Covington almost denied him, but he thought better of it. There were two enormous knights in the room who could probably do him great bodily harm if he refused. The giant – d’Avignon – told him not to push him.
Covington wouldn’t.
Yet.
He looked at Hallam.
“Take him to the vault,” he said. “And take the lady someplace more… suitable. But do not let her out of your sight.”
Hallam simply nodded, opening up the door as Caius closed in behind him, but not before he and Edward exchanged glances. The meaning was clear – Edward would continue to interrogate de Wrenville while Caius spoke with de Thorington’s daughter to get her side of things. The entire situation was a wild mess and they needed to get to the bottom of it before Edward mowed Covington down and claimed Winterhold for his own.
It might very well come to that.
Leaving Maxton with Edward in case the man tried to throttle de Wrenville, Caius followed Hallam from the solar.
Caius thought they would head out into the night, wherever Winterhold’s vault happened to be, but Hallam came to a halt just shy of the entry door and faced Caius.
“Lady Emelisse is not in the vault, my lord,” he said quietly. “I had her removed earlier today.”
Caius eyed him suspiciously. “You removed her?” he said. “Where is she?”
Hallam shook his head. “I do not know,” he said honestly. “She is in the care of Lady de Wrenville, but Lord de Wrenville does not know that. He thinks she is still in the vault. I moved her because I agree with you – the lady should not have been put in the vault.”
Caius wasn’t sure if he believed the man. He was de Wrenville’s knight, after all. He could have been telling him what he wanted to hear, but in spite of his suspicion, he nodded his head.
“I want to speak to the lady, so you will find her for me,” he said.
Hallam agreed. “I will,” he said. “But I must seek Lady de Wrenville to find out where the prisoner is.”
“I will go with you,” Caius said. “But first, you will remove your weapon and I will remove mine. We do not go into this armed, either one of us.”
There was no debating that statement. Hallam didn’t even try. He didn’t blame Caius for being mistrustful, given how Covington had just behaved. Without another word, Hallam dropped his broadsword at the door and Caius did the same. He removed the daggers that were positioned around his body was well, laying all of them to the side of the entry where they would be out of sight.
With the weapons finally put away, Hallam put a finger to his lips in a gesture of silence and headed back the way they had come. They had to pass the closed solar door, and did so quietly, before mounting the wide, broad spiral staircase built into the corner turret of the keep.
Up they went.
The upper levels of the keep were disorienting because the keep itself was so big, but Caius remained close to Hallam so he wouldn’t get lost. Also, he didn’t want Hallam turning on him in any way, so the closer he stuck to the man, the less chance there would be of that happening. If Hallam decided to get clever, Caius was more than a head taller than the man and could easily throw an arm across his neck, either immobilizing or killing him. If Hallam was going to try and betray him, Caius didn’t care which one it was. He would be in defensive mode.
In fact, he was already in defensive mode.
Their trek to the upper floors of the keep didn’t take very long. Hallam brought him to a large set of carved oak doors on the third level and knocked softly. When there was no immediate answer, he knocked again. Finally, one of the doors slowly opened and a well-dressed maid cautiously appeared in the weak light.
Hallam spoke first.
“Where is Lady de Wrenville?” he asked.
“I am here, Hallam.”
A voice came from inside the chamber and a woman abruptly came into view, garbed in silks and jewels. She was older, with a plain face. When she smiled, however, she had lovely straight teeth, and she smiled when she saw Hallam. There was clearly joy in her eyes when she looked at him. But she caught a glimpse of Caius behind him, a massive knight lurking in the shadows, and her smile vanished.
“Sir Hallam?” she said, fear in voice. “What is the…?”
Hallam cut her off, but he wasn’t unkind. “This is Sir Caius d’Avignon,” he said quietly, quickly. “He has been sent by William Marshal. He wants to speak with Lady Emelisse.”
The woman in the chamber stared at Caius for a moment before yanking the door open wide.
“Is this true?” she asked. “You have been sent by my uncle?”
Ugly Alice. That was the first thing Caius thought of. William had referred to Alice by that name and not only was it rather cruel, it wasn’t exactly the truth. She wasn’t beautiful by any means, but she had a soft, sensual voice and a bright smile. But that was where her appeal ended other than her expensive clothing and well-groomed appearance.
As he looked at her, his first thought was that Covington de Wrenville had indeed married her simply for her ties, because a woman of Lady de Wrenville’s appeal – including her age – wouldn’t have been highly sought after in this world. Men wanted wives who were young and virginal and lovely and wealthy, not old and plain and round. But Alice had one thing other ladies did not – her ties to the greatest knight in England.
William Marshal.
Caius was willing to wholeheartedly believe that it had been a calculated marriage.
“Pembroke has indeed sent me, my lady,” he said. “I have come to speak with Rupert de Thorington’s daughter and get to the truth of the matter in this conflict. I promise I will not harass or molest her in any way. I will behave politely and appropriately. Will you allow me to see her?”
Lady de Wrenville didn’t hesitate. She pushed through the door, nearly running to a small servant’s staircase that was hidden in an alcove in the corner of the keep. Hallam and Caius followed, trailing the woman up a ridiculously steep and small staircase. For a man of Caius’ bulk, it was difficult to maneuver. He hit his shoulders more than once and by the time they reached the top, he nearly had his head pushing through the low doorway.
They were on the top level now, poorly lit on the windowless landing. Lady de Wrenville went to one of the doors, quietly knocked on it, and was admitted entrance. Caius could hear the bolt when it was thrown and they were drawn into a chamber, which was cold and dark but for the servant manning the door with a fat taper in her hand. Lady de Wrenville passed through the storage chamber and went to a second doorway. She knocked on that one, too, and announced herself.
Slowly, the door opened.
Even in the weak light, the first thing Caius saw was a woman of astounding beauty. Not just astounding; remarkable. Utterly remarkable beauty. She was wearing a garment that was too big for her because it was hanging off of her shoulders, which were magnificent, and it was too roomy around her torso. Her hair, which was blonde, was free flowing in a great golden mass that hung well past her waist.
Truthfully, Caius wasn’t even listening to what Lady de Wrenville and Hallam were saying. They were having a conversation with each other, and with the exquisite woman in the baggy blue dress, but Caius wasn’t listening to any of it. He was staring at the woman as if he’d never before seen a woman in his life.
Everything else around him seemed to fade away.
“My lord?”
Hallam was speaking to him. Or asking him a question. Caius didn’t even know, but he suddenly realized that Hallam was speaking to him and he tore himself away from the angelic vision and looked at Hallam, trying not to appear startled. Or foolish. If Hallam thought either of those things, he didn’t say anything. He gestured to the woman in the blue dress.
“This is Lady Emelisse de Thorington,” he said. “Would you speak with her here or do you wish to take her elsewhere?”
Caius’ gaze drifted back to the blue-clad woman, who was now looking at him with some fear. He gestured tow
ards the chamber.
“I will speak with her here,” he said. “You and Lady de Wrenville wait right outside this door, but I must insist on closing it. What I speak to her about will be in confidence.”
Lady de Wrenville nodded, as did Hallam, and they stepped aside so that Caius could enter the chamber. As he stepped through, they closed the door.
Now, Caius was alone with the woman who had so ably captured his attention. He’d never had a reaction like that to a woman in his life and was struggling to overcome it, but those efforts were thwarted when he looked at her again, now at close range, and found himself intrigued by eyes of sapphire blue.
He couldn’t seem to look away.
“My name is Sir Caius d’Avignon,” he said, sounding remarkably composed for all of the confusion he was experiencing. “I am a commander in the arsenal of William Marshal and I have been sent here to discover the truth behind the hostilities between Covington de Wrenville and Rupert de Thorington. My position at this point is neutral but you should know that I have been sent with the intent on supporting Baron Darliston’s army in this situation if I decide he needs The Marshal’s support. I realize this has been a difficult time, my lady, but if you would be so kind as to answer my questions, I will try to finish this as quickly as possible.”
Emelisse was gazing up at him with those dark blue eyes. She wasn’t short for a woman. In fact, she was rather tall and busty in spite of the loose dress, but he was so tall that she ended up craning her neck back simply to look at him.
“I will answer what I can, my lord,” she said in a voice that was deep and sultry. “I swear upon my mother’s grave that I will tell you the truth, as I know it.”
Caius indicated a chair near the hearth. There was only one chair, so when she sat down obediently, he took up position a few feet away from her. Emelisse sat there, trying to keep the neckline of that too-big dress up from slipping too low. She wasn’t very discreet about it, so Caius finally indicated the dress.
“That garment does not belong to you,” he said.
Emelisse shook her head, looking down at herself. “It does not,” she said. “The clothing I came to Winterhold in is being cleaned. Lady de Wrenville has loaned this to me until my clothing can be returned. It was very kind of her. She has been kind, my lord.”
She was letting him know that the wife of her captor was treating her well, but her tone also suggested that Lady de Wrenville had been the only one at Winterhold who had been kind. Considering she was a prisoner of war, Caius wasn’t surprised. He continued.
“I am told that the army from Winterhold was able to breach part of Hawkstone today,” he said. “You and your father were brought here as prisoners. Is this true?”
Emelisse nodded, trying to be brave in the face of the devastating reality of the question. “Aye,” she said. “I was in the great hall tending our wounded when the Winterhold army broke through and was unable to retreat to safety before they captured me. My father and I were taken prisoner while my brother held the keep. As far as I know, he still holds it, and if you have any intention of forcing me to tell my brother to surrender the keep, know that I will not. I will jump from this window before I tell Caspian anything.”
Caius could see that she was already becoming agitated, clearly emotional about the situation. He put up his hand.
“I have no intention of forcing you to do anything, especially not where Hawkstone is concerned,” he said. “But I would like for you to tell me, in your own words, what has happened between your father and Covington de Wrenville.”
Emelisse was blinking back tears, struggling with her composure. “May I ask you a question first?”
“What is that?”
“What have you heard about the troubles?”
Caius pondered that question before answering. “I would rather you tell me,” he said. “I do not want to influence your answer what with I know.”
It was a fair statement and not a cruel one, but she sighed and hung her head, giving Caius a moment to study her unimpeded. Already, he could feel his sympathies being pulled towards her purely because of her beauty, and that was a very stupid reason.
He knew that.
The Britannia Viper wasn’t given to weaknesses like pity.
… wasn’t he?
“It all started three years ago, my lord,” she finally said, breaking into his thoughts. “It all seems so long ago, yet it really wasn’t. It was only three short years ago. Our lands are northeast of here, sixteen miles to be exact, and we have unique features to our property. Coal is near the surface, as it is in many places in these parts, but we have a hill on our property that rises up out of the flatlands. It is covered in trees and limestone cliffs, with ponds and waterfalls and strange rock formations. The Welsh believe our lands to be full of magic, but the truth is that they are not. There is no real magic on them except for their beauty. The River Roden borders our lands and three years ago, men hired by my father to mine some of the coal deposits found two big diamonds. Did you hear about that? Most people in England have.”
Caius had been mesmerized by her smooth, seductive voice, almost realizing too late that she was asking him a question. He nodded.
“The Roden Twins?” he said. “Aye, I have heard.”
Emelisse looked up at him, her emotions for the moment under control. “The men brought the diamonds to my father,” she said. “We went back with more men and mined the area, but there were no more. We never found any. But somehow, word got out about diamonds on our property and people came from all over to dig up our lands. That was the beginning of the trouble because shortly thereafter, my father received a missive from Covington de Wrenville, asking to enter into negotiations for a marital contract between me and his son, Marius. My father refused. Within a few weeks, the first of the harassment from Baron Darliston began.”
Caius had heard all of this from Edward, so she wasn’t telling him anything he hadn’t already heard. She was simply confirming what Edward had told him.
“So you believe a spurned marriage offer started all of this?” he asked.
Emelisse shrugged wearily. “It never even occurred to me until today,” she said. “De Wrenville brought it up as I lay tied up on the floor of his great hall, begging to tend my dying father. He’s dead, you know. My father, I mean. De Wrenville’s physic said he choked on his own blood.”
Caius simply nodded, the disturbing details of her capture and her father’s death becoming apparent. She lowered her head again and as he watched, her shoulders began to gently heave as the silent sobs finally came. She’d been brave until this point, but no longer.
Truth be told, he didn’t blame her in the least.
“Covington de Wrenville and his bastard son have been harassing us for three long years,” she wept. “We never knew why. They never told us. They never sent any word or demands or anything. All they sent were men to burn our villages, kill our vassals, burn our forests, and attack our home. My father was a good man, my lord, I swear it. He loved his family and his home. He never hurt anyone if he could help it. He did not deserve to die the way he did. He did not deserve any of it.”
She was sobbing into her hand by that point and Caius let her. That pity he’d been feeling for her was back with a vengeance. It was everything he’d been told and worse; worse because now, the contention between Winterhold and Hawkstone had a face in the form of Lady Emelisse de Thorington. She had humanized the conflict. A seemingly bright, beautiful woman harassed by a greedy warlord. Her father was dead because of it.
But her brother still held the keep.
He wanted to talk to the brother, too.
All of this was such a delicate situation, made worse now because if what he’d heard was true, and he’d heard it from more than one person, then it was Covington de Wrenville causing all of the problems. A greedy, ruthless lord with a son who was close to the king.
And a wife who was close to William Marshal.
God, how d
id I get myself into this position?
“I am sorry for your loss,” he said after a moment. “But there is something else I must ask you, my lady. Are you, or have you at any time been, loyal to France?”
Her head shot up, tears streaming down her face but fury suddenly in her expression. “Of course not,” she said. “Lady de Wrenville asked me the same thing and I will tell you what I told her – my father has always been loyal to England. He has never even been to France. Even when he returned from Richard’s Crusade, he said that his ship sailed from Tripoli and did not even dock until Gibraltar. It stopped in Bilbao and then on to Plymouth. I remember he told me that specifically because he ate strange food in Bilbao that made him ill the rest of the journey. He’s never set foot in France!”
Caius knew that would be her answer. This whole situation was just so ridiculous, so perpetuated by Covington, that Caius believed her without question.
“And your brother?” he asked.
She shook her head, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “Caspian has been to France, but he is not loyal to the king,” she said. “There is a nice Welsh girl he wishes to marry, so if anything, he has some sympathy for the Welsh. He has no interest in politics or French kings.”
“And you have no husband or suitor that could be in question?”
“No husband and no suitor,” she said. “I am not loyal to France, either, if that is your next question.”
Caius knew she wasn’t married or betrothed, but he wanted to hear it from her. He was rather pleased that she confirmed it, though he shouldn’t have been. He shouldn’t have cared, but stupidly, he did. A little.
Idiot!
“That was going to be my next question, actually,” he said. “Thank you for being truthful with me.”
She was gazing up at him with those big, blue eyes. Where there had been anger and sorrow only seconds before, now he saw fear again.
“What will happen now?” she asked. “You said that you brought an army to support de Wrenville against Hawkstone. Is that what you intend to do?”
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