Joanna’s eyes went cold.
Lucie took a deep breath. ‘How young were you when you and Hugh became lovers, Joanna?’
Joanna clutched the medal.
‘Young enough not to know what you did? Incest is not a venial sin, Joanna. Did Hugh rape you?’
Joanna’s eyes widened. She lifted her head from the pillow. ‘Rape?’ She gave a surprised little laugh. ‘Did your captain need to rape you? I think not. I think you rejoiced when you saw the hunger in his eye.’ She lay back down with a conspiratorial smile. ‘And why not love my brother? Why should I be denied perfection because I was his sister? You think your captain is handsome.’ She waved away anticipated protests. ‘Hugh was more handsome still. Strong, brave, everything a man should be. I adored him.’ Joanna shrugged her eyebrows. ‘That, too, is sinful.’
Lucie wondered about this new mood. ‘Then you did plan to run away together?’
Joanna’s eyes were teasing one moment, filled with tears the next, though she tried to keep the smile frozen on her face. ‘We were off to France.’ A sob escaped. Joanna dabbed at her eyes. The smile vanished. ‘But he was not perfection. What he did to Will Longford — ’ She shook her head, closed her eyes. Her paleness worried Lucie. Even Joanna’s lips were chalky. Lucie offered her the cup of wine. Joanna drank with one eye on Lucie. ‘I could not confess this sin to Brother Wulfstan.’
Odd that Brother Wulfstan inspired a timidity in Joanna. No one else seemed to. ‘You are attempting to commit an even more serious sin — to end your life.’
‘It is Our Lady’s wish.’
Lucie knew the futility of arguing Joanna out of her delusion. ‘What did Hugh want with the seal of St Sebastian?’
Joanna looked surprised. ‘I have just told you my brother and I were lovers. Have I not shocked you?’
‘I want the truth. At the moment, that is all my concern.’
Joanna shrugged. ‘The seal would introduce Hugh as du Guesclin’s man and get us a safe conduct to France.’
‘From Scarborough?’
‘No. Farther south.’
‘Why France?’
‘No one would know we were brother and sister. We could be wed.’
Lucie marvelled at the naïvety. Joanna and Hugh had reckoned without the long reach of the Church. But perhaps the Church turned a blind eye to du Guesclin. So they had planned to marry. ‘What of Stefan?’
Joanna turned away. ‘He never offered marriage.’
‘I am surprised your brother did. Mercenaries rarely attach themselves to a family. But then, Hugh must have loved you very much to be so angry with Longford.’
Joanna’s breath caught. She crossed herself. ‘I cannot forgive what he did to Longford. I thought it had been quick. But what he must have suffered! Dear God, when I felt the earth raining on me, I could not remember how to draw breath. I could not scream. The earth was crushing me, pressing into me.’
‘I did not think they had truly buried you.’
Joanna shook her head. ‘But the feeling.’
‘You told this to Hugh?’
‘He already hated Longford. What I told him was just the excuse. Longford had made Hugh look a fool to the Percies. I know Hugh. That is why he left without a word. He knew I would not want him to do it.’
‘He was a cruel man?’
‘He once burned the hand of a servant for a silly mistake. Hugh laughed while the boy howled. I could not bear it. I grabbed the boy’s hand and pressed it into the snow.’ Joanna’s voice suddenly flattened. ‘My Mother hated Hugh.’
‘Yet you loved him.’
‘It takes strength to be cruel.’
Lucie thought the opposite. ‘Why did your mother hate her son?’
Joanna struggled to sit up, refusing Lucie’s help. She drew her knees up to her chest, wrapped her arms about her legs as if anchoring herself. ‘The way she died, walking into the water. . Did she take her life? Because of him? Or because of us?’
Lucie said nothing.
‘Mother came upon us. Naked, in my bed. Hugh and I. She did not punish us. She simply said that a child born of us would be cursed. She gave me a plant to chew, so that I should not beget monsters.’
‘Did you go to St Clement’s in repentance? Is that why you took your vows?’
Joanna pressed her forehead to her knees. ‘If I could not have Hugh, I thought I wanted no man. But I was wrong. I found Stefan.’
So she had loved Stefan. At least cared for him. ‘Where is Stefan, Joanna?’
Joanna raised her eyes to Lucie’s. The green eyes swam with tears. ‘He is no more.’ The voice a quivering whisper.
‘What happened?’
Joanna closed her eyes, rocked from side to side, letting the tears fall. ‘He had a wife. Did you know?’
‘Yes,’ Lucie whispered.
‘Jesu, I am accursed. My love is always sin.’
‘Stefan followed you to Hugh’s house?’
‘Hugh told me what he had done. But not the whole truth, not like your captain said. Hugh only said he had returned to Beverley to bury Longford in my grave — alive. He promised to protect me. Care for me.’ Her voice broke. Lucie handed her the wine. Joanna drank. ‘He had the seal. He had written letters for our safe passage, sealed with Sebastian’s emblem. We would go to France. But we must go quickly. Right then. He was gathering his things. He said the house was no longer safe. His men had deserted him.’
‘Stefan heard this?’
‘I do not know what he heard. I think he heard much of it.’
‘Please, Joanna. Why did Stefan kill Hugh?’
Joanna’s face was flushed with wine and emotion. ‘I told Hugh I did not believe that he meant to take me with him. He would desert me again. Stefan was better for me. He had saved me.’ She shook her head. ‘Hugh told me Stefan had not meant to save me, he had simply not liked the idea of burying me alive, which is what Longford meant to do. Stefan thought it was too untidy. He preferred poison. A subtler, painless way to get rid of me and still hurt Hugh.’
This did not sound like the man Edmund described. ‘Is that true, Joanna?’
Joanna shook her head, still clutching her knees to her chest. ‘Hugh lied. He was jealous. I had told him that I was trying to have Stefan’s baby, so he wanted me to hate Stefan. And I saw that.’ Her eyes softened with tears. ‘I saw the yearning in Hugh’s eyes. I could not hurt him. Not Hugh. He pulled me to him and kissed me. That was all it ever took. In a few kisses we were naked and rolling on the floor. Suddenly someone grabbed me and pushed me aside. Stefan. His face was so dark. So angry. I had not seen that side of him. Hugh was naked and unarmed, weak from sex. I reached for Hugh’s things — to cover him — but Stefan struck me on the head. I was stunned.’ Joanna sobbed. ‘Dear God, I wish I had been unconscious. I could not stop Stefan, I could not help Hugh, I could only watch. Stefan drew his dagger and fell upon my beautiful brother.’ She moaned. ‘He stabbed him again and again. His chest, his stomach, his throat, even his face.’ She covered her eyes with her hands. ‘Blood danced in the room. It sprayed Stefan and me. When I stepped onto the floor I slipped in it. Hugh’s blood was in my mouth, on my eyes. My brother’s blood. Stefan slapped me and shouted for me to stop screaming. I did not know I was screaming. He slapped me so hard I fell and hit my head. I could not stand up. I was so afraid — for myself — I knew with all that blood Hugh must be dead. Stefan wrapped me in something and carried me away.’ Joanna drank down the wine.
Lucie refilled the cup, gave it to Joanna, then walked slowly to the window in a daze of blood. She gulped air. Turning, not wishing to sit just yet, she asked, ‘Where did Stefan take you?’
Joanna looked oddly calm. ‘A cave. By the ocean.’ Her voice was steady. ‘He would not speak to me. Would not let me touch him.’
‘Why did you stay with him?’
Joanna frowned as if puzzled. ‘Why, to murder him.’ Her direct look, a challenge rather than an apology, chilled Lucie. ‘He had murdered my Hugh. He must die.’ A long, shuddering sigh. ‘I had much time to think. I remembered what Hugh had said, how they had meant to poison me. And I believed him. How could someone who had loved me do this to me? And I thought how Hugh had murdered Longford as Longford had meant to murder me. So I planned his poisoning.’