Dacia went to a small table against the wall, one that held her capcase, and began to remove the ribbons in her hair.
“I find all of Berwick beautiful,” she said. “How fortunate you were to grow up here.”
“Fortunate, indeed. Do you want some wine?”
Dacia looked over to the table next to the bed, where someone had thoughtfully put a pitcher of wine, two cups, and several pieces of fruit.
“Nay,” she said, pulling the last of the ribbons from her hair and starting in on the ties that held the dress together. “I think I have had enough wine to last me for quite some time. So have your uncles and father. Oh, and I forgot to tell you – my grandfather received a missive from Father Lazarus yesterday. You know the priest has been helping Darian keep an eye on the village. You’ll never guess what Father Lazarus said.”
“What?”
“Evidently, Amata’s father pledged Amata to the same nunnery where her sister is serving,” he said. “She’s going to spend the rest of her life away from men, parties, and gossip.”
Cassius grunted. “She can still talk,” he said. “Where there are women, there is gossip.”
“It’s a silent order, Cass.”
Cassius laughed softly at the fate of Amata de Branton as he removed his fine tunic, leaving his chest bare. Sitting on the bed, the boots were next followed by the breeches, made of the finest leather. It was then that he noticed two dog paws underneath the bed, reaching underneath to pet Argos, who was never far away from him or Dacia these days.
The old dog was part of their family.
Nude, Cassius sat back on the bed, throwing the coverlet over his hips, as he watched his wife slither out of her wedding dress. The pretty pink dress went up on a peg in the wardrobe. Stripped down to everything but the shift, she finally turned and faced her husband.
He smiled at her.
“Well?” he said. “Shall we spend our first few moments together as man and wife?”
She came over to the bed. “I’d like to before that mob returns and demands blood.”
Cassius laughed softly. “My mother’s father did that when Markus married but, alas, his wife was a widow and already had four children,” he said. “But you… unless you have something to confess to me, I will go on the assumption that you are not a widow.”
She giggled. “Fortunately, I am not.”
“Good,” he said, his smile fading. “Come to me, angel. Do not make me wait.”
She didn’t. Swinging his big legs over the side of the bed, he pulled her shift over her head, tossing it onto the pile of his own clothing. Grasping her by her slender waist, he flipped her onto her back.
They were nude now, facing one another in the dim light. The moon was rising, casting a silvery glow in through the partially covered windows. Dacia was looking up at him, studying him, and Cassius could see that her focus was on his chest, his waist, and finally his manhood, which was already aroused. He was quite well endowed. She simply lay there, looking at him, before finally lifting her gaze to his face.
Cassius met her eyes, a warm glimmer in his own. “Please,” he said. “Look all you wish. I will not stop you.”
She smiled faintly. “I like the look of you.”
“Good. Any questions?”
“No questions. Let me feel you now, my husband.”
Her words set him on fire. He settled down on top of her, wedging his big body in between her legs. Dacia was more curious than she was apprehensive, although the feel of his weight on her body made it all seem so very intimate and close. It was the moment they would fully commit to one another, as man and wife, and she couldn’t remember when she hadn’t loved him. As the ring on her finger said, she belonged to Cassius. He kissed her tenderly on her freckled cheek.
“Do not be afraid,” he said. “You will like this, I promise.”
Dacia lifted her hands to his face. “Show me.”
He did.
Cassius slanted his mouth over hers, pulling her close with one arm while the other hand began to roam. Her skin was like silk, warm and beautiful, and he touched her shoulder, her arm, dragging his hand over her belly. Her breasts were full and beautiful, and he enclosed one in a big, callused hand, caressing gently, feeling the nipple harden against his palm. All the while, he rubbed her thigh with his erection, moving it ever closer to the intended target.
His mouth moved away from hers, down her neck, to capture a nipple. He suckled on it and Dacia quivered with delight. This was not any man; it was Cassius, her husband, the only man she had ever loved, and this moment was particularly poignant for her. It seemed as if it had been so hard-fought to reach it. Her hands were on his shoulders, in his hair, memorizing the feel and the smell of him.
She wanted all of him.
More than that, she wanted a piece of him.
His son.
Dacia had discovered something about herself during the few months of their betrothal. She secretly yearned for a child, a son in the image of his mighty father, because she’d spent most of her life without siblings or parents, with only her grandfather as immediate family, and it had been a lonely way to live. Coming to know the enormous de Wolfe family had made her realize that. She knew she wanted as many children from Cassius as he could give her. She wanted the man to fill her with his seed and give her his son.
The erection against her thigh moved higher and now the tip of his phallus was against the dark fluff of curls. Dacia could feel it. Instinctively, she opened her legs wide to him, feeling his manhood rub against her, feeling terrible large. She had visions of him not being able to fit inside of her. Cassius tightened his embrace around her, his mouth on her ear, and suddenly coiled his buttocks. He thrust hard.
Dacia gasped at the stinging sensation, his manhood feeling enormous within the confines of her tight body. But rather than resist, she went with her primal instinct, which was to open her legs wider and moved her hips forward, trying to capture more of him. The action drove Cassius mad and he coiled his buttocks again and drove into her again and again, driving himself all the way to the hilt as Dacia held on to him tightly.
Already, he could feel her body clutching at him, demanding him.
It was too much for him to take.
Cassius began his slow and steady thrusts, listening to Dacia groan, feeling her young and nubile body rise to the challenge. She was deliciously tight and slick, her legs flung wide open to welcome him. He shifted himself so that he was on his knees, grasping her legs and holding them on either side of his body as he watched her in the weak light. Pale skinned, full-hipped and full-breasted, the sight of her fed his lust like nothing he had ever experienced.
In fact, he had lifted himself off her for a reason – he wanted to watch her as he made love to her, watching her breasts quiver every time his body came into contact with hers. It was arousal beyond anything he had ever experienced. He looked down, watching his manhood as it entered her body, seeing the faint stain of blood from her breeched maidenhood. It was the sign of his possession, the evidence that she completely belonged to him now.
His thrusts increased. He could feel his release coming and he wanted her to join him, to experience the same pleasure that he was, so he released her right leg and reached down between their bodies, rubbing her swollen bud of pleasure as he continued to thrust. As highly aroused as Dacia was, Cassius’ expert fingers brought her to her first release quickly.
She started to gasp as he felt her tremors begin and he thrust hard, releasing himself within her. Still moving, still pulsing, he lowered himself onto her again, his mouth finding hers, kissing her deeply as she experienced her first release.
It was a deeply personal, and deeply moving, experience.
As their wedding feast continued long into the night, Cassius lay with his arms around his wife, in a room he had known since childhood, listening to the nightbirds call to one another as a gentle river flowed beneath the moonlight. He was home, where he wanted to be, with the spirits of his ance
stors surrounding him. For certain, he drew strength from it just as Dacia drew strength from Doncaster. As she’d told Cassius, she was Doncaster. Cassius might not have been Berwick or Questing, or any of the other de Wolfe land, but he was an integral part of the de Wolfe Pack. Their lives and loves were intertwined for eternity.
Their mark was all over the lands they loved and protected.
As Dacia slept peacefully in his arms, Cassius glanced down at her, catching sight of the gold chain around her neck. He smiled at the sight, knowing exactly why his grandmother had given it to them. It was a symbol of something that no man and no king could break, something forged by the gods that would keep them together until the end of time.
Like the circular chain, Dacia was his beginning and his end.
Somewhere outside the window, he thought he heard a wolf howl. With the full moon, it wasn’t surprising, but Cassius took it as a sign. As Jordan had said, the great Wolfe of the Border was still with them. Perhaps not in a form they expected, but he was there just the same. He was present in Cassius, and his father and brothers, and the rest of the de Wolfe males. And he would be present in the eleven children the Duke and Duchess of Doncaster would eventually have.
The House of de Wolfe-de Ryes would continue on into legend and for Cassius de Wolfe, he would make his own mark in life.
And so would his wife.
Through witch’s marks, mercenaries, wounds, wicked cousins, and accidental poisonings, they had survived and would continue to survive until the end of all things. And in the end, their legend would become one.
Just like the chain, for Cassius and Dacia, there was no beginning and no end.
Theirs was a love story for the ages.
* THE END *
Children of Cassius and Dacia, Duke and Duchess of Doncaster
Erik (courtesy of Cassius’ grandfather, Magnus)
Dacian
Vincent
Bennet
Jason
Maxima
Luciana
Stellan
Amalia
Reese
Michael
Afterword
I hope you loved Cassius and Dacia’s tale as much as I loved telling it. Quite a roller coaster, wasn’t it? Just a quick mention…
So… what was the “poison” that Dacia was accidentally given? Something that was quite available in Medieval times – powdered foxglove, essentially. The forerunner to digitalis, which is used for cardiac ailments. Too much of it causes drowsiness, unconsciousness, even seizures and possible death. Fortunately, Dacia didn’t receive a fatal dose, but she received enough to knock her out for a few days. Her exhaustion, coupled with very little food and sleep, made her highly susceptible to Emmeric’s powdered foxglove. We never met Emmeric, but the man had quite a stash of medicines and poisons.
There were actually a lot of plants in Medieval times that contained curative or restorative or even deadly properties, including willow bark (salicylic acid – or aspirin), the opium poppy (morphine, among others), and belladonna to name a few. They had quite a bit available to them, so it makes for interesting reading.
Check out more reading about the pharmacy garden here:
www.discoveriesinmedicine.com/Com-En/Digitalis.html
As a final note of this book, I wanted to make a point of mentioning the chain that Jordan gave Cassius and Dacia. If you’ve read The Wolfe, the book that spawned all the others, there is a scene where William de Wolfe gives Jordan a golden chain with a ring on it. Because their marriage was secret (at the time) she couldn’t wear the ring openly, so he gave her the ring on a chain so she could wear it next to her heart. It was a particularly meaningful and powerful moment in the book, so the fact that Jordan parted with that chain really did mean a lot to her – and to Cassius. It’s kind of like passing the torch from one generation to the next. I think Cassius is one of the more sentimental and emotional heroes I’ve ever written about and, as I said, he’s quickly become one of my favorites.
I hope he has become one of yours.
And the de Wolfe Pack lives on…
The parents, children, and grandchildren of de Wolfe
(Note: Don’t be intimidated by these family trees – refer to them if you need clarification on a relationship)
William (deceased 1296 A.D.) and Jordan Scott de Wolfe
Total children: 10
Total grandchildren: 75 (including 4 deceased, 7 adopted, 3 step-grandchildren)
Scott (Troy’s twin) – (Wife #1 Lady Athena de Norville, has issue. Wife #2, Lady Avrielle Huntley du Rennic, has issue)
With Athena
• William (married Lily de Lohr, has issue.)
• Thomas “Tor”
• Andrew (deceased)
• Beatrice (deceased)
With Avrielle
• Sophia (with Nathaniel du Rennic)
• Stephen (with Nathaniel du Rennic)
• Sorcha (with Nathaniel du Rennic)
• Jeremy
• Nathaniel
• Alexander
• Seraphina
• Jordan
Troy (Scott’s twin) – (Wife #1 Lady Helene de Norville, has issue. Wife #2 Lady Rhoswyn Kerr, has issue)
With Helene
• Andreas
• Acacia (deceased)
• Arista (deceased)
With Rhoswyn
• Gareth
• Corey
• Reed
• Tavin
• Tristan
• Elsbeth
• Madeleine
Patrick – (Married to Lady Brighton de Favereux, has issue)
• Markus
• Cassius
• Magnus
• Titus
• Thora
• Kristiana
James – (Wife #1 Lady Rose Hage, has issue. Wife #2, Asmara ap Cader, has issue)
With Rose
• Ronan
• Isabella
With Asmara (as Blayth)
• Maddoc
• Bowen
• Caius
• Garreth (known as Garr)
Katheryn (James’ twin) – (Married to Sir Alec Hage, has issue)
• Edward
• Axel
• Christoph
• Kieran
• Christian
Evelyn – (Married to Sir Hector de Norville, has issue)
• Atreus
• Hermes
• Lisbet
• Adele
• Aline
• Lesander (goes by Zander)
Baby de Wolfe – (Died same day. Christened Madeleine)
Edward – (Married to Lady Cassiopeia de Norville, has issue)
• Helene
• Phoebe
• Hestia
• Asteria
• Leonidas
• Dorian
• Dayne
• Stephan
• Pallas
Thomas – (Married Lady Maitland “Mae” de Ryes Bowlin, has issue)
• Artus (adopted)
• Nora (adopted)
• Phin (adopted)
• Marybelle (adopted)
• Renard & Roland (adopted)
• Dyana (adopted)
• Alexander
• Cabot
• Matthew
• Wade
• Tacey
• Morgan
Penelope – (Married to Bhrodi de Shera, Earl of Coventry, hereditary King of Anglesey)
• William
• Perri
• Bowen
• Dai
• Catrin
• Morgana
• Maddock
• Anthea
• Talan
Holdings and Titles of the House of de Wolfe and close allies as of 1300 A.D.
Scott de Wolfe – Earl of Warenton (Heir: William “Will” de Wolfe, Lord Killham)
Troy de Wolfe – Lord Braemoor (Heir: And
reas de Wolfe)
Patrick de Wolfe – Earl of Berwick (Heir: Markus de Wolfe, Lord Ravensdowne. Second son, Cassius de Wolfe, married the heiress to the Dukedom of Doncaster)
Blayth (James) de Wolfe – Baron Sydenham (Heir: Ronan de Wolfe)
Edward de Wolfe – Baron Kentmere (Heir: Leonidas de Wolfe)
Thomas de Wolfe – Earl of Northumbria (Heir: Alexander de Wolfe, Lord Easington)
Wark Castle (Wolfe’s Eye):
Larger outpost for the Earl of Warenton. Literally sits on the border between England and Scotland.
• Titus de Wolfe (son of Patrick de Wolfe), commander
• Ronan de Wolfe (son of Blayth/James de Wolfe)
Berwick Castle (Wolfe’s Teeth):
Massive border castle, strategically important, de Wolfe holding and seat of the Earl of Berwick, Patrick de Wolfe
• Alec Hage, commander
• Edward “Eddie” Hage, commander
• Hermes de Norville, second
Castle Questing (Wolfe’s Heart):
Massive fortress, seat of the Earl of Warenton, Scott de Wolfe.
• Apollo de Norville, second
• Nathaniel Hage
• Owen le Mon
Rule Water Castle (Wolfe’s Lair):
The largest outpost in the de Wolfe empire, known as The Lair. Seat of William “Will” de Wolfe, Viscount Kilham, heir apparent to the Earldom of Warenton.
• Magnus de Wolfe, second
• Adonis de Norville, second
• Perri de Shera, son of the Earl of Coventry and Penelope de Wolfe de Shera (squire)
Monteviot Tower (Wolfe’s Shield):
Smaller outpost in Scotland, strategic. Holding of Troy de Wolfe.
• Andreas de Wolfe, commander
Kale Water Castle (Wolfe’s Den):
Larger outpost on the England side of the border, strategic.
• Troy de Wolfe, Lord Braemoor, commander
• Troy also commands Sibbald’s Hold, former home of Red Keith Kerr (his wife’s father). A minor property commanded by son Garreth de Wolfe.
Kyloe Castle (Wolfe’s Howl):
Seat of the Earl of Northumbria, Thomas de Wolfe
• Christoph Hage, second
Roxburgh Castle (Wolfe’s Claw – unofficially)*
Large royal-held castle near Kelso, formerly manned by knights from Northwood, but awarded to the House of de Wolfe by royal decree for meritorious service to the crown. Volatile location, often attacked by Scots, and is manned by both royal and de Wolfe troops.
WolfeSword: de Wolfe Pack Generations Page 31