by Denise Lynn
Her knees threatened to fold with relief. ‘Then why—?’
He hushed her again, to explain, ‘We thought if I angered you, that you would not care if I left you alone. That you would welcome my absence long enough for me to complete my tasks in Normandy.’
‘I know not who this we might be, but you were wrong.’
‘I understand that now. King David and I have been sorely mistaken in this. I tried, but it is obvious that I succeeded only in upsetting you instead of firing your rage. I meant not to do that. It was foolish and wrong of me to play such a game when we don’t know each other well enough to be able to judge the other’s intent.’
‘Your touch.’
His lips against her forehead moved as he asked, ‘What?’
‘Even if your eyes glinted with anger, your lips were flattened into a hard line, or your voice was cold and curt, when you covered my hand with yours and you wiped away a tear from my cheek, your touch was gentle.’
He laughed softly. ‘I will work on that.’
She clung to his shoulders. ‘No, please don’t.’
‘Kiss me, Avelyn. Promise that you will wait for me.’
‘Always.’ Just before he covered her lips with his, she added in a whisper, ‘I swear, Elrik, I will always be true.’
His kiss was gentle, filled not with desire, but more of a hope, a promise for tomorrow. He would think her witless, but her wolf’s kiss was sweet, so much so that it brought tears to her eyes when he finally broke their contact.
Without releasing her, he said, ‘I must go.’
She smiled at the roughness of his voice and his lingering embrace. ‘I know.’
‘The most important thing to me is that you are safe. Do you understand? That is why I cannot take you into battle with me and why I want you safely installed on Roul Isle. I cannot let worry for you distract me from what I must do.’
‘I am the Wolf’s wife, of course I will be safe.’
With nothing more than another chaste kiss on her forehead, he left her standing in the dark alcove.
King David’s voice broke through the sorrow threatening to swamp her. ‘Come, Lady Avelyn.’
When she stepped out of the alcove and into the corridor, he said, ‘I may have been wrong about Elrik’s ability to execute this mummery, but I was not wrong about this marriage.’
She couldn’t argue, because even though she was distraught that they’d wasted this last day for no good reason, she was thankful for what he’d done regarding their marriage.
The older woman led her back up to the chamber and then left her to make do on her own. Avelyn crossed the room to stare out through the narrow window opening. From there she could see the courtyard and watched Elrik, Samuel and Fulke mount their horses. Elrik grabbed the reins to Little Lady and glanced up towards her. He raised his arm in a gesture of farewell before he led them through the gates and out of her sight.
She felt tears fill her eyes and sucked in a deep breath to help quell the pain building in her chest.
She glanced again out of the window towards the road that had taken Elrik from her and was surprised to see six men quickly gather in the courtyard, mount their horses and then follow after her husband and his men. One man turned in his saddle to glance furtively back at the castle.
Avelyn’s breath caught in her throat.
No.
Osbert was trailing Elrik to the ship. What devilry was her half-brother up to now? Nothing he did was ever for anyone’s benefit but his own.
Her blood ran cold. Elrik had worried about her being safe? He had no idea what sort of danger he could be in with Osbert around.
Even as a child he had been a tyrant, teasing and tormenting anyone smaller or weaker.
She’d known him only as the lord’s son, before her father had moved her to the keep. Osbert and his companions would come into the village when they were hungry for their brand of cruel amusement.
As the ringleader of the group of ruffians, he was loud, boastful and the cruellest of all. He thought nothing of taking old Duncan’s cane and breaking it, after having beat the elderly man with it first.
A skilled liar, Osbert had accused her of stealing jewellery from her father’s wife the first day she had been brought to Brandr Keep. She had denied the false claim, but who was her father and his wife going to believe? The unwanted bastard of a servant, or the son who had grown up at the keep?
Her father’s wife had ordered her whipped with a switch and Osbert watched—laughing the entire time.
She’d quickly learned that to avoid punishment for crimes she hadn’t committed she needed to be in someone else’s company, someone her father would trust to tell the truth. Which was why she had made friends in the kitchen. Who else would he trust if not the people who were preparing the food he put into his belly?
That didn’t mean Osbert had stopped tormenting her. Far from it. Her bedding had been smeared with horse dung, her clothes soaked in urine, a comb her father had given her broken into useless bits and a cloth doll her mother had made for her cut up into pieces.
As he grew older he didn’t change. He just became meaner, sneakier, more devious than ever. To this day, she still believed that the stable boy who’d been found hanged from a post in a stall had not killed himself.
Not when earlier that same day the boy had made the mistake of making Osbert wait to have his horse saddled. The lad had been nearly done mucking out the stalls and hadn’t dropped everything to immediately fulfil Osbert’s order.
She’d expected her half-brother to make the boy pay, she’d just not thought he’d go so far as to kill the lad.
Osbert was not to be trusted.
And now he was following her husband.
No.
Avelyn raced out of the chamber and down the stairs to the Great Hall. She stopped the first servant she saw, asking, ‘Where is King David?’
The woman nodded towards the small private chamber at the rear of the hall, and warned, ‘He is with some of his lords.’
Avelyn didn’t care who he was with. She needed his help, now. Nearly running across the hall, she ignored the gasps of those milling about as she pushed by them. Without pausing to knock on the door, she burst into the chamber and dropped to the floor on her knees at the King’s feet. She breathlessly pleaded, ‘My lord, please. I need your help. It is a matter of Elrik’s life or death. Please.’
To her relief, he cleared the chamber with a wave of his hand and then assisted her to her feet, asking, ‘What is this about, Lady Avelyn?’
‘My half-brother Osbert and his companions just left your courtyard, heading in the same direction as Elrik.’
King David groaned. ‘This is not good.’
‘Not good? Of course it is not good. Osbert will kill him.’
‘That is the last thing you need worry about.’ He headed towards the door, motioning her to follow as he explained, ‘Elrik blames Brandr for his father’s act of treason.’
Avelyn nearly stumbled as she tried to keep up with the King and digest that morsel of information at the same time. ‘That is why he hates my father?’
‘That and more.’
‘And yet he still wed me?’
‘Yes. He knows you were not to blame for your father’s actions.’
She frowned. Bits and pieces of his words yesterday raced through her mind. ‘But I am my father’s daughter.’
‘Exactly.’
‘And my brother showing up...’ She let her words trail off. Osbert could unknowingly ruin everything for her. He could so easily make Elrik think she was as deceitful as her father and brother.
‘I need to get to his ship.’
The King stopped so suddenly that she ran into him. He grasped her shoulders to steady her, saying, ‘That is the perfect solution. I could send word, but you deliveri
ng it would go a long way in making him realise that you are not involved in whatever scheme your brother has planned.’
He released her to summon a servant and quietly gave him instructions before turning back to Avelyn to assure her, ‘So that is where you are going. I could send one of my men, but who knows if Elrik would believe him or not. As angry as it’ll make him, you truly are the best choice to give him warning.’
Leaving the castle, they walked out into the courtyard where three stable hands were readying a horse each. Avelyn groaned.
‘Tell me you can ride.’
She grimaced. ‘Not well.’
‘Then I suggest you hang on tightly.’
Two of his guards ran into the courtyard followed by the servant he had spoken to inside. King David took the items the servant carried and handed Avelyn a cloak. ‘You will need this.’
Once she secured the full-length cloak about her shoulders, he gave her two rolled parchments. ‘If Elrik’s ship has already set sail, make sure you board the very last ship. The other women will be aboard that one. The other ships will be overcrowded with nothing but men. The last ship, Avelyn. Show either one of these to the captain and tell him who you are.’ He tapped the wax seal on each one. ‘He will recognise my seal and believe you. Trust that he’ll find a way to make contact with Elrik.’
‘The last ship and show these to the captain.’ She repeated his instructions.
He then handed her a pouch. ‘Ginger. You may find that you need it for your stomach while at sea.’
She clutched the pouch and the scrolls. ‘I don’t know how to thank you.’
‘Just get to your husband before your brother does.’ He assisted her on to the horse. ‘I truly want this union to work for the two of you.’
Nobody wanted that more than she did.
‘Be safe, Lady Roul. This journey will be fraught with danger, so do whatever he tells you to do. Give your husband no reason to worry for your safety. Now go.’
She hung on to the reins of the horse for dear life and followed the guards out of the courtyard.
* * *
Elrik stood on the deck of the forecastle and watched the other ships follow his away from the docks. One by one they moved into the channel towards the sea.
The first five, including the one he was on, carried arms, food, household goods, horses and guards. The last would transport the women—maids, kitchen helpers, and washer women; along with the tools of their trade. It also carried the camp followers. He’d given that ship over to the command of the oldest and most experienced crew. He knew the captain would not be easily swayed by the lure of a comely lass, but mostly because he knew the crew would get no help from the women.
Sort of like the help he was currently getting from Samuel and Fulke. This voyage would take over a week, nearly a fortnight if the winds were unfavourable, to complete and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could endure their silence and glares of censure. Both of them were angry at the way he’d handled Avelyn yesterday. And angrier still that he’d left her behind. How could neither one of them not realise what he’d done? How could they not know it was for the best? Not just for him, but for Avelyn, too.
At Roul Isle she’d be safe under his brothers’ protection and he wouldn’t have to worry about her.
They’d known him all his life. Didn’t they understand how hard it had been to crush her dreams and break her heart the way he had? He’d left much back in that castle. His dignity, honesty and, if he were to be truthful, a piece of himself still lay in shards atop a trestle table in King David’s Great Hall.
He’d tried to make amends after the ceremony this morning. But their time together had been brief. Despite what she’d told him, he had no way of knowing if she understood his reasoning, or even if she forgave him for having been such a fool.
Never in his life had he intentionally set out to hurt an innocent person. Never. Did they know so little of him to think he’d willingly done so now? What he’d done, at the King’s suggestion, was the hardest thing he’d ever done. So difficult that he’d been unable to go through with it all the way. The sadness in her voice after their wedding had been unbearable. He couldn’t leave her like that. He had to try to explain himself. Hopefully, his explanation had been enough.
Fulke climbed the ladder to the forecastle and stood before him. ‘I would prefer to sail on another ship.’
Fulke was treading very near his last bit of patience. He was still their commander, their liege, and their friendship could only be tested just so far.
‘You will sail on this one.’
‘I’d rather not, Elrik.’
‘Lord Elrik.’ He was tired of his men’s mistrust. He might have felt the need to explain his actions to Avelyn, but he was under no obligation to explain anything to his men. If they wanted to act like strangers, so be it. They could address him as such.
‘As you wish.’ Fulke’s jaw tightened, then relaxed. ‘Lord Elrik, you are an ass.’
That comment took Fulke well across the line. Without thought, Elrik slammed his fist into Fulke’s jaw. When the man picked himself up off the deck, he ordered, ‘Get out of my sight, but stay on this ship.’
Elrik silently watched Fulke climb back down the ladder, wondering if this day could possibly get any worse.
He turned back to watch the fifth ship leave the dock. The sixth and final ship was now taking on the last of the women.
A few of the women were married to guards under his command and had refused to wait until later to join their husbands. Thankfully, his own wife hadn’t thought to argue. Since he would not permit children on this voyage, these women were either done with raising children, or hadn’t yet conceived.
He’d have preferred not to allow women on this transport at all, but King David had taken that decision away from him.
He still disagreed with the King as nobody knew what they would encounter at this new keep of his.
From what he’d read in Lord Geoffrey’s missives to the King, this could very well prove a bloody takeover. It seemed that two neighbouring lords had been promised possession of the lands upon the old Earl’s death.
Those promises had no merit. Unlike Roul Isle, the Norman lands were not fully entailed to the Roul family—they were held only by the grace of the King, or at this moment, the Empress Matilda and her husband, Lord Geoffrey, the current Duke of Normandy.
As was her right, the Empress had decided that she needed the eldest Roul to take possession of the title, the lands and the keep, but also to establish a shipyard and wharf at Roul Keep.
So, not only did he need to first secure the area for the Empress and those under his command, he also needed to oversee the construction of docks, warehouses and eventually a shipyard.
The first task was well within his ability. While his younger brother Gregor had seen to everything related to the Roul ships, he’d seen to the protection of Roul Isle, the keep and the day-to-day operations required for the upkeep of the isle and its inhabitants.
The construction of the docks and warehouses wouldn’t prove too difficult—as long as he found a trustworthy master carpenter to oversee the task. While he could use a hammer, saw, adze or a jack plane, he didn’t know the first thing about designing a building—at least not one that needed to last more than a couple of years.
Again, when it came time to build a shipyard, he was either going to need to hire a master shipbuilder trustworthy enough to do the job, or drag Gregor into this new venture. Thankfully that was something he wouldn’t need to consider for at least a year or more.
For now, he needed to concentrate on two things—getting this transport to Roul and then seeing to the safety of all under his charge, including the women.
His attention was captured by three horses galloping down the wharf at a dangerously fast pace. From their livery, two of the riders were King
David’s guards. The third slipped from the horse clumsily, almost falling with the effort, and then raced to board the last ship just as the crew had started to pull the plank away and cast off.
The hood of the oversized cloak fell back, permitting long raven locks to fly about the face and shoulders.
No.
Erik shook his head. Surely he was seeing things that weren’t there. He peered harder at the woman.
Chapter Ten
Samuel stepped up on to the forecastle deck just as curses that would burn any hardened sailor’s ears left Elrik’s mouth. He turned to follow the direction of Elrik’s stare and laughed. ‘Did you expect the Wolf’s lady to do anything different?’
‘The intention had been to ensure her safety. To keep her from doing just this.’
‘That is what you have been doing? You couldn’t have explained that to us?’
‘It was hard enough without having the two of you try to talk me out of it.’
‘Well, I would say your intention fell short.’
‘She promised to wait. She knew how important her safety was to me.’
‘Perhaps she felt she’d be safer with you.’
Nothing happened at Carlisle without David’s knowledge. So, how had she left the castle without the King noticing? What had the man been thinking to permit her to join a group heading into battle?
Worry—something he’d hoped to avoid—settled cold around his heart. Something was wrong. She wasn’t here without a reason.
The last ship sent a red cloth up the mast, signalling trouble. Elrik ordered the men to lower the sail of his ship, giving the other vessel time to catch up and pull alongside.
* * *