NINE

 

Thibault stayed for three days. Father allowed William to stay for almost three years, before summoning him home, too.

"I hope she is as lovely a girl as you could wish for, and you love her from the moment you lay eyes on her," Julia said as she bade William farewell.

William made a rude noise. "Father picked her out, so her only virtues are likely her dowry and the influence her family has, and what they can do for Father. It isn't like I need to even bed her – Aran has a wife and several children. Plenty of heirs to keep Father happy. But it is not me you should be worried about. Once I am married, his eye will fall upon you again, and he'll pick a husband for you next, so you have children you can pass Veluwe onto. I shall do my best to convince him to give you someone nice, for I don't imagine there are many men who deserve you. Few women could manage lands as well as you do Veluwe."

William only thought that because he had not seen Veluwe before the floods. Only half the fields had yielded a decent harvest this year, with the rest still full of salt. And the salt encroached more every year, turning fertile fields into desert.

"I do what I can," Julia said. Lately, that meant supplementing their stores with fish caught from the little sailing boat she ventured out in every morning. William did not know about that, either.

She waved to him from the gate, then ascended the tower and watched him until he was too far away to see. It would be four years more before another member of her family arrived in Veluwe and sought to interfere in her life, but after seven years as the Lady of Veluwe, she knew her people as well as they knew her, and they would stand firm to hold the land they fought the sea for, every day of their lives. Gone was the girl who'd dressed as a page for her journey here, and, while some days she might long for the silks she'd worn in her father's house, most days she preferred her woollen gowns, which could withstand the salt that blew in off the North Sea.

As it was now, for she could see another storm brewing. She clattered down the steps, calling for Amma to make sure everything was secured before the arrival of the coming storm.