The Discarded Countess

Divorce. The word hit Elan

like a ton of lead. She had heard whispers of it for nearly a year

now, Hywel needed an heir and it was unlikely he'd ever get one from

Elan. It was not for lack of trying though. Elan had tried everything

in her power to conceive a child, she'd prayed to the shrines of

Saint Anthony and Saint Philomena. She had tried ever tincture,

potion, and medicine that the healers had offered her. She had even

undergone an exorcism to rid herself of whatever demon was keeping

her from conceiving. It had all been for naught. The years passed and

no children ever came, the marriage grew strained and by the time

they passed year seven Hywel barely bothered to try for an heir . The

final straw had been when Hywel's mistress have given birth. It was

the final proof that the problem lay with Elan and not her husband.

After the child was born the rumblings about divorce began. Elan had

hoped that Hywel would honor their vows and that perhaps he still had

some fondness for her. Even though they had grown distant he had

still treated her with respect. He kept his affairs discreet and his

mistresses far from her.

In the end the need for an

heir prevailed over any vow or remaining love Hywel had for his wife.

In the end he hadn't even been brave enough to deliver the edict

himself, he had sent his steward, Briog, to break the news and attain

her consent. The encounter couldn't have been more awkward. Briog,

clearly uncomfortable had read off the edict of divorce and the

settlement Hywel had proposed to provide for her. Hywel had claimed

consanguinity, which was nonsense, their only shared relative was a

grandfather four generations back. However it took very little to

convince the church to either ignore or invoke the clause.

Elan's first instinct was

to fight back, she was Hywel's rightful wife and she was the Countess

of Talence. However by the time Briog had finished reading the

proposed settlement she knew it was pointless. Hywel was clearly

determined to divorce her, and he'd been exceptionally generous in

order to secure her cooperation. She would be able to live

comfortably with lands and annuity he was offering. Most discarded

wives were left destitute, and if Elan was difficult the same fate

might await her. Hywel could make her life very difficult, even if

she was successful in contesting the edict. She sat in awkward

silence as Briog shifted uncomfortably. He finally broke the silence.

Elan took a deep breath then gave Briog the reply he had been hoping

for.

"Tell my Lord Hywel that

I will accept this edict and his settlement," Elan said evenly. "I

hope that we can part ways as friends."

Briog regarded her with

sympathy and replied, "That is my Lord's hope as well, he believes

you were unaware of the sin in which this marriage was contracted and

wishes to compensate you fairly."

Elan dug her fingernails

into the table. The lie greatly irritated her, and knowing she'd have

to play along with it was almost more infuriating than being

discarded. She chose to hold her tongue, she didn't want Briog to

report back to his master any hint that Elan would prove difficult.

Without saying another word, Elan took up her quill and signed her

name to the edict and passed the parchment back across the table to

Briog, who gathered it up bowed respectfully to Elan and left.

Once the door closed behind

him, Elan gave way to tears and bitterness. She had failed in the one

task that a noblewoman was expected to accomplish and now she was

being set aside for someone who hopefully could. Elan brushed the

tears from her face and rose from her seat. She exited the room and

walked briskly down the cool dark hallway, turning into her chambers

and closed the door. She desired to be alone now, to take in what had

just happened and consider what was next.

Twelve years of marriage

had proven fruitless. Elan was now thirty and had slim hopes of

contracting a second marriage. She was still an attractive woman,

with long wavy auburn hair , delicate features, and lovely gray eyes.

One benefit to never having children was that she had kept a pleasing

figure. Perhaps some man would find these features pleasing enough to

take the risk of making her a wife. Unfortunately it would likely be

a widower, in need of someone to raise his children for him. Her

other option, the one she believed Hywel hoped for, was taking the

veil and becoming a nun. Elan did not want to do that, at least not

yet. She had not yet tired of the secular world and the thought of

being locked away in dreary convent did not appeal to her. For now it

seemed that Elan would take a third option. Hywel had allowed her to

keep her dower lands, which included a castle and the taxes from the

neighboring village of Carrigan.

Castle Carrigan had been

one that Elan had seldom visited during her married life. She did not

remember it being unpleasant, but it was certainly less grand than

their main castles of Llyn and Serenhilt. Hywel had let her keep the

jewels he'd given to her during her marriage, and a few pieces of

fine furniture. She could pawn some of the jewels and make the castle

as luxurious as the others. It was decided then. She'd collect what

was granted to her in the divorce and head for her exile in Carrigan.

She figured if she kept a low enough profile and caused no problems

for her former husband that her settlement would not be at risk. She

had no great desire to attend the court after her divorce. The pain

of seeing Hywel remarry and having to pay homage to whatever woman

replaced her, was more than Elan could tolerate. With her mind made

up, Elan stood to begin planning her exit. She had no desire to

linger any longer than she needed to.

Hywel felt a wave of relief

after Briog told him of Elan's reaction to the edict. He hadn't

really expected her to fight it, their marriage had never been a love

match and he'd been generous with the divorce. He hoped Elan might

eventually settle into a convent and her lands would revert back to

him, but for now he had no desire to press the issue. Right now his

concern was finding a suitable new wife and producing a legitimate

heir. The bastard he'd fathered with his mistress was proof that he

could have children, now he just needed legitimate ones.

Hywel was older than his

wife, nearing forty, and his age was starting to show. His once dark

hair was starting to gray and his face, often set in a determined

scowl, had lines. He was still lean and muscular and for now he still

enjoyed good health. However as he knew all too well, any moment he

could be carried off by an illness or injury. He was the last of his

family line, and if he died without children, House Dunlevy would

pass into obscurity and be forgotten. Hywel had to make a second

marriage and quickly. With how his first marriage had turned out he

didn't particularly relish the thought.

Despite his current

disappointment with Elan and how their marriage had ended, he had

felt differently twelve years ago. It was an arranged marriage, like

most marriages between highborn lords and ladies. However, when he'd

laid eyes on Elan for the first time at their wedding he was anything

but displeased.

She was pleasing to look

at, with her lovely reddish-brown hair, smooth flawless skin, and

glittering gray-green eyes. She was tall with an ample bosom and

curves in all the right places. It had been lust at first sight and

Hywel had been delighted with his luck in having such a lovely bride.

He had enjoyed the early days of their marriage. The lack of children

hadn't bothered him for the first few years, it allowed him to spend

more time with Elan just enjoying themselves. Then tragedy had struck

in the third year of their marriage.

Hywel's brother, always a

troubled man, had either jumped, been pushed, or had fallen from the

great tower of Castle Llyn. Eurig had been his only surviving sibling

and the two had always been close. They looked alike and were so much

in each other's company that they were sometimes mistaken for twins.

However Eurig had fallen into bad habits as an adult. He'd developed

a liking for ale and dice. He had also fallen in love with a woman

who was far too lowborn to ever be considered a potential wife. He

refused to discard her, and he refused to wed anyone else. This had

become a point of contention between Eurig and their parents. The

pressure was starting to mount, Eurig was still his brother's heir,

and furthermore the Dunlevy family was a diminishing race. Eurig

needed to marry a proper lady and have legitimate children just like

Hywel.

Eurig had resisted and the

pressure had only grown, and as their parents took more drastic steps

his vices became more pronounced. It had been when their father had

managed to pay off his long term lover to leave that he was truly

broken. She had been the daughter of a rat catcher, and about as

lowly as they came, to Hywel she had not been particularly pretty,

especially in comparison to his own wife. She had lank dark hair, a

sallow complexion, and dull blue eyes. To Eurig though she was

beautiful and he remained deeply devoted to her. When she was gone

he'd lost all desire to carry on. He spent his days at the dice table

and his nights at the ale house. Until one day this cycle of misery

came to be too much. Hywel preferred to believe he'd merely been too

drunk to see the large tower window, but, he felt in his heart that

his brother had deliberately walked through it.

After Eurig's death, all

the joy went out of the castle and the family disintegrated. Their

mother had died not long after her health breaking down completely

after the loss of her favorite son. Their father had carried on for

another two years in bitterness before he died in his sleep and left

Hywel as the last of his family. Also lost in the misery of his

brother's death were any feelings he had for Elan. She seemed like a

silly empty headed girl with her love of songs and how she spent her

days working on elaborate embroidery. It did not help that she failed

to ever become pregnant.

Hywel continued to treat

her with the respect that her station required, but as the years drew

on he found himself more and more repulsed by her. With children

seeming less and likely he more or less abandoned her bed and found

pleasure with other women. Women not so different from the one his

brother had loved. For many years these affairs also remained

fruitless until Alys. She had been his latest conquest, a courtesan

with yellowy-blond hair and too much face paint. When she became

pregnant he at first did not believe it was his child, Alys certainly

was no virgin when he'd began his affair, but she maintained that it

was his.

The boy had been born the

last summer and as he grew, any doubts Hywel had about his parentage

began to fade. The child had inherited little of his mother's looks,

but as he grew he bore a strong resemblance to Hywel, the dark hair

and squared jaw were traits that markedly resembled him. With this

proof that it was Elan who was cursed and not him, he had began

planning to set her aside. He had paid an exorbitant bribe to the

Bishop to obtain a dispensation for his divorce and he'd been overly

generous in his grants to his ex-wife. It was partially to keep her

from contesting the divorce and delaying a remarriage, and it was

also partially from guilt and a sense that he at least owed Elan a

comfortable existence. She had been a dutiful wife in every other

way, she had kept a tight household budget, and turned a blind eye to

his affairs. He could part with a bit of his income and a castle to

keep her placated and comfortable.

He had not given Elan much thought in years and he had regarded her with near disdain, but now

that their marital bonds were severed he felt a great despair and

even a slight regret. He believed that he had loved or at least liked

her once. She was still a great beauty, she could run a household,

and her manners were refined and courteous. She had great talent with

embroidery, and many of his tapestries had been her work. He hoped

she might leave a few of them behind, though he had granted her all

of them in the divorce agreement.

Still, it was what had to be done. He had a duty to his house and his family, long dead as they

might be, to continue the Dunlevy line. This duty had killed his

brother and driven his parents to an early grave. Hywel could not let

their sacrifices be in vain. He would do what was required of him,

and who knew. Elan was not the only comely woman out there, perhaps a

second wife would be even more pleasing. Perhaps their personalities

would be better suited to each other as well. Elan had never cared

much for hunting or tournaments like Hywel had.

With this issue settled

Hywel closed his eyes and braced himself for his next task, blew out

the candle at his desk and retired for the night. He did not go to see

Elan, he had not been able to work up the fortitude to face her

himself. He did not want to see the look of hurt and disappointment

on her face and did not want to face the fact that he was the one who

had caused it. In the end he had sent Briog to sort it out and then

left her to decide her future without his interference.