Fearsome Brides

by Kathryn Le Veque

  Avrielle nodded her head as she absorbed that information. “I never believed that de Montfort’s death would bring instant peace,” she said quietly. “Henry would not allow it.”

  “You have said that before. You were correct.”

  She had no pride to feed. She wished she hadn’t been correct, in fact. “What did you wish to speak with me about?” she asked. “You received a missive earlier today because I saw the messenger. Is Henry asking you to be party to his vengeance against those who did not support him against de Montfort?”

  Curtis shook his head, his manner pensive. “Nay,” he said. “The missive was from Gallus de Shera.”

  Avrielle smiled. “And how are Gallus and his lovely wife?” she asked. Then, her smile abruptly faded. “Sweet Jesus… he and his brothers all fought for de Montfort. Curt, did they all survive?”

  Curtis nodded his head. “They did,” he reassured her. “But the vengeance I spoke of… it would seem that Henry has turned it against the House of de Shera for their support of de Montfort. Gallus and his army are torn to shreds and he has asked if I would consider sending men to reinforce his ranks at this time. It would seem that Henry is demanding their surrender and has threatened to destroy the Isenhall and the House of de Shera if Gallus and his brothers do not comply.”

  Avrielle stared at him a moment. “Will you grant his request?”

  “I am thinking on it.”

  She continued to stare at him for a moment, pondering what he had said. Then, she abruptly stood up, wringing her hands as she thought on what her husband had told her. Having grown up in a warring household, and then having married a great warlord in the Earl of Worcester and Hereford, Avrielle knew the seriousness of warfare as well as, or even better than, some men.

  “Curt,” she finally said, “if you send men to reinforce him and Henry catches wind of it, he might think you have thrown your support behind de Shera.”

  Curtis nodded. “That is exactly how I see it, too,” he said. “But Gallus and his brothers are family. Their mother was my youngest sister. I cannot refuse support to family.”

  Avrielle looked at him. “And risk Henry’s wrath?”

  Curtis shook his head. “If Henry expects I will stay out of something like this, he is mad,” he said. “Let us look at the overall picture of the situation. I send troops to Isenhall and Henry attacks. My troops fend off Henry. Henry believes I have withdrawn support from the crown. That makes me a bigger problem far more than de Montfort ever was. Between Daniel and myself, we hold a good deal of the Marches and Southern England. Henry cannot muster enough strength to destroy us and I sincerely do not believe he would. We are far too valuable to him. Therefore, it is my feeling that if Henry sees my troops at Isenhall, he would avoid tangling with me for fear of losing me. He would leave Gallus alone.”

  Avrielle mulled over his assessment. “Mayhap,” she said quietly. “But the fact remains that Gallus and his brothers are major landholders and oppose Henry’s rules. Curt, they cannot continue on like this. Send troops if you must but go with them and tell Gallus it is time to put aside their grand ideals of a government for the people. They must support Henry if they are to survive. If they do not, they will be the enemy in their own country and you will be forced to station permanent troops at Isenhall simply to protect them. Is that really how they want to live? Is it how you want to live? Without de Montfort leading this fight, Gallus and his brothers are simply rebels.”

  It was the brutal truth and the pragmatic nature of his wife was coming out. She made good sense. Curtis, however, wasn’t entirely convinced.

  “Avie, I cannot tell a man what his convictions should be” he said. “Each man has to decide that for himself.”

  She cocked a stern eyebrow. “If he expects you to protect him, then he had better listen to you,” she said. “I know what de Montfort stood for and to a large degree, I agree with his ideals. He wanted a body of nobles to help rule the country, to make it fair for all. But de Montfort is dead now and the fire behind those ideals has died with him. Gallus and Maximus and Tiberius must realize that. It is time to lay down their arms if they want to live to fight another day. Whether or not they approve of Henry, the fact remains that he is the king and, by virtue of that fact, he deserves their fealty. Their battle is over and they have lost.”

  Curtis couldn’t disagree. “What you say is true,” he said. “But I am not entirely sure I can convince Gallus to swear fealty to Henry. There is no reason why he should listen to me.”

  “No reason except that if he does not, the House of de Shera will be crushed. It is only a matter of time.”

  Curtis mulled over her words, knowing them to be true. “You are correct,” he finally acknowledged. “Then mayhap I should go to Isenhall with some men and try to talk some sense into Gallus. For his own good, he may have to consider swearing fealty to a man he hates. Not that I have any love for Henry, either, but it would be a matter of Gallus not only discounting his convictions, but also swallowing his pride.”

  “Better swallowing his pride than losing his life.”

  Curtis nodded. “Indeed,” he agreed. Then, he eyed his wife, standing several feet away. “As always, your counsel is welcome and true. Plus, you are beautiful to look at, so it is a double pleasure for me.”

  Avrielle grinned. “You are a silken-tongued devil, Curtis de Lohr,” she said. “But… but if you do go with your men, please be careful. You are too old to be traveling about.”

  He waved her off. “It will be an easy ride to Coventry,” he assured her. “Not far at all.”

  “Not far?” she sniffed. “It will take you four or five days.”

  He shrugged. “It will be a simple thing.”

  She sighed, unhappy with his dismissive attitude. “And you will speak with Gallus and come right home?”

  “I will come right home.”

  She was satisfied. “Good,” she said, making her way over to her husband and depositing a sweet kiss on his head. “I love you, you old fool. But you always meddle in other people’s affairs.”

  He snorted, patting her affectionately on the buttocks as she turned away. “I am not meddling,” he said, “and if I am, I was asked to. There is a difference.”

  Avrielle laughed as she headed for the exit. “If I see our sons, shall I send them in to you?”

  He watched her go, a full view of her still-lovely figure. “You may as well,” he said. “Where are you going now?”

  She reached the door. “Out to find Eddie, our little mud hen,” she said. “I should make you clean him up since you were the one who told him to go play in the mud.”

  Curtis laughed, hearing his wife as she left the keep. But his smile soon faded as his focus returned to the missive on his desk. Avrielle had been right; if Gallus and his brothers continued their resistance to Henry, then they would be enemies in their own country. With the death of Simon, there wasn’t much left to fight for. Perhaps it was time someone convinced Gallus that for the sake of his family and legacy, he needed to give Henry his due. Curtis knew that whatever Gallus decided, Maximus and Tiberius would go along with. At least, he hoped so. The last thing he wanted to deal with was a rogue de Shera.

  When Chris, Arthur and William arrived in their father’s solar some time later, Curtis had their orders cut out for them.

  The de Lohr army began to mobilize once again.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Isenhall Castle

  Four days into her stay at Isenhall Castle, Alessandria had barely seen Chad. He had warned her that they would be kept apart, especially after he declared his interest in her, and four days later she was coming to find out he had been correct.

  Therefore, her days had been reduced to hoping for a glimpse of him, which mostly came around the evening meal, so her entire day was spent looking forward to that one meal where he would be present and she would be permitted to speak to him.

  There were times, however, when she would see him walking about
the castle, passing from the structure that housed the troops and on towards the stables, or even the gatehouse, and that brief glimpse would give her a dream to dream for the rest of the day.

  It was a strange existence, really, in a castle where she didn’t know her hosts very well, although the ladies of the castle, Lady Jeniver and Lady Courtly and Lady Douglass, had been quite kind to her. Even the children had been curious and kind, and there was an entire gaggle of them. They had accepted her quite quickly and she had spent a great deal of time with them, playing with them or even telling them stories. She did love to tell stories, reciting tales she had heard from the nuns at Newington.

  Even so, Isenhall was still new and different, and she felt very separated from Chad, leaving her feeling rather lost at times.

  On this fine summer day, with a soft breeze blowing and the temperature quite warm, she sat on the steps of the keep because it gave her the widest view of the ward and the best hope for seeing Chad at some point. Because the clothing she had come with had been heavier, meant for travel, Lady Jeniver had supplied her with a bolt of fine, soft linen so that she could sew herself a garment that would be better suited to the warmth of the month.

  Alessandria and Jeniver had carefully cut the material into sections that even now, Alessandria was sewing together with fine and sturdy hemp thread. It would hold the fabric better than silk would. She already had the skirt basted together and today she was working on the bodice, sewing the sleeves to it.

  It was something to pass the time with and Alessandria was actually looking forward to wearing the garment, the first pretty thing she had ever sewn together. There wasn’t much call for anything other than constructing durable garments at the priory, so this was something of a new adventure for her.

  It was late morning as she sat on the stairs, alternately watching her work and the activity in the ward. Maximus and Tiberius had a new Belgian charger they were trying to work with, a massive beast that would snap at Tiberius yet nuzzle Maximus, much to Tiberius’ outrage. It was evidently his horse but it liked Maximus better, and Alessandria sat on the steps and grinned as Tiberius ranted at Maximus for bewitching his horse. She was greatly entertained watching the interaction between them. But as the brothers had her distracted, someone managed to sneak up behind her and whisper in her ear.

  “Good morn, my lady.”

  Alessandria jumped, startled at the sound of Chad’s voice. When she whirled around to him, she was met by his handsome, grinning face. She grinned in return.

  “Good morn,” she said. “What are you doing so close to me without an escort?”

  Chad looked around. “I somehow managed to lose Gallus,” he said. “But that is a good thing. Are you willing to do something quite scandalous?”

  Alessandria shook her head at him reproachfully, although she was still smiling. “I am afraid to ask what that would be.”

  “You will not know unless you come with me.”

  She cocked an eyebrow. “With you? Alone?”

  He pursed his lips with some irony. “Aless, you spent an entire week alone with me.”

  “And you know what happened.”

  He just looked at her, surprised she should bring that up. But his manner inevitably softened. “Regrets?”

  Alessandria shook her head. “None at all,” she whispered. “In fact… In fact, I miss our time alone together. It seems as if we have had no time together at all since we arrived at Isenhall.”

  “I told you that would be the case.”

  “I know. But it is still difficult to stomach.”

  He smiled, an impish gleam in his eye. “Take heart, fair lady,” he said. “I am about to change that.”

  “How?”

  He held out a hand to her. “Come with me.”

  Alessandria did. There was no question. But she still had her sewing in hand as Chad quickly took her around the side of the keep where there was a small tunnel leading between the wall and the keep, dumping out into the stables. The entire area smelled of animals and hay, made stronger by the warm weather. When Chad finally came to a pause and saw that she was dragging her sewing about, he removed it from her hand and draped it over a stable ventilation window.

  “The town of Coventry is not far from here,” he said, his voice low so no one would hear. “Since the only possessions you have are those that others have given you, I thought to take you into the town and buy you a few things so you will not walk about feeling like a charity case. Would you like that?”

  He was pointing at the garment she was wearing, the dark green wool that his mother had given her. It didn’t fit her quite right, as it had been made for his shorter and somewhat smaller sister. Alessandria looked down at herself, between being insulted by his observations and excited at the prospect of actually having some possessions of her own. More than that, she was excited by the prospect of going to town with him, just the two of them. Her excitement won out.

  “Aye,” she said, somewhat eagerly. “But won’t Gallus and Jeniver wonder where I have gone? What will happen when they cannot find me?”

  Chad snorted. “When they cannot find me as well, they will know where you have gone,” he said. “Not to worry. Now, you will leave through the postern gate in the kitchen yard. Do not wander; wait by the gate. I will ride from the gatehouse and come for you.”

  With an enthusiastic grin, Alessandria ran off, back into the kitchen yards, while Chad went to casually collect his horse, whistling all the way, pretending like he wasn’t about to do something rather scandalous with a de Shera relative.

  Chad’s fat stud was munching away on a bucket of grains in his stall and Chad removed the unhappy animal from his feed, taking him out into the yard where skinny stable grooms saddled the beast. Chad ended up helping them because they were taking too long and he wanted to be on his way before someone stopped him, a fear that grew stronger when Maximus and Tiberius came back into the stableyard with Tiberius’ new Belgian charger. The horse kept trying to bite Tiberius while Maximus petted and stroked the beast, who obviously favored Maximus. Chad grinned to see Tiberius so upset over his horse’s favoritism towards his brother.

  “Is that your new stud from Antwerp?” Chad asked Tiberius. “He does not seem to like you very much.”

  Tiberius’ features were molded into a permanent frown. “Max has no shame in seducing animals,” he said loudly. “He has bewitched my horse so that it will obey only him. I cannot do a thing with him.”

  Chad was trying not to laugh as Tiberius came close to a tantrum. “The solution is simple,” he said. “Give Max the horse and have him buy you another one. You will not want a horse that is in love with your brother.”

  Tiberius nodded his head. “You are very correct,” he said. He pointed at his brother. “You owe me a new horse.”

  Maximus merely laughed and led the horse away, putting it in the section of the stable where his two other horses were kept. It was a statement to Tiberius that he was claiming the horse for good and Tiberius waved his brother off, disgusted.

  “He always steals things from me,” he muttered. “Had he not already been married, he might have stolen my wife from me as well. He even tries to coerce my children in to liking him better.”

  Chad laughed as he finished up with his own horse. “I am sorry for you, lad,” he said, swinging himself up easily into the saddle. “But you must know that you are the smartest and most likeable brother of all. Maximus is a sour bear of a man most of the time.”

  Tiberius nodded, conceding the point. “That is true,” he replied. Then, it was like he was only just noticing that Chad was preparing to leave. “Where are you going?”

  Chad gathered his reins. “To Coventry.”

  “Why?”

  Chad cocked an eyebrow at him. “To purchase a gift for a certain young lady, if you must know.”

  Tiberius grinned. “Ah,” he said. “She is a lovely girl, Chad. You are a fortunate man.”

  “Aye, I am. Now, let m
e be on my way or I will not make it back in time for supper. That is the only time I am allowed to speak with Aless and I do not want to miss it.”

  “Frustrated?”

  “Unbelievably so.”

  Tiberius snorted, waving him off, and Chad cantered from the stableyard and out into the ward where men were going about their business. He made his way to the gatehouse, pausing while they lifted the double portcullises in a great symphony of groans and creaks, before spurring his horse out onto the road beyond.

  Chad knew that men were watching from the battlements so he continued out along the road until he disappeared into a grove of trees. Then, he swung into the trees and carved a wide path around the perimeter of Isenhall, about a quarter of a mile out, until he came to the rear of the fortress.

  Then, he swung inward, through more trees, until he met with the clearing on the other side. He could see Alessandria standing against the wall near the postern gate, patiently waiting, but he had to pause until the few men manning the back side of the fortress moved out of range. Quickly, he thundered across the clearing, pulled Alessandria on behind him, and tore off back into the shield of the trees before anyone was the wiser.

  It had been a slick and clever plan that now saw them quite alone. Nestled in behind Chad, Alessandria clung to him as they rode through the bramble, her cheek against his back and the cold feel of mail between her and his muscular, warm body. But it didn’t matter; they were together, her arms were wrapped around him, and it was just like it had been for that blissful week when they fled Canterbury for Isenhall. It was as if nothing else in the word existed.

  For now, it was only them.

  But their solitude couldn’t last forever, unfortunately. The town of Coventry was quite close and they arrived on the outskirts of the burg within a half-hour of leaving Isenhall. With the warm, bright day and few clouds overhead, the town was bustling with merchants and farmers, people moving about to conduct their business.

  They came up from the southeast, up to the very large wall that surrounded the city, and passed through the New Gate that opened up into a residential part of the city. As the Earl of Coventry, Gallus had men stationed at the city gates along with soldiers from the Catesby family who were major land owners in the city itself.