William pointed. “Up that road,” he said. “A farmer has a big, white barn and the horses are inside. I promised him that he would be well-paid to feed and shelter them.”
“Good,” Caius said. “And he shall. While my lady wife and I retreat to the inn next to the church, I would have you do a few things for me.”
William grinned, looking between Caius and Emelisse. “You have married already?”
As Emelisse nodded, flushing, Caius answered. “We have,” he said. “A short ceremony with three priests present. I asked that they record it in their book along with births and deaths, and it was. We have proof should de Wrenville contest it.”
William kept smiling, most at Emelisse, who seemed mortified that he was looking at her so. The thought of marriage, and the marital bed, titillated the young man. Caius thought it was all rather comical, but he snapped his fingers so William would look at him and not his embarrassed wife.
“De Wolfe,” he said. “Look at me. I need you to do something for me.”
William turned to him eagerly. “My lord?”
“First, go and pay the man for the horses,” Caius said, digging in his coin purse and putting several coins in William’s open palm. “When you are finished with that, I want you to walk the village, looking for any signs that we have been followed.”
Emelisse looked up at him with some fear. “Do you believe we have been?”
Caius looked over her head, down into the bustling heart of the village. “It is difficult to say,” he said. “They will find the dead soldier eventually and knowing you escaped, they will probably think you killed him. But Morgan and I are both missing, so they might think it was one of us even though rumor will say we had gone after you to bring you back. In any case, it is possible they might try to find us by sending men into the surrounding villages. It is possible that they could come here.”
That didn’t ease her fear, but she didn’t question him. She simply nodded, understanding that, even now, there was still a risk. But Caius didn’t dwell on it. He returned his attention to William.
“While you were watching for Winterhold men, I want you to find a vendor who sells rings,” he said.
“Rings, my lord?” William cocked his head.
Caius held up his hand, wriggling his fingers. “You know – rings,” he said. “Wedding rings. My wife needs a wedding ring.”
William nodded with understanding. “Of course, my lord,” he said. “Should I send him to the inn so the lady can select one?”
Before Caius could reply, Emelisse shook her head. “I do not need to select one,” she said. “I do not even need a ring, truly.”
Caius looked at her. “Aye, you do,” he said. “I want you to have one.”
There was something both flattering and possessive in his statement. He was looking at her with warmth in those black eyes so capable of changing when the mood struck him. Already, she knew that about him. He wanted her to have a ring, so she would. Truth be told, she wanted the world to know she belonged to him, too. There was something binding about a wedding right because he cared enough to give her one. Therefore, she conceded the point without a fight and returned her attention to William.
“Something simple is fine,” she said. “A simple gold band is sufficient.”
She held up her hand and then held William’s up, comparing the size of their fingers. Even at William’s young age, he had a big hand, so she looked for the finger that was closest to the one she would put the ring on. She settled on the smallest finger on his left hand.
Armed with his orders and a general idea of the size of ring he needed to find, William took off for the livery. Caius took Emelisse by the hand once more and turned her in the direction of the inn that was across the avenue from the church.
“The White Bear,” he said as he read the sign on the inn. “It looks like a big place. I hope their food is good.”
Emelisse could read the sign, too. Her father had taught her to read as a child. With every step they took, she was growing more and more nervous. She could hardly believe that she was married to a man she would have believed well beyond her reach.
“I am sure it is quite sufficient,” she said. “It has been here a long time. I can remember seeing it when we would come to town for mass.”
Caius’ gaze returned to her, lingering on the woman he had just married. He had briefly wondered if he would feel any regret in this moment, but he found that he did not. In fact, he was quite excited about it. Surely it wasn’t for the property he had just acquired through her, or any wealth or political connections, for she had none of those. He was simply excited about her.
This woman who could make his heart jump with merely a look.
“Tell me about your life before Winterhold,” he said as they strolled towards the structure. “You told me once that it was so peaceful you never even raised the drawbridge.”
She smiled faintly. “Nay,” she said. “We never did. The chains were rusted because it had been in the same lowered position for so long. Caius, I wish you could have seen Hawkstone before de Wrenville decided he wanted it. It was like… like a paradise. As a child, it was a wonderful place to grow up.”
“And it will be again,” he said. “To raise children, I mean. I will spare no expense in restoring it.”
She came to a halt, looking at him. “That is not why I married you,” she said. “I do not expect you to pay for the restoration of the castle.”
He shrugged. “It is of little matter,” he said. “The property became mine when I married you. But if you feel so strongly against me spending my money for it, we can use The Roden Twins. I am sure they will be more than enough to pay for it.”
Emelisse suddenly lowered her gaze, an expression of pain crossing her features. Caius’ brow furrowed.
“Why do you look like that?” he asked. “What is the matter?”
She looked up at him, the pain in her expression becoming heavier by the moment. She finally pulled her hand from his and turned away, wandering back the way they had come. Concerned, he followed, grabbing her by the arm so she couldn’t move any further.
“Emelisse, what is wrong?” he demanded softly.
When she finally looked at him again, there were tears streaming down her face.
“Oh… Caius, forgive me,” she begged, her lower lip trembling. “I lied to you. I never thought… I was trying to save my own life and I lied to you. I am so sorry.”
He frowned. “What about?”
She wiped at her tears with the back of her hand. “The Roden Twins,” she said. “And… and our allegiance to France.”
He dropped his grip from her, his expression hardening. There were a great many things rolling through his mind at that moment, not the least of which being the fact that he had trusted her so implicitly through this whole situation. He was usually much less trusting with people he didn’t know, but with her, it had come easily. He had staked his reputation for her. He had even fallen for her.
Aye, he could admit that. He had fallen for her. Therefore, her words were like a punch to his gut.
He was trying very hard not to feel a horrific sense of dread.
“You had better be extremely clear on what you are about to tell me,” he said.
He sounded cold and hard. Emelisse had never heard that tone from him before, but she didn’t blame him. It was a secret she had been sitting on for almost a year, something she had learned to bury deep as if it had never happened. It was something she had never planned to speak of, but now… now, she felt as if she had no choice.
Better sooner than later.
“I… I should have told you this before,” she said. “My father and brother swore me to secrecy and I promised I would never, ever speak of it. I never intended to. But you are my husband and Hawkstone is yours, so you must know that we no longer have The Roden Twins.”
“Why not? Where are they?”
She hung her head, miserably. “It is true that my
father has never even been to France,” she said. “That was not a lie. But my mother’s family is French and they have property in the Loire Valley. The family name is le Leroux and they are powerful warlords near Angers.”
His cold expression didn’t change. “Go on.”
She took a deep breath. “A year ago, when it was clear de Wrenville would eventually overrun us, my father wrote to my mother’s family and asked for assistance,” she said. “They responded, but it was not favorable. They wanted something for sending aid – money. My father sent them the only thing of value we had, The Roden Twins. They never came and they never responded. My father was so ashamed that he made me swear never to tell a soul. If anyone asked, I was to tell them that someone stole The Roden Twins.”
Caius had been waiting for something more devastating but, so far, none of what she said was anything close to shattering. He lifted his eyebrows.
“That’s it?” he said. “Your father sent the diamonds to France and he was cheated out of them?”
She nodded solemnly. “Caius, he was so ashamed,” she said miserably. “He was ashamed that my mother’s family did not think enough of us to send us help. They took our diamonds and simply kept them.”
Caius scratched his head. “Is that where de Wrenville got the idea that you were loyal to the king of France?”
She shrugged. “It is possible,” she said. “He had men watching us constantly – who came, who left, where they went. It is possible someone told him we had been sending missives to France.”
“And that is all there is to the situation?”
“That is all, I swear upon my mother’s grave.”
It all made perfect sense to Caius and he realized that he was relieved beyond measure. Emelisse had such a guileless way about her that he didn’t sense any deception. He was usually very good at sniffing out lies and subversion, but he genuinely didn’t sense any of that with her. The woman had told a lie, small as it was, and she had confessed before things got out of hand. He appreciated that.
He appreciated her.
Reaching out, he cupped her face in his two big hands.
“When this situation settles, I will send an army to regain those diamonds,” he said. “And your mother’s family will know what I think about people who take expensive tokens in exchange for empty promises. But you will swear to me this very instant that you will never again lie to me or withhold the truth. Never again. I told you that my trust is given only once and although this situation was extremely minor, you were not as honest as you could have been about it. You even offered them up to me if I would bring my army to Hawkstone. If I had agreed, what were you going to do?”
She eyed him remorsefully. “I do not know,” she said. “I did it out of desperation, truly. I hoped something would come to me when it came time for payment, but I truly do not know. I suppose I am not very good at negotiating.”
“You were very good. You had me believing that you had The Roden Twins.”
She shrugged. “But I did not,” she said. “I am truly sorry for lying. I suppose I did not tell you all of it because at the time we discussed such things, I did not really know you. I still do not really know you, but you are my husband now and you must know everything. Even our embarrassment.”
He smiled faintly, letting her know that he wasn’t angry with her. In fact, he understood her reasoning. “Then promise me that you will never lie to me again.”
“I swear it,” she said fervently. “With all my heart, I swear it.”
He believed her. Perhaps it was foolish of him to, but instinct told him that she was true.
He hoped his instincts weren’t wrong.
They turned back to the inn.
The White Bear was a two-storied timber structure on the corner of the main road through Whitchurch and a smaller road that ran parallel to the church. The road around it was full of mud puddles and dirty banks of snow, and Caius had to lift Emelisse over the filthy snowbanks in order to get her to the front door. She was wearing Lady de Wrenville’s traveling dress, which was too long, and already the bottom of it, in spite of her best efforts, was wet and dirty.
Caius opened the heavy, beaten door and the world of The White Bear appeared. It was warm and stale and crowded, packed with patrons in the enormous common room, which had a sunken middle that didn’t have any tables or chairs. People were simply gathering in the middle of it, eating food from their hands or downing their drinks. Some were even sitting on the floor.
On the perimeter of the common room, however, it was raised and the floor was wood. There were tables and chairs on this level and every single one of them was crowded. Because of the inclement weather the night before, and the icy temperatures this morning, People didn’t seem to want to leave the warm, stuffy chamber.
Caius stood at the entry and inspected the layout of the room. He held on to Emelisse tightly, as an inn like this, especially in bad weather, tended to draw all sorts of unsavory characters. He was fairly certain there were pickpockets and thieves among the patrons, which meant he would have to keep close watch on his possessions and his wife.
He didn’t want to lose either.
His wife. God’s Bones, it felt odd to even think such a thing. But in looking at Emelisse, he’d never felt such a thrill in his life.
She belonged to him.
But he had come here for a purpose and it wasn’t to daydream over the lovely creature he had married. He had a marriage to consummate and he intended to do it immediately. As he studied the general layout of the inn, he could see that there were private rooms to the rear of the structure. He could see people entering and exiting the smaller rooms that had curtains in their doorways for privacy. Armed with that knowledge, he went on the hunt for the innkeeper.
Since the inn was so crowded, it took a few moments for him to hunt down a serving wench. He told the women what he needed and once she had deposited her load of drink to the nearest table, she disappeared into the back of the establishment where the kitchens were. In little time, a big, barrel-chested man dressed in surprisingly fine clothing emerged from the kitchens. The serving wench was standing beside him and she pointed to Caius. The innkeeper headed straight for him.
“What is thy wish, my lord?” the man asked, wiping his hands on his apron.
“A private room for my wife and me to share our meal,” Caius said. “We also require one of your best sleeping chambers. I am willing to pay better than anyone else in this establishment, so think carefully on your answer.”
The innkeeper frowned as if immediately insulted, but when Caius produced a good many coins, the man shut his mouth.
“I can offer you a fine chamber upstairs,” he said. “It has its own area to dine in, plus a comfortable bed. Are you opposed to eating and sleeping in the same chamber?”
Caius shook his head. “That is preferable.”
“Good,” the man said, greedily taking the coins Caius gave him. “Give me a few moments to have the wench sweep the chamber and then I shall have her take you to it. Meanwhile, sit. I shall bring you the finest wine I have while you wait. No cost, my lord.”
Emelisse quickly tugged on Caius and when he leaned down, she whispered in his ear. Nodding, he relayed the request to the innkeeper.
“My wife does not tolerate wine very well,” he said. “Do you have anything else she can drink that does not involve ale or wine?”
The man nodded, looking to the lady and offering a yellow-toothed smile. “I do,” he said. “Nectar for the gods. Sit, please. I shall return.”
There happened to be a small table and one vacant seat behind them, which was what the innkeeper had been indicating. As the round man ran off towards the rear of the establishment, Caius held out the chair for Emelisse. As she sat, he looked around for another chair and, noticing a few men seated at the table next to them, he yanked one of the chairs out from underneath the nearest man, who plopped onto the floor. When the man jumped up and turned threateningly to him, f
ists balled, Caius simply puffed up to his full height and the man, and his friends, wisely backed down. No one wanted to tangle with an enormous, fully-armed knight.
Victorious, Caius grinned as he pulled the chair up next to Emelisse.
“There,” he said. “Now we can sit together.”
She grinned at him as he wedged his big body next to her, very close. “Do you always do that?”
“Do what?”
“Steal chairs and silently dare men to fight you?”
He laughed softly. “Of course I do,” he said. “God gave me this size for a reason.”
“To frighten people?”
“Absolutely.”
He said it with both conviction and humor, and she snorted. “What else am I going to discover about you in the days and months to come?” she asked. “Do you raid small villages and steal puppies from children? Do you push nuns into the mud and steal their sacramental wine?”
He was laughing deeply by now. He enjoyed a woman with a sense of humor, which was something he’d not really seen from her. Given the turmoil of their association, he wasn’t surprised, but he liked what he saw now.
He hoped this was only the beginning.
“Damnation,” he growled. “I knew I would be found out. Well, who told you? Was it Morgan? I shall have to beat the man about the head and neck until he weeps like a little girl.”
She fought off more laughter, looking at him with great interest. “Is he the one I need to go to in order to find out your darkest secrets, then?”
“One of them,” Caius said, sobering. His eyes glimmered as he looked at her. “Truthfully, all you need do is ask me what you want to know. I will tell you anything, Emelisse.”
Her smile turned warm. “I am sure in the days and weeks to come, I will be asking a good many questions,” she said. “I hope I do not annoy you with them.”
“You will do nothing of the sort.”
“Will you tell me if I do?”
He nodded. “I will pinch your nose and tell you to go away.”
She laughed softly. “I will remember that,” she said. “But I have been curious about something since you mentioned it earlier today.”
Winter of Solace (The Executioner Knights Book 5) Page 24