugged her shoulders in dismissal as Maud pushed her through the doorway.
    For weeks the preparations for Judith's wedding had been taking place.

    It was to be a sumptuous and elaborate affair, and would cost her father a year's rents. She had kept the books for every purchase, noting the thousands of ells of cloth to be used for the massive canopies to shelter the guests, totaling the food to be served; a thousand pigs, three hundred calves, a hundred oxen, four thousand venison pasties, three hundred tuns of ale. On and on the lists went.
    And all for something she desperately did not want.
    Most girls were reared to think of marriage as part of their future, but not Judith. From the day of her birth, Judith had been treated differently.
    Her mother had been worn out from miscarriages and years spent with a husband who beat her at every opportunity when finally her daughter was born. Helen looked at the tiny bit of red-haired life and lost her heart to it.
    Whereas