Brides of the North: A Medieval Scottish Romance Bundle

by Kathryn Le Veque

  On their third day into Scotland, they stopped for the night in a small town called Moffatt. It was a charming town nestled in the rolling lowland hills, with a rather large town square that was surrounded by homes and businesses.

  As the group moved into the town close to sunset, the merchants were beginning to close their shops for the night but Diamantha needed more thread for her sewing, so Cortez and Keir found a merchant with all manner of fabric and threads, and convinced the man to stay open long enough for Diamantha to do some shopping. She did, with Sophie on her hip as she perused the dry goods.

  As dark clouds began to roll in overhead and a chill wind picked up, Cortez and Keir stood watch over Diamantha while the rest of the knights took the horses over to the enormous trough in the town square to allow the animals to drink. Cortez’s men fanned out around the square, exhausted from a day’s journey and taking a few moments to rest as Lady de Bretagne shopped for thread.

  But it was more than thread she found, she also found gorgeous bolts of Ferguson tartan, with blues and greens and reds, and she very much wanted some. They were in Ferguson country, after all, so the merchant carried a good deal of the fabric which was made locally by old Ferguson widows from Ferguson sheep. The merchant was thrilled to sell her a hefty measure of the tartan, which was very warm, and Diamantha happily bought it, along with several spools of red, blue, and white thread. She also added to her sewing case by purchasing a new thimble, needles made of iron, and a pair of new shears also made from iron.

  As she bartered for the price, Sophie grew restless and she put the little girl down, calling to Cortez to watch out for the child as the she wandered in his direction. Cortez and Keir turned to watch the little girl, who strolled out of the merchant’s stall and promptly squatted down to pick some small yellow flowers that were growing at the base of a spindly tree nearby. Keir’s gaze lingered on the lass, bundled up against the cold weather.

  “My son celebrated his first year of life back in July,” he said, almost wistfully. “In fact, he celebrated it when I was fighting at Falkirk. He is very curious about everything, much like your little Sophie is, except he is curious about any manner of bug that crosses his path. He frightens his mother with them constantly.”

  Cortez grinned as he watched Sophie yank up the weeds. “With Sophie, it is animals,” he said. “You have seen her collection, of course.”

  Keir nodded. “You have quite a menagerie of fat and happy animals,” he said. “Children should have pets. I think it teaches them about the value of life. My son already has a pony.”

  Cortez glanced at him. “Does he ride it?”

  Keir nodded firmly. “Indeed he does,” he insisted. “And he does not fall off. The same cannot be said for many children his age.”

  Cortez laughed at Keir’s proud boasting. He was about to say something when Diamantha caught his attention. She was evidently finished shopping and needed him to pay the bill. He excused himself, leaving Keir to watch over Sophie. As Cortez and Diamantha paid for the booty, the big knight with the white-blond hair made his way over to the little girl as she fussed with her posies.

  “Those are very nice flowers,” he commented.

  Sophie looked up at him and Keir noticed what Cortez had noticed also. She was the image of her father with her big blue eyes and dark blond hair.

  “I am going to feed them to my rabbit,” she said.

  Keir pretended to be very interested. “Is that so?” he said. “Does your rabbit have a name?”

  Sophie nodded. “His name is Clover,” she said. Then, she reached up and took his hand. “I have a pony. Would you like to see him?”

  Before Keir could answer, he found himself being dragged across the road to the cluster of de Bretagne men and their wagons. Sophie pulled him between the wagons, coming to a very fat black and white pony who was chewing happily on the thick grass that was sprouting up in spots around the square. She went right to pony’s head and shoved the flowers into its mouth, which it hungrily crunched on.

  Keir stood over the pair, watching with a smile on his face. He found that he missed his son, remembering the boy and his little blond pony. He missed his wife, too. As he stood over the nuzzling pair, hands on his hips, he heard a shout from behind.

  Looking up, he saw Cortez and Diamantha heading in his direction. Cortez was carrying his wife’s load of loot, putting it into the wagon bed as he eyed Keir.

  “So she lured you into seeing her pony, too, did she?” he asked, brushing off his hands after depositing the load. “That is her usual path. I hadn’t known her five minutes before she was dragging me off to the stables to see General.”

  Keir grinned, watching the little girl pet the pony’s velvety nose and laughing when he nibbled at her. “He is a handsome beast,” he said.

  Cortez nodded, watching Sophie and the pony for a moment longer before stroking his chin and looking about the town. His manner was thoughtful.

  “Speaking of handsome beasts, I plan to get myself into a bath tonight before my wife refuses to come near me because I smell too badly,” he said. “The fabric merchant said that there is a traveler’s inn on the opposite side of the square called The White Star. There should be a board with a star painted on it somewhere but I do not seem to see it.”

  Keir was looking around, too, spying the structure across the square. “There it is,” he said, pointing. “Is that our destination tonight?”

  Cortez squinted at the building in the distance. Like his brother, his eyesight at a distance wasn’t too keen. “For the knights it is,” he said. “I will make the arrangements. Make sure the men bed down somewhere in close range. They may camp if they wish but not too far away. I want to be moving out by sunrise. Will you please see to it?”

  Keir nodded, moving away from Cortez to carry out the man’s orders as Cortez pried Sophie away from her pony. The dark clouds overhead were growing darker and the wind was picking up. Random drops of rain began falling as a storm began to settle. Cortez took Sophie and Diamantha carrying the animal cage, with Merlin trailing along behind them carrying all of their bags, and crossed the square to The White Star inn on the other side.

  The structure stood by itself, not crowded by other buildings, and was a very long, very slender three-storied establishment. The construction was waddle and daub, with exposed external beams for additional support, and they passed into the entrance, right beneath a massive board upon which a white star was painted.

  Inside, there was a long, slender room, nearly the length of the building, and back in the rear of the room, he could see a kitchen complete with a giant, smoking hearth. Cooking smells wafted in the room, the scent of roasting meat and heavy smoke. It also smelled like dogs and nearly as soon as they entered, a pack of mutts came rushing out at them. Sophie screamed when one growled and nearly launched herself into Cortez’s arms. He kicked the growling dog in the throat, and the dog yelped as it turned tail and scampered off.

  “Dunna kick me dogs, mon,” the innkeeper said as he emerged from the kitchen. He was a fat man with a crown of wild red hair and a long pipe hanging from his lips. “They willna hurt ye.”

  Cortez cocked a dark eyebrow. “That dog growled at my daughter and frightened her,” he said evenly. “If it does it again, I will kill it and reimburse you the cost for a new one that will be friendlier towards children.”

  The innkeeper stared at him a moment before breaking into a grin, revealing crooked and green teeth. “Where are ye from, sassenach?”

  Cortez couldn’t tell if the man was trying to be friendly or trying to figure out just how much of an enemy he was. Upon hearing Cortez’s speech pattern, it was clear that he was instantly suspicious.

  “We have come to visit kin,” Cortez didn’t answer him directly. He lied, in fact. “We require at least four rooms, more if you can spare them.”

  The innkeeper puffed on his pipe. The smoke that emerged smelled strongly of animal dung. As he puffed away, deciding whether or n
ot he wanted to rent a room to the Sassenach knight and his family, his round wife came waddling in from the kitchen, took one look at Sophie, and crowed with delight.

  “Oooch!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands. “What have we here? A bonny lass with the face of an angel!”

  Sophie looked at the woman with the loud voice and turned her head away, laying it on Cortez’s shoulder. From the growling dog to the loud woman, she wasn’t entirely comfortable with these unfamiliar surroundings so she buried her face in Cortez’s shoulder. The old woman, however, was not deterred. She went up to Cortez and patted Sophie gently on the back.

  “Do ye know what it is I have fer ye, lass?” she said, trying to get the girl to look at her. “I have a sweet treat fer ye with honey and apricots and fermented milk. Would ye like some?”

  Diamantha had been standing silently by, watching the woman try to warm Sophie up, but it was clear her daughter wasn’t willing to respond at the moment. She was tired from travel, so Diamantha interrupted the woman’s attempts.

  “We are very tired,” she said politely. “Mayhap she will accept your treat once she has had a chance to rest. May we go to our rooms now?”

  Even though the husband hadn’t yet decided if he wanted English guests, the wife took charge of the situation. She didn’t care if they were English or not. She had guests and she would provide for them.

  “Of course ye can,” she said, moving towards the narrow staircase built against the side of the wall. It disappeared into the darkened floor above and she mounted the steps, turning to wave her guests along. “Come with me. I’ll get ye settled. Would ye be wantin’ a bath?”

  Diamantha was already following the woman with Cortez, Sophie, and Merlin close behind. “That would be lovely, thank you,” she said.

  The woman gathered her dirty skirts as she took the stairs. “I’ll have one brought to ye,” she said. “I’ll also bring up some food fer the little lass.”

  “We have more in our party,” Cortez said as he carried Sophie up the stairs. “Five more knights who will require rooms. I shall pay handsomely for the privilege.”

  The woman nodded vigorously. “We have enough room fer them,” she said. “There was a big market here a couple of days ago and we were all full, but everyone has left. We have lots o’room now.”

  Diamantha turned to glance at Cortez, who winked at her as they followed the loud, enthusiastic woman up the stairs. Once they mounted the top of the steps, she turned left and took them down a short, dark corridor that ended at a rather heavy oak door. The woman threw the latch and an enormous room came into view.

  The chamber was at the front of the inn, overlooking the square. There were two good-sized beds, strung with rope with clean straw mattresses, a table and chairs near a sooty hearth, and back in the corner behind a wooden screen was an in-room privy. It was nothing more than a seat placed over the bottom half of a barrel, but Diamantha was rather surprised to see it in their room. The old woman threw open the window at the front of the chamber and let some of the damp, cool wind inside.

  “There, now,” she said. “This will air it out a bit. I’ll send me lad up with peat fer the fire. And I’ll be back with food!”

  She bustled out, leaving Cortez and Diamantha to settle in. As Merlin carried the bags in and set them down near the window, Cortez set Sophie down on one of the beds and Diamantha set the animal cage onto the floor. Then she went over to her daughter and began removing the heavy outer layer of clothing that had kept her warm throughout her travels. She looked over at Cortez as the man inspected the other bed.

  “Can you please bring in all of my sewing?” she asked. “It is still in the wagon where I was sitting. The barrel with our new clothing is there, too. Can you have someone bring it all up?”

  Cortez nodded, finished with the bed inspection and then moving over to the in-room privy. He lifted his eyebrows and shook his head as if he’d never seen such a thing in his life. “I will go and have them bring it in right now,” he said, his gaze lingering on the privy a moment longer before heading for the chamber door. “Do you require anything else while I am at the wagon?”

  Diamantha pulled Sophie’s arms out of the woolen coat and set it aside. “Nay,” she said pensively. “But I have been thinking… well, that is to say, I have been wondering how far we are from Norham Castle.”

  Cortez paused at the door. “Norham?” he repeated. “What has brought that about?”

  Diamantha shrugged as she began untying Sophie’s little boots. “I am not entirely sure,” she said. “I suppose I have simply been thinking about my father since we are so far north. He has never seen Sophie, you know. I was wondering how far away we are from Norham Castle and, if we are not too far, mayhap we can visit my mother and father for a day or two, as we did your father. I… I miss my papa, Cortez. I have not seen him in a very long time.”

  Cortez stood at the door a moment before coming back into the room and shutting the door. He seemed to be mulling over her request as he sat on the other bed in the chamber. The ropes creaked under his weight.

  “Norham is, at the very least, several days from here,” he said. “It would mean traveling through a good deal of hostile country to get there.”

  Diamantha pulled off one of Sophie’s boots and set it down on the floor. “But we have several knights traveling with us,” she said. “That should make it somewhat safer.”

  He wriggled his eyebrows. “Not if we are attacked by a thousand angry Scots,” he said. “Moreover, it would mean delaying our arrival at Falkirk by several days at least and we want to have the chance to look for Rob’s remains while the ground is still soft. If there is one snow or one freezing rain storm, the ground will harden up and there is no telling how long it will take it to soften again.”

  Diamantha’s expression was downcast. “I know,” she muttered. “It was just a thought. I do not want to delay what we have set out to do. But I thought… if we were close enough… then mayhap I could see my father and he could meet Sophie.”

  Cortez stood up from the bed. He went over to her and kissed her cheek as Sophie, with one shoeless foot, began playfully kicking at her mother.

  “There will be another time,” he told her. “But I do not believe this is the right time.”

  Diamantha simply nodded as he turned for the door once again. His hand was on the latch when she called after him.

  “Cortez?”

  He paused by the panel, hand on the latch. “Aye, sweet?”

  Diamantha was in the process of fending off Sophie’s playful feet as she tried to remove the other boot. “You only recently saw my father, did you not?” she asked. “When you went to Norham to ask for permission to marry me.”

  Cortez didn’t move from his position by the door, but his expression flickered. There was something odd in his face, perhaps a flicker of fear that crossed his features but was just as quickly gone.

  “Why do you ask?” he wanted to know, his tone steady.

  She managed to remove Sophie’s second boot. “Because I never asked you how he was,” she said. “Was he healthy? How did he look?”

  Cortez just looked at her. Slowly, he came back into the room as Sophie, seeing her mother distracted, bolted off the bed with her shoeless feet and, giggling, ran to play with her animals. Diamantha turned to follow her so she could finish undressing the child but Cortez reached out and grasped her by the hand.

  “Wait,” he said gently. “Come over here with me. I must speak with you.”

  Diamantha allowed him to lead her over to the bed. He sat down and pulled her down next to him, his hands gripping hers. All the while, he seemed very thoughtful, which in turn spurred Diamantha’s imagination a bit. At first his manner was curious to her but now she was starting to become frightened. When he lifted his head so speak, she interrupted him.

  “Something is wrong,” she blurted, fear in her eyes. “What is wrong? Is it my father?”

  He shushed her softly, putting a g
entle finger over her lips to keep her from chattering nervously. “Listen to me, please,” he murmured. “I went to Norham Castle on my way home from Falkirk those months ago. It is the stronghold of de Longley, the Earl of Teviot, and a more fortified place I have never seen. I asked for your father but it was your mother who met me. You look a lot like her, actually. I also met your brother’s children. Your mother was minding them. Your brother, Corbin, lives at Norham, too, although he was not at the castle the day I was there.”

  The expression of fear on Diamantha’s face was increasing. “Cortez,” she said, her throat tight with tears. “What about my father?”

  He sighed heavily, bringing her hands to his lips and kissing them tenderly. “I informed your mother of Rob’s death and told her my business,” he explained. “Because of Rob’s passing, she did not want me to tell you what had happened. About your father. She thought it would be too much for you to take in addition to the death of your husband and I promised her that I would not tell you, at least not right away. But I find I can no longer keep it from you, not when you are asking me direct questions about your father. I will not lie to you. Sweetheart, your father passed away a week before Robert met his death at Falkirk. Your mother said he died in his sleep and that it was very peaceful. He did not suffer.”

  Diamantha stared at him. As he watched, her eyes grew wider and wider and suddenly she gasped as if she had been struck in the gut. Her hands flew to her mouth to hold back the scream of anguish.

  “Nay!” she shrieked. “It cannot be!”

  Cortez felt so very badly for her. He put his arms around her, trying to pull her close. “I am so very sorry, my love,” he consoled. “I am so sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings. Your mother assured me that your father had spoken of you very recently, musing over the granddaughter he had not yet seen. She wanted you to be comforted in the fact that your father loved you dearly and that he is now at peace.”