“Of course I have. But I still never felt that way.”
“Rather like the Hawk, I believe,” Lydia remarked. “He told me once that he knew he was good-looking only because of the way women fussed over him. That if women hadn’t made such a hubbub, he would have just considered himself reasonably neat and clean—”
“Reasonably neat and clean?” Adrienne said incredulously. “The man is flawless from head to toe! He makes David and the Greek gods and Pan seem all out of proportion. He is raw sex in a bottle, uncorked. And somebody should cork it! He’s—accck! Bah!” Adrienne spluttered and stuttered as she belatedly realized her words. Lydia was laughing so hard, tears misted her eyes.
When Lydia was able to draw a breath, she gave a pleased sigh. “Well, that’s a relief. I wasn’t sure you weren’t immune. He thinks you are. Don’t worry. ’twill be our wee secret, dear Adrienne, and do come sit beside me so I can tell you how glad I am that you’re here. I’m only sorry I wasn’t here to give you a proper welcome when you arrived. From what I’ve heard, they all botched things quite terribly.”
Adrienne found herself wanting to rush headlong into the closest thing to mothering arms she’d ever known. Her hardened heart slipped on treacherously thin ice—dare she? Dare she not?
Behind bushes of blood-red rhododendrons a shadow flinched. I hate her! Hate her! Esmerelda’s hand trembled as she raised the tube, then steadied it sharply. She would dispatch the enemy, and end her torment. She puckered her lips around the mouth of the tube, keeping level the tiny instrument of death. She drew a deep breath and forced a sharp burst of air from tight lips. A tiny dart erupted from the end of the hollow chute, as small as the stinger of a bee. Esmerelda watched as the dart flew home to embed itself in the pale flesh of Adrienne’s neck. She smiled with satisfaction as Adrienne slapped briefly at the wound, as if shooing away an irritating midge. Esmerelda squinted hard—she could see the glistening tail of the dart shine in Adrienne’s neck as she spoke to Lydia. Done. The deed was done.
“Where is your husband, Lydia?” Adrienne slapped sharply at her neck. “Midges? Already?”
“We have our share. ’Tis the reason for the nettings upon the beds during this season. A bit of mint seems to keep them away. I stuff some in my pockets and tuck a leaf or two in my bodice.” She offered a few leaves of her own and Adrienne accepted them gratefully. “As to my husband …” Her eyes grew dreamy. “That impossible man left me over thirty years ago. He died right after Hawk was born.”
“How?” Adrienne wiped the back of her hand across her forehead. The sun was too hot suddenly.
“ ’Twas in battle for the king, and in his dying he made a pledge, or so King James said, of fifteen years of his son’s life in service to the Crown, in exchange for the king’s protection of Dalkeith. In fact, Sidheach’s service ended only recently.”
Adrienne wrinkled her brow in confusion. Lydia’s bright flowers suddenly melted into a dizzying wash of color.
Lydia explained patiently, “Dalkeith is a rich keep. There was no man to protect us when my husband died. I was left with a wee heir of two months. Whether my husband actually made the pledge or James just invented it, I’ll never know. I doubt my Douglas would have pledged our son to King James in any manner, but one rarely wins an argument with a king. I wasn’t ready to wed again, my grieving for my husband was deep. The king’s men protected Dalkeith until I doffed my widow weeds. But James gave us his protection on the condition that the Hawk report to Edinburgh on his eighteenth birthday, for fifteen years of fealty. As he claimed my husband promised him.”
“You don’t believe your husband pledged the Hawk?” Adrienne asked, her vision growing cloudy. She blinked hard a moment and her vision cleared.
Lydia’s lovely face grew pensive, and for a long moment it seemed she might not answer the question at all. Adrienne could see memories flitting across her brow, some good, some obviously painful. “My Douglas was the second offer of marriage I received, Adrienne.”
“And the first?” Adrienne asked, trailing her fingertips in the cool, sweet water of the fountain and then dabbing a few droplets at her temples.
“King James.”
“Ah! A man scorned.”
“Decidedly scorned. And not a bit forgiving. King James had set his mind on me and was not to be dissuaded. It was in my sixteenth summer, and I was at court with your mother, Althea. We both received many offers of marriage that season, and James was one of my most ardent admirers. I didn’t take him too seriously, he was, after all, the king. It was only later that I discovered just how serious he was. But it was too late. I had set my mind on the Douglas when I was but a wee lass. And the Douglas, well, let’s just say it was short work persuading him.” Her green eyes twinkled with fond remembrances.
“So the king hates the Hawk because you turned down his offer of marriage? That seems incredibly childish.”
“He is. James was spoiled since the moment he was born. He was coddled and pampered and pandered to endlessly. By the time he was of age to marry, he had been doted on ceaselessly. He had never heard the word no in his entire life and had no intention of ever hearing it. He found it simply incomprehensible that a woman would choose to be a mere earl’s wife when she could be queen of all Scotland.”
Adrienne thought briefly about the royals in her time. How very much one had sacrificed to be princess and one day queen. Lydia had made a wise choice when she’d married for love.
“What truly undid him was that he was foolish enough to announce to his court that I was going to be his queen, even after I’d declined his marriage proposals on several occasions. I wed my Douglas the day following his ‘proclamation,’ although we didn’t know the king had actually gone so far as to announce his intentions publicly until weeks later, when the news finally reached Dalkeith. My husband said we’d made a powerful enemy that day. But I think neither of us knew how truly vengeful he could be. I suspect there are many things about his service to James that Hawk will never speak of. ’Tis rumored James held threats of destroying Dalkeith over his head unless Hawk obeyed his every whim.” Her voice slipped a confidential notch. “Hawk doesn’t know it, but I sought audience with James, myself, shortly after I began to hear tales of his servitude. I begged him to relinquish his claim on my son.” Lydia’s eyes clouded. “He laughed and told me that if I had wed wisely the Hawk would have been the king’s son instead of the king’s servant.”
Adrienne rubbed her neck and blinked hard. Her vision was blurring alarmingly and her head was pounding. “Public humiliation,” she said thickly. “Never met the man who took it well.”
“I believe ’tis also why King James ordered the Hawk to wed on his command,” Lydia continued softly. “Just another subtle way of prolonging his revenge. I think he felt almost cheated by my husband’s death, and I’ve often wondered what he might have done to us had my husband lived longer. What a bitter man he’s become.” Lydia shook her head. “I’m glad it was you, Adrienne. The king would hate it if he knew how lovely and how very not-mad you really are. You are exactly what the Hawk needs. No timid lass, or simpering addlepate, but a woman with true mettle and depth.”
Adrienne flushed with pleasure. The added heat did alarming things to her head. “You said you wed again. Do you have other children?” she asked, trying desperately to hold on to the gist of the conversation.
The smile returned to Lydia’s face. “Oh, aye. Adrian and Ilysse. They’re in France with my sister, Elizabeth. In her last letter she warned me that Adrian is becoming an incorrigible rogue and she’s just about given up on civilizing Ilysse.” Lydia laughed. “Ilysse can be a bit high-spirited and unmanageable at times. You would like her.”
Adrienne wasn’t certain how to take that, so she didn’t comment. Besides, she wasn’t feeling at all well. Her vision was now double, her stomach a roiling agony, and her mouth felt dry as cotton swabs. She struggled to swallow. “Wallah hubbah hah?” she croaked.
“Adrienne?
” Lydia gazed at her with concern. “Adrienne!” She placed a hand against the younger woman’s forehead. “You’re burning up!”
Adrienne groaned as she pitched forward and collapsed on the cobbled walkway.
“Hawk!” Lydia screamed.
CHAPTER 9
“POISON.” HAWK’S FACE WAS GRIM AND DARK. HE CAREFULLY studied the tiny dart the aged healer had laid upon the cloth.
“Callabron.” The healer combed his fingers through his long white beard and lowered himself into a chair by Adrienne’s side.
Hawk groaned. Callabron was not a gentle poison. A vicious and slow toxin, it would cause lingering pain for days before it ended in death by suffocation as the toxin slowly paralyzed the body from the outside in.
The Hawk knew there was no cure. He’d heard of the toxin during his service to King James. It was rumored to have claimed the lives of many royal siblings. When one sought to remove a future king, one took no chances with a poison that might fail. Hawk dropped his head in his hands and rubbed his sore and bleary eyes furiously. The intensity of the heat from the high flames wasn’t helping. But the heat would help her, the healer had said. It might break the fever. Still … she would die.
Take me, just leave her unharmed! Hawk wished with all of his heart.
“We can ease her pain. There are things I can give her …,” the healer said softly.
“Who?” the Hawk raged, ignoring the old man. “Who would wish to do this? Why kill her? What has she done?”
The healer flinched and squeezed his eyes shut.
In the doorway, Lydia drew a labored breath. “ ’Tis Callabron, then?”
“Aye. The skin has blackened around the opening, and those pale green lines streak out from it. ’Tis the deadly bite of Callabron.”
“I won’t lose her, Hawk,” Lydia demanded.
Hawk raised his head slowly from his hands. “Mother.” The word was a plea, hopelessness in and of itself. Mother make it better. But he knew she couldn’t.
“Some say ’tis more humane to end the suffering in the early stages,” the healer offered very softly, not meeting the Hawk’s gaze.
“Enough!” the Hawk silenced him with a shout. “If all you can bring is gloom and doom, then get thee gone!”
Pride and indignation stiffened the healer’s back. “Milord—”
“Nay! I’ll have none of it! We’ll not be killing her! She won’t be dying!”
“Perhaps the Rom might know of some cure,” Lydia suggested softly.
The healer sniffed disdainfully. “I assure you, milady, the Rom know nothing of the sort. If I tell you there is no cure, you may rest assured that none could heal her. That vagrant band of cutthroats, cheats, and lightfingers certainly couldn’t—” The old healer broke off abruptly at the Hawk’s dark look.
“ ’Tis worth trying,” the Hawk agreed with Lydia.
“Milord!” The healer protested vehemently. “The Rom are no more than shabby illusionists! They are—”
“Camping on my land,” the Hawk cut him off sternly, “as they have for over thirty seasons, with my blessing, so guard your tongue well, old man. If you’re so certain they know nothing, why should you care if they come?”
The healer sneered. “I just don’t think wild dancing and chanting and nasty-smelling bits of mummified who-zits and what-zits would be good for my patient,” he snapped.
The Hawk snorted. It was obvious the healer knew nothing of the truth about the Rom, the proud band of people who’d fled country after country seeking only the freedom to live as they chose. Like so many who dared to fight for what they believed, they were frequently misunderstood and feared. The gypsy tribe that camped at Dalkeith was a tight community of talented and wise people. Although arguably superstitious, the Hawk had found many of their “instincts” accurate.
But this healer, like so many others, was afraid of what was different and thus condemned it. Ignorance translated into fear, which quickly became persecution. The Hawk leveled a steely glare on the old man and growled, “Anything that might heal my wife would be good for her. I don’t care if it’s mummified toad brains. Or mummified healer brains for that matter.”
The healer shut his mouth and signed a quick cross.
The Hawk rubbed his eyes and sighed. The Rom were as good a chance as any. He quickly bade a guard at the door to dispatch a messenger to the camp.
“I think you’re making a big mistake, milord—”
“The only mistake being made in this room is you opening your mouth again,” Hawk growled.
The healer rose furiously, his ancient joints popping protest. With pursed lips, he removed a stone jar sealed by wax and a tight stopper from inside his overtunic, close to his body. He placed it on the hearth, then with the audacity and temerity often acquired by those who have survived plague, famine, and war to reach an advanced old age, the healer dared to snip, “You might choose to use it when your Rom fail. For fail, they will,” before fleeing the room in a flurry of creaking joints and thin flapping limbs.
Hawk shook his head and stared broodingly at the shivering woman on the bed. His wife. His lovely, proud, tempestuous dying wife. He felt utterly helpless.
Lydia crossed the room and pulled her son’s head into the comfort of her bosom. “Hawk, my sweet Hawk.” She murmured those nonsensical sounds only a mother knows.
A long moment passed, then Hawk pulled his head back. If he could offer no comfort to his wife, he would accept no comfort from his mother. “Tell me again exactly what happened in the gardens.”
“Come, sweet whore,” Adam commanded, and Esmerelda came.
She was beyond redemption now. Esmerelda knew who Adam Black was even as she went to him. Her people had always known, and were accordingly cautious. Particularly when dealing with this one, for to incite his ire, or merely to become the focus of his attention, could be the cup of death for an entire nation. And although such phenomenal power instilled immense terror in Esmerelda’s veins, so too was it an irresistible aphrodisiac.
What had brought him here? she wondered. It was her last coherent thought as he began to do those things to her body that turned her inside-out. His face was dark with passion above her, gilded in the amber glow of fire beneath the rowans. The scent of sandalwood and jasmine rose up from the steaming earth around them. It was wee morn when she was finally able to crawl from his forge.
Adam templed his fingers and considered his strategy as he watched the woman falter from his tent on weak legs.
“Fool!” The word came sharply, harsh and condemning.
Adam stiffened. “You called, my King?” he asked, addressing his unseen master.
“What have you done this time, Adam?”
“I was having my way with a gypsy girl, since you ask. What of it?”
“The beauty lies dying.”
“Adrienne?” Adam was startled. “Nay. Not of my hand.”
“Well, fix it!”
“Truly, my King, I had nothing to do with it.”
“I don’t care. Fix it. Our Queen would be furious should we jeopardize the Compact.”
“I’ll fix it. But who would seek to fell the beauty?”
“It’s your game, fool. Run it more tightly. Already the Queen asks about you.”
“She misses me?” Adam preened a moment.
Finnbheara snorted. “You may have pleased her in passing, but I am her King.”
Adrienne was burning. Tethered to a stake, like an ancient witch trapped amidst a mountain of blazing timbers while the villagers gazed placidly on. Help me! she pleaded through parched lips as she convulsed in the billowing smoke. Choking, choking, and then she felt the hideous sensation of a thousand fire ants scurrying frantically to and fro just beneath the top layer of her skin.
She was unaware of the Hawk sponging her brow, bathing her body with cool cloths, and wrapping her in soft woolens. He pushed damp tendrils of hair from her brow and kissed it gently. Stoking the fire, he turned back quickly to di
scover her thrashing violently against the snug cocoon of blankets the healer had assured him might ease her fever.
Desperation engulfed him, more brutal and pounding than the fiercest Highland squall.
A primitive groan escaped his lips as the Hawk watched her scratch viciously at her flawless skin in a vain attempt to assuage the attack of whatever fierce beastie the fever had conjured to torment her with. She’d scratch herself raw if he didn’t stop her, yet he couldn’t bear to bind her hands as the healer had recommended. A vision of her straining against the bonds flickered through his mind’s eyes, and he swallowed a bitter howl of impotent fury. How could he wage war against an unseen invader that had no known vulnerability? How could he defeat a poison that had no cure?
He paused only a heartbeat before ripping the shirt from his body and kicking off his boots. Clad only in his kilt, he eased onto the bed and wrapped himself around her, drawing her back against him tightly.
“Adrienne!” He cursed harshly as he cradled her in his arms. How could he feel such grief for a virtual stranger? From whence rose this feeling that they were to have had more time?
He leaned back against the wall, cradling her between his legs, his arms wrapped tightly around her while she thrashed and shuddered, his chin resting upon her head.
Deep in the night the fever peaked, and she talked, and cried silvery tears.
She would never know that he kissed them away, one by one.
She would never know that he listened with a heavy heart as she cried for a man he deemed not worth crying for, and that he wished with all his might that he had been the first man she’d loved.
Ever-hard Darrow Garrett. The bastard who’d broken his wife’s heart.
What kind of self-respecting Scotsman was named Ever-hard?
In the wee hours of dawn, the Hawk fingered the smooth ebony of the chess piece Grimm had given him, even as Adrienne called for it in her delirium. He studied it and wondered why this game piece was so important to her that as she lay dying, she searched desperately for it in the inky corridors of her mind.
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