He was spraying droplets of blood on the snow as he tried to shout. But Andreas ignored his distress.
“Why do you want the de Leia infant?” he asked again. “That is why you have come here, so you may as well tell me. What’s this about a prophesy?”
Nicholas stared at him a moment. “Prophesy?” he said. Then he tried to smile, but it was all garbled and twisted. “True Thomas said so.”
“Said what? Be plain.”
Nicholas tried to move, to sit up, but he was so badly beaten that his body would not permit it. He managed to lift his head and that was nearly all he could do.
“I will tell you, de Wolfe scum, so you will know that your days in the north are numbered,” he said. “I do not need the de Leia infant. I can have another. I can have many. But all I need is one.”
“For what?”
Nicholas started to laugh, or something that sounded like a laugh. “A child must be sacrificed,” he said hoarsely. “The blood must be spilled at the ring of the nine stones upon the summer solstice. I will bury the body to feed the stones, to nourish the demons of the stones, and they will give their power to the House of de Soulis. We shall rise against the wolf. We will kill you all!”
Andreas was looking at him as if he’d gone mad. “Sacrifice a child?” he said, trying not to let his horror show. “Is that what you wanted this baby for?”
Nicholas’ strength gave out and he fell back into the snow. “A baby of noble blood,” he said. “De Leia’s daughter fought me, but it was of no use. My seed took root, as I had hoped, and the child was born. But I can have more. I can have many more and one of them will fulfill the prophesy. De Wolfe will fall. The de Soulis family was the most powerful in the north until the rise of de Wolfe. You took that from us. You took our dignity, our lands. But we shall gain them back, mark my words.”
Andreas was having a difficult time comprehending what he was being told. “You intentionally impregnated de Leia’s daughter?”
Nicholas started laughing again, a weird sound because his mouth was so swollen. “It was a pleasure,” he muttered. “She is my cousin, after all.”
Andreas had heard enough. A wild store of fulfilling a prophesy by impregnating Gavriella and harvesting the child for evil purposes. It was the wildest thing he’d ever heard. But clearly, Nicholas believed it. He believed it enough to ruin a young woman’s life and attempt to regain the child of that ruinous act.
It was a horrific and vile tale.
One that Gavriella would never know. The woman had already suffered enough.
Although Andreas had lost his broadsword, he had an array of daggers on his body, including a large one on his left hip, next to his empty broadsword sheath. He unsheathed the dagger, its enormous and razor-sharp blade gleaming in the moonlight, and went over to Nicholas as the man lay in the snow looking up at him.
“And she is my love,” he said, his voice raspy. “This is for anguish you have caused her family.”
With that, he tossed the dagger into Nicholas’ left shoulder, where it plunged deep. As Nicholas let out a cry, Andreas unsheathed another dagger from its place along his right forearm.
“And this is for taking that which did not belong to you,” he said. “Her innocence.”
The second dagger flew into Nicholas’ groin. The man screamed as Andreas unsheathed a third dagger located in his left boot.
“This is for Corey,” he said.
Another dagger flew, this one into Nicholas’ left thigh. Nicholas moaned and wept as Andreas removed a fourth dagger from his right boot. This one was long and slender, the blade serrated on one side. It was meant to slit throats silently and efficiently, or any other body part worth slitting. Andreas moved up to stand over Nicholas, looking down at the man as he wept in pain.
The fourth dagger went flying, right into Nicholas’ neck, severing the windpipe.
He wasn’t dead yet, but Andreas knew it would only be a matter of seconds and he wanted to make sure Nicholas de Soulis knew why he’d been killed.
And who had killed him.
“And that is for Gavriella,” he muttered. “For the pain and agony you dealt her, I’m privileged to watch you suffer for it. My name is Andreas de Wolfe. I want you to know the name of the man who bested you, you vile bastard. The day you touched Gavriella de Leia is the day you signed your death warrant. I hope you rot in hell.”
Nicholas’ eyes were wide and panicked as he slowly suffocated to death. Andreas crouched down beside him, watching the life go out of the man and feeling a hollow sense of satisfaction. Certainly, he felt avenged. He felt as if Gavriella were avenged. But he found himself wishing Nicholas’ death had lasted longer.
Loup tueur.
The killer wolf had struck again.
“Dray?”
He knew that voice. In his determination to make Nicholas pay, he hadn’t even been aware of his surroundings. Standing up, he turned to face his father.
Troy was in full battle regalia, sword in-hand, looking at his son most urgently. But one look at his father and Andreas dissolved into tears.
“Papa,” he said tightly. “Corey fell. He tried to save my life and he was struck down.”
Surprisingly, Troy waved him off. “He took a gash to his chest and fainted,” he said, coming to stand next to his son as his attention moved to the body at his feet. “He’s perfectly fine, although I’m not sure he’ll live down fainting in battle. Your brothers are already teasing him mercilessly about it. But you… what in the hell happened?”
Learning Corey wasn’t mortally wounded did Andreas in. He sobbed as his father put his arm around him to comfort him.
“God,” Andreas wept, wiping his eyes. “I thought he was dead.”
“He’s not dead,” Troy assured him softly. He’d never seen Andreas weep, not ever, which was indicative of the emotional situation at hand. “Dray, what happened? Please tell me. Gareth could not tell us much, only that you were in trouble, so I took half my army and rode here like a madman. Thank God it was not too terribly far. We came as quickly as we could.”
Andreas took a deep breath, struggling to regain his composure. Corey was well, Gavriella was well, and that was all that mattered. He kept telling himself that.
Everything was going to be all right.
He gestured to the body on the ground.
“That,” he said wearily, “is Nicholas de Soulis. To understand this situation, I must start from the beginning. It is a complicated tale, but I will try and simplify it. When I was in London, I met a woman. She was special, Papa, and I knew… I knew she was the woman for me. I do not think you ever thought you would hear me say such a thing.”
Troy grinned. “Never,” he said. “Will told me that you had met a woman, but he did not know more than that. He said that she disappeared, however, and that was why you were so moody when you returned to the north. I saw that moodiness in every battle we fought.”
Andreas nodded. “I know,” he said. “I was… hurt. Disappointed. Angry. That emotion found an outlet against the Scots. But I have discovered that she left London to return home – to Falstone Castle.”
Troy’s eyebrows lifted when he realized what his son was saying. “You found her?”
Andreas smiled weakly. “I found her,” he said. Then, he looked to Nicholas’ form in the snow. “But this bastard violated her. She became pregnant as a result. As it turns out, he did it intentionally so he could harvest the child and use it to fulfill some strange prophesy given to him by True Thomas. Have you heard of him?”
Troy was listening seriously. “A Scotsman,” he said. “A soothsayer, I think. I’ve heard the name, but I have never met him.”
“He was enough of a soothsayer that Nicholas de Soulis listened to him,” Andreas said with disgust. “He was supposed to sacrifice a child of de Soulis blood at the nine stones near Hell’s Guardhouse and it would give him the power to defeat the House of de Wolfe.”
Troy looked at him in shock. “Thi
s was about us?”
Andreas nodded wearily. “Aye,” he said. “Ultimately, it was all about us. De Soulis hated the House of de Wolfe and wanted to see us fall. I will tell you more about it later, but right now, I must see to…”
He happened to look up, towards the walls of the foundling home, and caught sight of a bundled-up figure standing several feet away.
He recognized the clothing.
A lump came to his throat.
“’Tis all right, sweetling,” he said, holding out a hand to her. “Everything is as it should be. There is no longer any threat from de Soulis.”
Gavriella hadn’t been standing there very long. She’d been watching the battle from the top of the tower house and she had seen, clearly, when it had ended. There was no longer any fighting, so she left her son in the care of Sister Fiona and ventured out to find Andreas.
To make sure he had survived.
It was the strongest pull she’d ever known.
But her concerns were for naught. He was standing and whole. She could see a bloodied body in the snow and an older man with Andreas. She came towards him, trying not to slip in the snow, but the closer she came, the more she realized that Andreas was beaten and bloodied himself.
“Andreas!” she gasped. “You’re bloody!”
He grinned. “Not much,” he said, taking her by the hand and pulling her to him. “Gavy, I want you to meet someone. This is my father, Troy de Wolfe. Papa… this is Gavriella de Leia and I have her father’s permission to marry her.”
Troy found himself looking at a delicate blonde beauty. She was exquisite. Reaching out, he took her hand and kissed it warmly.
“My lady,” he said. “It is the greatest honor to meet you.”
Gavriella found herself looking into the face of a man who looked a good deal like Andreas through the eyes and nose.
“It is a privilege, my lord,” she said. “But I am very sorry to cause so much trouble. I am so sorry that this was surely an inconvenience for you.”
She had a silky voice, sweet like honey. “It was no inconvenience,” he said. “I am simply relieved that everyone is sound and whole.”
“As am I,” Gavriella said, looking to Andreas, who seemed awfully beat up to her in spite of his assurance that he wasn’t. “Is… is it finally over?”
Andreas nodded, turning slightly so she could see the body in the snow. “The remains of Nicholas de Soulis,” he said quietly. “He paid for his deeds every way I could make him.”
Gavriella glanced at the body before quickly looking away. “God’s Bones,” she breathed. “He’s dead. He’s truly dead.”
There was relief and astonishment in her voice, as if she could hardly believe it. Andreas put his arm around her and turned her in the direction of the foundling home.
“He is,” Andreas said. “I want you go to inside while I clean up this mess. You do not need to be part of it.”
She wouldn’t let him push her away. “Nay,” she said, turning to face him. “You did this for me. I would be a terrible woman, indeed, if I let you face this all alone. You must at least let me help clean up the mess I caused you to make.”
Andreas loved that about her. She was a selfless woman in too many regards to count. He smiled, pulling her into his powerful embrace. For a moment, he just looked down at her, those lovely eyes, that little nose that twitched whenever she found something funny, and those lips that were so incredibly delicious. He forgot about his father standing there who, in fact, had turned away to remove the daggers from de Soulis when he saw his son in an amorous embrace.
All Andreas could see was Gavriella.
“You did not cause me to make any mess,” he said softly. “But know that I would make a million more, and gladly so, if only to keep you safe and happy. From this day forward, you are a de Wolfe, Gavy. You belong to me and I belong to you. As I told you, de Wolfes mate for love and we mate for life. There will never be anyone but you, from now until the end of all things.”
Gavriella wrapped her arms around his neck, gently kissing his cheeks, finally his mouth. “I was thinking something,” she murmured.
“What were you thinking?”
“That I always thought attending Gomorrah was the worst day of my life. As it turns out, it was the best.”
He grinned. “Mine, too,” he said. “Thank God you were hysterical that night or we might have never met.”
She kissed him again. “You were my champion that night,” she said softly. “You will always be my champion, on that night or any other. I do not remember when I started loving you, Andreas. It seems as if I have always loved you. I cannot remember when I have not. You once said that you saw a sunrise in me, a new day, and you did not want to see the sun set. I think that sunrise dawned the moment I went crashing into that chamber and you found me there. That will always be the beginning of my world with you in it.”
Andreas kissed her, then, deeply and emotionally. Around them were the remnants of a battle, but neither one of them noticed. In their minds, it was just the two of them in the entire world.
“I have been waiting all of my life to hear that,” he murmured against her lips as he hugged her tightly. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For loving me as I love you.”
Gavriella put both of her hands on his face, gazing into his eyes.
“Always,” she whispered.
Later that month, when Andreas had the goldsmith in Berwick make a wedding ring for Gavriella, that was the word he had inscribed on the inside.
Always.
And he meant it.
EPILOGUE
Kale Water Castle
Two months later
“There once was a lady fair,
With silver bells in her hair.
I knew her to have,
A luscious kiss… it drove me mad!
But she denied me… and I was so terribly sad.
Lily, my girl,
Your flower, I will unfurl
With my cock and a bit of good luck!
Your kiss divine,
I’ll make you mine,
And keep you a-bed for a fuck!”
The great hall of Kale Water Castle erupted with cheers and shouts of approval as Blayth, standing on a feasting table with a lute in his hand, took a deep and exaggerated bow.
It was a tradition, after all.
The naughty wedding song.
He sang it at every wedding to the cheers of his brothers and the scolding of his mother, only she wasn’t here at the moment, which took some of the fun out of it.
Oh, well. He’d just have to sing it for her later.
“Excellent, Uncle Blayth,” Andreas said, meeting him as he climbed off the table. “A de Wolfe wedding wouldn’t be a wedding at all without that song. But don’t look now – Aunt Evelyn and Aunt Katheryn aren’t happy. They might take a switch after you in Matha’s stead.”
Blayth spied his sisters, Katheryn and Evelyn, seated with other women on the dais, including the bride, Gavriella. Lukas, Brodie, and Brodie’s wife, Sophia, were also at the table because Sophia and Gavriella had become fast friends, being close in age. In fact, Sophia and Gavriella were in animated conversation, as were Brodie and Lukas, but there was one member of that group who wasn’t part of the conversations going on. She was sitting alone. Blayth’s gaze settled on his Aunt Jemma.
And she did not look happy.
The mere sight made Blayth recoil.
“I would not worry about my sisters,” he said. “But Aunt Jemma is glaring at me and that cannot end well. I must find my wife so that she may defend me from Aunt Jemma.”
Andreas was feeling his alcohol. The finest alcohol in all of England and France, provided by Troy and Merek. There was more drink at this wedding than he’d ever seen in his life, at any one event.
He laughed at his uncle’s statement.
“Asmara will probably help her beat you, so I would not look for reinforcements there,” he
said. Then, he pointed to a group of men several feet away. “There is an entire line of de Wolfe men. Mayhap they can help you stave off the women bent on murder.”
He pulled Blayth over to a group of men in conversation. It was rare when the entire de Wolfe family got together, but the wedding of Andreas to Gavriella de Leia was a grand event, indeed.
Scott and Troy and Blayth were joined by brothers Patrick, Edward, and Thomas. They were also joined by Merek, who was so drunk that he could barely stand, along with Hector de Norville, and Andreas’ grandfather, Paris. Theodis was also there, having come all the way from Pelinom Castle for the wedding. He had been in conversation with Will and Tor until he saw Andreas approach.
“My beautiful lad,” he said happily, hanging on Andreas. “So this is where your lady from Gomorrah ended up? As your wife? I must say that I am astonished.”
Andreas had to snort at his inebriated, happy friend. The wedding wouldn’t have been the same without him.
“Aye, it is astonishing.”
“But it is wonderful!”
“Aye, quite wonderful.”
“Dray, my friend,” Theodis said, forcing Andreas to look at him. “I’ve got even more excellent news.”
“What is that?
Theodis thumped him on the chest. “I’ve not had the opportunity to tell you that my father has finally agreed to allow me to serve with you,” he said “Can you imagine? We will be invincible at your new post. We will dominate the borders. De Wolfe and de Velt, side by side!”
That was good news, indeed, the result of seeds planted with Atlas de Velt almost two months ago when Andreas assumed a new post. Andreas had been waiting for such news and he hugged his friend.
“We will, indeed,” he said, noticing that Paris was heading in his direction. “But let us speak of it on the morrow, Tay. Do not leave here without seeing me, please. Swear this to me?”
Theodis kissed him loudly on the cheek. “Of course I will,” he said. “I love you, my friend.”
“I love you, too.”
As Theodis staggered off because his cup was empty, Paris took his place at Andreas’ side. He put his arms around his grandson, hugging him tightly.
WolfeBlade: de Wolfe Pack Generations Page 33