This is the woman I am to marry?
He had to force himself not to look at her as they headed into the great hall of Seven Crosses, but he kept rolling the memory of her over and over in his mind – she was fair, with long, blonde hair and skin like cream. Her eyes were big and bright, a pale shade of green with a dark ring around the irises. He noticed that kind of thing about other people’s eyes, and he noticed it about hers. With her pert nose and perfect lips, he was starting to feel like a fool.
An undeserving fool.
But he kept his composure as he took her into the great hall. He knew that Maude, Arlo’s wife, had arranged for refreshments, so the moment he entered with the petite lady on his arm, the servants began to scatter. People were filtering into the great hall and, very quickly, pitchers of wine and cups were brought forth.
Tenner took Annalyla to a table near the hearth and barked at a servant to stoke the fire, as the day was rather cool. As he helped her to sit, politely removing her heavy woolen cloak with the fur lining, Ivor planted himself right next to her and started a conversation.
“Tell us of your delightful trip from Northumberland,” he said. “Were you on the road a long time?”
Annalyla glanced over at Graham, who was sitting down at the table next to her, along with Mother Angel. She didn’t want to give the wrong answer to anything, and was looking to Graham and Mother Angel for support, but they were too far away to hear what was being said. Annalyla answered, hoping she wouldn’t make a fool of herself.
“This is our seventeenth day, my lord,” she said. “We were very fortunate to have good weather most of the time, except in the north. It rained steadily until we reached Sheffield. After that, our days were mostly clear.”
Ivor nodded, handing the lady the cup of wine that a servant placed before him. “Drink,” he said. “You must be quite weary after all of the travel you have endured. Do you have any interesting stories to tell? Anything that happened to you as you journeyed south?”
Annalyla sipped at the tart wine. “Nothing of note, my lord,” she said. “We did not suffer any danger, thankfully.”
Ivor had hoped for some good stories, anything to watch the lovely lady as she spoke, but she didn’t seem too talkative. That disappointed him. As a widower, he didn’t spend much time in the company of women, and he’d hoped for a lively conversation with Tenner’s exquisite new bride.
“I see,” he said, trying not to sound too disheartened. “Well, you have arrived safely and that is all that matters. Tell me, what do you think of your future husband? You should count yourself fortunate, my lady. Tenner de Velt could have any woman he wanted, but you are the one who has managed to capture the prize.”
Annalyla was a little taken aback by the somewhat bold statement. She turned to look at Tenner, who was sitting on her right, and she smiled timidly.
“I do consider myself very fortunate, my lord,” she said, for Tenner’s ears more than the earl’s. “The House of de Velt has a great name in the north. My father is particularly fond of your father, whom he considers a good friend. Odd how we have never met until now, considering we did not live very far from one another.”
Tenner was looking at her, wishing the earl would shut his stupid mouth and go away. This was his bride and he wanted to speak with her, alone if he could. But Ivor was acting like a brilliant treasure had just dropped into their midst and he wanted to soak up all of it. Perhaps Tenner was just the slightest bit jealous, in truth, but now that the lady was speaking to him, he took charge.
“Roseden Castle is several miles to the south of Pelinom Castle, where I was born,” he said, interjecting himself into the conversation whether or not Ivor liked it. “You have no other siblings, do you?”
Annalyla shook her head, happy that she was talking to Tenner and not the annoying earl. “I am an only child,” she said. “But you have several siblings. I know your sister, Melisandra. When I was young, I remember attending parties at Castle Questing, the House of de Wolfe, and your mother would bring your sisters. Melly and I are nearly the same age. She was a lovely friend when I was young, but I’ve not seen her in years.”
Tenner smiled faintly. “I remember those parties at Questing,” he said. “I was much too old and important to attend them.”
Annalyla giggled. “I do not see why,” she said. “I can remember seeing a few young men there. Who else are the women to dance with?”
Tenner’s smile grew. “Each other,” he said. “Not me.”
“Never?”
She was eyeing him rather impishly and he broke down into soft laughter. “I have never been one for dancing and parties, but I suppose if my wife wishes it, I should learn.”
Annalyla beamed, and charm and warmth filled the air. “I should not force you to do anything you do not wish to do,” she said. “If you hate dancing, I hate dancing.”
“You are a sweet liar, my lady.”
“Here, here,” Ivor was incensed at being left out of the conversation. “If the lady wishes to dance, I shall dance with her. Is that your wish, my lady?”
The smile vanished unnaturally fast from Annalyla’s face as she turned to the earl. Tenner saw it. He was at the end of his patience with Ivor competing for her attention and he found himself turning away, looking for Arlo or Maude. As Annalyla struggled to convince the earl that she was far too weary to dance and, most especially, without any music, Tenner located Arlo standing near the hall entry.
It didn’t take much from Tenner to silently convey his displeasure at Ivor’s meddling. Arlo understood in an instant. A faint nod of the head in Ivor’s direction, and a flick of the hand that gestured towards the entry to the hall, and Arlo was already formulating a plan. So was Lady Maude, who had just joined him from the kitchens to see how the reception was going.
Pretty, pale Maude with the dark red hair and a neck like a swan. She saw Tenner’s unhappy gestures and she leaned in to her husband, whispering, as Arlo nodded to whatever she was saying. Soon enough, both of them were moving for the table. But before they reached it, the faint sounds of screaming filled the air.
Everyone froze.
More screaming, sounding as if someone was dying. But the inhabitants of Seven Crosses only paused a brief moment; hardly breaking a stride, they continued on with their business as if the screams meant nothing. But to Annalyla, it was a worrisome sound.
“What was that?” she asked fearfully. “Is something happening?”
Movements resumed as Tenner shook his head. “Nay,” he muttered. “Nothing is happening.”
As Tenner tried to be discreet about it, Ivor wasn’t so tactful. “If you remain at Seven Crosses any length of time, you will hear those sounds from time to time,” he said. “Do not be alarmed.”
Annalyla turned to him with wide, perhaps fearful eyes. “What is it?”
Ivor saw that he had control of the conversation again. “I have a daughter who is not of her right mind,” he said. “She is confined to her chambers in the keep, but she does not like to remain there. You will hear her screaming from time to time.”
Annalyla thought that sounded rather terrible. “I see,” she said, pity in her voice. “I am so sorry. Is there anything that can be done?”
Ivor couldn’t see that the lady was only being polite. He thought there was a private offer somewhere in those words, as if she had an interest in him personally. He was an earl, after all, and she was not yet married to Tenner. As he opened his mouth with a reply that perhaps would have upset the bridegroom greatly, Arlo was suddenly at the table.
“Tenner,” he said evenly. “I have need of you. In private, if you will.”
Tenner turned to Arlo, wondering what the man was up to, when Maude appeared on the other side of him, where Annalyla was. She smiled kindly at the young woman.
“My lady,” she said. “I am Lady de Correa. I am sure you are quite weary from your journey. May I take you to a room where you can rest? Please come with me.”
Everyone was moving; Tenner was on his feet, helping Annalyla to stand, while Ivor sat there, greatly distressed that the lovely angel was leaving him. He stood up, too, but Arlo waved him off, assuring him that he was not needed.
Very quickly, Tenner and Annalyla were escorted from the hall, with Mother Angel leaping up from her table and rushing to catch up. There was no way she was going to allow Annalyla to go anywhere without her. It was all quite chaotic as the group of them quit the hall to the chorus of more screams coming from the keep. Knowing what it was, Annalyla tried to ignore it.
“I would like to rest,” she admitted to Maude, who had her by one arm as Tenner held the other. She looked over her shoulder to Mother Angel, scurrying behind her. “Mother Angel, can you make sure that my bags are taken to my chamber? I should like to change my clothing.”
Mother Angel didn’t want to leave her young charge alone, but she begrudgingly did as she was told. She came to a halt, watching a strange woman and the de Velt knight escort Annalyla towards the box-shaped keep before turning in the direction of the gatehouse where the St. Lo escort was still gathered, including the carriage.
But Annalyla wasn’t paying attention to Mother Angel. She was far more interested in the keep, in her surroundings and, most of all, in Tenner. He was walking beside her, strong and proud, as tall as a tree. The knight who had summoned him was also walking beside him and made no move to take him away, to speak with him in private as he had indicated. It all seemed rather odd to Annalyla, but she didn’t comment on it. She was simply glad they were free of the overly-attentive earl.
“Mother Angel,” Tenner said, breaking into her train of thought. “Has she always been with you?”
Annalyla nodded. “My entire life.”
Annalyla had no way of knowing that Tenner was thinking of Baiadepaura Castle and the prospect of having yet another female in residence at that awful place. Now that he’d seen Annalyla, he was more than willing to take her with him. Given the display he’d just seen with the earl, he had no intention of leaving her behind. But to take the nurse? He wasn’t happy in the least, but he didn’t want to upset Annalyla if she was particularly attached to the woman. He proceeded carefully.
“Is she part of your escort?” he asked. “Or is she to take residence in our household?”
Annalyla was quiet for a moment. “May I confide in you, my lord?”
“Please do.”
She sighed. “Bringing Mother Angel into our household would be like bringing my mother,” she said. “Most brides do not bring their mothers with them into a marriage, do they? She insisted on coming with me and now I am not sure how to be rid of her.”
Before Tenner could answer, Maude replied. “That is a simple thing,” she said, her brown eyes twinkling as she looked at Tenner. “Your new husband can send her away and there is naught she can do about it. If you ask Tenner, mayhap he will do this for you.”
Annalyla smiled hesitantly, turning to Tenner, but he spoke before she could plead with him. “If you wish for me to send her away, I will do it,” he said. “I agree with you. A marriage does not need a bride, a groom, and a mother. It would make the marriage far too crowded.”
Annalyla felt a great deal of relief. Already, she was coming to like her betrothed. Not only was he handsome, but he seemed kind and reasonable. And she liked the way he looked at her, with a smile on his lips, as if there were already some consideration for her. There was warmth in his gaze like nothing she could have possibly imagined, not from a man who had been forced into this marriage just as she had been.
“I have never been away from Mother Angel,” she said. “I have seen twenty-two years and, still, she will not leave me. If you could send her away, I think it would be much better for our marriage. I fear that she would only interfere, as she has always had complete charge of me. It will be difficult to see that duty go to another.”
Tenner nodded as the wind caught his hair, blowing it away from the right side of his face. “Then say no more,” he said. “Consider it done.”
Annalyla caught sight of his right eye as the hair was whipped around by the wind. She saw the streak of bright green through it but, more than that, she had a good look at his entire face. The man was too beautiful for words.
“You have eyes like your sister,” she said as they reached the entry to the keep. When the four of them paused, she lifted her hand to her right eye. “Melly has green in her eye like you do. I always thought it was so beautiful. I often wished I had such a thing.”
Her comment caught Tenner off-guard and he snapped his head forward, purely out of habit, so the hair would fall forward and cover the right side of his face. It was an unsolicited and unexpected comment, spoken in a tone of genuine sincerity, and he had no idea what to say. He found that he was both embarrassed and flattered, but he was also wary. No one had ever said that to him before and, for a moment, he was actually speechless.
“I…” he began, caught himself, and then started again. “Maude will take you to rest. I must go and wait for the priest, and we shall be married as soon as he arrives.”
The focus shifted away from his eye color as a ripple of surprise crossed Annalyla’s features. “We are to be married today?”
Tenner nodded. “I will be taking a new post, a garrison for Lord Tiverton, and we must leave immediately. But we cannot leave without a wedding, so it shall take place today.”
Annalyla was surprised at the rapidity of events, but she didn’t say so. She simply nodded, already the obedient bride. Tenner flashed a stiff smile at her and turned on his heel, with Arlo beside him. Together, the men headed off towards the gatehouse, leaving Annalyla and Maude watching them go.
Maude was watching her husband for a moment, but turned to Annalyla to see that she was riveted to Tenner as the man headed off. Smiling, she reached out to take Annalyla by the elbow.
“He is rather handsome, my lady,” she said softly. “Having never seen him before, I suppose you were not expecting such a thing.”
Annalyla tore her eyes away from Tenner, flushing when she realized she’d been caught staring at him.
“I did not know what to expect,” she admitted. “He seems very nice.”
Maude grinned, pulling her into the entry. “He is,” she said. “He will make a fine husband.”
Annalyla sighed heavily. “I hope I make an equally fine wife.”
Maude began to pull her up the stairs of the darkened keep. “I have a feeling you will do just fine.”
Annalyla looked at her. “Do you really think so?”
Maude nodded. “You have a pleasing manner about you,” she said. “Come along, now. You will rest before your wedding and while you do, I shall go to the kitchens and bring back some of the food you were denied when the earl tried to steal your attention away.”
Annalyla was rather hungry. “The earl… is he always like that?”
Maude’s smile faded. “Unfortunately,” she said, but she refrained from saying anymore. “Come, now, no more talk of him. Let’s find you some warm water and a bed.”
Warm water and a bed. Both sounded lovely. But Annalyla’s thoughts were still lingering on the enormous knight with the long, dark hair.
The man she was soon to marry.
CHAPTER FIVE
The screaming woke her up out of a dead sleep.
Howling was more like it. It took Annalyla a moment to orient herself, in a strange chamber and a strange bed, but she quickly realized where she was and why. She was at Seven Crosses Castle preparing to marry Tenner de Velt.
But something was wrong.
The first thing she realized was the rain pounding outside her window. It was spilling in, splashing on the floor. There were oil cloths on the windows, but they weren’t doing a very good job at keeping out the driving rain. It had been clear weather when they’d arrived but, now, there was a tempest outside and foul weather was lashing the land as the skies went dark.
Leaping out of bed, Anna
lyla raced to the windows, securing the oil cloths as the wind whipped them around. Rain was splattering on the floor, on her, as she grabbed at them and secured them to the iron rods that ran perpendicular to the bottom of the window. She tied off first one, and then the other, shaking the water from her hands when she was finished.
It was quite a storm raging and she yawned, trying to wake up from her rest. She honestly had no idea how long she’d been asleep but assumed someone would have awoken her in time for her wedding. Tenner had said it would be as soon as the priest arrived, so perhaps the man had been delayed by the weather. In any case, she moved to the hearth, stoking it and bringing forth more of a bright blaze. There was a bank of fat tapers on the hearth and she lit them to bring some light into the chamber.
A gentle glow filled the room. Truthfully, it wasn’t much of a chamber, and rather small, with only a bed in the middle of it. Her bags had been lined up neatly along the wall near the door, placed there by servants directed by Mother Angel. The old woman had promptly been removed from the room by Maude, who had taken a rather firm stance with Mother Angel when she wanted to stay.
Annalyla didn’t know where Mother Angel was and, truthfully, she didn’t care. She tried not to feel guilty over it. It was one of the rare occasions in her life that she was actually alone and the freedom was glorious. She found herself hoping Tenner really would send Mother Angel away, just as he’d promised, because Annalyla didn’t need her any longer. She was a woman grown, about to embark on her new married life, and the last thing she wanted was a frustrated old shrew tagging along.
There was a small iron pot of water on an arm over the fire, heating up as the blaze licked at it. It was water Maude had put there; Annalyla had seen her do it. It was to wash with, so Annalyla rushed to her bags, those precious and expensive things her father had purchased with the last of their money, and began pulling them open, looking for the dress her father had made for her on the event of her wedding.
It was pale blue silk, with embroidery by Mother Angel on the long, belled sleeves, and a silver girdle for her waist. She came across it, carefully rolled up in canvas where Mother Angel had put it, and she unrolled it and shook it out, smiling as she laid it upon the bed. The wedding had been something she’d been dreading but with the event of handsome Tenner, she found that she was actually looking forward to it.
Bay of Fear (Battle Lords of de Velt Book 3) Page 5
