For good measure she sneezed again, wiping at her nose. John’s hopes for a lovely evening with a lovely woman were in danger of evaporating.
“Lady Barklestone,” he said, eyeing her. “I was not aware you were ill.”
Teodora nodded, sneezing loudly into her hand. “My apologies, Your Highness.”
Chadwick, who was in on her little scheme and wholeheartedly approved, spoke. “I do not want you to contract whatever it is she has, Your Highness,” he said. “I would suggest she return to her chamber to keep this illness from spreading.”
Teodora sneezed again and strings of mucus hung from her nose. It took her a few moments to wipe it away. “I pray your trip was pleasant, Your Highness,” she said, as if she really cared.
By now, John was totally disillusioned and utterly disgusted. “It was,” he said. Then, he waved his hand at her as if shooing her away. “Return to your chamber, Lady Barklestone. I have no need of you this night.”
Teodora simply nodded, curtsying again, and turned for the door. When Chadwick tried to follow, John called to him.
“You will remain, Chadwick,” he said. “I am sure Lady Barklestone can find her way back to her chambers on her own. You will sit and amuse us.”
Chadwick passed Teodora a discreet wink as she fled for the hall entry, probably faster than she should have. As he went to take his seat, Barric spoke.
“When did this illness settle over her, Chadwick?” he asked, a hint of suspicion in his tone. “I saw her this morning and she was not ill.”
Chadwick accepted a cup of wine from a hovering servant. “She was feeling poorly this morning,” he lied. “The symptoms of the illness only became evident this afternoon. She should not have come down to the hall but she did not wish to disobey the king.”
John was feeling particularly disillusioned about the situation. “Pity,” he said. “I was hoping to spend time with Lady Barklestone and see if she is truly the bore Barric says she is. I hope her illness quickly passes, for I do not intend to be at Rockingham more than a week.”
Chadwick simply nodded. He had no real idea of what had happened before he entered the hall, but he could read the expressions across the table – Sloan, as always, had an expression that suggested he was plotting something, while Barric seemed to be grossly unhappy and a little pale. The king, on the other hand, seemed restless and annoyed.
Chadwick knew that Teodora was a guest of Barric because of the terrible incident those months ago, but he also knew it had happened in the king’s chambers, which suggested Teodora had been in John’s bower when Barric had been wounded. All of it was tied together, though she’d never been clear on what, exactly, had happened and he’d never pressed her. But he knew enough to know that John was involved, somehow, and there was some history with Teodora.
Given that Teodora was young and beautiful, and married to a man who thought his opposition to the king was a great secret, Chadwick could only imagine that John must have had an eye out for the woman. Whatever happened with Barric in John’s chamber, with Teodora present, really didn’t matter, but when Chadwick had gone up to her bower only a few minutes earlier to escort her down to the great hall, he could see the terror in her eyes. He fully supported her ruse of being ill to keep John away from her.
The fact was Chadwick wanted her as far away from the king as she could get.
He had plans of his own for her.
“Since Lady Barklestone will not be supping with us tonight, I believe I should like to retire for the evening,” Barric spoke, interrupting Chadwick’s thoughts and breaking the silence at the table. “Your Highness, if you would excuse me for the evening, I would be grateful.”
A servant was filling up the king’s wine chalice and from John’s mannerisms and flushed cheeks, it was evident that it was at least his third cup of wine, if not more. The loss of Lady Barklestone’s company had thrown him into a foul mood.
“Be gone,” he said. “I am disappointed in you, Barric. I thought you would have healed by now but I see that you are weak and useless.”
Barric looked at the king as if the words had hurt him somehow. “It was a terrible wound, Your Highness,” he said, defending himself. Then, he looked to Chad. “Tell him that it was a grievous injury and one I should not have survived had I not been so strong and virile.”
Chadwick didn’t want to be pulled into a petty argument, but he answered. “It is an injury that should have killed you,” he said. “My brilliant skills as a physic are what saved you.”
Barric very nearly scowled, outraged at his answer, but he held himself in check. He was in a hostile environment with the king and Chadwick and Sloan all around him, lobbing insults at him, and he’d had enough. Slowly, he rose to his feet as John drained half the wine from his cup.
“Barric, I have decided something,” the king said, causing Barric to pause before leaving the table. “If you are so bored with Lady Barklestone, I shall take her with me when I leave Rockingham. If she does not entertain me sufficiently, then mayhap I shall give her to Simon de Montfort. The man has great French allies who can support my cause, and Lady Barklestone would prove to be a valuable gift of my esteem to the man.”
Barric wasn’t happy with that suggestion at all. “De Montfort is more French than he is English,” he pointed out. “Anything you give him will find its way to France, including Lady Barklestone. And you gave her to me; she may bore me, but I am not ready to be rid of her yet.”
John’s eyes narrowed. “I said that I shall take her for myself,” he said slowly. “If she displeases me, I will give her over to de Montfort. I did not say it was for certain.”
It was one thing to lose his prize to the king, but purely another to have her given over to another baron. To see that would surely have his pride damaged. As Barric pondered the possibility, wondering if he shouldn’t remain in the hall and get to the bottom of the king’s desire to keep Lady Barklestone for himself, a soldier entered the hall and muttered to the sergeants near the door.
It was like a chain reaction, watching one soldier mutter to another, and then that soldier cross the floor to tell yet another soldier. Barric could see that news had come in from the outside and by the time de Lara came out of the shadows to discover what it was all about, Barric was genuinely curious. He was preparing to regain his seat when de Lara came over to the dais, through the smoke and stale heat, to stand next to the king.
“Your Highness,” he said. “A smaller army has just arrived on the outskirts of Rockingham. I have ordered the gates open for them.”
John looked up at him, half-drunk and confused. “You open the gates for this army but not mine?”
De Lara held his ground. “Your mercenary army would steal Rockingham blind, Your Highness,” he said evenly. “This army is English.”
John scowled, displeased. “Who is it?”
Sean made sure to pass a glance at Barric and Sloan before replying. “It flies the colors of Cerenbeau,” he said. “It seems that Bradford de Rivington has arrived, undoubtedly to see to the health and welfare of his daughter.”
The reaction on Sloan’s face told Sean everything Sean needed to know because he was the only one not surprised to hear the information. In fact, he looked rather pleased.
The stakes, when it came to the custody of Lady Barklestone, had just been raised.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Father!” Teodora was squeezing him so hard that she’d squashed the breath right out of him. “I cannot believe you have come! ’Tis a miracle!”
Bradford had barely come through the door of a very lavish suite of rooms before his daughter, clad in finery that cost a good deal of money, was throwing herself at him. She’d nearly knocked him into Anthony, standing directly behind him.
“Easy, lass,” Bradford said as he staggered, though he quickly wrapped her up in a fatherly hug. “You nearly broke bones. Are you well, Teddy?”
Teodora nodded quickly, though she hadn’t released him
from her hug. She clung to him. “I am well,” she whispered. “Why have you come? Is Mother with you? Did Grandmere make it back to Cerenbeau?”
She was talking quickly, borne of desperation, and Bradford shook his head. “Your mother is not with me,” he said. “And your grandmother is not at home. I thought she was with you.”
Teodora’s eyes welled with tears. “She was,” she whispered. “But when they took me away from London, she was left behind with Preston. I do not know what has become of her!”
There was panic in her eyes, which fed Bradford. He was feeling it, too. He was exhausted and muddled from a ride that had taken five days in the dead of winter. It had been cold and miserable, but he’d pushed his men like he’d never pushed them before, concerned and anxious to reach his daughter.
But his arrival at Rockingham Castle had shocked him. The castle was surrounded by an army of barbarians, their cooking fires burning into the night, and he’d been careful to move his army through them and up the road to the gatehouse. Careful because he knew these men were mindless killers; he’d seen mercenaries before. John has used them in the past and he didn’t want to tangle with them. He had about four hundred men compared to the thousand or more around Rockingham, and he genuinely had no idea why the castle was surrounded by cutthroats.
All he knew is that he had come to see his daughter.
Giving his name to the gatehouse guards had brought him the privilege of moving his army into the vast inner bailey of Rockingham. The bailey was a frozen wasteland, but it was better than being outside with the animals. He’d been informed that the king was in residence, a surprising bit of information, and when next he realized, Sloan de la Roarke had emerged from the hall to greet him.
The very same man who had sent the missive to come to Rockingham, but Sloan would say very little as he took Bradford into the shell keep. Now, even as Bradford and Teodora embraced, so very glad to see one another, Sloan stood just inside the door, watching the scene unfold. Bradford finally managed to wrangle his clinging daughter over to her luxurious bed.
“Sit,” he commanded softly. “Sit down, Teddy. In God’s name, calm yourself. De Lacy would have no reason to harm a blind old woman, so we will address Regal’s whereabouts in a moment. Right now, I want to know what is happening with you. The last time I saw you, you were heading to your marriage with de Lacy. Why are you a prisoner of Barric Fitz Hammond?”
Teodora looked at her father with anxious confusion, dabbing at her eyes. “Who has told you I was a prisoner?”
“I did,” Sloan said as he closed the door to the chamber and bolted it. When he turned around, it was to the expectant faces of Teodora, Bradford, and Anthony. “My lady, I am the one that sent for your father. You must be removed from Rockingham and in the absence of your husband, I fear your father is the only one who can help you.”
Teodora hadn’t known about Sloan and his missive to her father. There had been a time when she hadn’t wanted Bradford to know what had happened, and she remembered begging Godfrey and Hamilton not to send word to him those months ago. But now that he was here, she realized that she was very glad he’d come. But before she could reply, Bradford turned to Sloan with agitation in his manner.
“Will someone please tell me what is going on?” he demanded. “Sloan, you sent me a missive telling me that my daughter was in trouble, so I marched my army across the middle of England in the dead of winter to reach her. What is happening?”
Teodora could see that her father was growing increasingly upset. “It is a difficult story to tell,” she said, reaching out to take his hand. “I suppose I can only start from the beginning. After I married Preston was when everything happened.”
Bradford was beseeching. “What happened?”
Teodora had mixed feelings about telling him. His surprising appearance gave her a great deal of hope in that he might take her away from the king and the Lord Justice, and everything else that her life had become. But on the other hand, she knew her father had married her to Preston for a purpose. As she’d told Chadwick, somehow, she’d always known that his purpose had been political because there could be no other reason why he would want to marry her into the turbulent and questionable House of de Lacy. Given his motives, perhaps she should have been furious with him. But at the moment, her joy in seeing him overwhelmed her.
The anger would have to come later… if she survived this.
“Preston had no interest in me or our marriage, Father,” she said. “He was clear from the onset. He tried to abuse me, but I would not let him. He tried to hit me, but I fought back. Cullen de Nerra, his knight, was in the middle of it. He tried to protect me, and protect Preston, and he tried to do what was right. Mayhap most of all, he tried to save me from myself. In any case, we were at Preston’s home in London several months ago and received an invitation from the king to dine at Westminster. This is where it becomes complicated – I attended the feast and one of Preston’s knights spilled something on me. When he took me to a chamber at Westminster to clean my clothing, the king was in the chamber. And he attacked me.”
Bradford closed his eyes tightly, looking ill once he opened them. He swallowed hard. “God’s Bones,” he breathed. “Did he hurt you, lass?”
She shook her head. “He did not.”
“He did not… please tell me he did not…”
Teodora knew what he was trying to say, difficult as it was for him. “Nay,” she said quickly. “He did not manage to degrade me or, at least, he did not complete the task because Cullen burst into the room and gored Fitz Hammond when the man charged him with a dagger. Cullen did not use his weapon against the king, but he threatened him. When John escaped the chamber and sent his men after Cullen, he managed to escape but I did not. They captured me and Cullen was killed trying to escape Westminster.”
Bradford stared at her in horror. “My God,” he muttered. “De Nerra is dead?”
“He is.”
“God rest his soul. I remember him; a fine knight.”
Teodora nodded, trying not to become teary-eyed again. She wasn’t going to tell her father about her relationship with Cullen, at least not now. That would have to wait.
“He was,” she said hoarsely. “His punishment for threatening the king and saving my life was death, but my punishment for resisting the king’s advance is that I am now his prisoner. He has given me to Fitz Hammond as some sort of prize because Barric was injured defending the king from Cullen. I am to entertain the man and be his companion, but I swear that I cannot stand the sight of him.”
Bradford went from horror to outrage. “A prize?” he said. “Another man’s wife becomes a prize? Where is your husband in all of this?”
“He does not care for her fate,” Sloan put in quietly. He had been listening to the entire story and although he’d never heard it from Teodora’s lips, her version differed a great deal from Barric’s version of his injury. “Although de Lacy asked that his wife’s life be spared, he has made no request that she be returned to him and that is why I sent you the missive, Brafe. If Preston will not ask for the return of his wife, then you must plead with the king to release her to your custody. As her father, it is your right. But I will tell you now that both the king and Fitz Hammond have designs on her. They are both obsessed with her, and they both lust after her. You must find a way to remove her from Rockingham.”
Bradford was looking at him seriously. “God’s Bones,” he breathed. “You said she was in danger but I had no idea it was this bad.”
“It is very bad.
“But what of her grandmother? Do you know if the old woman is still with Preston?”
Sloan shook his head. “This, I would not know. I am sorry.” He eyed the pair as they struggled with the unknown whereabouts of a family member. He needed the man to focus on Teodora and not an old woman who had been missing for months at this point. “I would like to make a suggestion, Brafe, if I may.”
Bradford nodded eagerly. “Please.�
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Sloan took another few steps toward the bed. “Put aside your concern for the grandmother for now, because your daughter’s situation must take precedence,” he said. “We must all be good soldiers in John’s army and he views loyal men with favor, as you know. Before you go demanding your daughter’s return, or worse, simply taking her away without asking, it is my sense that you must do something for the king. Show him that you are, in fact, a loyal soldier.”
“By doing what?”
Sloan’s gaze moved to Teodora. “De Lara has an ambush planned for outlaws that have been plaguing Rockingham,” he said. “I heard him and Barric speaking of it and de Lara is planning to execute the ambush tomorrow. That is why the mercenary army is here; de Lara and Barric asked for reinforcements from the king and the king has brought his army of paid henchmen. They plan to destroy the outlaws once and for all.”
Teodora hadn’t heard this news. Since Sean had banned her from riding with the army, she’d not been privy to anything that had to do with the army or the outlaws. She’d seen the army ride out from time to time over the past few weeks, knowing they were riding to engage the outlaws, but she’d not participated. Therefore, news that Sean actually intended to do something about them had caught her off-guard.
“Is that why the king brought the army?” she said, astonished. “I had wondered why he’d come at all. They are to help de Lara clear the forest?”
Sloan nodded. “For the most part,” he said. “De Lara has an elaborate ambush plan in motion. Brafe, my suggestion to you is that you be part of it. Seek out Sir Sean de Lara, who is in command of Rockingham at this time, and offer your army to help him do whatever he is doing. That will show John that you are loyal to the king, and to England as a whole. Show him that you are a good soldier. That way, when you ask to take your daughter home, he might be more favorable.”
It made perfect sense. Bradford looked at Teodora, who was gazing back at him with hope and fear, an expression he’d never seen on her before. Teodora had always been so strong, so unflappable. But right now, she looked frightened, and that wasn’t in her nature. His daughter was caught up in something as disturbing and ruthless as he could possibly imagine, and removing her from the situation was all he could think of.
Noble Line of de Nerra Complete Set: A Medieval Romance Bundle Page 36