Adara turned toward the small cottage behind them to find a large, buxom woman opening the door to welcome them inside. A few years older than she, the woman had long straight brown hair and friendly green eyes.
“Good evening,” the woman said, smiling brightly. “Do you be needing a room for the night?”
“Nay, just a bit of food for us and my husband.”
The woman looked down toward where Christian was headed. “You married a priest?”
Adara felt her face flush with color as she realized that Christian still wore his monk’s black robes. “Nay, we’ve been on pilgrimage,” she lied.
“Ah,” the woman said, stepping aside so that Adara and Lutian could enter. “My brother went to Rome wearing a friar’s frock, horsehair tunic, and walking the whole way on his knees. Men, I wonder at times what goes through their heads.”
Adara didn’t respond as the woman led them to a large hearth on the opposite side of the cottage. “We have leek and sausage soup, mincemeat pies, roasted lamb and chicken. What have you?”
Adara had no idea what Christian might like, so she decided on what would be easiest to carry with them. “Three pies, please, and two skins of ale.” She looked at Lutian. “What of you?”
He stroked his beard thoughtfully. “I should like one maid to take with us.”
Adara’s eyes widened as the woman squeaked in horror. Covering Lutian’s mouth with her hand, she cleared her throat. “He was but jesting, goodwife. He would like two pies and a skin as well.”
The woman narrowed her eyes in warning before she left them to gather their items.
“Lutian!” Adara snapped. “Shame on you.”
He only grinned devilishly as he scanned the clean but old room, which was empty save for two little girls who were playing dolls in one corner.
She smiled as she watched them giggling and chattering about nothing of consequence, and yet it was significantly important to them. How she loved children. She’d always wanted her own, even when she was a girl. She’d played endlessly with dolls in expectation of the day when she would be a mother.
And she had waited far too many years for a husband who held no desire to grant her the one thing she wanted most.
She felt her smile falter as sadness consumed her. If she were wise, she would annul this marriage and find a husband who would do his duty.
However, that was even harder than convincing her wayward spouse to return with her. What man would jeopardize his life by being her consort while they were on the brink of war with a kingdom that was determined to annex her own?
“Go on, my queen,” Lutian whispered in her ear. “No one here knows you are royal. Go and play with your children.”
“It’s not proper.”
“Neither is befriending a simpkin.”
Adara squeezed his arm. “You are far wiser than you let on, Lutian.”
“And everyone, even a queen, needs a day of play.” He indicated the children with a jerk of his chin. “Lay on, my queen, and have a bit of fun.”
Before she could think twice, Adara crossed the room so that she could kneel beside them.
“Greetings, little ones,” she said to the girls, while Lutian stayed by the hearth, waiting on the woman to return. “What are you two playing?”
“Merry Marge,” the older girl, who was probably around the age of six, said as she brandished a doll that was made from brown homespun. The doll’s hair was coarse black horsehair and two black stitched X’s formed her eyes. The little girl herself had the woman’s bright green eyes and blond hair. “She’s been really naughty and let the beggar steal her shoes.” She held up the doll’s bare feet to show her.
“Naughty, naughty!” the other girl, who was obviously her sister and who was probably no older than four, cried as she bounced a similar doll up and down on her lap.
Christian traded his horse and Lutian’s for three others. None of the three were anywhere near the quality of his rounsey, but he paid the avener a small fortune to hold Titan here until he could return for him.
He left the stable and headed for the hostel where he’d left Adara and Lutian. It was getting late and he should most likely stay here for the night. But he wouldn’t chance it. He didn’t like towns, to begin with. They were too confining and held too many sounds that could mask the telltale noises of someone trying to sneak up on him.
He tied the horses outside, then opened the hostel door and paused as he saw his royal wife on the floor with two small peasant girls who were laughing at her. The sight shocked him. That a woman of her station would do such a thing was unthinkable.
Adara held two dolls in her hands and was dancing them together. She sang a song in a language he had all but forgotten. And in that instant, he flashed back to his own childhood. To the last time in his life he had felt truly safe.
Loved.
I love you, little Christian, his mother’s voice echoed in his mind as she kissed his brow and rocked him in her arms. I always will.
He couldn’t count the times his mother sang to him when he was a child. But even so, her voice was no match for the beauty of Adara’s.
Lutian cleared his throat as if to warn them of his presence.
The older of the girls straightened up as she caught sight of him watching them. “Are we doing something wrong, brother?” she asked him.
Adara stopped midsong as she turned to face him. God’s blood, but she was a striking woman. Her wealth of black hair fell freely around her like a mantle of sable. And those eyes…
A man could lose all sanity while staring at those kind, sweet eyes.
Surely no queen should look so guileless and innocent. Especially not one who had traversed an entire continent just to seduce him to her bed.
“Nay,” Christian said quietly. “And I’m not a monk.”
The little girl cocked her head at that.
“He’s playing dress-up,” Adara said. “Like Marge.” She handed the dolls back to the girls, then stood up and joined him.
“Did you not eat?” he asked.
She gestured to a cloth napkin that covered a small stack of mincemeat pies and two skins on a nearby table. “I thought it best we eat on our journey.”
“I ate already,” Lutian said. He patted his stomach. “It was very tasty and well served. I still would rather have had my first request, though. A prime maid to feast upon.” His gaze went to Adara. “What man could ask for more?”
Christian frowned at that until she brushed a hand against his brow, which immediately succeeded in calming him. “You shouldn’t do that so much. You’ll get wrinkles before your time.”
Christian opened his mouth to speak, then paused as he heard something odd from outside.
If he didn’t know better…
A dagger went whizzing past his face, narrowly missing it.
Adara screamed as she moved away from him to shield the children. Lutian quickly joined her in the corner.
Before he could unsheath his sword, the door slammed open and a body was flung through it.
Christian pulled his sword out and angled it to the man on the ground, only to realize he was already dead. He stepped back as another man came through the door with a drawn dagger in his hand.
Adara held the girls’ faces to her gown to shield them from the sight of the dead man as she tried to understand what was happening. Even Lutian stood as motionless as a statue.
Christian still held his sword at the ready, but made no move to attack.
The newcomer was almost as tall as Christian. He had black hair that flowed long past his broad shoulders. In truth, she’d never seen hair so long on any man. His skin was a darker tan than most Europeans. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear he was Saracen.
But his eyes were so pale that at first glance, they looked white. They were as startling in their mercilessness as they were in their color.
“Phantom,” Christian said in a low tone. “Are you friend or foe this night?”
“If I were foe, Abbot, you’d be dead now,” the man said in an accent that was definitely Norman.
In one fluid motion, Phantom wiped his bloody dagger on his thigh before he tucked it into his black sleeve.
“Mercy, mercy!” the hostel owner said as she entered the room and saw the dead man on her floor. She rushed to the girls, then herded them out of the room.
Phantom turned his cold, eerie gaze to Adara, who stiffened instantly. There was something very chilly and frightening about this man. And at the same time, there was something eerily familiar about him, too, but she was most certain that had she ever met this man before, she would definitely recall it.
“What have we here?” he asked with a note of excitement in his voice.
Christian placed himself between them. “She’s no concern of yours.”
A slow, wicked smile spread across Phantom’s face. “Is she your concern?”
“Aye.”
The man inclined his head almost respectfully to them. “Then you’re right. She’s none of mine.” He bent down and hoisted the dead man up onto his back.
Adara was awed by his strength as he stood up and headed for the door.
“What are you doing?” she asked him.
He shrugged even with the weight of the other man on his shoulders. “I figured the goodwife and her daughters wouldn’t want me to leave her place in a mess.”
He left the hostel, then returned a moment later without the dead man. “So why was he after you, Abbot?”
Christian glanced at her and Lutian. “It appears someone wants me dead.”
Phantom passed a curious look from one to the other. “You should be more careful, then, shouldn’t you?”
Christian didn’t respond. “What brings you here?”
“I was on my way back to Paris and thought I’d rent a room for the night when I saw Titan in the stable. I was inspecting him as I caught sight of the shadow headed toward the hostel. Good thing I followed.”
“Indeed.”
The two men were extremely uncomfortable around each other and Adara wondered why.
“Thank you, kind sir,” she said, interrupting their rather stilted conversation.
Phantom scowled at her. “I know that accent. Queen Adara?”
Her blood ran cold, that he had suddenly recognized her.
“You know me?” she asked at the same time Christian asked, “You know her?”
“Aye,” Phantom said with a speculative gleam in his eyes. “I know her. I was even paid to kill her.”
Adara stepped back and collided with Lutian as Christian went ramrod-stiff. “Paid by whom?” he asked.
“I didn’t ask his name, but he looked official enough.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “You can both relax. I don’t take money to kill women.” There was an odd note in his voice that concerned her much.
“Do you do it for pleasure?” Lutian asked.
He laughed darkly. “There are some lines even a damned man won’t cross. Rest assured, I turned the money down, then cut the throat of the man who offered it.”
Christian gave him an arch look. “What did you do with the coin?”
He shrugged. “I left it for the beggars.”
She shivered at his nonchalant frankness about death.
Phantom cocked his head as if listening for something. “The townspeople are stirring. I’d best go before I have to kill one of them as well.” He started for the door.
“Wait,” Christian said. “We’re heading toward the Scot’s.”
“So?”
Before they could say another word, Phantom stepped out of the hostel and was gone.
Adara crossed herself at the unholy way he vanished into the evening. There was something about him that didn’t seem quite human and he definitely wasn’t sane. She crossed herself again, just for good measure. “What is that man?”
Christian sighed as he sheathed his sword. “He claims he’s the son of the devil and a whore. Sometimes I don’t doubt it.”
Lutian stepped forward. “Why did he call you Abbot?”
She didn’t expect him to answer, so when he did, it caught her off guard. “We used to live someplace where names weren’t important to us. It was actually easier to pretend we didn’t have names at all. My friends called me Abbot because they knew I was from a monastery and many thought I was a monk.”
Lutian ahhed. “I take it Phantom was named for the fact that he looks like an ungodly ghost.”
He nodded. “And he moves like one as well. The only problem was that we were never quite certain whose side he was on.”
She could well understand that. “It seems to me he’s on his own side.”
“Aye, but just when you think that, he does something completely altruistic, such as killing the man who was after us, and places himself in great peril to help another.” Christian motioned for them to join him. “Come, we best be on our way.”
Adara gathered up their food and skins, then followed him and Lutian through the door.
Outside, there were a number of local men studying the body that Phantom had propped beside a building, while the hostel owner told them about Phantom.
“He was evil,” she breathed. “Possessed by the devil himself. ’Tis the devil’s witchcraft, I know it.”
Adara started toward the crowd, only to have Christian pull her away. He motioned for her and Lutian to be silent before he set her up on her horse, then mounted his own. Lutian followed suit.
He took her reins and led her quickly and stealthily away from town.
“Why did you do that?” she asked once they were away from the area.
“The goodwife could see that I knew Phantom, and I didn’t want them to start pointing at us and crying witchcraft. Best to get out before it’s too late.”
She agreed. “I must say, my lord, you do keep interesting company.”
He snorted at that. “You have yet to meet the most intriguing ones.”
Hmm, that might be true. But she doubted if any man could ever be more intriguing than the one she was looking at right now.
Christian was an enigma to her. What kind of man dressed as a monk, while he concealed a sword and armor beneath his priestly robes? For that matter, what kind of man would give away his kingdom to keep company with an unholy killer?
And Phantom wasn’t even the most intriguing member of his company, according to his own words.
Just what kind of man was she married to?
But then, what did it matter? Prince or demon, she needed this man’s presence to secure her kingdom, and that was her first priority. Somehow, she must seduce him to her cause.
Adara watched Christian as he led her through the dark, foreign countryside. His face was barely discernible, but his commanding presence and power were undeniable. This was a man who had led a hard, harsh life.
“Christian?” she asked quietly.
“What, Adara?” There was a tired note of exasperation to his tone.
“Do you have any place that you call home?”
Christian fell silent at her question.
Home. Such a simple word, but in truth, he had no knowledge of its meaning. As a child, he and his parents had traveled constantly. They’d stayed in hostels, inns, or the homes of friends. Occasionally, they might happen upon his father’s Norman family who held land in Outremer, but those times were extremely rare.
He couldn’t even begin to count all the countries they had visited. Some were nothing more than blurred memories, while others were more clear. He’d fall asleep in a bed one night and by the time he awoke, he’d be cradled in his father’s arms while they were off to a new location. Whenever he’d asked his parents why they constantly traveled, they’d only said that they liked to see different people and countries.
Now he wondered at the truth. Were they being pursued?
Damn you for not telling me.
But then, he couldn’t truly damn the parents he’d loved so much. All thes
e years, their love for him had been the only thing he’d held on to in order to keep him sane. The only thing that had kept him human.
The closest thing to a home he’d ever known had been the monastery. But if that was truly a home, then they could keep it.
“Nay, my lady,” he said quietly. “I have no home.”
“Then how do you live? Where do you get your coin?”
“I live by my sword. It shelters me and it feeds me. As for coin, I have enough. Should I need more, I tourney for it.”
“He who lives by the sword shall die by it,” Lutian said from his place behind her.
Ignoring Lutian, Adara was humbled by Christian’s words, which tugged at her heart. “You always travel alone?”
“Aye.”
“And this life suits you?”
“Aye.”
Adara frowned at that. But how could it? How could a man be completely alone all his life and not want friend or family near him? It made no sense to her.
“You are a lonely man, Christian of Acre. Basilli and Selwyn have taken much from me, but you…you’ve lost it all, haven’t you?”
“Nay, Adara. I haven’t. I still have my life and I have my dignity and my morals. Take my word for it, I still have much to lose.”
The tone of his voice said it all, and as she thought back to Phantom, she realized how right Christian was.
“I am glad for you, then. You must have fought hard to maintain all three of them.”
He reined his horse to a stop and didn’t speak until they were side by side. The look he gave her chilled her soul deeply. “You have no idea, my lady, and I hope that you never learn.”
“You hope or you pray?”
He gave a short, bitter laugh. “I hope. I ceased to pray a long time ago.”
He kicked his horse forward and left her behind to contemplate that revelation. She glanced at Lutian, who exchanged an uncomfortable look with her.
“He is a man of many demons, my queen,” he said in a whispered tone.
Adara agreed, but now she was even more confused. She kicked her horse forward until she caught up to Christian. “I don’t understand. If you have ceased to pray, why wear the garb of a monk?”
Return of the Warrior Page 5