“Yes, safe is the opportune way to make a marriage happy,” Nora grumbled, and slid off the horse.
Ricardo glanced at her with a half grin. “What are you doing?”
“Well, I can’t very well meet him looking like a half drowned rat, can I?” she asked, pulling her dress out of the saddlebag. It was wrinkled, but it was clean and it would have to do for her first impression of her future husband. Looking around, she saw a clump of bushes, and turned on her heel.
Alexander rolled his eyes, his head pounding, in need of a drink. “Nora,” he barked. “You can do this at the castle.”
“I cannot,” she replied, continuing to walk toward the bushes. The three men sat on their horses a bit awkwardly, glancing at each other now and again until Ricardo spoke up with a waggle of his eyebrows.
“I’ve never known a lady to get a dress on by herself. Especially one of noble birth.”
Alexander’s mood was foul and Ricardo hadn’t even moved before his sword was across his friend’s chest. “If you think for one moment that you are headed back there to undress her, you have another thing coming. We tried this, Ricardo, and you know as well as I do that it won't work.”
“Alexander,” Ricardo tipped his head with his usually cocky smile. “Noble ladies always need help. And who better to help them than me? I think I have the most experience.”
“No.” Holding his gaze, Alexander swung off his horse slowly, delaying the precious sip of liquor that called his name from the castle. “Don’t move.”
“Really?” Ricardo asked, legitimately disappointed, but Alexander didn’t answer him.
Peter, beside Ricardo, grinned. “Ever try to court a woman whose guardian doesn’t like you?”
“And he’s my best friend,” Ricardo said and shook his head. “I must be losing my touch.”
In the bushes, Alexander paused just outside the thicket. “Nora,” he said after a moment. “Do you need help?”
“Yes,” came her defeated voice. “Is it just you?”
“Who else would it be?” he asked, plunging through the bushes.
She had managed to change her skirt and get on her chemise, but it still needed to be laced up the back. Alexander wasn’t really thinking about anything when he came through the bush, but the full view of Nora’s back came into view and jolted him back to reality. Her back was covered in thick scarring from the fire, and it trailed down from her neck. It was horrifying, frightening and sobering all at once. He didn’t say a word, reaching to close the laces, but she heard his little intake of breath and it was enough.
“That’s why I was hoping it was just you.”
“I don’t know whether it’s a relief that Ricardo doesn’t know this or a puzzle,” Alexander replied. “What are you two doing when you sneak off then?”
“Talking,” Nora whipped her head around to look at him. “He’s brilliant, his mind, his ideas, everything. He is like no one I’ve ever met.”
“You’re just talking?” Alexander raised an eyebrow.
“And...” Nora blushed. “What does it matter? We’re at the castle now.”
“Nora...” He struggled with the words, trying to think of the best way to say it. “If...this were a different life, a different world, if you didn’t have noble blood... Ricardo is a good man. He would not be bothered by what you think is shame. Scars show that we survived.”
“Balderdash,” she replied with a huff. “He would care, Alexander, just as any man would.”
“No,” Alexander finished and turned her around to look him right in the eye. Despite the fact that her face had aged, her eyes still shone with the same childlike light. “Any man who cares about that and cannot see you for who you are is not worth your breath. I’m not saying your husband will be a love match, Nora, but perhaps he will respect you.”
She wrapped her arms around him, completely disregarding the knowledge that he didn’t like to be touched. Laying her head on his chest, she sighed.
Not knowing what to do, he laid a hand on top of her head, waiting for her emotions to pass. He was silent, but his mind was traveling elsewhere.
I wish Mary was here.
He hadn’t had a thought like that for nearly six years now. He was transported back to a time when Nora was merely a child and she had questions about everything. Her parents were hardly around, so he and Mary had become default parents. When she asked about the latest fashions or how to sit like a lady, he would blush and look around for Mary to give advice.
He hadn’t wished for Mary during the past five years, except for the darkest and most terrible sense. He knew that his marriage was toxic, that they could never be together again, and he was angry at her. Somehow though, Nora brought out things in him that used to be dead. He wished Mary was here now to tell her she was beautiful, to hold her head high and show her what a noble lady could achieve. He wished for Mary’s quiet voice, her confidence, her smile, hand in hand with Nora.
He wished to turn back time, but none of that would ever be possible again.
Instead, he let go of her after a moment, holding out his arm with the only ghost of a smile he could imagine. “Come, Marchioness, the baron awaits.”
“Do you see,” she hissed and took his arm, leaving her dirty dress on the forest ground. “How wrong that sounds, when you say it like that? Baroness Nora, it sounds like an abomination.”
“It sounds just fine, so long as he takes care of you,” Alexander replied, practically dragging her back to the horse. This was enough emotion and sentimentality to last him for another year, at least.
They rode up to the gates, which were kept closed, a fact that Alexander liked. It meant that security was the baron’s top priority.
“Who goes there?” called a voice from above, and he glanced toward Ricardo, not in the mood for yelling at guards.
“The King’s Guards, escorting the Marchioness du Andres,” Ricardo replied in a naturally loud voice. There was a bit of a shuffle up top and then the gate slowly swung open. The gates were grand, and the castle was grand for a baron, Nora had to admit.
Alexander spurred his horse forward and they rode into the courtyard, where they were greeted by the baron’s guards. “May I introduce,” he said, trying to muster as much nobility as possible. “The Marchioness Nora, here to meet your master.”
“Our master,” one of the guards said. “Is unwell these past few days. However, he has passed a message that he will meet the marchioness at dinner tonight.”
“In that case,” Ricardo hopped off his horse with no tact and a wide grin on his face. “Perhaps you can show us somewhere we can freshen up? It’s been an awfully long ride and we’re exhausted.”
“The barracks….” One of the guards pointed, and the others fell into formation around Nora.
Alexander was having none of it. “No,” he said. “We are under strict orders from the king. We are to escort the marchioness at all times.”
Nora looked up, confused, and glanced at Ricardo, who gave her the tiniest nod. “Yes,” she managed in heavily accented English. “My guards…with me please.”
The Baron’s Guards glanced at each other. This was highly unprecedented, but these were the King’s Guards, so they didn’t fight it. In the end, one of them showed Nora through the castle to her rooms and then took his post outside.
“Peter, stay here,” Alexander said, and Peter immediately took a post beside the Baron’s Guard. Peter was always on the hunt for new friends and adventure, and he was much better at being the brute force outside the door than the fine tuning needed inside of it.
The rooms weren’t quite as grand as the outside of the castle. They were sparse to Nora’s standards, but not unwelcoming. The first thing she spotted was a decanter of amber liquid left for her by the bedside table. She didn’t say a word, but instead swept her arm toward it, indicating that Alexander should help himself while they made sure the rest of the room was secure.
To his credit, he resisted just long eno
ugh to make sure the room was safe and that there were no secret passages coming into the room or easy access from the window. Almost immediately, he found a doorway that led from Nora’s grand bedchamber to a smaller room.
“Ricardo,” Alexander drew his sword, although he looked ready to fall over. Ricardo dropped the curtain he was looking at and was at his side in an instant. The smaller room had a doorway as well, which they pushed open. “The entire side of the castle is connected. No doubt for the servants to have easy access to the rooms.”
“Easy access to the nobles as well,” Ricardo winced, glancing at Nora and switching to French. “Not the safest, milady.”
Nora glanced at the room and the doors, unsure as she looked back to the main exit to her room. After a moment, she spoke. “Can you stay here?” she asked, looking between the two of them.
Alexander raised an eyebrow. “We are guards, Nora, we stay in the barracks.”
“If you stay here,” she said, pointing to the tiny antechamber. “Then no one slips into my room without passing you. And someone outside will make it safer still, yes?”
Ricardo had a grin on his face as he faced Alexander. “The lady is right.”
“You should prepare for meeting your prospective husband,” Alexander’s meaning was not lost. “We’ll consider it.”
“It would be a good deal more comfortable than foreign barracks,” she said, looking at the space for a few moments longer. “For God’s sake, Alexander, go have a drink before you spill your stomach on our feet.”
He gave her a glare, but wasn’t about to refuse the offer at this point. Turning on his heel, he headed for the decanter at her bedside. It left Nora alone with Ricardo in the sunlight of the little room between the grand chambers.
“I don’t want to meet a baron,” she said plainly, and he smiled, reaching out to touch her chin.
“You will have to,” he said. “Don’t tell Alexander, but already, I don’t like the way this palace is laid out. If we feel for whatever reason that you would not be safe in marrying this man, we will advise you. It’s our duty to the king to keep you safe, from both internal and external threats. ”
She met his eyes, golden in the sunlight. “A duty to just the king?” she asked and he placed a light kiss on her lips.
“Perhaps a little more than just the king,” he muttered into her soft mouth. He knew he couldn’t have her forever, but he could still have her for a few days more.
2
CHAPTER TWO
There were maids provided by the baron in order to help Nora bathe, and they even offered to get the wrinkles out of her dress. Making sure that the door to the small room was barred off, the three guards took up their post outside, explaining the inner situation to Peter, who shrugged.
“Should make changing shifts much easier then,” he said. “What’s the timeline on this? If the marchioness is agreeable to marrying the baron, how long do we stay?”
“Until the wedding,” Alexander replied, remembering the orders. “The day she is handed over the baron, she is under his protection and we are to return. Noble weddings can happen fast, so it might not be more than a week or two.” He had significantly more color in his cheeks now that he’d had a drink or two, just enough to calm his symptoms. Ricardo knew that if he got out of shift duty tonight, he would be on a bender to make up for the previous few days.
“Oh, good, I like weddings,” Peter grinned at the simple pleasure of the situation, lightening the mood. “They are always so happy.”
A call down the hallway interrupted them, and they could hear the footsteps of several men approaching. Alexander recognized them immediately as guards, and in the center was a very old man hobbling down the hall. He stood a bit straighter, glancing at Ricardo. “Who goes there?” he asked, holding his chin high. Now that his head wasn’t pounding every step of the way, it wasn’t so hard.
“This is the Baron Vanters,” one of the guards said, annoyed. “You’d deny him access to his own castle?”
“Uh…” Alexander exchanged shocked glances with his friends, even as he bowed. This was the baron? A man so old that he wouldn’t even last another few weeks? And ill, as was made apparent by his cough. He hadn’t expected this. Surely the king knew the baron’s age when he sent Nora here. Age could make no difference in a noble marriage, but there was no point in marrying her if her husband would be dead before they got back to the commander. “Forgive me, my lord. We are the King’s Guards, sent to protect the marchioness. Who is currently…bathing.” There were a few aspects of not being a noble that he enjoyed; such as using correct language and not struggling for the least offensive term every moment.
“I would like to meet my future wife,” Vanters croaked, as if he didn’t hear Alexander at all. Which, given his advanced age, Alexander wasn’t sure that he did.
“She is unavailable at the moment, My Lord,” he repeated. “But I can send her to you when she is ready?”
The baron seemed to think this was acceptable and nodded, turning around to scuttle back to wherever it was he’d come from. Only when he was gone and the hallway was clear again did the trio dare to speak.
“Oh my,” Peter said. “Milady isn’t going to like this.”
“Don’t be so hasty, “Alexander tried to remain professional. “Age is not a factor when it comes to these kinds of matches, and the baron could live many years yet.”
“We need to scout the grounds better if we are going to have any idea what this man is really about,” Ricardo said. “Not…doubting the king’s word or anything, though.” He was eager to move about the castle and see what he could uncover. Usually, he was the explorer, the intellect with boundless energy, who could put clues together that the others missed. He had only taken two steps when he heard Alexander’s gruff voice behind him.
“I’ll come with you,” he said, falling into step behind his friend and leaving Peter at the door.
Ah, Ricardo thought, seeing the next cycle of Alexander’s familiar pattern re-emerge. And so it begins. Sure enough, it was like someone had thrown a switch. The elusive Alexander of the past few days was replaced with another man, one who suddenly was afraid of being alone. Ricardo never dared say anything to him for fear that he would crush the already shattered soul that lay inside. He even made a point of not moving a muscle when they paused to check on their horses in the stables, and Alexander stood practically in the same square foot.
A sweep of the grounds, random talking to the people around the castle, and a walk through the grand hall turned up a great deal more than they would have thought. They saw the same ten guards over and over, making them wonder if the baron was not as well fortified as they’d imagined. The stables were actually sparse, and the servants seemed sparser still. It didn’t take them long to figure out that the baron was not what he’d presented himself to the king. There were signs all over the castle of money troubles, and Alexander was starting to get a sinking feeling in his stomach.
“It does my soul no good to think of leaving her here,” he said to Ricardo once they felt they had taken in as much of the castle as they could without looking suspicious. “This castle is crumbling, and the baron is as likely to marry her as die in his sleep tomorrow.”
“You don’t think she’d be safe with him, though?” Ricardo asked, as they headed back to Nora’s chambers.
“I think that he would have no intention of harming her, or taking her lands from her,” Alexander replied. “But he also doesn’t have the means to protect her from external threats. You saw on the road how hunted Nora is, how many people want her dead. There are some that say the Marchioness du Andres has more money and power than the king himself. I just….here is not the place for her. She will be miserable. But nobles, Ricardo…we are not led by the heart.” He didn’t speak of the time that he once was, and how it ended in disaster for him.
Ricardo chose his words carefully. “Which is it, then?” he asked cautiously. “That she will not be safe? Or that
she will be unhappy? Because I thought nobles didn’t have to care about happiness.”
“They don’t,” Alexander replied, still gazing around. “But how can I go against the king, if that is what he wants for her? Noble ladies are controlled by the king; they are unlucky, unlike noble men…”
“Ah,” Ricardo’s eye had a sudden glint. “So if the Baron did not want to marry Nora…”
“Why would he not want to marry her?”
“Well, I think we should leave that up to the baron, don’t you think?” Ricardo replied, although he was grinning. “Someone should ask Milady what she wants in all of this.”
Alexander snorted, shaking his head and glancing at the ground between them. “If she had her choice, she’d choose to be by my side always, to make up for a childhood that got ripped away. Then, if that got old, which it might, there’s your charming smile to take her into adulthood. Which, by the way, I’m surprised hasn’t happened yet. And reasonably thrilled about it.”
Ricardo cocked an eyebrow, refusing to discuss his love interest any more than he already had. Instead, he waved his hand back at the castle. “Shall we, then?” he said, and Alexander nodded, following him back. His partner was mostly silent throughout the walk, and Ricardo wondered exactly what plan he was concocting.
Back in her rooms, Nora looked a good sight better than she had on the road. Her hair washed and hanging down her back, her clothes ironed and even her nails scrubbed, she could pass for a beautiful princess. She even had a tiara woven into her hair, which was a gift from the baron. She looked every inch the enticing noble, her eyes peeking out from the curtain of hair that hid her scars underneath a high collar. Peter was standing at her window, and they both had smiles on their faces. The tension of the road seemed wiped away.
“What are you two giggling about?” Alexander asked, going to Nora’s bedside to pour another glass of liquor. He had the good sense to pause and look to her for approval in the matter, which she gave with a slight nod.
Revealing A Marchioness's Heart (The Chronicles of Loyalty) Page 15
