Revealing A Marchioness's Heart (The Chronicles of Loyalty)

by Jessie Bennett

  “It was…not productive,” she answered, drawing her knees up to her chest. “No one even spoke to me, outside of ‘would you like to eat this?’. Some of the ladies smiled, but it wasn’t the way I hoped it would go.” She chose not to tell him who had danced with her; who had spoken to her. She could already sense that it would be a dangerous topic to try and breach.

  “The king will find you a good match, Nora, so it’s not your concern,” Alexander said and she shrugged.

  “Sure. Who will kill me in my bed for cash.”

  “No one is going to kill you in your bed, or anywhere else for that matter.” he promised. “Not if I have anything to do with it.”

  She raised an eyebrow as he leaned against the bedpost. “Really? And if an assassin burst into the room right now? You’d thump him over the head with the empty bottle?”

  He opened one eye to glance at her. “Do not underestimate my ability to protect you,” he half growled and she believed him. There was a sober part him that remained, even now. “Why would I be Ricardo?”

  “Huh?” she asked, cocking her head.

  “When I came in,” he said. “You thought I was Ricardo. Why would I be Ricardo?”

  “Oh,” she colored. “No reason. I just thought he was the one outside.”

  “He is,” Alexander replied. “And it’s Peter who will take over the watch at midnight. If you hear anything except their two voices, I want you out of here. There’s a secret passage behind the lavatory that will take you under the castle and to the barracks of the guards. Even if it turns out to be a passing maid, I don’t care, you leave.”

  “Why are you so concerned tonight?” she asked. “Is there some reason I should be worried?”

  “No,” he shook his head. “It just won’t happen again.”

  “Alexander?” she leaned forward. “What won’t happen again?”

  He jumped a bit, as if she had woken him, and stood, a bit unsteadily. “Nothing, Nora. The ramblings of the bottle. I’m going to go now, unless you need anything?”

  “No,” she managed. “I’m alright. I’ll see you in the morning then?”

  “You will,” he promised and lurched off, leaving her slightly confused. Still, despite all of that, it was nice to know that just outside her door lay protection and safety. It was something that she hadn’t felt in a long time, not since the walls of her house began to smell like burnt wood and terror.

  Outside the doors, Ricardo raised a sleepy eye brow at Alexander. “What are you doing?” he asked, and Alexander shook his head.

  “Making sure you are outside the room instead of in its bed, per usual,” Alexander replied, and Ricardo grinned, yawning.

  “Do you really think that, I, Ricardo, would sleep with a woman I just met not a fortnight ago?” He feigned insult.

  “Yes,” Alexander had no joke in his voice. “But you won’t. Not this one. I’m serious,” he met his friend’s eyes. “Don’t let me catch you anywhere near her.”

  “Huh?” Ricardo asked. “What’s gotten into you?”

  “This is a serious mission, Ricardo,” Alexander said, keeping his words straight. “The girl is important to the king, and you know as well as I do that she is under great threat. You get your head all wrapped around romance and you won’t be able to concentrate.”

  “Relax, Alexander,” Ricardo replied. “I’ve got a pretty little thing in Southampton keeping me busy this week. As soon as Peter gets here, I’m off there.”

  “Good,” Alexander replied, not bothering to point out that the Lady Suffolk had been widowed only a month before. Such things didn’t ever bother Ricardo.

  “What is it with you and this girl?” Ricardo asked, that ever intelligent brain picking up on the things that mattered. “Ever since she got here, you’ve been different. Did you sleep with her or something?” That would surprise him, because he had never known Alexander to be involved with a woman. He wasn’t sure whether it was a vow of celibacy or something else, but he didn’t ask. To each their own and whatever Alexander chose to do with his nights was his own business.

  “Ricardo, just do your job,” Alexander said, turning his back and stalking off.

  Ricardo was surprised at that. In their years together, Alexander had very rarely snapped at him. No one snapped at Ricardo; usually, everyone had a soft spot for him. Even the commander seemed to just roll his eyes at his antics and let him off free of punishment most days. However, Alexander was drunk, so he let it be, leaning his head back against the door. He sometimes got like this, and it was a mystery as to why; at least one that mortal minds couldn’t solve. Whatever went on in Alexander’s head late at night was far deeper than Ricardo ever threaded, and neither man clearly wanted the truth laid out.

  Ricardo would be lying if he said he hadn’t looked at Nora. She wasn’t pretty, not like the Lady Suffolk, but there was something about her that seemed to defy physical beauty. She was always watching, always thinking before she spoke, and it intrigued him. She clearly had a bad past; she had jumped when he touched her. He guessed that whoever had harmed her had given her those scars, and that made him angry. Whoever harmed a lady should go straight to the fiery pits of hell, especially one who was as young and innocent as Nora. She didn’t need the physical beauty that the other ladies had, there was something going on behind her eyes and that was far more attractive to him. It was rare to find a lady who was supported by her mind rather than her lips.

  He was curious about other things about her: the scars on her neck, the relationship between her and Alexander. Alexander himself was always a mystery, and with Nora, the plot thickened. It made for an entertaining assignment, that was for sure.

  Ricardo jumped at a noise suddenly, and grabbed his sword. However, to his relief, it was only Jerrico, accompanied by Nathan Rambles, who worked in military intelligence.

  “You could try to be a little quieter,” Ricardo said, rolling his eyes and sitting.

  “We could be,” Jerrico said as the men shook hands. “But we choose not to be. What are you doing?”

  “Guarding,” Ricardo grinned. “What are you two doing?”

  “Nathan's intended has invited us for a late night dinner,” Jerrico replied. “She lives in town, so we thought we'd share a carriage.”

  “You're engaged?” Ricardo grinned. “Congratulations. When is the wedding?”

  “A while yet,” Nathan replied. “I want a promotion before I make her my bride, so that she can stop working.”

  “She works?” Ricardo asked. “My, maybe she'll get a promotion and you can stop working.”

  “You're modern,” Jerrico teased him. “Perhaps any one of the ten women you are with will take you up on that.”

  “Ah,” Ricardo rolled his eyes. “None so far. Off with you two, I've got a sleeping marchioness and a best friend who will kill me if she wakes up.”

  The pair headed off, and Ricardo settled down again. As he did, he realized that he hoped Nora hadn’t heard that conversation, for reasons he couldn't explain. He wanted this girl he hardly knew to think better of him.

  When Peter showed up at midnight, Ricardo stood, taking his coat from the chair.

  “Uh…” Peter said, glancing toward the door. “She’s asleep, yes?”

  “Unless she’s climbed out the window and escaped,” Ricardo replied with a grin. “I haven’t heard a peep from her for a few hours now.”

  “And what do I do if she wants something?” Peter asked. “My French is limited to three swear words and the occasional dirty joke.”

  Ricardo laughed, shaking his head. “Get her to draw it then,” he replied. “I suspect she has half decent English, though, she must have. Calais is the most bilingual city in the whole country. You’ll figure it out.”

  “Where are you off to then?” Peter asked. “Let me guess. A lady.” He wasn’t entirely unhappy with taking the night shift; they all took turns with rotten shifts. It was just annoying when his friends were off having fun and he was stuck at
work. For Ricardo, fun always involved a different woman every night, a trick Peter could only manage about once a week. Ricardo simply had to stand in one place and women flocked to him like flies to honey. It was a gift he had.

  “Suffolk,” Ricardo replied with a wink. “Have a good night.”

  “Uh—huh,” Peter replied, sitting down and rolling his eyes.

  In the barracks for the guards, Alexander threw up twice with practiced ease before he managed to sit on his bed. If nothing else productive came of this, it prevented him from gaining weight as middle age crept up on him. He never was one for much food, so most of his calories came from the liquor. It was something he was far too used to, especially in recent years. However, to his credit, he had always done it in private, save for once or twice.

  He was just sober enough to realize that he was sitting on something that wasn’t part of his bed. Moving slowly so his head didn’t fall off his shoulders, he picked up a document that had the guard seal on it and groaned. Sutton had a habit of leaving orders in his room without telling him.

  His fuzzy eyes scanned the paper, an update to their mission. It appeared that Nora had been correct about the feast, it was very unproductive. Nevertheless, the King had other ideas for her match, and wanted her to meet with a baron in the southern countryside that he thought might be an ideal match for her.

  Alexander appreciated that the king was considerate about how Nora felt about her future husband, but considering her wealth, it was also a smart political move. If the king wanted Nora’s support, both from wealth and lands, then he would do best to find her a match that she actually liked. It was a rare situation to be in, a mere marchioness so rich that she could control the very throne if she wanted. At the very least, her sovereign needed to keep her happy. The orders asked for the guards to take her through the countryside, using back roads to keep her the safest. The main road could pose problems, and present more of a threat on her life, Alexander understood. However, a journey through the back roads would take longer, and would mean it would be less than comfortable for all of them.

  He lay back on his pillow, closing his eyes and letting the world spin around him. That was tomorrow, not tonight; he didn’t need to think about it. He let his mind drift to a time that was happier, and warmer. There was a time when his bed was warm, Mary by his side, snuggling up to him with her soft white skin.

  Five years it had been, learning to live in the world without her, after he’d promised her that nothing would ever come between them. They’d had everything, and then they lost it. Then it appeared, so had Nora, with her beauty and her youth. He knew that he should have gone back to see her; she was as much their child as she was her parents’ child. However, Nora had been part of the future that he had lost; part of the man he was that had since died. In addition, it seemed that the innocent and carefree child he had left was also gone.

  4

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “Morning,” Ricardo had his usual grin on his face at the breakfast table the next morning. He had an appetite to kill a horse, which made little sense with his lean figure. Then again, he did burn a lot of calories most nights. Today, he and a sleepy Peter were eating bread and cheese as if it were going out of style. “We have to be in the parade square in five minutes.”

  “No,” Alexander said, sitting down heavily at the table. “We got orders last night; we don’t need to report for new ones.” He didn’t let on that he had to remind himself of what exactly that document said at dawn, having no memory of it the night before.

  “We did?” Ricardo cocked his head. “Is it exciting?”

  “Taking Nora to the southern countryside to meet a potential husband, through the back roads for safety,” those were the important details and he didn’t feel the need to say much more. Alexander was never one to use excessive words, even at his best. “We can leave after Peter has a nap.”

  “Kind of you,” Peter muttered through a mouthful of bread. Alexander glanced around the table for something that might catch his interest, but none of the food seemed to be appetizing. “She’s awake, I think. I heard her moving around when I left.”

  Alexander had to catch himself from revealing that Nora was always an early riser. It had mostly come with the excitement of youth, but there were many days when he and Mary would still be fast asleep and she would be announced at their bedroom door, bright eyed and bushy tailed. Instead, he poured a glass of water, his head throbbing with a nasty hangover.

  “Wake me at eleven bells then, and we can leave,” Peter heaved himself up from the table, his eyelids heavy. “Pack my stuff.”

  “Oh, I’ll pack for you,” Ricardo gave him a wicked grin that suggested mischief, and Peter grinned back, lumbering off. Once he was gone however, the grin faded.

  “A few weeks on the road, then,” Ricardo turned back to Alexander. “I’m sure you are looking forward to it.”

  “Brilliantly,” came the sarcastic reply, and Ricardo took a deep breath, meeting his friend’s eyes.

  “We cannot keep her safe unless we know all the details.”

  “Details?” Alexander’s eyes flickered up.

  “You think me an idiot,” Ricardo replied. “But I have not missed what’s happened since she arrived. You have a history with this girl, Alexander.”

  There was something about Ricardo that disarmed people, their walls coming down and their secrets spilling. Alexander knew he was right, that proper guard duty required full disclosure so that they could figure out any potential threats before they happened. Ricardo’s brain was sharp, and he could often put clues together that others wouldn’t consider. Alexander sighed, trying to think. “Yes. I knew Nora as a child…before. In another life.”

  Ricardo knew that his best friend had lived a life previous to the guards, but that was about it. He didn’t know the full details, or really anything about it. “And?” he prompted. “She was your ward?”

  “Yes, sort of,” Alexander sighed. “Her parents took little interest in her, and she craved a family life, not a life raised by servants.”

  “And you had the family to do so?” Ricardo asked. Alexander wanted to smack his head against the table; he had already given away too much. He sometimes thought Ricardo could figure out every mystery known to man before anyone so much as spoke two words. “Close by?”

  “Yes,” Alexander replied. “The border of the land Nora now owns belonged to me.”

  “As nobility?”

  ‘’Yes,” Alexander closed his eyes. “But that life is long gone, do you understand me? The people who were involved in that life, the responsibility that came with it, everything has died. There is nothing left of it that I care to remember or even associate with now. Save Nora.”

  Ricardo knew better than to push too hard to fast, so he shrugged, letting it go. He knew that Alexander would always do his duty, and if there was a need to reveal more details, he would do so. He would never put a charge in danger, and it seemed that went double for the marchioness. “Sure,” he said easily, letting it go and changing the subject. “Are you well?”

  “Yes,” Alexander replied, for he was no worse than most mornings after a hard night. They switched to easier topics, and Ricardo let his heart lighten. However, his mind was fixed on Alexander, trying to figure out exactly who he used to be. It made no difference to him, save for interest’s sake. Guards all had different backgrounds, but coming from nobility was a new one.

  Nora chose a green silk dress that wasn’t quite appropriate for travel. Made of rich material and trailing on the ground, she appeared to think that they would be traveling by carriage. When she got to the courtyard, however, she realized that her ideas of travel were quite different from theirs.

  “Carriages are slow and easily spotted,” Alexander said to her, holding his large black stallion by the reins. “If there is danger, we need to move fast, and we could do that more easily on horseback.”

  “I don’t know if you’ve ever ridden side saddle,
” she said, arching an eyebrow. “But the words fast and legs over the side don’t actually go well together. If the horse moves above a canter, I’ll fall off.”

  “You’ll ride front saddle, with one of us,” he said, as if this made no difference. Both of her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

  “And without a carriage, am I to meet my future husband in a dress I’ve ridden for weeks in? I’m quite sure that will make him swoon with appreciation.”

  “For God’s sake,” he grumbled, as the other two led their horses into the courtyard. “One dress, Nora, you can pack one dress to change into when we get there. The rest of our saddlebags will be full with provisions. Things essential to our survival.”

  “Do you mean liquor?” she asked innocently, turning back to the castle to select some things from her trunk. Alexander considered throwing the item in question on the side of the road after they left, just to get back at her.

  Ricardo however, smirked as he joined him, horse in hand. “She does know you well, I see.”

  “Just saddle up,” Alexander grunted at him, going back to fix his own saddle on the horse. He was in a foul mood and his head was throbbing worse than ever in the noonday sun. The last thing he wanted was to be riding out on a four week mission without a guaranteed amount of liquor and with people who were constantly in good moods.

  When Nora returned, she handed Peter her dress, which he shoved into his spare saddlebag, no doubt making it wrinkled forever. She then reached her arm over to Alexander, expecting him to help her up onto his giant horse. Instead, he jerked away, as if her touch was poison. Her brow furrowed and she attempted again to get her leg up, but again, he repeated his action. “Nora, stop,” he hissed as if she was ten years old all over again.

  “I’m not one of your guards, I can’t mount your horse on my own,” she snapped.

  “And I don’t want to be touched right now, so ride with Peter,” he answered, grabbing the reins and pulling himself up. That confused her beyond belief. Alexander and Mary were one of the most connected and loving couples she had ever known. He had never shied away from touch of any kind. Moreover, he’d certainly never jumped as if it were a burning fire poker. Something had happened to him in the years that they had been separated. This was not the man she used to know.