A Choice of Crowns

by Barb Hendee

  It took almost a month to ready the house enough so that it might be at least livable for me. Ashton loaned me the money to hire workers and char maids. I would repay her as soon as my first rents came in. The rugs were discarded, as were the curtains. The family of raccoons was relocated into the nearby forest.

  But during this time, the castle was abuzz.

  Spurred on by Lord Sauvage, Rowan raised taxes again, and then he raised an army. As Ashton had predicted, the people did not support an unnecessary war. Rowan did nothing to win their support or give them a reason to rally. A few border raids—for which compensation had been offered—did not warrant the risk and upheaval of an invasion. Conscriptions soon followed.

  Shortly before the men were scheduled to depart, Ashton and I were alone in her apartments, carding and spinning wool. She was beginning to show, and we’d let out a few of her gowns.

  “Rowan says he may be gone several months,” she said.

  She didn’t sound sorry.

  “Do you still love him?” I asked. Of late, she and I had grown increasingly open with each other.

  “Yes, of course. I’ll always love him, but he’s so changed since our marriage. I miss my brother.”

  She failed to understand he was exactly the same person. Her image of Rowan as her brother was a fantasy, an illusion, and now she was trapped with the reality. I didn’t point this out. It wouldn’t have helped, and in spite of my complete opposition to this invasion of Samourè, I was thankful that Ashton would have a break from Rowan, possibly lasting for months. A few months without his oppressive company would do her much good.

  However, a few moments later, he came in from the corridor and entered the sitting room, stopping at the sight of me. He’d agreed to Ashton’s bargain for his own sake, but he would never forgive me for the words I’d spoken to him in this room.

  “Is everything well?” Ashton asked him.

  He nodded. “Yes, but Lord Sauvage has proposed a change, and I’ve agreed.”

  “What change?”

  “He’s offered to lead the army into Samourè and has suggested I remain here.” His gaze dropped to her stomach. “He’s capable of leading, and it might be best for me to stay at this time.”

  With her eyes down, she nodded.

  Ashton would get no break from him.

  He was no coward and didn’t fear battle. Rather, he’d seemed eager for it. But he glared again at me before walking over to sit beside her at her spinning wheel, and I pressed down a suspicion that he couldn’t stand the thought of her enjoying several months in the company of people other than himself.

  * * * *

  I moved into my house.

  The first income from my rents arrived, and I hired a cook and a housemaid. Only one of the mattresses upstairs was still usable, so I purchased two small beds and set up quarters for the women. I filled the larder adequately, if not well.

  The effort of filling hours in a day was over.

  For now, I was busy from dawn to dark. The house had been cleaned and had undergone some repairs, but I still owed Ashton money, and so I set about making the house a home as best I could on my own. There was much to be done.

  Micah helped when he was off duty, sometimes bringing wine or sugared almonds to share with me. At present, the stable was a shambles, and I couldn’t afford to hire a groom, so he offered to keep Meesha up at the barracks until something could be arranged for her here.

  The first dark moment came when a letter arrived from my father. Reading between the lines, I knew he was furious. Me living at the castle as the queen’s intimate friend could be useful to him, but me living in my own home as an independent woman brought him nothing.

  He wrote that I needed to settle my affairs here, and he would be sending Captain Reynaud and a contingent in a week to bring me home.

  When Micah visited the next day, I had him take me up to the castle on his horse, and I showed the letter to Ashton.

  “Write back and inform him you will remain in your house,” she said. “Tell him if he sends guard to fetch you, Micah and the royal guards will stop them. I’ll have the letter sent by a swift rider and provide money for him to switch horses. It will reach your father in a matter of days.”

  “If I do that, he’ll disown me.”

  “Does that matter now?”

  It did. If I was no longer Lady Olivia Géroux, daughter of Hugh Géroux, I was unsure of my identity. But I valued my life here and my home here more.

  I wrote back and did exactly as Ashton suggested. She had the letter sent.

  Two weeks later, I was home in the afternoon, attempting to polish the wormhole-ridden dining room table when an answer from my father arrived.

  I went to the front door myself, took the letter, and walked back to the dining room. Slowly, I opened the letter.

  It contained a formal document finalizing my disownment and disinheritance. I’d known this was coming, but I couldn’t help feeling the blow. I had no family and no inheritance. I had no surname. And yet I was free.

  Nan, the young housemaid I’d hired, came through the dining room doorway. “My lady. You have a visitor from the castle.”

  A visitor? I was not up to pleasant chatter…or worse, a social call from someone like Lady Miranda.

  “Show them in,” I said dully.

  She left, and soon the sound of long strides echoed from the hallway.

  Micah strode in without his armor or tabard, wearing a simple wool shirt. “It’s only me,” he said cheerfully. “I don’t know why she felt a need to announce me. I’m off duty and thought I’d start working on the stable.”

  As he was the only one I wanted to see, his unexpected arrival left me undone, and I couldn’t hide my warring emotions.

  His cheerful countenance vanished. “What is it?”

  “I’ve been disowned. I’m no longer a Géroux. Now I am just…Olivia.”

  He stared, and his breathing quickened. “As selfish as it sounds, that news is beyond welcome to me.”

  “Welcome? Why?”

  “Because it brings us closer to the same level for what I want.”

  I pretended not to understand him. “And what is it you want?”

  In three strides, he closed the distance between us and took my face in his hands. “Marry me.”

  * * * *

  Rowan despised me, but he loved Micah, and Micah was the type to rarely ask for anything. So, when Micah asked permission for us to marry, Rowan granted it instantly.

  I thought it ironic when our wedding day proved far happier than that of the royal couple.

  Rowan offered to hold it in the great hall, but this would have been awkward on a number of levels. Now that I’d been disowned, the other nobles couldn’t attend out of respect for my father, and they would not even know how to interact with me.

  In addition, Micah and I wanted to be married in the house that would be our own. Preparing for the celebration proved somewhat challenging, however. I had no formal dinnerware, and no matter how much I polished the table, I couldn’t hide the wormholes.

  I splurged on a white tablecloth.

  I’d found a set of etched wooden plates in an old cabinet and polished them. Micah borrowed tin goblets from the barracks—which mortified me—but he insisted on paying for all the food and wine, and I didn’t argue. The cook I’d hired was skilled, and I knew we’d not be embarrassed by the wedding dinner.

  Nan and I cut dozens of late-season roses, and the house was filled with flowers.

  I pondered what dress to wear.

  But Micah spoke up right away. “That green velvet with the white underskirt. And leave your hair down.”

  I smiled.

  Our guest list included Rowan, Ashton, several merchant friends of Micah’s, and his seven closest friends in the royal guard. I knew I sh
ouldn’t ask any of the nobles, but Baron Augustine was in residence. In the end, I sent a note to him, and was so glad when he accepted.

  Rowan wouldn’t allow Ashton to ride her own horse in her condition, but neither would he keep her away, and they made a lovely picture when they arrived in the late afternoon on his dark horse. He held her carefully in the saddle in front of himself, guarding her safety and the safety of their child. Baron Augustine rode behind them, and all the invited guards brought up the rear.

  Micah and I stood out front of the house to greet them.

  Ashton beamed down at me as Micah jumped forward to lift her off the horse. She was growing a little heavier with child.

  “Oh, Olivia,” she said. “I am so glad to be here. What a joyous day, and I’ve not seen the house since I was a girl.”

  I was excited to show it to her and we went inside, leaving the men to their own greetings.

  Once all the guests had arrived, we gathered in the main sitting room. A city elder performed the ceremony. Micah promised to love me all of my life. When he spoke, I believed him.

  Rowan and Lieutenant Arye signed as witnesses.

  The dinner afterward was loud and cheerful, at which Rowan laughed openly with Micah and the other royal guards. I’d long suspected Rowan was more comfortable with soldiers than with other nobles. I’d never seen him so relaxed as in this setting. No one even noticed the plates were made from wood or the goblets from tin.

  Ashton sat near a merchant’s wife named Emilee Martine, and they chatted away like old friends. Ashton, too, seemed happy, and she smiled down the table several times at Rowan.

  Micah had been generous with the dinner. We served a salmon course, followed by a beef course, along with gravy, roasted potatoes, glazed carrots, fresh bread, and mince pies. He bought ale and a cask of good wine.

  For the guards, the meal was especially pleasant, as they rarely dined in such a manner.

  I felt this was a good start to our new life.

  Near midnight, Rowan announced it was time to ride back to the castle, and everyone headed outside for good-byes. Under the moon, Ashton grasped both my hands.

  “Olivia, thank you so much. This was…I wish it did not have to end.”

  Though she smiled, a flicker of mania, mixed with anxiety, passed through her eyes, and her hands somehow felt brittle to me, as if she might break apart. She glanced at Rowan mounting his horse. Sadness washed through me as I realized this evening had been a respite for her. She did not want to go back to her life at the castle. If I could, I would have kept her here with me.

  “Ready, my queen?” Micah asked.

  She nodded, but didn’t let go of my hands right away.

  “We’ll have you back soon,” I promised.

  “And you’ll come to see me?” she returned.

  “Yes.”

  Rowan scooted back in his saddle, and Micah carefully lifted Ashton up to settle her in front. Baron Augustine kissed my cheek before mounting his horse, and I was glad he’d come. The guards called thanks and good-byes.

  Then the entire party rode out, and I was left alone with Micah. Normally, the newly wedded couple would have been sent to bed by now, but as we’d hosted this party, we could not have left our guests.

  Micah turned to look at the front of the house. He’d not yet slept here, and I knew this must feel strange to him. He’d been living in a barracks his entire life.

  Taking his arm, I led him back inside. “Now, we begin our life together here.”

  “And since the house is home to both of us now, the first thing we’ll do is restore it properly and buy new carpets and curtains…and commission a new dining table.”

  I smiled, thinking him teasing me. “And how will we afford that?”

  Inside the sitting room, he stopped. “You know you’ve not married a pauper?”

  “A captain’s stipend may not stretch far enough for new carpets and a dining table.”

  He raised one eyebrow. “My father bought a partnership in a silver mine, and it’s done well. When he died, I inherited his shares. I may not have lands or rents, but I’ll wager I have more ready wealth than half the men on the noble council. I’ve had no use for money at the barracks. You can buy anything for the house you like.”

  I still thought he might be teasing me.

  “In truth?” I asked.

  “You didn’t know?” He sounded skeptical. “It’s no secret, and has been much discussed among local mothers hunting husbands for their daughters.”

  Suddenly, I remembered a comment overheard from Lady Miranda, but at the time, I’d been distracted and had forgotten it right away.

  “No. I didn’t know,” I answered.

  “Then you married me for myself?”

  Refusing to feed his vanity, I answered. “Either that, or because you offered to repair my stable.”

  He laughed, but we stood near the foot of the stairs, and his good humor faded. He suddenly appeared almost nervous.

  “Olivia. It’s been a long and busy day. If you are tired…If you would rather not…If you would rather wait to…”

  What a good man he was. I’d seen him look at me with open desire for months, and now that I was finally his, he put my feelings before his own. Standing on tiptoes, I touched my mouth to his.

  “I am not tired,” I whispered.

  With a sharp intake of breath, he leaned down to kiss me back.

  * * * *

  The following months were the happiest in my memory.

  True to his word, Micah spared no expense in allowing me to furnish the house. We bought new mattresses, fine carpets, and white lace curtains. We had the shutters replaced. We commissioned new couches and a new dining table.

  We bought dishes and pewter goblets.

  Micah hired a carpenter to repair the stable so he could keep our horses at home, as he needed to ride to the castle and back every day.

  He never once made me feel as if I was spending his money. Rather, he expressed gratitude to me for sharing this fine house, and he treated me as if I’d done him some great service by marrying him. I spent my nights in his arms, marveling at the joy two people could find in each other. He opened his soul to me in the darkness.

  “I loved you the first time I saw you,” he whispered, “standing on that hill with your eyes blazing. I never dreamed you’d choose to marry me.”

  I felt loved. I felt wanted.

  His duties as commander of the guards took a good deal of his time, and each day was different for him, so we could not live by a set schedule, as other married couples. Some days, he had entire afternoons off, and some days, when large numbers of nobles were visiting the castle with their own guards, he did not get home until midnight. Twice in those first months, he sent me a message that he’d need to sleep in his room at the barracks and would not be home at all.

  I never minded this. I’d known that castle security was his responsibility when I married him.

  When possible, we dined together at our new table.

  His favorite dish was baked salmon, and he also liked steamed mussels with butter and parsley.

  One night, he came home well past dark but still early enough for us to eat together. Our cook prepared several of his favorite foods, including steamed mussels. He seemed distracted, and barely noticed his dinner.

  “Is anything wrong?” I asked.

  He hesitated, as if not certain he could answer, and I grew worried.

  “Is it Ashton?” I asked. The question made me feel remiss. I’d not visited her at the castle. There was so much to be done here.

  “What? No.” He set down his fork. “Lord Sauvage has been sending short reports on the invasion of Samourè, simply stating that all is going according to schedule. But today, a report arrived from Colonel Marlowe. He says thousands of Samourè citizens
have been slaughtered or displaced, and in response, King Amandine has raised a sizable army. We’ve suffered heavy losses.”

  I thought of our conscripted men lying dead in a foreign land. I thought of innocent Samourè families suffering for Lord Sauvage’s bloody “show of strength.”

  “What will Rowan do?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I hope he offers a treaty and tries to end this.” He took a bite of bread. “But I feel guilty because it all seems so far away, and even after reading those reports with Rowan tonight, all I could think was to get home to you.”

  I understood what he meant. It all seemed far away for me too.

  I was no longer Lady Olivia Géroux, daughter of Hugh Géroux. I was Mistress Olivia Caron, wife of the commander of the royal guard.

  And I’d never felt so at peace.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Winter was just passing into early spring when a pounding on the front door awakened Micah and me in the middle of the night. We both hurried from our bed, pulling on clothes, and stumbled out into the hallway. Nan came from her room with a startled expression, clutching at her night-robe.

  Micah held out one hand.

  “It’s all right, Nan. I’ll see to this.”

  He left us and took the stairs down two at a time. I heard low voices, and then he came running back up.

  “Ashton’s time has come, and she’s asking for you.”

  By my counting, she was several weeks early. I’d promised to be there for her.

  “I’ll make ready,” I said. “Can you saddle the horses?”

  * * * *

  Micah got me to the castle swiftly. He thought it best if he remained at the barracks, and I ran for the south tower.

  Ashton was in her bed with a midwife and Kamilla in attendance. Her black hair was damp, and her face was wet with perspiration. Rushing in, I grasped her hand.

  “I’m here.”

  “Olivia,” she said weakly. “I knew you’d come.”

  “Of course I would come.” I looked to the midwife. “When did this start?”

  “Not long after dinner.”

  “And you just sent for me now?”

  “She’s early. We thought it might be a false labor.”