Jeremy hadn’t meant to sound like he was still bleeding rebellion but, upon reflection, he supposed that was what he’d sounded like. Now, Scott was trying to mend the rift between them and the words encouraged him, as difficult for him as that was to admit. He also felt a great deal of relief to know that Scott had somehow broken any betrothal between his sister and the Scottish lord.
“How did you deter Edward from wedding my sister to the Scottish lord?” he asked, curious.
Scott waved him off. “A subject for another time,” he said, not wanting to veer off the situation at hand because Jeremy had asked a question with many answers. The time to speak of his intentions towards Avrielle would come at another time. “I would like to know I have your support in this, for I believe I have a plan to rid us of Sadgill once and for all.”
“You cannot get rid of the man once and for all.”
“Are you unwilling to try?”
“I did not say that.”
“If Nathaniel was standing here at this moment, would you refuse to help him protect Canaan against Sadgill?”
That brought Jeremy to a different perspective. He would fight to the death for Nathaniel and they all knew it. Therefore, there was only one answer he could give.
“I would not refuse him.”
“Will you refuse me?”
Jeremy’s gaze lingered on Scott a moment before looking around the room, seeing the faces of the de Wolfe knights, men he’d once considered allies but, as of late, they were a target for his grief and frustration. Then he looked to his father, seeing the anxiety and disappointment on the man’s face. He loved his father; he didn’t want to be a disappointment to him but he knew, deep down, that was what he’d always been.
Perhaps it was the fact that Jeremy had been a man with potential that he’d never fulfilled because of his dependency on wine. A penniless drunk, his sister had once called him. Or perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he had never wanted to marry. He simply wasn’t attracted to women. His tastes ran to strong young knights who were willing to explore their attraction to men. His father knew it, and perhaps his sister knew it, but they’d never made mention of it. It wasn’t something openly discussed, not even with family.
Perhaps all of the aggression and drunkenness that comprised Jeremy’s personality was to cover for that secret, something that was kept painfully buried. He was terrified his men would find out someday and there would be vicious whispers about him. He knew his men would see him through different eyes if they knew the truth. Did his father see him through different eyes? Probably not. Gordon wasn’t a bigot, so any suspicions of the man’s disappointment towards his son were for different reasons. All truths of his sexuality aside, Gordon was disappointed in a son who had never made anything out of himself. Jeremy knew he’d always been a disappointment to his father for a variety of reasons, but never more so than he was at that moment.
Jeremy could see it in his eyes.
He didn’t want to be a disappointment to him any longer, not now when he was needed. Canaan needed him more than it ever had.
I thought you were a better man than that, Scott had once said.
Perhaps it was time for Jeremy to show him that man.
“I will not refuse you,” he finally said. “But I would still like to know Adam’s side of the story.”
“If you listen to what I have in mind, I will prove Adam’s side. You will see for yourself.”
Jeremy had to go on trust at this point. “Very well,” he said. “What is your plan?”
One could almost hear a collective sigh of relief go up among the men. Jeremy had been resistant, but that had been expected. Still, he had the intelligence to realize that he needed to work with de Wolfe this time. Their very lives depended on it. It was a big leap of faith on Jeremy’s part, to believe that one of his men had turned against them based on Stanley’s testimony. But because Scott was so confident, Jeremy forced himself to trust the man.
And Scott knew it. Therefore, he didn’t take Jeremy’s trust lightly. “My plan is a test,” he said. “A test for de Ferrar.”
Jeremy was interested. “What manner of test?”
Scott was thoughtful for a moment. “In truth, it occurred to me when I discovered the plot,” he said. “As I was coming to tell you of it, I was looking at the fortress and thinking of your sister and her children, and the brutalities they would face if an enemy were to invade the castle. There is an old story about the Greeks invading the great city of Troy and throwing babies from the walls. And that had me thinking on the story of the Greeks and their ploy to gain access to Troy. When I was a squire, I had an uncle who was very fond of Greek tragedies and he told me the story of the Trojan Horse. Have you heard it?”
Jeremy looked at him rather blankly but Gordon nodded. “I have, my lord,” he said. “The Greeks could not breach the walls of Troy so they built a horse made of wood and hid inside of it. When the Trojans brought it inside their city walls as a trophy, the Greeks burst forth and were able to take the city.”
Scott nodded. “Exactly,” he said. “It is the element of surprise that will win in a battle such as this. Sadgill does not know that we know of his plans… and we shall use that to our advantage.”
“How?”
Scott moved closer to Jeremy, crouching down so his voice wouldn’t carry so. He didn’t want anyone outside of the chamber to hear him.
“We feed Adam false information to take back to Sadgill,” he said quietly. “We will make plans to leave Canaan, but we will not really leave. We will explain that an ally has called for help – let us say that it is St. Hèver at Pendragon – and I am taking all of the army with me. We will tell Adam he will be left in command. I am willing to wager that Adam will run to Sadgill with that information. What better opportunity to invade a fortress than with her army gone? Sadgill would be a fool not to capitalize on it. He will bring his army and we will be hiding inside of Canaan, waiting for him. Canaan herself will be our Trojan Horse. We can destroy Sadgill’s threat once and for all, and it will set an example to the other Cumbrian lords that Canaan is not to be trifled with.”
It was, in truth, a brilliant plan. Stewart and Milo were even smiling. “Magnificent, my lord,” Stewart said with approval. “We will trap Sadgill and his men inside the walls of Canaan and destroy him.”
“That is the hope.”
“But how would we hide so many men?” Jeremy asked. “I agree that it is a sound plan. If Adam takes the bait and goes to Sadgill with it, then I suppose my doubts in his part in all of this are for naught. But there are almost two thousand men here at Canaan and we already have enough difficulty housing them all much less hiding them.”
“We do not hide the entire army inside of Canaan,” Gordon said; he utterly understood Scott’s scheme. “We send half outside to hide in the area surrounding Canaan, staying out of sight when Sadgill arrives. As soon as Sadgill and his men enter the fortress, they come out of hiding and prevent him from escaping. Sadgill will be boxed in with nowhere to go.”
Scott nodded firmly. “That is precisely what I was thinking,” he said. “We shall have men both inside and outside the fortress lying in wait for Sadgill.”
It was a sound plan, one they could be sure of. “If I may interject,” Milo said. “I believe it is an excellent plan, no doubt, but in order to fully execute it, we will have to tell both de Wolfe and du Rennic men about it. How do we keep de Ferrar from hearing the truth of our plan? This whole scheme depends upon him believing we are vacating Canaan and reporting back to Sadgill.”
“Leave that to me,” Jeremy said. “I shall tell him that the army is vacating Canaan to assist Pendragon and he will believe me.”
Scott lifted a blonde eyebrow. “Can you be convincing enough?”
Jeremy’s lips twisted ironically, as much as they were able given the bandage on his face. “He already knows I am displeased with your presence here. I believe I can make a very good case for being b
oth glad you are leaving and displeased you are taking my army with you.”
Scott grinned. “Excellent,” he said. “Make sure he understands we are removing the army at sunrise.”
“Leave it to me. If he really is the traitor you say he is, he will be running for Sadgill as soon as I tell him.”
“Even at this late hour?”
“If I tell him the army is departing at sunrise, he will have to make the trek at night to Sadgill. He will not have a choice if they wish to capitalize on our absence.”
There was hope in that statement. This whole plan hinged on how well Jeremy could convince Adam that the army was pulling out. “What of your other knights,” Scott wanted to know. “Kristoph and George? Do you believe they might know of Adam’s activities? Stanley did not seem to think so, but you know them better. What say you?”
Jeremy shook his head. “George would be closer to Adam than Kristoph would be, but George is so rigidly honorable that if he knew anything of this betrayal, he would have told me. I am confident that they don’t know of Adam’s plans and I am further confident that they are trustworthy in his matter. We will need their help to organize the men, so they must be told.”
It was Scott’s turn to place a little trust in Jeremy now. He didn’t know the young knights very well and would, therefore, have to depend on Jeremy’s knowledge of them. Looking around the group, he could see that his knights had nearly the same thoughts but didn’t voice their opinions. They would have to trust Jeremy when it came to the younger du Rennic knights as well. What mattered now was that they unite in the face of this threat, and that seemed to be happening.
As Scott pondered the impending battle, Jeremy was also considering what was to come. He looked to his father, who seemed more than willing to get on with it. In fact, the more Jeremy looked at his father, the more he felt some rage at a Cumbrian lord who would put all of them in danger. Those bastards usually kept to themselves when Nathaniel was alive, but now they seemed to believe the men of Canaan would be easily overcome. Jeremy decided at that moment that he wasn’t going to make anything easy for them; this was his home even if it didn’t belong to him. It was the only place he’d ever felt that he’d belonged and he wasn’t about to lose it to a greedy baron.
Much like Scott, he was going to fight back.
It was time to forget the petty quarrels and unite.
“Then it shall be done,” Jeremy said, struggling to sit up as both Scott and Gordon reached out to help him. Jeremy may have been injured, but it didn’t dampen his determination. “Papa, find Adam and tell him that I have a need to speak with him. You and de Wolfe can make your plans with the men however you wish, but send Adam to me. And watch for him if he flees. When he flees.”
Scott could hear the determination in the man. This was the Jeremy Huntley he knew, a man with a strong command presence and loyalty to his fellow men. The man he’d seen the past two weeks had been someone he hadn’t recognized. There was such relief in that knowledge but there was also a good deal of confidence in it. Now, he had Jeremy’s support, not his hatred. It was one less thing he had to worry about.
Now, he could do what needed to be done.
“Let us commence,” Scott said quietly. “I will handle the de Wolfe knights. Gordon, you will tell Kristoph and George of the situation. Then we shall speak to the soldiers in groups, spreading the word and telling them what is to happen. Do not mention Adam, however. I would strongly advise against it. Let it only be that there is a traitor among us and they are not to speak of it. I fear if we tell them who it is, the soldiers might try to demonstrate their anger against him. Once everyone is informed, we will decide who goes out of the fortress to hide and who remains inside. Stu, you and Milo will start pulling together senior soldiers from our army and inform them of what is happening. We will need their help to organize the men. Gordon, I suggest you do the same. I will find you in an hour or two to discuss your progress.”
There was a strong sense of purpose in the air as the men had their orders. Now, it was time to move. If Lord Sadgill believed he would catch them off guard, they would prove the man wrong.
Dead wrong.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Avrielle knew she was going to have trouble with Stephen this night.
He wanted to sleep with the puppy. It wriggled and peed and licked happily. After eating with their grandfather, both Sophia and Stephen returned to their chambers excited to see the puppy. Since they shared a bed, the dog was between them, under the covers, when Avrielle came in to make sure they were in bed. Originally, the dog had been on the floor near the hearth but, evidently, that wasn’t good enough.
He had to be on the bed.
So began the battle to keep Wolfe the puppy out of the bed. Avrielle had reasoned with her children and she had threatened. Nothing worked. Then, she’d simply taken the dog out of the bed over the protests of the children only for both of them to burst into tears. Frustrated, she knew they were excited about the dog and it was the animal’s first night with its new master. It was a dirty, annoying pup, but the children loved it so Avrielle began to rethink her stance. She wasn’t heartless. But the caveat to keep the puppy with them was that the children had to go to bed right away. This prompted both Stephen and his sister to quickly quiet down with the dog between them.
It was a victory of the sweetest kind.
The last Avrielle saw, Sophia was already asleep and Stephen nearly asleep as he petted the puppy. In fact, the puppy had been the only one to really obey her when she ordered everyone in the bed to go to sleep. The dog had settled down and promptly passed out. Avrielle stood at the door a moment, watching her children sleep, before quietly closing the door. With a smile on her lips at the joy her children were exhibiting after months of grief, she headed into her bedchamber.
The infant was being watched over by the old nurse and Avrielle sent the woman off to bed. A glance at the baby showed that she was sleeping peacefully so Avrielle would take the opportunity to sleep herself, knowing that the child would awaken in the next hour wanting to be fed. As a warm and bright fire snapped and crackled in the hearth, Avrielle went about preparing for bed.
The shift and cote came off, carefully hung on a peg inside the big wardrobe on one wall of the chamber. A sleeping shift was pulled forth from the same wardrobe and she pulled it over her head as she moved to the table that contained her personal toiletries – combs, horsehair brush, oils, and other items. Lighting a fat taper on the table, the soft glow filled the room as she sat down on a stool next to the table and uncoiled her hair from the heavy braid at the nape of her neck. As she began to brush her hair, her thoughts wandered to the events of the day.
So much had happened that it seemed as if it had been two or three days combined. The trip to the plant vendor, Scott declaring his intentions towards her, the puppy… all of it blurred together into perhaps one of the most monumental days of her life. There was so much about Scott de Wolfe that had her attention – her giddy attention – and she simply couldn’t think about the man and not smile. She supposed she should feel some guilt in that because Nathaniel had only been gone these few short months, but she didn’t feel guilty that her attention was with another man because she knew it was a man that Nathaniel would have approved of.
Nathaniel had told her on the last day she’d ever seen him alive of Scott’s tragic past and of his inner demons. But in that information, he also spoke of a man he had a good deal of respect for. It wasn’t empty praise because Nathaniel had been genuine in everything he said, so Avrielle knew that Nathaniel had meant it. To her, it was a seal of approval for Scott de Wolfe and, wherever he was, she was sure Nathaniel was glad that she was finding happiness.
Happiness with a man she’d once called stupid.
A soft knock at the door roused her from her thoughts and she stood up, the brush in her hand as she padded across the cold, wood floor.
“Who comes?” she called.
“’Tis
Scott,” came the answer. “I must speak with you.”
Quickly, Avrielle opened the door, coming face to face with a man who made her heart soar as if it had wings. Her features bloomed with joy at the sight of him.
“Come in,” she said eagerly, stepping back to admit him entry. “And how is my brother this night? He has not taken a turn for the worse, has he?”
He looked at her curiously. “Why do you ask?”
She closed the door quietly. “Because you left the hall so quickly I thought that something was wrong.”
Scott realized what she’d meant. He’d nearly bolted from the hall when he saw that Stanley and Stewart had made an appearance.
“Ah,” he said in understanding. “Nay, nothing is wrong, at least not with Jeremy. His condition has not worsened. But we must talk. Something has come up that I must make you aware of.”
He seemed somewhat solemn and she indicated one of the chairs next to the hearth. “Of course,” she said. “Please sit.”
Scott did but, as he moved, he found it increasingly difficult to focus on the reason for his visit. Avrielle was in a shift, her hair long and unbound, and the mere sight was enough to cause his heart to flutter wildly. Everything about the woman made his heart beat wildly so it was a struggle to stay on task. He hadn’t even gone about any of the duties he’d discussed with his men in the darkness of Jeremy’s guard chamber; he’d simply come straight to Avrielle because he had to tell her what was happening. More than that, he desperately wanted to see her. He sat down as she pulled up a stool next to him.
For a moment, Scott simply sat and looked at her expectant face. God, she was a beautiful creature. Reaching out, he stroked her silken cheek.
“I am sorry to disturb you so late, but it is important,” he said. “But forgive me if I just take a moment to look at you. Your beauty by firelight is something poets could not adequately capture in a thousand years of writing.”
The Original de Wolfe Pack Complete Set: Including Sons of de Wolfe Page 203
