BlackWolfe

by Le Veque, Kathryn

  “Possibly,” he said honestly. “It is not an unusual tactic. In fact, I used it on Scott when Athena had an eye for him but he was not interested in a marriage. I used an older knight named Roan d’Vant for that. Roan had been very loyal to your Uncle William in London years before, but he’d never taken a wife. I am not ashamed to say I pitted Roan against Scott, and Scott saw the value of marrying your sister because someone else saw it, too.”

  Cassiopeia frowned at her father. “That is a dirty trick, Papa,” she said. “And you did not need to do it with Edward. We were getting on splendidly until Daniel went mad and challenged him to a fight.”

  It was difficult for Paris to admit that he had been wrong, so he tried to avoid it at all costs. “That was very unexpected,” he said. “I get the sense that Daniel’s mother might have had something to do with it. He mentioned that she was very eager for a daughter, so there might be some pressure from the woman about it. Sometimes expectations can drive men to do irrational things.”

  “Irrational?” Cassiopeia repeated in horror. “Papa, he beat Edward so badly that the man has fled back to Northwood. And now Daniel is sorry for it? Would he be so sorry if Edward had not fled?”

  Paris shook his head. “I do not know,” he said. “But he has been begging forgiveness since it happened and he has asked to beg your forgiveness personally.”

  She was back to outrage. “I never want to see him again,” she said. “I want him gone, Papa. Make him go away. And I want you to send word to Castle Questing and ask Edward to return. Tell him… tell him I want him to.”

  Paris looked at her with some regret. “Cassie, I know you do not understand this, but I must treat Daniel carefully,” he said. “He is the commander of a great allied army. Damage has already been done and I cannot let it grow worse. We have been allies with Deauxville Mount for more than half a century. I cannot let personal feelings enter into this more than they already have. I ordered Daniel away, once, but he has remained. He is remorseful and has begged forgiveness for his actions.”

  “What does that matter?” Cassiopeia exclaimed. “You told him to leave and he did not, yet still, you allow him to remain?”

  Paris didn’t think she would understand. “Teviot has asked me to show him leniency,” he said. “We risk a great deal by sending him back to Deauxville Mount in anger. It makes it look like a personal matter and in matters of alliance, something this personal – a betrothal – should not ruin fifty years of a strong alliance.”

  Cassiopeia knew what that meant. She knew how the chain of command worked and how the Earl of Teviot had final say over something that would directly impact the safety of his holdings. In the wilds of the north, alliances could mean life or death, even to a castle the size of Northwood.

  “Then the earl has given you a command,” she said, rather coldly. “He has told you not to send Daniel back to Deauxville Mount in disgrace.”

  Paris nodded reluctantly. “If it was up to me, he would be gone, but it is no longer up to me. Teviot wants the situation to calm before we send him back. He does not want Daniel returning with hard feelings, which would undoubtedly be relayed to Wereford.”

  “I still do not want to see him. I refuse.”

  Paris was hesitant to say what he must, hesitant to upset her more than she already was, but it was unfortunately necessary.

  “I want you to reconsider and I shall tell you why,” he said. “Right now, Daniel is in turmoil, ashamed and devastated for what he’s done. The longer you stay away from him, the more he will build this situation up in his mind to the point where it may never go away. You know how it is when the mind runs away with you. But if you allow him to apologize to you, to say what he must, he will have relayed his apology and, hopefully, the situation will cool. He may even return to Deauxville Mount on his own.”

  She was looking at him unhappily. “Then you want me to see him.”

  Paris lifted his big shoulders. “It may ease the situation more than you know.”

  “Can I ask him to leave?”

  “If you wish. But you know what happened when you asked him once before.”

  “But now I have a reason, Papa. A very good reason.”

  Paris simply nodded, faintly, hating the fact that they were all caught up in this. He could only imagine what Edward was telling William and, truth be told, he wouldn’t be surprised to see William on his doorstep by nightfall. He may very well have to protect de Motte from Edward’s very angry father.

  But he couldn’t think about that now. One problem at a time. Now, his problem was Cassiopeia.

  “Sweetheart, let the man have his say,” he said, pleading with her. “It may be the only way to get rid of him and preserve our relationship with Deauxville Mount. Will you at least do this for me? You cannot imagine how important this is.”

  Cassiopeia faced her father, arms crossed and her lips set in a hard, thin line. She did not want to talk to Daniel and she wasn’t particularly concerned about the alliance, but she knew what her father meant. He was concerned for the relationship between Northwood Castle and Deauxville Mount. That was his daily life and it had been for the past forty years. For all intents and purposes, she had only just arrived here after having lived away for so long. She was a stranger. And now this stranger threatened everything that Northwood knew.

  Her hard stance began to ease. She did not want to make life miserable for her father or for everyone else at Northwood, but speaking to Daniel was the last thing she wanted. This was the man who had beaten Edward, who had been aggressive and annoying from the very moment she had met him. Yet in looking at her father and at the expression on his face, she knew she had no choice.

  She would have to see Daniel one last time.

  “Very well, Papa,” she said. “If you say I must, then I will. But know I take no pleasure from this. I could just as easily spit in his face for what he’s done.”

  “That is not a very ladylike thing to say.”

  “At the moment, I am not feeling particularly ladylike where he is concerned.”

  Paris didn’t argue with her. He was simply glad she was going to do as he asked, and stood up from the stone bench, wearily, like a man with a great deal on his mind. He didn’t like the fact that the alliance between Northwood Castle and Deauxville Mount now hinged on his actions. Or, more to the point, his daughter’s actions.

  But that was the situation they found themselves in.

  As Adam had said, it was a delicate matter.

  “Then let us get this over with,” he said quietly. “Come with me and we shall see Daniel before this day grows any longer.”

  Cassiopeia went along, silently. In truth, there was nothing more that she could say. She let her father take her arm and lead her from the small chamber, out into the foyer of Northwood, and then out into the inner bailey beyond. The mist from the morning had lifted sufficiently that now it was nearly gone and as they crossed into the outer bailey, the sky was quite blue and the day bright. It would have been a lovely day had the situation not been so gloomy but, at the moment, it hardly went noticed.

  The outer bailey of Northwood was sufficiently busy at this hour. Men and servants crossed each other’s paths as they went about their daily duties. There was a sense of normalcy even though there had been a crucial event the day before with the battle between Daniel and Edward.

  Even if the men of Northwood went about their normal business, Cassiopeia felt everything was tense and strange. It seemed that the occupants of Northwood were looking at her as if she had caused something that might threaten their peace. Perhaps they even knew that the Deauxville Mount alliance was on the line and it was all her fault. In any case, she had a strange feeling as they made their way to the knights’ quarters.

  Usually, women were not allowed in the knights’ quarters. The structure was purely meant for male occupants, and as Cassiopeia entered with her father, she thought it smelled rather like a pigsty. The sharp, acrid smell of men and unwashed bo
dies was pervasive and she pinched her nostrils more than once to avoid sneezing. As her father left her in the very small entry of the common room, he went to a darkened corridor and knocked on the first door he came to.

  “Daniel?” he said, rapping on the panel. “Daniel, open the door. Someone wishes to see you.”

  Cassiopeia could hear the door lurch open, squeaking on its iron hinges. From where she was standing in the cramped common room, she could see her father’s face as he focused on the person who opened the door, a person she assumed was Daniel.

  It didn’t take long to confirm her suspicions. Daniel stepped out into the doorway and when he caught sight of Cassiopeia, his eyes widened dramatically.

  “My lady,” he gasped, glancing nervously to Paris as if uncertain of what he should say to her. “Thank you for coming. I am honored.”

  Had Cassiopeia not already told her father that she would speak to Daniel, she would have turned and walked out at that very moment. The hopeful expression on Daniel’s face was making her ill.

  “I have come because my father told me to and for no other reason,” she said coldly. “He says you have something to say to me. Please get on with it.”

  Daniel’s eager expression flickered somewhat. “It was still good of you to come, no matter what the reason,” he said. “I… I wanted very much to apologize to you for what has happened. It was something that became out of control and it is all my fault. I suppose I let my pride get the better of me, thinking I had been affronted somehow. You see, I have never tried to court a woman before and when I thought I was being made a fool of, something in me… snapped. It was foolish of me and I beg your forgiveness.”

  Cassiopeia had seen from the beginning of their association that Daniel was a smooth talker. He had a gift, and he had tried to use it on her more than once, even when she was avoiding him at The Lyceum. He sounded reasonable and rational at the moment, but even as he spoke his words of humility, she didn’t believe him one bit. Not even a little.

  It was difficult not to snap at him.

  “I wonder if you would be making the same apology if your fight with Edward had not gone in your favor,” she said. “You bested the man and when you saw how ruthless and brutal you had been, and how everyone was looking down upon you because of it, suddenly you became remorseful. I wonder if you would have behaved in the same manner had Edward won.”

  Daniel lowered his gaze. “That is a reasonable question,” he said. “All I can tell you is that I have never been in this situation before. I have never met a young woman I wanted to court and because of that want, I was blinded to nearly everything else, reason included. It shall not happen again and I again ask your forgiveness. Please.”

  Oh, but he was smooth. Cassiopeia resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him and leave the room. She simply did not believe he was genuinely remorseful. Glancing at her father, she could see that he felt the same way. Paris had an odd look on his face, as if the ridiculousness of Daniel’s behavior were too much for him to bear. But her attention returned to Daniel, eyeing the man as he stood there humbly before her.

  “It is not my forgiveness you should be begging,” she finally said. “You should be asking Edward.”

  Daniel nodded. “I intend to ask him as soon as he will see me.”

  Cassiopeia lifted an eyebrow. “You are too late,” she said. “He has left for Castle Questing and, at this very moment, is probably telling his father what has happened. You may want to return to Deauxville Mount before William de Wolfe gets there and tells Wereford what you have done. I cannot imagine that your liege will be too happy with you.”

  Daniel looked to Paris for confirmation that Edward had gone home and Paris simply nodded. “Edward has, indeed, gone home,” he said. “I am not sure what you expected, Daniel. Did you really think he would remain after what you did?”

  Daniel sighed heavily, appearing genuinely distressed. “Then I must go to Castle Questing and apologize to him,” he said. “And to his father. It seems that I have done much damage to you good people. I am truly sorry for that.”

  He was looking at Cassiopeia as he finished speaking, but she had nothing more to say to him. She did not believe his apology and was not going to respond to it. She could see that as the moments ticked by, he was becoming more and more anxious that she had not agreed to forgive him. Daniel was a man used to getting what he wanted, at all times, but this was not going to be one of those times.

  A sloppy, insincere apology would not make up for what he had done.

  “Tell Edward that,” she said. “If he can forgive you, then mayhap I can as well. But at this moment, I am too disgusted and too distraught to forgive you. What you did was cruel and unnecessary, Daniel, but you would not listen to any of us. A man who will not listen to reason is not someone I wish to be associated with. Though your apology is noted, I do not accept it at this time.”

  With that, she turned on her heel and quit the chamber, heading out into the bright day beyond. Paris and Daniel watched her go. Paris, in particular, wondered how Daniel was going to handle her rejection. The last time she had rejected him and asked him to leave, he had lost his self-control.

  Paris wondered what was going to happen this time.

  It wasn’t long in coming.

  “My lord,” Daniel said as he turned to him, his features pale with stress. “I fear I have offended your daughter horribly. What can I do to make amends?”

  Paris sighed faintly. “Daniel, sometimes you cannot always have everything you want in life,” he said. “I realize your mother is anxious for you to marry, as you have mentioned, but Cassiopeia simply isn’t the one. I am sure there are dozens of fine ladies that will make suitable candidates for Lady de Motte, but my daughter is not one of them. I believe you will simply have to understand the situation for what it is and move on from it.”

  That wasn’t what Daniel wanted to hear. He had just spent a miserable night, deeply concerned with the damage he had done. He relived his lapse in judgment over and over, still believing that he was wronged, still believing that he was a pawn in Paris’ game to find a husband for his daughter, a game that was somehow meant to humiliate him. After what he had seen, that was something he would continue to believe.

  But what he hadn’t counted on was how badly the situation would go for him.

  No one saw him as a noble suitor fighting for his rights. No one saw him as an honorable man fighting for something he very much wanted. Edward was the favorite, with everyone and especially with Paris, considering Cassiopeia’s sisters had married Edward’s brothers. Perhaps the one thing Daniel never realized from the onset was that he really never had a chance with her and that was something he could not accept. He had plans; he had always had plans, and Cassiopeia was his last opportunity to fulfill those plans of vengeance. For the murder of his father, for the birthright that was lost to him.

  For everything.

  But this morning, he could feel those plans slipping away more than ever before.

  “This situation is nothing less than what I have faced my entire life,” he finally said. “I was born to a father who had little time or attention for his son, and I had to fight for that. When I fostered, it was in a good house, but coming from a family of little background or money, I had to fight for everything I had and everything I achieved. Do you know what the other squires called me? Motley. Somehow de Motte became ‘Motley’, and that name has followed me around to this day. When I see men I fostered with, they still call me Motley, having no idea how badly that hurts. When I saw the chance for something fine with your daughter… I went mad, my lord, I admit it. But it was only because I wanted her so badly.”

  Paris felt some pity for the man, but not completely. “As I said, sometimes we cannot have what we so badly want,” he said. “You have said what you needed to say, so rather than drag this out painfully, mayhap you should simply return to Deauxville Mount and let Cassiopeia cool her anger. Mayhap in time, she might be more�
� friendly towards you, but not now. As you can see, she is not receptive in the least.”

  Daniel could see that they were at an impasse. There was nothing more he could say, or that Paris could say, that would change the situation. Daniel could clearly see that Cassiopeia was not interested in him, but he refused to give up. Even now with the situation as grim as it was, he simply could not bring himself to give up that which he’d worked so hard for.

  It wasn’t over until he said it was over.

  He had to think of another plan.

  He had to fight!

  “I do not blame her,” he said, though it was a lie. That stubborn bitch! “If it is agreeable to you, I would like to get some sleep before departing. I did not sleep all night and I should probably try to before making the journey back to Deauxville Mount.”

  Paris almost collapsed as he heard those words. In truth, he never thought he would hear them coming from Daniel. He thought he was in for endless days of endless discussions, circular arguments that would never go anywhere, as Daniel continued to plead his case. Therefore, to hear Daniel speak of actually returning to Deauxville Mount brought incredible relief to Paris.

  Perhaps this was almost over.

  But the key would be to keep the alliance intact. That was Adam’s most ardent wish, and Paris agreed with him. Daniel seemed rational at this moment and he’d made no mention of trouble between Northwood and Deauxville Mount so, hopefully, he was coming to understand the situation for what it was. Hopefully, that meant he was starting to accept the fact that he could not have everything he wanted. He was coming to accept the fact that he had made a grave mistake and was going to have to pay for it, and that did not include violating or breaking any alliance.

  Perhaps they would get out of this unscathed, indeed.

  “You may stay until you feel sufficiently rested to leave,” Paris said. “Go back to Deauxville Mount and say nothing of what has happened. There is no need for Wereford to know. I will not tell him, either. Go home and continue with your duties as if nothing at all has happened and, mayhap, my daughter will come to accept your apology. But I would not count on it, Daniel. Yet, if she accepts your apology, that will be enough. I will be satisfied.”