“She was nine years old when she went to foster at Warwick Castle,” he replied. “Then she returned to Canterbury when she was around twelve or thirteen years, I believe, before she was off again to Winchester Court. It’s been at least five years since that time.”
“Five years, six months, and twenty-two days to be exact.”
Another voice entered their conversation, causing both Maddoc and David to turn in the direction of the golden-lit hall. A woman of unearthly beauty was standing in the archway, smiling at Maddoc, and it took the man a moment to realize that it was Adalind. His eyes widened.
“Lady Adalind?” he couldn’t help the awe in his tone.
The Lady Adalind Alianor de Lohr de Aston smiled hugely. “So you recognize me?” she asked. “I wondered if you would. It has been a very long time since I last followed you around the grounds, annoying you to tears. ’Tis good to see you, Maddoc.”
Maddoc had to make a conscious effort to keep his mouth from hanging open. The skinny, irritating child he’d watched grow up was no longer the awkward little girl he remembered. Somehow, someway, Adalind had grown up and filled out, creating something of a heavenly vision.
Like most of the de Lohr family, she was blond, but her hair was a darker shade with streaks of copper through it, and her eyes were a vibrant shade of green. With her delicately arched brows, pert little nose with a dusting of freckles, and rosebud lips, Maddoc could instantly see why she apparently had hordes of men following her around in Winchester. Something this exquisite would not go unnoticed.
“’Tis good to see you as well,” he responded, trying not to appear too stunned. “How long have you been back at Canterbury?”
Adalind moved out of the archway, heading towards him, and it was all Maddoc could do not to stare like an idiot at her. She was average in height but there was nothing average about the womanly figure she had developed over the past few years, deliciously embraced by the yellow surcoat. She reached out her hand to him as she approached and he instinctively took it.
“About a week,” she replied, tugging on his hand. “I have been waiting impatiently for you to return from France. Come inside and tell me all about your trip.”
Maddoc let her hold his hand, following her into the great hall with its enormous table that could easily seat forty people. Servants moved about, kicking the dogs out of the way as they set food and drink upon the scrubbed surface. Maddoc steadied Adalind as she sat on the bench, lowering his big body next to her.
David wasn’t far behind them. He collected another chalice of ale and took a seat. “Do you not want to know what happened to those two fools who were dueling to the death outside? You haven’t even asked me about them.”
Adalind turned her nose up. “That is because I do not care,” she said. “They are both idiots. I hope they will give up their pursuit and return home.”
David snorted as he settled back in his chair, the only chair at the entire table. Every other seat was a bench.
“They are still here,” he said, “but Maddoc put an end to their battle. By now they are probably picking themselves up off the ground, wondering what hit them.”
Adalind turned her smiling face in Maddoc’s direction. “Did you champion me, then?”
Maddoc still wasn’t over the shock of Adalind having become such a beautiful creature, his shock made worse when she smiled. Her smile was no longer buck-toothed, but white and radiant. He returned her smile, modestly.
“That is my job,” he said. “I am sworn to champion everyone in the Earl of Canterbury’s household and you happen to fall under that directive.”
Adalind stared at him, her smile fading after a moment. “Of course,” she said, taking her eyes off of Maddoc to claim a cup of wine. “Ever the loyal servant, Maddoc.”
Maddoc could sense her happy mood fading. All of that radiance seemed to dim suddenly and he found himself repeating their conversation, wondering what he had said that might have upset her. Was it the fact that he had said it was his job to champion her? She seemed to sober after that statement. He wondered why.
“I would like to hear of your stay in Winchester.” He tried to keep the conversation going, feeling oddly confused at the moment. “Did you enjoy your time spent there?”
She shrugged, toying with her wine. “There were times when I enjoyed it,” she said. “I enjoyed the parties and the festivals. Oh, and Grandfather, I ran into an old friend of yours at the Street of Merchants a few months back. He sends his greetings.”
David was sipping at his ale. “Who?”
“Lord Forbes,” she said. “A very big bald man. He lives at Dunster Castle. He had some grandchildren with him, all girls. He says to tell you that you have not cornered the market on female children.”
David started laughing. “Gart Forbes,” he shook his head at the memories. “Other than Maddoc and his father, Gart was the best knight I have ever seen. A truly powerful and frightening man. Before your Uncle Daniel was born, Gart and I used to joke about all of the female children I had. I once told Gart that I was going to trade him two of my girls for one of his boys.”
Adalind grinned because he was. “Would you still do such a thing?”
David shook his head. “Of course not… although there were times when I would have gladly traded away your mother’s sisters. Emilie had two younger sisters, and then Emilie and I had three girls in a row before Daniel was born. Then…”
Adalind cut him off. “Then my mother had two girls, Aunt Natalie had two girls, and Aunt Elyse finally had a son.” She shook her head, teasing. “How do you put up with so many women?”
“It is not easy.”
He was snorting into his cup as he said it, taking a long drink. Smiling at her grandfather, Adalind glanced at Maddoc to see that he was grinning also. She pointed a finger at him.
“And you,” she said. “How old are you now, Maddoc?”
Maddoc met her intense green gaze. “If you recall, your mother and I were born on the same day three years apart,” he replied. “I have seen thirty-one years.”
Adalind cocked her head thoughtfully. “And you have not yet found a wife? I find that astonishing.”
Maddoc’s humor faded somewhat as he reached for his own cup of wine. Before he could reply, David answered.
“Addie,” he admonished softly, sternly. “’Tis an inappropriate question. You…”
Maddoc lifted a hand, cutting him off. “She does not know,” he defended her. “She has been away for many years. She could not have known.”
“Know what?” Adalind’s focus shifted between Maddoc and her grandfather.
Maddoc looked at her. “I did have a wife,” he said, his tone somewhat quiet. “In fact, we were married about six months after you left for Winchester Court. But she died in childbirth before we had even been married a year.”
Adalind’s jaw dropped, her eyes round with horror. “Oh, Maddoc,” she gushed softly. “I had not heard. No one ever told me.”
He shrugged, returning his attention to his drink. “There was no reason to, I suppose,” he said. “As I said, it was a long time ago.”
Adalind was still mortified. “If it was shortly after I left for Winchester Court, it was no more than four or five years ago.” She shook her head, putting a soft hand on his mailed arm. “I am so sorry, Maddoc. I did not mean to sound callous. I did not know.”
The twinkle was back in his eyes as he looked at her. “I know you did not. No harm done.”
Adalind was still feeling very bad. “Who was she? Anyone I know?”
Maddoc shook his head. “She was from Navarre,” he said. “My father selected her for me. In truth, I only met her a few days before our marriage. She was a tiny, brown-eyed, French girl who, I found out later, had always been in ill health. The pregnancy simply took its toll.”
Adalind squeezed his arm before letting him go. “Still, I apologize for being insensitive,” she said, trying to think of a way to salvage her blunder. �
�Before I make a complete fool out of myself and embarrass my grandfather further, you asked about my time spent in Winchester. Let us speak of the great and terrible times I had there.”
Maddoc was back to smiling. Adalind had grown more animated over the years and her bright personality was something of an anomaly in a world where demure women were the preference. He rather liked her vivaciousness and he could easily see why it would threaten other women. There was something very magnetic about her.
“Speak of the great times,” he said. “I do not think I want to hear of the terrible.”
Adalind wriggled her eyebrows. “Nor do I wish to speak of them,” she said, sobering somewhat. “Although there were more terrible times than great times. It was unfortunate that…”
She was cut off by a big bang followed by something that sounded like a growl. Adalind, David and Maddoc turned towards the source of the sound, seeing the two beaten brothers standing in the entry to the great hall. They were dirty, and somewhat pale, but the fury in their eyes was unmistakable.
“You!” the taller brother jabbed a finger at Maddoc. “You will pay for your actions, knight.”
Adalind was on her feet. “Deinwald ap Athoe,” she snapped, putting herself in between Maddoc and the hall entry. “I have told you and your hard-headed brother repeatedly that I do not want you here. I have no interest in either of you as you have known from the beginning, and nothing you can say is going to change my mind. I have asked you to leave twice now, yet still you remain. I want you to leave Canterbury immediately, do you hear?”
Deinwald was weaving unsteadily somewhat, still fighting off the aftereffects from Maddoc’s devastating punch. His mouth was swollen, his pimpled skin red and flushed. He ignored Adalind’s orders.
“You will change your mind,” he said firmly. “I am to inherit a great deal, my lady, and you must give me a chance to show you what a fine husband I will make.”
Beside him, his brother started to move into the hall, heading for Maddoc. “You shall feel our wrath, fool. You had no right to interfere.”
David was on his feet now, moving towards the aggressive young men. “Get out of here,” he pointed a finger at the door. “Adalind has asked you thrice to leave, yet still you remain. Now, I am ordering you from Canterbury. If you are not out within the hour, I will turn du Bois loose on you and I promise you will both regret such a thing.”
Up until this point, Maddoc had remained seated and silent, watching the situation unfold. He was waiting to see how David reacted and prepared to take his direction from the man. When David ordered the brothers from the hall, however, they were disinclined to obey right away. They stopped their advance for a moment, lingering by the door, before looking at one another in both confusion and defiance. At least they had some sense, knowing they would not get much further with the lady if they defied her grandfather, a very powerful earl. But when they refused to leave as ordered, Maddoc stood up.
“The earl has commanded you to vacate,” he rumbled threateningly. “Since you seem incapable of following his directive, allow me to assist.”
It was said in the most dangerous tone possible. The brothers remained by the entry, but they took a healthy step or two in the direction of the keep entry as Maddoc began to stalk them. The shorter and more foolish of the brothers threw a finger in Maddoc’s direction.
“You shall not lay a hand on us,” he commanded, but his voice cracked in fear as he spoke and completely ruined what he had hoped would be construed as a threat. “What right do you have to assault us? You are the hired sword and unworthy of engaging us in combat.”
It was the wrong thing to say. Ever stone-faced, Maddoc simply lifted a threatening eyebrow as he advanced and mentally planned on all of the terrible things he would do to the pair once he reached them. But his building steam was interrupted when Adalind put herself in between Maddoc and the foolish brothers.
“He is my betrothed,” she said, pointing to Maddoc. “He will beat you within an inch of your life if you do not leave this moment. Get out, I say!”
Every man in the room looked at Adalind with some shock, including Maddoc. But David quickly caught on to her game.
“She is already pledged,” he reiterated. “Go home. I will not see you again.”
The brothers lost all of their steam. Jaws hung open in surprise. Maddoc returned his gaze to the pair and, without so much as a crack in his façade, resumed stalking.
“I am certain you will not like the pain I shall put you through if I get my hands on either of you,” he said. “You have been told to leave. Do it now or suffer the consequences.”
The shorter brother took off at a dead run, hurling himself from the entry and down the stairs to the bailey. The taller brother, however, stood his ground even though he was incrementally backing away as Maddoc advanced. He eyed the enormous knight who had so effortlessly subdued him and his brother.
“If you are the lady’s betrothed, then… then I challenge you.” He pointed an imperious finger at Maddoc. “To the winner go the spoils.”
Maddoc was within arm’s length of the man and reached out, snatching his hand and squeezing so hard that bones could be heard snapping. As the brother screamed in pain and tried to jerk his hand away, Maddoc grabbed him by the neck and literally tossed him out of the hall. The brother ended up in a heap near the door, scrambling to get away from Maddoc, who was, by now, bearing down on him. As Maddoc reached down to pick the man up, his brother came back through the entry with a broadsword in his hand.
Maddoc caught the glint of steel in his peripheral vision. He heard Adalind shriek. In that split second, he lifted the grounded brother and used him as a shield just as the shorter brother thrust the blade forward. The sword caught the taller brother in the shoulder and the man howled in pain, but it was enough of a distraction for Maddoc to release him and go after the brother with the weapon.
A massive fist dropped the shorter brother, the blade, and the taller brother still attached to it. They all went down in a pile on the entry floor as David rushed forward to pull the broadsword out of the maelstrom. He wanted it out of the way, unable to wreak any further damage, as Maddoc grabbed both brothers and heaved them from the entry. By this time, several soldiers and at least two knights, who had heard the noise coming from the keep, were just mounting the stairs. They were not surprised to see du Bois standing whole and sound on the entry landing as two hapless victims rolled down the stairs.
“Remove them,” Maddoc commanded his men. “Escort them to the river crossing and make sure they are well across it before you return their weapons to them. If I see them here again, I will kill them both. Make it known.”
With that, he turned back for the keep, gesturing for the startled Adalind to go back inside. She had been standing behind him with wide eyes, obeying when she saw his directive. David, however, stood at the top of the stairs, watching his men untangle the wounded brothers before hauling them away. His blue eyes were wrought with knowing as he watched them go.
He knew that wouldn’t be the last time such a thing would occur with the fair Adalind returned. It was just a feeling he had.
I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times…
In life after life, in age after age, forever.
CHAPTER TWO
“Did he even say anything to you, Addie? Anything at all?”
Seated by the fish pond back near the buttery where the castle was supplied with fresh fish, Adalind sat with her sister, the Lady Willow, in the early morning sun. A new day was dawning, the sky streaked with the muted colors of sunrise. The ladies glanced up when a flock of geese noisily flapped across the sky, soaring off into the deep blue sky. As the kitchen yard around them bustled with servants preparing for the morning meal, the question hung in the air between them.
“Nay,” Adalind replied, trying to sound casual. “I did not expect him to. Why would he?”
The Lady Willow Lillibet de Lohr de Aston shrugged h
er slender shoulders. She was a beauty, like her sister, a tall and lanky young woman of sixteen years who had only recently returned from fostering herself. Adalind and Willow had not seen each other in five years, a long separation for sisters who had once been inordinately close. For the past three days, they had been inseparable as they became reacquainted.
“Because you have grown up,” she said simply. “You have matured a great deal and you are no longer that silly, gangly child that used to follow him about. Has he not even noticed you have grown up?”
“It does not matter. I am still the granddaughter of his liege. He sees me as a member of the de Lohr family and nothing more.”
Willow shook her head in disbelief, her pale hair licking at her cheeks. “I cannot believe the man to be so blind,” she said, eyeing her sister after a moment. “When you saw him for the first time yesterday… did you feel the same as you have all of these years?”
Adalind was staring into the pond, watching the fish mingle amongst the vegetation. “Of course I did,” she murmured. “I have loved him since I was nine years old. That has not changed. I thought I could forget him as I went away to foster, but I did not. He was always lingering in my mind, like a shadow over my heart that would allow no other man to have it. It is both a wondrous blessing and a horrible curse. Why should I love a man so much who will never return my feelings?”
Willow gazed at her sister, so lovely and sweet. Adalind was the oldest of the grandchildren, the leader of the troops, and when she spoke, they all had listened. She was intelligent and compassionate, but somewhere in the years she had spent in Winchester, she had developed something of a shell. Willow could see it. Adalind used to be so open, a bright spirit that happily embraced the world. That didn’t seem to be the case any longer. She was guarded.
Fathers and Sons: A Collection of Medieval Romances Page 34