Elaine. Such a beautiful name. Josephine smiled at her, hoping to alleviate some of the woman’s suspicion. “As I said, my name is Josephine de Carron. I am not sure where to start with all of this, but your son, Andrew, told me…”
That drew a strong reaction from Elaine and her voice cracked. “Andrew?” she gasped, interrupting her. “You know my Andrew?”
“I do, my lady.”
“He is alive?”
“He is, indeed.”
Elaine stared at her for a moment longer, utter and complete shock in her eyes, before the threat of tears became very real. As Josephine watched, tears began to trickle from the woman’s old, tired eyes.
“Alive,” Elaine breathed. “My prayers have been answered, then. My Andrew survived.”
Josephine could see how joyful she was, but it was more than joy. It was a mother’s belief in the power of prayer, the only power she had caged up in this dark and terrible prison. It was the only thing she had to cling to. When Elaine finally closed her eyes, tears streamed down her face. Josephine was elated with the woman’s joy, but she also felt terrible for Elaine and the circumstances she’d had to endure. She hastened to reassure her that her beloved Andrew was, indeed, alive and well.
“He is a powerful knight,” she said. “He is a mercenary, my lady, the greatest mercenary in all of Scotland. He is coming for you, I promise. He will not leave you here to die.”
Elaine looked at her, confused by the suggestion. Although logically, she knew Andrew was a grown man, the last time she’d seen him, he’d been a youth. In her mind, he was still young and small and a child.
“But… he cannot, not against Alphonse,” she whispered. “He must not. And you… why are you here?
Josephine sighed. How do I explain this? she thought. “I am a cousin of King Alexander,” she said. “The king betrothed me to Alphonse, Earl of Annan and Blackbank. But my love, my heart, belongs to his brother, Andrew. The king dissolved my betrothal to Andrew so that I could marry Alphonse.”
Lady Elaine put up a ghostly white hand. “Beg pardon, my lady,” she said. “You tell me that you love my son, Andrew, yet you have married Alphonse?”
“I have yet to marry Alphonse,” Josephine said firmly. As she looked at the women, she began to wonder just how long that would hold true. If Alphonse wanted to marry her on this day, she would have no choice. She started to feel rather panicky about it. “Andrew will come for us before that happens, I promise. You will not have to live down here any longer.”
Lady Elaine seemed to be grasping the gist of the situation; was there actually hope on the horizon? Was it even possible? She’d spent nineteen years in this hole, although she only knew how long it had been because Alphonse gleefully told her nearly every time he visited her, which wasn’t too often, thankfully.
Still, he did come. And he did gloat. But now… was it possible the end was in sight? As she stood there, her bony knees gave way and she sank forward onto the straw-covered floor. Josephine sank beside her, reaching out to grasp her ice-cold hands.
“He is coming?” Elaine breathed. “My… my Andrew is coming? He is a great man now?”
Josephine smiled at the woman, feeling flesh in her hands that was colder than anything she’d ever felt in her life. She immediately moved to untie the cloak around her neck.
“He is a great man, indeed,” she said softly, swinging the cloak over the woman’s tiny shoulders to try and warm her icy flesh. “He has not forgotten you, not in all of these years. But I do not believe he realizes you are alive. I believe he thinks Alphonse killed you those years ago when he imprisoned you. He has sworn vengeance because of it.”
Elaine could feel the soft fur lining of the cloak against her skin, warm and comforting. As Josephine pulled it tightly around the old woman, Elaine’s suspicion transformed into disbelief and, quite possibly, elation. She could hardly believe what was happening. She couldn’t take her eyes from Josephine.
“But… he should not come,” she said softly, her voice weak from hardly every being used. “He must stay away. Alphonse will kill him.”
Josephine shook her head. “You do not seem to understand,” she said, rubbing the woman’s hands to try to bring some warmth into them. “Andrew is a great warrior. He will kill Alphonse and you will not have to live in this cell any longer.”
Elaine could hardly dare to believe any of this. Her expression took on a fearful countenance. Finally, she asked the question she’d been thinking all along.
“Am I dreaming?”
Josephine laughed softly. “You are not dreaming. This is real.”
Elaine was struggling to digest everything. Her world was one of blackness, a perpetual darkness that erased any concept of day or night. It was like a perpetual dream state, one she was now being awoken from. She tore her eyes away from Josephine, looking around the chamber that was hardly tall enough for her to stand up in. The ceiling was very low, and she’d had to walk hunched over. So, over the years she’d developed a hump in her back. She had been living in darkness for so very long, condemned to a horrific existence by a man she’d given birth to. But now, it seemed that darkness was soon to end.
Her Andrew was coming.
“Tell me, Lady Josephine,” she said after a moment. “Is the sky just as blue as I remember it?”
Josephine felt a lump in her throat at the question. “Aye,” she said. “It is a beautiful day today. No rain.”
Elaine nodded, trying to picture a sky she hadn’t seen in so many years. “I always know when it is raining,” she said. “Water comes down the stairs and pools at my door. I knew it was not raining today.”
Josephine continued to rub the old woman’s hands, feeling some warmth coming back into them. “Nay, it was not,” she said. “It is early autumn. The trees are beginning to turn colors and soon, the days of winter will come.”
Elaine’s thoughts turned to the trees of the land, trees that were now like wraiths to her fragile mind. Did they even really exist? She could hardly remember.
“It would be nice to see the trees again,” she said. “And you, Lady Josephine; where did you come from?”
Josephine could see the light of interest in the old woman’s eyes, as if she were finally coming to understand that she was real, that all of this was real, and that there was hope for her future.
“I was born not far from here, actually,” she said. “My family home is Torridon Castle. My father was the Earl of Ayr.”
Elaine smiled faintly, revealing yellowed, damaged teeth. “Ayr,” she murmured. “I visited Ayr once, right after I married my husband. We took our wedding trip there. It is a beautiful town.”
Josephine nodded. “It is,” she said. “And you shall see it someday again, very soon. Mayhap Andrew will take us to visit one day.”
Elaine couldn’t really grasp leaving the dungeon much less being allowed to travel freely, but the concept was exciting. Her smile broadened because Josephine was smiling so broadly at her. She rather liked the young woman who suddenly appeared in her cell, as if from a dream. She still wasn’t entirely convinced that Josephine was flesh and blood. Perhaps, she was going mad and this is where it all started. But if that was the case, she could think of no sweeter madness than sitting on the floor of her cell, holding hands with a beautiful young woman. It was too good to believe. But all of that hope, that joy, came crashing down when a familiar voice spoke from the doorway.
“They had told me you’d come down here, but I did not believe it,” Alphonse said, his big body filling up the tiny doorway. “Soldiers told me they saw you come down here, but I accused them of lying. She would not be so foolish, I told them. But I see that I was wrong.”
Josephine had never felt so much fear in her life as she did when she heard his voice. She heard Elaine gasp as she turned to Alphonse, whom she could barely see in the darkness. All she could see was his face; his ugly, evil face.
Oh, God, she thought, feeling that, perhaps, she was ab
out to be severely punished. In fact, she was terrified he was going to beat her to death right in front of Elaine. It was a struggle not to cower, or to plead for mercy, because she suspected either of those things might make the situation worse. Instead, she did the only thing she could. She pretended not to understand the severity of her actions.
It was her only defense.
“Did I do wrong?” she asked, sounding as innocent as she could. “I wanted to walk and stretch my legs, and I recalled that you told me of your mother. I came down here to visit her. We are to be married, after all. Should I not introduce myself?”
It was an answer Alphonse had not expected. He couldn’t decide whether he was furious or whether he truly didn’t care. He watched Josephine as she stood up, pulling his mother to her feet, and then helping the woman over to her bed so she could sit down.
“You should not have left your chamber,” Alphonse growled. “If you wanted to walk about, you should have asked for permission. You are not free to go where you wish, Lady Josephine. It is I who gives you permission to even breathe at Haldane. Is this in any way unclear?”
Josephine thought she was quite fortunate if this was the worst he was going to do. But she felt as if she were walking on thin ice, waiting for it to shatter at any moment. Now was the time for her to ask for forgiveness.
“Then I apologize,” she said sincerely. “I did not know. I am used to being able to move about freely, so please forgive me. I will ask the next time I wish to walk about and visit your mother.”
Alphonse stepped into the low-ceilinged cell, bent over as his gaze moved between Josephine and his mother. The older woman was sitting on her bed, wrapped up in a lovely cloak that, upon closer inspection, Alphonse realized he’d given to Josephine as a wedding gift. With a sigh if exasperation, he moved over to his mother and snatched the cloak from her, all but throwing it at Josephine, who caught it deftly.
“That is not for my mother,” he said to her. “You will not give her anything I did not tell you to give her.”
Josephine felt very sorry for the frightened woman on the bed. “Aye, my lord.”
She was being very obedient, not wanting to tweak Alphonse’s anger any more than she already had. She especially didn’t want him to take it out on his mother. She put the cloak on, trying to at least appear contrite, as he glared at her. But that glare soon turned towards his mother, sitting tiny and frail on the bed.
“Now you have met the mother of my sons,” he said to her. “If she displeases me, she will end up in this cell with you.”
Elaine simply kept her head down, nodding to her son’s statement but not replying. Josephine watched the woman, thinking that she behaved like everyone else at Haldane – head down, tail between their legs… like beaten dogs. Her gaze drifted to Alphonse, who was standing over his mother in a threatening manner.
He’s enjoying this, she thought.
“I hope I will not displease you, my lord,” Josephine said, trying to draw his attention away from his frightened mother. “Now that you have made clear the rules, may I ask you to show me your grand castle? You have an impressive empire, my lord.”
Alphonse turned to look at her and she was struck by the sheer evil in the man’s eyes. Every time he looked at her, that evil became deeper and darker. At this moment, it seemed worse than she’d ever seen it. There was something so terribly black and wicked inside him.
“You will see it soon enough,” he said. “For now, you will return to your chamber and you shall remain there until our wedding.”
Josephine didn’t like the sound of that at all. “Have you decided when that shall be, my lord?”
He moved away from his mother, grabbing Josephine by the arm as he went. “I believe I told you in a fit of madness that I would not touch you until our wedding night,” he said. “It was stupid of me. I was thinking during the entire journey from Edinburgh, how very stupid it was of me to tell you that. It must have been the drink talking. In any case, I have decided that I will wait no longer. We shall be married tonight.”
Josephine was seized with fear; tonight! She had no way of knowing where Andrew was, or how close he was, or if he would even come in time. God, could she put this off? Could she delay? She’d already delayed at Edinburgh with excuses of her menses. She couldn’t do that again, not so soon. She couldn’t run from him and she couldn’t hide; there was nothing she could do to escape this.
God… help me!
“As… as you say, my lord,” she said as he practically shoved her out of the cell and yanked the door shut behind him. “Will… will it be in the hall? Is there anything I can do to help with the arrangements?”
Alphonse still had a good grip on her, as if afraid she might try to escape him. They headed up the slippery stone stairs.
“You will go to your chamber and you will prepare for me,” he grumbled. “Wear the white gown I gifted you with, the one you refused to wear in Edinburgh. Do not lie to me and tell me the gown was ruined, for I know it was not. You will wear it tonight. And do not wear anything underneath. I do not wish to have any encumbrances when I consummate our marriage.”
They were reaching the top of the stairs and Josephine was feeling ill at the mere thought of what he was suggesting. The mental image was too horrific to entertain. All she could think to say was the obvious response, the response he would be expecting.
“Aye, my lord.”
They were out in the sunshine now, beneath skies she’d once thought to be beautiful. Now, it was the ugliest day she could ever recall, a day full of fear and horror, the day she would meet her end unless Andrew arrived in time.
But he had no way of knowing the wedding would be this evening, no way of knowing she was in mortal danger. Dear God, was it really going to end this way? Would she be forced to marry this beast of a man and then spread her legs for him, only for him to tear her apart with his size and watch her bleed to death?
Women are like chickens; a penny for a dozen, so I shall never go hungry.
That was what he’d told her. They were words nightmares were made of.
Oh, God… Andrew… where are you?
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
The last time he’d been here, he’d been running for his life.
Andrew wasn’t exactly sure how he felt about returning to the home of his childhood, which had been good memories until his father had died and Alphonse had gone mad with power. As he slowed his horse from the clipped pace he’d been keeping, he realized that the familiar little village on the outskirts of Haldane Castle looked dreary, starved, and worn-down. What peasants he did see didn’t even seem human. They ran from him and the men riding with him, hiding back behind their worn-down hovels.
“This place looks like hell,” Sully muttered beside him. “Is this where you were born?”
Andrew looked around, feeling greatly saddened by what he saw. “I was born at Haldane Castle,” he said, his eyes flicking up to the monstrous castle in the distance. “This village used to be very prosperous, but I have not been here in nineteen years. Clearly, it has not prospered under my brother.”
Sully thought that was something of an understatement. He turned to look at the men riding behind them; Donald, who was looking at the fallen village with some sadness, Ridge, who didn’t show any emotion at all, and finally Thane, who had the same expression that Donald had for the most part. Thane had never been to the village of Andrew’s birth, either, so this was all something of a shock to him. But it also explained a great deal.
Whatever Alphonse touched, he killed.
Thane had been at Torridon when Andrew, Sully, Donald, and Ridge had appeared in the darkness of the late evening on the day before. Andrew had only come to collect his battle armor, and their stay at Torridon had been measured in minutes and not hours. But Thane had been insistent that he come along when Sully told him what had happened. Then, nothing could keep Thane from lending a hand.
The foursome became a fivesome that night.
Since Torridon was well into the repairs since the latest Dalmellington attack, and Etienne was a capable commander, Andrew had permitted his second-in-command to come along. If anyone deserved to come, it would be Thane. He had known Andrew, and of the man’s vengeance, longer than any of them, and when they departed Torridon, it was with Thane leading the charge.
They had pushed the horses harder than they should have, but knowing Alphonse had at least a day’s head start on them made them push in a way they wouldn’t normally push. Fortunately, the horses were hearty, with good stamina, so a trip from Edinburgh to Torridon, and then Torridon to Haldane only took around three days. Only stopping to rest and feed the horses as necessarily, they managed to make excellent time. And even as they entered the once-prosperous village on the flatlands near the sea, all Andrew could see was the dark bastion in the distance.
Like a ghost rising from the ashes of his past, the dark hulk of Haldane was his final destination.
The men slowed their pace through the village, passing through the main road that Andrew had remembered to be very busy, once. Now, it was desolate, with dog carcasses in the gutter and the occasional frightened villein running from them. He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself, trying to focus on what he needed to do and not the feelings that were being dredged up. He felt so much sorrow to see the village as it was. And he continued to feel so much hatred towards his brother. So much of it was deep-seated, something he’d never be able to shake off. All he knew was that he’d been planning for the coming confrontation since the day he’d run for his life from Haldane.
All of these years later, Alphonse was finally going to pay.
“I still do not know why you didn’t let me bring the army,” Thane said as he rode up beside him, breaking him from his thoughts. “Mayhap we do not have as many men as your brother has, but one of our men is worth ten of any other in a fight.”
Andrew’s gaze was on the castle as it loomed closer. “Because this is something that must be done with stealth,” he said. “One or two of us can make it into the castle, pretending to be farmers or merchants, and I can more easily find my brother that way. Besides, if we closed in on Haldane with a thousand-man army, they would lock up the castle and we would never have a chance to get in before my brother figured out that I had come. Josephine’s life would be in great danger in that case, so it is better this way. Between the five of us, some of you should be able to enter and find Josephine whilst I locate my brother.”
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