Nicholas’ eyebrows lifted. “Edenside is a foundling home that sells children?” he said, aghast. “If de Leia sent the child there, then mayhap they’ve sold my child.”
John held up a hand to his angry son. “They did it illegally and were punished, as I recall,” he said. “This was a few years ago, as I said. Damnation… I wish I had paid more attention to that conversation. But I am fairly certain that Edenside is part of Kelso Abbey.”
Nicholas was electrified by the news. “Then we have a location,” he hissed, smacking his hand on the post of his father’s bed in triumph. “God’s Bones, we have a location! We must leave immediately!”
“The snow is falling,” Giddy said. “It may be difficult to start such a journey tonight.”
“But you made it here from Falstone,” John said. “How did you find your way?”
She shrugged. “I was born here,” she said. “I know the land and the roads. The road that passes Falstone Castle intersects with a road that leads to Hell’s Guardhouse. I simply had to make sure to stay on the road. The clouds must not be thick because there was a glow to them, as if the moon was right behind them. You know what I mean, when they seem silver and the land is the color of steel. It is still dark, but one can see.”
“Even through the snow?”
“The snow was light enough when I left Falstone,” she said. “Now that you know where the child is, you may as well wait until morning. I am sure the child will still be there tomorrow.”
She had a point. No one was doing any traveling on this night, except for Giddy, and she had a reason. It probably hadn’t been wise of her but, to John, it was indicative of the fact that she finally had the information he wanted and she was anxious for her payoff.
But he wasn’t finished with her yet.
“You did well, Giddy,” he said. “I am pleased.”
Giddy flushed. “It was an honor, my lord.”
“What do you know of children?”
She shrugged. “I’ve had two myself,” she said. “They live with my mother in Carlisle.”
“Then you know how to tend them.”
“My mother knows better.”
John looked at his son. “Then we retrieve the child and send it with Giddy to Carlisle,” he said. “That would be the perfect solution so that we are not responsible for the child, but it is still within our control. She can bring it back to us when… when the time comes.”
Nicholas shrugged. “We do not need the child until the summer solstice,” he said. “Pay her well and send the child with her.”
Giddy was listening to the conversation, a volley going back and forth between father and son. “I do not wish to tend this child,” she told John. “I do not even tend my own.”
John shook his head. “You can take it to your mother’s house,” he said. “We will send coin along so your mother will be compensated. Surely she would take care of the child until we retrieve it in the summer.”
Giddy’s eyebrows lifted. “My mother would tend the devil himself for the right price,” she said. “I’ll take the child there. But I want what you promised me for spending those months in de Leia’s bed.”
John nodded. “Do not fret,” he said. “You shall have your due, I swear it. Nicholas, send word to the servants. They are to have our mounts prepared at dawn.”
Nicholas left the chamber without another word, leaving Giddy with John. She was watching the old man run his hands over his face wearily. Something he said had her curious.
“Why do you want the infant returned by the summer solstice, my lord?” she asked.
John’s hands came away from his face and he looked at her. “Do you want to be paid?”
“Of course, my lord.”
“The do not ask questions. If I wanted you to know, I would have told you.”
That shut her up swiftly. She liked living at Hell’s Guardhouse and doing what she did best, and she was quite happy to be away from Falstone and that lord who smelled of compost, so she didn’t want to stir up any trouble.
She backed away, towards the door.
“Is there anything else you require from me, my lord?”
John lay back down, pulling the covers up over him. “Not tonight,” he said. “But be prepared to ride with us on the morrow.”
“Me?” She stopped at the door. “Why should I ride with you to Edenside?”
John turned his head in her direction, glaring. “You do not think Nicholas or I will tend an infant, do you? You are coming along to do just that.”
She almost reminded him that she didn’t even tend her own children, again, but thought better of it. She didn’t think he would take it well.
She had seen what the man was capable of when he didn’t take things well.
At dawn the next morning, Giddy was ready for travel.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Falstone Castle
“My lord, we must have a word with you.”
Lukas and Andreas were standing in the open door of Merek’s bedchamber as the man stood over a basin against the wall, dry heaving because he was so hungover. It was dawn on a surprisingly clear winter’s morning, the storm from the previous evening having cleared out sometime during the night. After a couple of particularly nasty heaves, Merek turned his head to look at the pair.
“God, what?” he grumbled. “Now? Can it not wait?”
“Nay, my lord, it cannot,” Lukas said. “We have something of a mystery on our hands that is… concerning.”
Merek gave one final heave before wiping his mouth and turning for his clothes, thrown in a heap on a chair.
“What is concerning, Lukas?” he asked. “And why is de Wolfe here?”
“Because he was the one who brought it to my attention, my lord,” he said. He passed a glance at Andreas before continuing. “What do you remember of last night, my lord?”
Merek paused, tunic in hand. “Last night?” he repeated. “When?”
“In the feasting hall?”
Merek paused. “I was in the feasting hall?”
That answered Lukas’ question. It was as he’d told Andreas – the man hardly remembered anything after a drinking binge.
The knights entered the chamber and shut the door.
“My lord, your companion, Giddy, left late last night,” Lukas said quietly. “Andreas saw her ride from the stables. She has not returned.”
That brought some awareness from Merek. He looked around the chamber as if he hadn’t noticed she’d been gone. Puzzled, he looked at the knights.
“She left?” he asked.
“She did,” Lukas said. “Did you send her away?”
Merek frowned. “Of course not,” he said. “Why would I do that?”
“I do not know,” Lukas said. “When evaluating a situation, one must eliminate the possibilities one at a time. So, you did not order her away?”
“I did not.”
“Then she left of her own accord,” Lukas said, looking around the chamber. “Is anything missing? Did she steal something and run off?”
Merek didn’t say anything for a moment. He pulled the tunic over his head, clumsily, moving slowly and aimlessly around the chamber. He went to a table that contained a clutter of things, pulling forth a metal box and peering inside. Then, he closed the lid and wandered back over to the bed, sitting heavily.
All the while, Lukas and Andreas were watching him, waiting for an answer, but Merek didn’t seem too eager to provide them with one. In fact, after his initial flash of emotion at the disappearance of the woman who had been his constant companion for months, he didn’t seem to be showing any reaction at all. He was simply sitting on his bed, staring off into the dim chamber.
Lukas and Andreas exchanged curious glances.
“My lord?” Lukas finally said.
Merek turned in his direction but he didn’t look at him. “She did not steal anything,” he said. “And she did not run off. She simply returned to where she came from.”
&n
bsp; Lukas and Andreas looked at each other again, this time in puzzlement. “Did you know she was leaving?” Lukas asked.
Merek shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “But I knew she would at some point. She was not meant to stay.”
Lukas was becoming frustrated with the man’s answers. He moved around the bed so that he was standing in front of him.
“My lord, please tell us what you know,” he said. “There was a time when you used to confide everything in me, but that all stopped when that woman came around. You stopped speaking to me as if I had done something to displease you. I am yours to command, my lord, and we have had an excellent relationship for ten years. I am only trying to help you and you know that, so if there is something you know that you are not telling me, I wish you would simply come out with it.”
Merek looked up at him. After a moment, he smiled weakly. “Dear Lukas,” he said. “Always trying to do the right thing. Always willing to help me even if I cannot help myself.”
Lukas nodded. “Of course, my lord,” he said sincerely. “That is why I am here. I am your devoted knight. Will you not tell me what you know about everything?”
Merek grunted and looked away. “Everything,” he muttered as if disgusted with the very word. “There was nothing you could have done. I was as curious about her as she was about me. I knew her presence here was not a good one, but I let her stay. It is difficult to be so lonely.”
Lukas was quickly growing exasperated. “Who is she?”
Merek was still looking at the floor. “She’s really gone, is she?”
“She is.”
Merek scratched his nose. “I had been expecting it,” he said. “You want to know everything? I suppose I shall tell you. There is nothing you can do about it now, anyway. Giddy was not a gift from an ally, Lukas. She was sent by John de Soulis to spy on me.”
Lukas’ eyes widened and he looked at Andreas, who also appeared surprised. “What?” Lukas finally hissed. “How do you know this?”
Merek sighed heavily. “It is my belief that it goes back to something that happened several months ago,” he said. “You know Harman the Wise, of course. The physic from Deadwater. He came here months ago to tell me that he overheard John and Nicholas de Soulis speaking of getting their hands on the infant my daughter delivered in order to fulfill some sort of prophesy. They wanted the child and they wanted my daughter. They even wanted Harman to smuggle the child out of Falstone and give it over to them, but he refused. He came to me instead to tell me so that I could protect both my daughter and the child.”
By this time, Andreas was standing next to Lukas, his features dark with rage. “And what did you do?” he growled.
Merek looked up at the very big, very tense knight. “I did nothing,” he said. “My daughter was in London and the child was not here, so I did nothing. I sent Harman away and I’ve not seen him since. There was no reason to do anything, de Wolfe, and I fail to see why this concerns you so.”
Andreas hadn’t pictured this as the moment he would ask for Gavriella’s hand, but he was backed into a corner now and had little choice. He suspected Lukas already knew of his inclination towards Gavriella so he might as well get it all out in the open.
He wanted them to know he had a massive stake in this situation.
“Because I met your daughter when she was in London,” he said, trying not to sound threatening. “I met her, spent time with her, and I want to marry her. I know what happened with Nicholas de Soulis and because of my feelings for your daughter, your problem with the House of de Soulis has become my problem, as well. You have refused to punish them for what they did, but I promise that I am not as weak. I bring the de Wolfe power with me and when I am finished with them, they will be dust in the wind. My lord, this is not exactly how I envisioned asking you for your permission to wed your daughter, but I am asking you now. I swear that I will love her and protect her all my life.”
When he was finished, Merek was looking at him as if he’d just spoken in tongues, but Lukas was smiling. Reaching out, the knight put his hand on Andreas’ shoulder.
“I thought there might be something you had in mind simply from the way you were acting, but I could not be sure,” he said. “I cannot tell you how happy I am to hear this. I have known Gavy for half of her life and she is a sweet, compassionate lass. I could not hope for a finer husband for her.”
Andreas was trying to focus on Merek, but Lukas’ words had him fighting off a grin. “To be honest, I was not sure if you had designs on her,” he said. “You are quite protective of her.”
Lukas shook his head. “I am already married,” he said. “My dear wife, Amy, is sickly and lives in Carlisle with her parents so that they are able to tend her. They can do it much better than I can, considering the duties I have here at Falstone. Gavy is like a sister to me and nothing more, I swear it.”
Andreas let his grin break through, but only briefly. There was still the matter of Merek, who had yet to say a word. Both knights finally turned to him, expectantly.
But Merek only had eyes for Andreas.
“You… you want to marry Gavriella?” he finally said.
Andreas nodded. “If you will allow it, my lord.”
Merek blinked. In fact, he started blinking rapidly as if staving off tears. “My God,” he finally said. “Truly?”
“Truly.”
“I never thought this moment would come. I thought she would be my burden for the rest of my life.”
Andreas didn’t like the way the man spoke of his daughter. He’d never liked it. “She will be my burden,” he said. “And a joyous one at that. Do I have your permission, my lord?”
Merek was still having difficulty with the whole concept. “She is my only child, you know. My heiress to Falstone. ’Tis not much, but the House of de Leia is an honorable family.”
“I know. May I?”
When Merek realized this was no joke, and no whim, he nodded. “Aye,” he said. “By God… you may. Take her and welcome.”
That pleased Andreas immensely. He looked at Lukas to see that the man was still smiling at him. But now that he had permission, he had a few things to say to Merek that he didn’t want to say before he had the man’s agreement.
He wasn’t going to hold back.
“I will,” he said. “And if I ever hear you insult her again, in any fashion, you will not like my reaction. You have a strong, intelligent, and beautiful daughter who will be treated with the utmost respect. You refused to do anything to de Soulis when he touched what by all rights now belongs to me, but I am going to do something about it and you will give me the answers I need in order to accomplish this. Do you understand?”
Merek understood his words, but he wasn’t clear on why. “What can I tell you?”
“I am not sure,” Andreas said. “But I will ask questions until I am satisfied. Now, you said this physic, Harman, came to warn you that de Soulis wanted Gavriella and the infant?”
“Aye.”
“And you think that Giddy was sent by de Soulis?”
“I am certain of it.”
“How do you know?”
Merek cocked his head. “Because she would ply me with wine nightly and ask me about the infant,” he said. “Knowing what Harman told me, who else would want to know that?”
“But you said that you were warned they wanted Gavriella, too,” Andreas said. “She has been returned from London for several months and they’ve not come for her. Did Giddy ever try to lure her away?”
“Not that I am aware of.”
Things just weren’t adding up for Andreas. He looked at Lukas a moment before turning away, his mind churning through everything he’d been told.
“The old physic warned you that there was some kind of prophesy to fulfill,” he muttered. “I have no idea what that may be, but let us push that aside for the moment. De Soulis wanted the infant and Gavriella, but Gavriella has been at Falstone for months and they’ve not come for her. Instead, Giddy has be
en focused on asking about the infant.”
Lukas and Merek were watching him as he reasoned out the situation. “That is true,” Merek said. “That seemed to be of the most interest to her.”
Andreas paused by the window before turning to look at Merek. “What did you tell her?”
“Edenside.”
It was Lukas who answered, not Merek. Suddenly, Lukas’ eyes widened as he looked at Andreas. “He blurted it out last night at sup,” he said. “Don’t you remember? Lord de Leia said that he’d sent Gavriella to London and the infant to Edenside.”
That fact hit Andreas like a revelation. “And she disappeared after that,” he said. “My God… she fled from the hall and then I saw her leave the stables last night, in the midst of a snowstorm.”
“Because she is running back to Hell’s Guardhouse to tell John de Soulis,” Merek finished. “If she left last night, she is already there.”
Andreas had his answers and he didn’t like them. “Damnation,” he growled. “They’ve been looking for that infant all along and now they know where it is. If they want the infant that badly, my guess is that they will go and fetch it. And we have already given them an advanced start.”
He was moving for the door, as was Lukas. “How does it tie into that damned prophesy?” Lukas demanded. “What do they want it for?”
Andreas was already through the door. “I do not know, but knowing that bunch, it cannot be good,” he said. “You will have my horse saddled. I’ll find Gavriella and tell her what is going on.”
“Wait, please.”
They were almost through the door, but Merek’s soft plea forced them to pause.
“My lord?” Lukas said impatiently.
Merek just sat there for a moment before slowing pushing himself off the bed to face the two knights heading out to help him and his family. Even if he had lost the will to aid his family in any way, there were those willing to do it in spite of his apathy. He didn’t even know when the apathy began, only that it had. Perhaps it had started when he lost his wife, and then when his daughter was attacked… well, that seemed to suck everything out of him. Every dream, desire, goal, or sense of pride.
WolfeBlade: de Wolfe Pack Generations Page 30