He hesitated a moment. Then curious, he trailed a finger over tiny lips. His eyes flew wide when the bairn latched on to his little finger and sucked as if his life depended on it.
"Lucifer's hairy ar..." he spluttered in anger. "He is near starving! Where is his mother?" He held tight to the child and jiggled him up and down, all the time letting him suckle his finger.
"She was to give the children their stone slinging practice, but Giles did not find her in the usual places."
"Edulf!" His bellow startled Aubrey, who started to wail again. "Shh, shh, shh," Raik held the child close to his heart and gave him his finger again as Edulf ran into the room.
Raik's face stiffened, his lips thinned and drew back over his teeth in a snarl.
"Find Lady Letia. If she doesna heed ye, drag her here by her hair!"
CHAPTER 25
Raik harnessed his anger to keep from shouting. He forced his breathing to a steady rhythm as he paced the room, comforting Aubrey. Maud wrung her hands, following behind him as though fearing he would disappear with the bairn. With each small hitch in Aubrey's breath, Raik's anger heated until his eyes felt like they shot hot sparks.
He heard clamoring on the stairway before Freki burst through the doorway and skidded to a halt. His unsettling yellow eyes narrowed up at him, watching him as his angry strides covered the room. The beast must have judged Raik meant no harm to the baby, for he finally rumbled in his chest, then stretched out on the floor to continue watching, his head on his big, outstretched paws.
Even her dog arrived before she did! Raik kicked a corner post at the foot of the bed. 'Twas no wonder Letia's face paled when she burst into the room.
He stared in disbelief. She wore much the same squire's clothing as she had when she'd shown her contempt of him atop the barbican.
His anger exploded.
"Dinna tell me ye have ignored my orders, even afore a full day has passed!"
"What orders?"
Raik cast her a baleful look. How could she not remember his words when he had discovered her in her warrior's garb yestermorn?
Letia reached to take Aubrey from his arms, seeming too intent on grabbing at her son to even think on what he had said. Raik took a step away. On hearing his mother's voice, Aubrey released Raik's finger and sent up a lusty howl. Freki lifted his head, stared at them then sighed and lowered it again.
"Ye canna nurse yer son through that dirty tunic. Though from the looks of it, ye have already drained yer breasts near dry."
Raik hoisted Aubrey to his shoulder and gently patted him, trying to soothe the bairn. He stepped backward and glared at the wet circles on her clothing. Softness beneath his right heel and a muffled gasp told him he'd stepped on Maud's toes. He eased his foot forward.
"Do ye not understand the spoken word, Lady? Or do ye defy me?" He glared at Letia. "Maud, help yer mistress bare her breasts, else I will."
Freki stood. His head swung back and forth, his body tense.
"Sit, Freki!" Raik glared down at the dog, which flopped back down.
"You do not need to shout," Letia mumbled as she grabbed the tunic's hem and bent, allowing Maud to pull it off her. She untied the ribbon holding the shirt together before she held her arms out for Aubrey.
Reluctantly, Raik gave her the squirming child. "Ye are so intent on yer manly pursuits that ye have no womanly skills." Reluctantly, the thought of her beneath him last eve came to his mind. She did have one feminine skill at which she was very good.
Bed sport.
"I am not pursuing a man's duties." She settled Aubrey to her breast and draped a cloth over him, denying Raik the sight of the child nursing.
"I suppose ye wear boy's clothing to visit the weavers? No? Mayhap the chandler or the baker?" Awaiting an answer, he tried to fix his gaze on hers, but her eyes shifted away. His lips curled with disgust.
"Nay," she mumbled. "The children have not practiced for the past sennight. If they do not, they lose skill."
"Ye neglect yer son because their skills at slinging rocks are more important?" His hands fisted on his hips.
"Any warrior knows good archers and slingers are made by starting their training at the age of five. By the time they reach ten and six, they are experts at hitting their target," she said as if instructing him. Without a hitch, she added, "Your shouting will sour the milk, my lord."
"Ye have not heeded one thing that I have said since I appeared at the gates, Lady." Raik ground his teeth and paced back and forth, trying to curb his angry frustration. "I ordered that ye were to stay within yer chambers. Ye did not."
"We have already settled that my chambers included the solar," Letia snapped back.
"But not the practice area! I also said ye were no longer to dress as a man and be an archer but were to assume the duties of a lady. Humpf! I dinna think ye have the skills to be a mother."
"You know nothing about being a mother!"
"I know something about growing up without one!" He turned his back to her and paced the room. Maud scurried out of his way. "'Tis not right yer son must keen so when hungered. He should have the comfort of his mother's arms." He stopped to glare down at her. "Instead, he sought ease from my finger."
She kept her head down. Was she shutting him out? Ignoring him? His arms flew up in frustration, his sleeves flapping.
"Ye will not be allowed on any practice field. And if ye can't follow my orders, I will confine ye to the bedchamber and solar." Hearing her snort, his resolve hardened. His voice turned soft, silky. "I can always have a tower cleared and make quarters for ye there. A guard posted at yer door will see ye remain within."
Freki bounded to his feet, his head swinging toward the doorway, and placed himself between them and it. His hackles bristled, his head lowered as he growled.
"Do ye not think that a bit harsh, cousin?"
The deep baritone voice broke into Raik's angry outburst. Ranald stood in the open doorway. His eyes found Freki, and as the dog bunched his muscles to spring, Ranald held up a hand and stared at him. Freki backed up.
Ranald surveyed the room, shaking his head.
Raik's angry bellows had drowned out the sounds of his cousin's party entering the castle grounds. His face heated, for Lady Joneta stood behind Ranald and had witnessed his outburst. He had requested Ranald to bring her here, for he longed to lavish attention and comfort on the woman who had treated him special in so many little ways when he visited Raptor as a youth. He had not known then she was his mother, but he did now.
Elyne, Ranald's sister, bobbed up and down trying to peer over his shoulder.
"Drat it, move, Ranald. I would see Letia and her son." Elyne shoved her brother aside, skirted around Raik and the dog and ran to hug her friend.
Joneta's eyes darkened with pain as she studied Raik's face, then went over to pat his cheek. "Such anger and wed but a day? I have had such high hopes that you would find happiness in marriage. Even Elyne's dreams foretold such."
Raik wrapped his arms around her in an unexpected hug. When he released her, Joneta smiled and made flapping motions with her hands toward the door. Raik called Freki to come with him, but the dog stayed back. He did not seem to distrust women, but stared at them with interest and went over to stretch out beside Letia's chair. Raik let him alone.
"Go," Elyne commanded. "The two of you compare the latest battles between Matilda and Stephen. Leave us women to dote over the bairn."
Raik was only too happy to get out in the open air with his cousin. Clambering down the stairwell, he heard Ranald chuckling behind him.
"What amuses ye?"
"The way ye looked when I came upon ye."
"A man near ready to strangle his wife was mirthful?"
"Nay. 'Twas the picture ye made. Ye looked like a giant, colorful bird, yer wings flapping the air with anger."
Raik snorted over his shoulder.
"Truth to tell, had I yer temper, Ranald, I would have appeared like a dragon. Sparks would have shot from m
y eyes and the bedchamber would have been set alight."
"I gathered a bit of the, er, problem was yer wife's attire?"
"Aye." Raik shook his head as they strode out into the sun-filled bailey. "Look at me." He turned and walked backward in front of Ranald. "It is as if our roles in life are exchanged. I was fresh from bathing and dressing to greet ye; Letia was sweaty and grimy from hefting stones in slings, her boyish attire stained with milk seeping from her breasts."
"Ah. Ye feel ye have no command over Letia. That she usurps yer control."
"I need a wife with all the skills to run a keep and raise bairns. I dinna want a squire that fights alongside me during the day then crawls between my sheets when the sun falls. Lucifer's shriveled prick! 'Tis unmanning!"
"Best ye turn and watch yer step. Ye're about to slip in horse shite."
Raik froze on one leg, looked down and behind him before placing his foot carefully on safe ground.
"That would be in keeping with what's happened since I rode up to Seton yestermorn."
"That bad, eh?" Ranald draped his arm around Raik's shoulders.
He listened carefully as Raik told him of Letia's hostile greeting and of how he had forced her head to bob in answer to their wedding vows.
"Did ye also have to force her to yer bed?" Ranald quirked a brow at Raik.
"Nay. She came willing enough." He ran his fingers through his hair, freeing hanks from the leather tie holding it back. "But in all else, she refuses to obey."
"Never have ye had a woman do aught but say aye to yer every whim. She is used to being Warin's right hand, used to taking care of him and everyone here. Mayhap she feels you usurp her former responsibilities."
"Now she has no need to command the defenses, why can she not act as a woman? She should place her bairn first." He stopped and faced Ranald, a thoughtful frown wrinkling his forehead. "I thought 'twould be difficult accepting another man's child as my heir to Seton."
"It was not?"
"Nay. I had only to look at his face. To touch him. Never have I felt such for a youngling. That is what caused my temper to explode afore ye came. Aubrey tore my heart with his cries. Letia wasna there to feed him. He latched on to my fingertip and tried to nurse. I felt such a powerful possession toward him. Wanted to protect him from even his own mother!"
Ranald nodded and studied Raik's face. "Aye. Ye felt as a father would for a son."
"If I feel this strongly about Aubrey, how will I feel for my own sons?"
"The same."
CHAPTER 26
Letia finished feeding Aubrey and they moved to the solar. While she washed and dressed, Joneta and Elyne waggled a sewn leather toy half-filled with beans to make the pleasing sound that attracted a babe's attention. He grasped the handle and shook it, sending spittle bubbles flying when he cooed.
"Letia, it seems a good thing that Raik was so angered when he thought the bairn suffered from hunger," Elyne said. "He must care for him. 'Twas like in my dream before Aubrey was born. I saw Raik holding him and thanking you for his son. That must have meant Raik would accept your child as his own."
"He was born in early May?" Joneta lifted him, frowning. "Should he not be heavier for being two months? He suckled well, so he is getting ample milk."
Letia's heart near stopped. If they learned Aubrey was small because he had come ahead of his time, they might suspect Warin was not his father. "Sybilla said I, too, was smaller than normal when I was born. Mayhap that is the reason?"
She decided it was best to distract them.
"Elyne, have you had foretelling dreams of late? Catalin wrote that you walked to the top of the north tower and, had the guard not noted you and led you back to your room, she feared you would have come to harm."
"Aye. I was dreaming about Muriele. I was with her at the Convent of Mary Magdalen standing on the front wall walk. Raik galloped toward us leading a troop of warriors. When we asked why he had come in such haste, he said he had word that someone was trying to pry Muriele from the convent."
Before they could discuss it further, Maud entered, carrying fresh sleeping garments and cloths for Aubrey's bath. Joneta carefully removed his soiled clothing and admired the naked boy.
"Saints! Warin endowed him with ample, um, tools to please the ladies when he is grown."
Elyne giggled and grabbed his soiled linen, placing it between him and Joneta in time to shield a hot stream that would have soaked her aunt's chest.
The women made soft noises to the baby as they bathed him, laughing when he slapped the water or kicked until water soaked them and the table.
Joneta lifted him, his back to her, from the shallow tub into Elyne's open arms covered with a drying cloth. Joneta stilled her hand long enough to run her fingers over Aubrey's left buttock. She turned startled eyes to Letia.
"He was born with that strange little mark," Letia told her. "I think as he grows, it will look like a butterfly or something with wings. What think you?"
What was the matter with Elyne? Her mouth gaped wide. And Joneta? They stared at each other. Elyne turned Aubrey in her hands and stared at his hip. Oh, saints! Was it an evil sign of some kind?
"What is it? It is not ugly. Unseemly. Surely, it is not something that will cause him trouble? It will be well-hidden all his life." Letia did not understand why they looked so startled.
"Nay, it is not ugly." Joneta studied Letia's eyes and cleared her voice. "What month was Aubrey conceived?"
"A time of year could cause such a thing?" Letia had never heard of anything such, but then, the Scots were a superstitious lot. "August," she blurted out.
Joneta, with tears in her eyes, kissed Aubrey's mark, and wrapped him in the cloth. Letia took him from her, afraid now and fearing something was terribly wrong.
"Ye are sure it wasna September?" Elyne probed.
"It was August. Why do you question me?"
Joneta cleared her throat, then patted Letia's arm. "Does Raik know of the mark?"
"Nay."
"He knows nothing about Aubrey?" Elyne's eyes were huge with worry.
Letia hugged the baby tight to her chest. His fist came up, batting at her cheeks and she turned her face to kiss it.
"You are both frightening me. What should he know?"
Joneta touched her hand to her trembling lips as she looked at Letia then down at the baby.
"That Aubrey is his son."
CHAPTER 27
Letia forgot to breathe. Somehow she knew they would not believe her if she denied Raik was Aubrey's father. Freki stalked over to stand in front of her, separating Letia and the babe from the two women, his eyes watchful.
"Why do you claim Aubrey is his son?"
"The day I birthed Raik, I saw the same mark on his left nether cheek, the same mark his father also bore."
"You are Raik's mother?"
"Aye. It has been a secret for way too long. I have lost so many years because of it. But my brother Broccin insisted, whether from fear of shame for me or for him, I'm not certain."
Letia felt her heart sink. She could not deny Joneta the joy of knowing her grandchild, but would she be angry at the way the babe was conceived?
"Letia?" Elyne drew her attention. "Dinna be afeared. Raik's mark has long been a source of teasing at Raptor. Did ye, um, not see him naked afore?"
Letia shook her head and flushed. "Surely a birthmark in the same spot is not unusual."
"It is when ye canna mistake a plump, brown bird. Raik always tried to deny it, but then he had a hard time straining his neck to see his nether cheek," Elyne said.
Letia rocked back and forth, hugging her sleeping baby to her chest.
"Aubrey is small because he was born ahead of his time, was he not?" Joneta patted Letia's knee.
Letia nodded, unable to speak past the lump in her throat.
"All at Hunter know of Raik's time here at Seton. We thought his tale of what he called the Lady of the Lights coming to his bed was fevered dreams." Joneta patted he
r again. "What led ye to such a deception?"
Letia stared through welling eyes down at her feet then back up at Joneta.
"Warin was desperate for an heir to Seton. He feared Julian of Chatton or someone equally unsuitable would seize the castle when he died.
"When he proposed his plan, he did not go into it lightly. He knew Raik to be honorable and kind, and they looked much alike in build and coloring. Too, he had a fondness for Raik. 'Tis why he was always so careful that no harm came to anyone on their games of thieving each other's cows."
"Surely if ye had asked him, he would have helped ye." Elyne said. "He has always been more than happy to jump betwixt the sheets."
Letia huffed. "With every woman who catches his fancy. Did you not note the times I visited that he had an intense dislike for me?"
"Sometimes a man deems a feeling as dislike but it is a deeper emotion. Mayhap he kept himself from being attracted to a woman already wed by taking refuge in disapproval?" Joneta lips tilted in a wry smile.
"Hmm." Elyne cocked her head to the side and studied Letia. "I ken it is more than one thing. Raik has always been a protector. Perchance he feels ye dinna need him. Or any man?"
"Always, I have needed someone." Letia shook her head as silent tears slipped from her eyes. "Father could not save us when they raided our castle. When he became ill, there was no one he trusted but me to hold everything safe until Warin arrived. Then, in these last years, we had to hide Warin's failing heart to keep greed-filled neighbors from seizing Seton. I had to protect all within the curtain walls."
"Aye. But with Raik, ye have someone strong and able to defend Seton. And ye."
"But will he want to when he finds out how I deceived him?
"There is that." Elyne bit her lip, thinking.
"Mayhap he will." Joneta's eyes glistened, as tears lurked there. "A man should always know when he has fathered a child, and a child should know who his rightful father is.
Elyne put her arm around her aunt's shoulder and gave it a quick squeeze.
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