by Amber Dane
Her eyes darted around the room. She did not spot Halvard’s cousin amongst the crowd.
Her nerves were raw and she had no appetite. Numbness engulfed her.
The lavish banquet showed the painstaking and delicate attention the cook had put into every dish. But the aroma of the flavored and seasoned feast unsettled her stomach even more. Caroline knew it was more than the food. It was the guest they had yet to see. She had thought she’d be more bothered by William’s presence, but nay, she’d been wrong.
She had not laid eyes on Halvard’s venomous cousin since Helen’s death and she feared seeing him again. She wished the dreadful ordeal over with.
She cast that wishful thought out of her head for the king would not interrupt his meal to see to business until the meal was completed. Caroline tried to concentrate on the platter she shared with her husband. But she had a hard time with him so close and his hard thigh pressed against hers did not help matters.
She shifted a few times away, but it kept bumping hers back and she was nigh breathless and starting to feel hot in the tucked gown. His warm breath came like a hot caress next to her ear.
‘Be still before draw the attention you are working so hard to avoid. Is something wrong?’
Caroline froze and shot him an annoyed glance. Yet, she still heard the tremor in her voice when she responded, ‘Nay. All is we-well.’
Her gaze nervously swept over the servants moving about and she saw no familiar faces from her home.
Mildred came to her thoughts. Laur had been awkwardly kind to her this afternoon and though Kelbie was with her now, Caroline still did not yet trust the servant. She needed someone closer to home, despite the unkindness she had suffered there. She could not explain it; she just sensed she needed it.
Turning her gaze back to him, she cleared her throat before she posed her request.
‘You asked if I wished for a maid last night. Well, I do. There was a woman that traveled with us and – well, I wish for her to see to my needs.’
‘Her name, demoiselle?’ he asked without blinking an eye or pause in eating.
Caroline did not realize that she’d been holding her breath and she rushed out, ‘Mi-Mildred, my lord.’
‘Done.’ He said with a shrug and popped a small cube of cheese into his mouth.
She gaped at him. That easy? No grilling her for a reason or a backward slap?
She did not know how long she stared at him until he turned those piercing blue eyes upon her with an arched dark brow raised in question. Those flecks of green seemed to sparkle brilliantly in his eyes as he watched her.
‘Is there aught else?’
His words sounded tight. Caroline closed her mouth and nodded no vigorously. The warmth in her belly spread when his eyes dropped to her lips and throat. Feeling the flush crawl further up her neck, she turned her focus back on the platter.
Darc polished off the remainder of his chalice and waved the page away when he moved to refill it, his eyes still on his wife. She was a mystery to him. Full of fire and hatred one moment and demure the next. He shrugged.
Perhaps this woman she asked after was kin. He vaguely recalled seeing an older gray-haired woman seated next to her in the cart before they’d left her home. He would find out.
But for now, he was eager for William to be done with his business so he would be free to get away from her. He’d made a grave mistake looking at her mouth. The memory and the feel of her soft mouth and body last night rushed back to him. The throbbing in his loins irritated him and the closeness of her and her smell…Ah, he wanted nothing more than to drag her to his chamber and lose himself in what almost happened last eve.
The effect she had on him darkened his already tumultuous mood and he set his jaw in a tight clench. By the wide-eyed look she cast him; he knew his action surprised her.
Annoyed that he would take the time to notice this too, further vexed him and giving her a curt nod; he turned and raised his hand for the page to attend him. He’d been wrong. He’d not had enough drink. He ignored her and struck up conversation with Alan who was seated on his other side.
Finally the full course meal ended and when all the tables were cleared away the king stood and moved his large body to a high back chair Darc had set on the far end of the dais.
Transfixed on the king’s every refined movement, Caroline stood quietly next to her husband, anxiety clawing at her gut. The king looked at one of his men, gave orders in a boom of a murmur and when she heard the call to bring forth Halvard’s cousin, she stopped breathing.
CHAPTER TEN
Cedric walked gallantly and tall in between two of the king’s guards. His eyes only on William. He dared not turn his look elsewhere and Caroline let out a long breath.
She was glad. She tried to still the tremors that racked her at the mere sight of him. Then she inhaled sharply when Cedric did dare and his eyes lit upon her. She did not realize she dug her nails into the powerful muscles of Darc’s forearm.
Darc’s anger flared over his wife's reaction to the bold Cedric. The man's leering gaze made him itch to behead him where he stood. Animal lust and hatred flitted quickly in the man’s eyes before they once again shifted to William. The king noticed for his lips thinned and one brow arched as Cedric knelt and kissed the king's hand.
Caroline could not cover her gasp of horror when her eyes fell upon the signet ring too small for even Cedric's slim fingers. It sat almost on his enlarged knuckle.
She would know that ring anywhere. 'Twas her father's ring and that monster dared to wear it and openly! It had been stolen from her father's hand the night Halvard had brought his unspeakable and barbaric deeds to their gates.
Caroline saw red as the painful memories threatened to overwhelm her. With her heart racing, blood pounding in her ears, she choked on her next breath.
Just then as he was rising Cedric turned a knowing look upon her and flexed the hand on which he wore the jewel. Rage beset her and her anxiety vanished. So lost in her anger she was not even aware of what she did next. Her hand left Darc's forearm and dropped to the hilt of the dagger at his hip.
Darc’s hand covered hers swiftly in a tight grip, halting further movement. ‘Do you wish to die here this day, demoiselle?’
‘Nay.’ She barely managed to squawk in a hoarse-filled whisper and from the pain of his tight grip upon her wrist.
‘You act foolishly and dare draw a blade in the presence of the king's men and your actions could have us both killed. A noble born woman knows her place under any circumstance. Is that not so?’
Caroline tightened her fingers on his arm and her cheeks burned as she felt him stiffen beside her. She lifted her eyes slowly to his. Through wooden lips she spoke a hushed word of agreement, all the while her eyes fought to not look down and cut the ring from Cedric’s finger, and remove it as he’d done to someone she loved. She would need to take care in his presence of what she did and said. Caroline blinked back the burn of angry frustrated tears and tried to focus on the king.
Darc sucked in a controlled breath. Her eyes were wild, filled with unshed tears, and the anguish he read there bothered him. He had spoken harshly, but her actions had called for it.
His gaze quickly scanned the room and he was glad no others had detected the slight movement. Almost undetected.
Only one other person had seen it. He nodded at Alan a few feet from them. He was grateful of the pact the two of them shared. Alan at times had been more ruthless than he on the battlefield in carrying out brutal orders upon the Saxons. Darc let out a breath when the heralded lieutenant’s gaze swept back to Cedric.
Darc drew Caroline’s hand upwards and brought it to his lips where he planted a kiss against her clammy flesh.
His warm breath stirred the hairs on the back of her hand as he spoke.
Caroline’s eyes widened with shock over the intimate gesture.
‘Seems you are hiding an untruth, demoiselle. I will have it all later.’ Darc stared down at
her. She dropped her eyes immediately from his to the floor. The slight tremble of her shoulders told him she was all too aware he still watched her.
He took a step away. Though her lashes remained lowered her eyes followed him. The lady hid her inner thoughts well but she had slipped this time, just enough for him to see the truth of her deceit.
He was mad as hell!
Lies. Mistrust.
Faithless was the Saxon way.
William saw gain. Marrying one to the other to mingle noble blood or establish it.
Tight-lipped, Darc stood with his face set in stone. What was he supposed to do? Anger rode him like a hot poker. There was naught he could do as the truth before him unfolded.
Halvard had been twice if not thrice his young wife’s age and the boy Kelbie he’d sired…
Darc looked back at the ashen-faced and kneeling Cedric to assure himself he’d not been imagining things.
Kelbie was not Halvard’s son.
Cedric was the boy’s sire.
Darc almost swayed with disgust at the impact of the dawning realization. Damaged goods he’d gotten once again.
As if she heard his thoughts Caroline finally met his gaze. He read the truth and the answer within her fearful ones. She knew he knew.
Unfaithful bitch.
He removed her fingers from his arm with a hard jerk. The knowing and unspoken words bothered him a great deal and he was furious that it did.
Confusion flashed in her honey-colored wide eyes, but he ignored her and turned his eyes back on William.
He’d discovered her secret!
Caroline felt sweat beading on her brow at the harsh touch from Darc. He could not know could he?
Aye, the cool, restrained anger that had burned in those blue depths before he turned away told her thus. She was more frightened now than before.
If the Norman could easily recognize Kelbie as that of Cedric’s seed, the reddish-brown locks, wide set eyes, the spatter of freckles which covered his face and limbs, and that same mole near his left ear…
So would Cedric upon seeing him.
She would have to face Darc with the truth now that he’d deduced it. Caroline swallowed the thick lump in her throat. Yet, she could not worry about what he thought now. Her son was more important.
She had to make sure the truth about Kelbie, the secret remained safe. Enough precious and innocent lives had already been lost because of it.
She said nothing as the king started in on stripping Cedric of all he'd stolen and claimed to own.
‘Cedric of Fulvyn, as you are well aware Halvard's possessions now belong to my lieutenant as well as what little you possess. You are forthwith stripped of any Saxon holdings and titles you held and all are bestowed upon your new overlord, Darc Renald. And you will show fealty to him.’
The king continued to rattle off all of her husband’s acquired and awarded fiefs, which seemed endless, along with titles until he ended with the newly acquired reward of Cedric’s small Saxon fief Halvard had awarded him.
Cedric said nothing as William continued, but the color seeping up into his neck and cheeks spoke of his seething. His coarse features twisted with his outrage. But were he to utter a word, let alone make a move, meant immediate death.
The tension in the room was thick.
Cedric's eyes fell upon her and Caroline read the cold calculated gleam in his eyes. Aye, he knew now was not the time or place. Cedric valued his selfish life first and he would wait. Wait his turn. His eyes screamed vengeance at her.
Darc watched it all. His gaze never left the skinny man's face. Though some of the filth had been cleaned from him, he still had a sullied presence. Cedric’s cold look of assessment upon his wife was not lost on him. This man could not be trusted and the venom Cedric tried unsuccessfully to mask caused the hackles on the back of Darc's neck to stir. His eyes were those of Halvard's. Darc had seen that same look on another’s face too.
Raven’s. A crazed devil in disguise.
He suddenly did not want him near Caroline and just as soon as the thought rose, he shoved it aside. Where in the hades had that come from? The notion unsettled him.
This man was the little boy's sire. Something inside him tightened at the thought as an image of Kelbie swam before him. One look at the lad and one would easily see the striking resemblance.
Darc knew the boy feared him and it bothered him when it shouldn’t, but it did a great deal. Still, a protective instinct washed over him and he clenched a fist at his side.
When the king was finished Cedric’s weedy voice tripped in addressing his new king and it bounced off the walls of the hushed room.
‘Permission to speak, Your Majesty.’
Caroline bit down a queasy bubble. He sounded triumphant instead of defeated. What further lies dare he say to the king?
William was silent for a long moment. His eyes went to Alan and Darc then back again to Cedric. His deep voice rang loud and clear. ‘Granted.’
‘I wish to plead my case. I had no part in my cousin's dealings or sinister plans. He acted alone on everything and conspired with other barons of the north in his unwise uprising against you. I seek only to be a loyal vassal and subject to you, Your Majesty.’
‘You would lie dead now if there was evidence that you partook in Halvard’s rebellious actions. Let it be known, that I have shown mercy.’
Cedric’s smile froze. William leaned forward and added, ‘But, if your tale rings false, the same swift justice dispatched out to him will be brought down upon you.’
Cedric’s swallow was heard in the deafening silence following the king’s words.
‘Now’, William sat back and went on, ‘Loyal vassal you wish to be. Pay homage to your new overlord, whom may do with you as he sees fit. And his new bride, whom you are already acquainted. Lady Caroline.’
The king beckoned Darc forward.
Darc reluctantly and stiffly placed his hand at his wife’s elbow to guide her forward to the dais.
The room was deathly quiet and Caroline wished to the Saints all eyes were anywhere but on them.
All that could be heard was the sound of her slippers moving over the rushes and she shook, saying a silent prayer that Cedric did not look at her again. For even with Darc at her side, she still did not trust herself not to reach out for his dagger again and slit his throat.
William’s guards and her husband's men closed ranks around them and the king, and each man had a hand on their swords. All had seen the look on Cedric’s face and were ready to cut the man down. She too was grateful for the shield of the men and for the hushed cries of dismay that rippled through the room, breaking up the quietness, from a few as their view to what was going on was blocked.
Cedric knelt and swore the fealty oath to Darc.
When he was once again standing, the hall cheered for the action and the king ordered him removed from the hall.
Caroline looked to Darc. Though anger kept his body rigid, there was something in his eyes that caused her breath to hitch in her throat. Her composure was starting to crumble. She was shaking so hard she knew he felt it.
He spoke low seeing the question in her eyes. ‘He will be kept on the other side of the castle until I decide what it is I wish to do with him.’
Caroline nodded, relieved. When his hand slid over her shoulder and lower back, the comforting touch was a surprising crutch of strength for her and her tremors lessened.
Then Darc turned from her and bowed to William. Caroline dipped into a curtsy.
‘Rise Baron and Baroness Renald. Lady Caroline.’ William stepped his large frame down from the dais. ‘I am glad to see that you are looking well. And your son?’
Caroline swallowed, nervously and replied. ‘He is well, Your Majesty.’
The king surprised her and gave her a curt nod. ‘Good. I wish you well and may good fortune come to you as the wife of one of my best men. He is fair and above all else, he is an honest man. I am sure you will produce a few fine
sons with him as well. ’Tis wise to put the life you knew with Halvard behind you, baroness. Look to your new future. It will bring you naught but ill-will to do otherwise.’
Caroline managed to nod, her lips pressed tight. Darc stiffened next to her.
‘Now pardon us, but I must borrow him once more.’ The king finished and turned his attention back to her husband.
She had been dismissed. With his hands clasped behind his back and Darc at his side, William commanded. ‘Walk with me, Renald.’
Darc fell in step beside the king and they left the hall. The royal guards followed as did the other man who had shared a look with her husband earlier, Alan Rufus.
Caroline was glad for the moment alone and was eager to get away from the curious eyes in the hall. She needed time to compose her raging emotions and walked quickly toward the tower steps. She was running once she was out of sight of the hall, her thoughts whirling.
Cedric was a greedy coldblooded murderer.
She had not known what to expect upon seeing him. Fear. Aye, she’d felt that, but that now came second to the rage which she tried to calm upon being so briefly in his presence and seeing her father’s ring.
Just knowing his vile presence was down below somewhere in this large castle made her blood boil and the scarlet haze of fury nigh blinded her. She gulped in deep breaths and fisted her hands at her sides as she paced in a dark alcove off the long passage to the solar where she’d left Kelbie with Laur. She had to calm herself before she saw her son.
Her thoughts went back to Cedric.
How Helen could’ve loved that hideous creature, Caroline knew not. But she had, despite his misleading her with his vicious lies which had destroyed her beautiful cousin’s young heart.
All the while his real intent had lain elsewhere- with Caroline. She quaked with the memory of his longing gaze down in the hall and what else his eyes promised. She wished with all her heart that she had no ties to that vile man.