Border Brides

by Kathryn Le Veque

  Cortez thought a moment. He had heard tale of the location, once. As he pondered her question, the answer came to him. “Comyn Castle, I believe,” he said. “My father’s mother was born there. It was their family seat.”

  Diamantha lifted her eyebrows ironically. “And she survived the siege by the great Jax de Velt?”

  Cortez shook his head. “I do not believe she was there at the time,” he said. “I seem to remember my father saying that his mother fostered for most of her childhood. The fact that she was sent away to foster probably saved her life. In fact, had she been there and your great-grandfather had killed her, then I would not be here today. Quite fortuitous, I would say.”

  He was smiling at her as he said it and she smiled weakly in return. But the smile soon faded. “Did you know your great-grandfather had been killed by my great-grandfather?”

  He shook his head, his smile fading as well. “In truth, I did not,” he said. “I knew he had been killed in a siege but I did not know the details until tonight.”

  “It was a rather terrible way to find out.”

  “Indeed it was.”

  Diamantha sighed, so much emotion roiling in her breast. “I feel so terrible about this, Cortez,” she said miserably. “Do you think it would do any good for me to apologize to your father? I will if you think it would help.”

  Cortez could only shake his head. “It probably won’t,” he said. “I told you that my father is very family oriented and speaks of his ancestors as if they are still living, breathing relatives. The fact that his grandfather was murdered… it is a very real event to him, even these years passed.”

  Diamantha was gazing up at him earnestly. “Then what do we do?” she asked. “I do not want to be a wedge between you and your father. I could not bear it. And what of Andres? He will be forced to choose sides if you and your father are at odds.”

  Cortez didn’t have all the answers. He kissed her cheek, trying to comfort her, trying to comfort them both. It was an unexpected twist in the situation and one that could have easily torn them apart. They’d had such a turbulent beginning and this was just another blow. But he was coming to realize, with great joy, that rather than run from him or fight with him about it, Diamantha was turning to him for comfort. She trusted him. She viewed him as her defender in all of this, which is exactly how he wanted it. Rather than tear them apart, they were instead drawing closer together. He could feel it.

  “Finish bathing Sophie and get her into bed,” he finally said. “I believe I shall go and see my father and try to talk some sense into him. Mayhap he is calmer now and will listen.”

  Diamantha cast him a long glance. “You will not fight him again, will you?”

  Cortez shook his head. “Nay, I swear it. I only want to talk to him.”

  Diamantha wasn’t so sure but she wouldn’t refute him. Instead, she nodded her head and moved off in the direction of the bathtub where her daughter was splashing water all over the floor. She was about halfway across the room when she suddenly came to a halt and retraced her steps. Cortez was just opening the chamber door when she called to him.

  Cortez paused, his hand on the door latch, as Diamantha approached. She didn’t say a word. She simply stood on her toes and kissed him, on the cheek, a sweeter kiss he had never received. Then, with a faint smile, she turned around and returned to the tub where Sophie was having a marvelous time.

  Cortez stood there a moment, watching her as she walked away. He could still feel the heat from her lips against his flesh. It was enough to make his giddy heart start thumping again.

  “Bolt this door when I leave,” he told her. “You will only open it for me. Is that clear?”

  Diamantha was on her knees beside the tub now. She nodded obediently. “It is,” she said. Then, she called after him one more time. “Cortez?”

  He was almost through the door now but came to a halt. “Aye?”

  Diamantha instinctively put her hand to her throat. “The necklace you gave me,” she ventured hesitantly. “The one that belonged to your mother. Your father… well, it broke. Do you think you can go to the hall and find the pieces? Mayhap we can have it repaired.”

  He nodded, thinking of the sight of his father ripping the necklace from Diamantha’s neck. Given how his father valued that necklace, the moment of violence was positively surreal. “I will see if I can find it,” he said gently.

  “Thank you.”

  Cortez winked at her as he finally quit the chamber and shut the door behind him. He was halfway down the dark, narrow stairs when he heard her throw the bolt. Descending all the way to the ground floor of the keep, his giddiness faded and his battle-hewn mind began to focus. Something very bad had happened this evening and he intended to rectify it, however he could. He was either going to help his father see reason or put him out of his life and mind forever.

  Although Gorsedd was his father, and he loved the man, he couldn’t condone his terrible and unreasonable behavior. It was shocking and horrifying, all of it, but Cortez wouldn’t allow his father to rule, or ruin, his life. Not now, not just when he’d found some measure of happiness again. It was foolish to choose his new wife over his father and he knew it, but in a sense, he wasn’t making the choice at all. Gorsedd was. It would be Gorsedd’s choice as to whether or not he could accept Diamantha, a distant de Velt, into the family. If he couldn’t then Gorsedd would lose much more than his son’s respect.

  He would lose his son.

  *

  Near dawn, Andres found Cortez in the great hall of Coven.

  At first, Andres nearly missed him, seated in their father’s chair at the great feasting table, partially hidden by the shadows of the room. The hearth was dark and the great hall was very cold at this time of the morning. Andres made his way over to him.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  Cortez was looking at the tabletop in front of him. He was fidgeting with pieces of the great silver collar he had found on the floor, at least twelve or more pieces, and he wasn’t even sure he had all of them. The break had been by the clasp so the main part of the collar was thankfully intact, but the damage had been done. He couldn’t fathom the rage his father must have had in order to have done such a thing. As Cortez sat in his father’s seat at his father’s table, holding the necklace that had once belonged to his mother, his heart was breaking into a thousand pieces of sorrow.

  “I came here to find this necklace,” he finally muttered. Then, he glanced up at his brother. “Are the men getting ready to leave?”

  Andres looked at him with concern. “They are,” he said. “What about you? Are you ready?”

  Cortez sighed heavily. Then, he sat back in the chair and dragged his hands over his face wearily. “I am, for the most part,” he said. “My wife should be ready as well. I was just going to go and get her.”

  Andres sat down next to his brother. “What is wrong?” he demanded. “Did you speak with Father?”

  Cortez looked at him again. “Aye,” he said. “Did you?”

  Andres wriggled his eyebrows in a resigned gesture. “I did,” he said. “I am sure he told you everything he told me.”

  Cortez shook his head sadly. “It is as if I do not even know the man any longer,” he said hoarsely. “I sat in the vault with him most of the night. I listened to him weep and shout and accuse Diamantha of terrible things, or at least accuse her of being responsible for what Jax de Velt did. It is as if the man doesn’t want to listen to reason. Nothing I could say could sway him.”

  Andres was feeling very bad about everything, made worse by a dull throb in his head from too much drink the night before. In fact, he wasn’t feeling altogether well, about anything.

  “I know,” he muttered. “I tried to talk to him a little while ago. He thinks you have betrayed the entire family by marrying her.”

  “I know.”

  Andres scratched his cheek wearily. “I will tell you something else,” he said, lowering his voice. “Fathe
r’s majordomo says that Father’s behavior has been very erratic over the past year. He cannot make clear decisions sometimes, he becomes enraged quite easily, as we have seen, and he is very forgetful. That may explain why the situation with your wife has set him off so badly. The majordomo thinks there is something wrong with his mind.”

  Cortez looked at him, an expression of distress on his face. After a moment, he shook his head in disbelief. “That would explain quite a lot, actually,” he said, “for the man in the vault is not the father I know. I do not know who that is.”

  Andres watched his brother for a moment. “Cortez,” he began slowly. “I have been thinking… mayhap I should remain here with him, at least for a little while. You have many excellent knights at your disposal and father has no one. I think he needs me. You do not.”

  Cortez gazed at his brother, seeing the logic of his request. “I think it is a very good idea for you to stay with him,” he agreed. “If, for no other reason, than to keep the man from getting himself into trouble. If his mind is truly going, then mayhap he needs a minder.”

  Andres nodded in agreement although it was clear he wasn’t too keen on the idea. “Believe me when I tell you that remaining here does not make me happy, but I believe it is for the best,” he said. “At least I can keep the man from charging after you and trying to kill your wife.”

  “That is true.”

  “Will you see him before you leave?”

  Cortez simply nodded, rising to his feet wearily and collecting the pieces of the necklace to hold in one hand. Then, he looked at it, the jumble of silver, and put it back down on the table.

  “I cannot even look at this,” he muttered. “When I see it, all I can envision is father ripping it from Diamantha’s neck. It doesn’t mean the same thing to me as on the day I gave it to her. Now I only see anger.”

  Andres eyed the necklace pieces on the table before looking to his brother. “Did you sleep at all last night?”

  Cortez shook his head. “Nay,” he replied, taking a deep breath to bolster himself. “It is going to be a very long day ahead.”

  Andres was forced to agree, following his brother out into the pre-dawn morning, very cold and very damp, as the sky turned shades of blue and gray with the approaching sun. Cortez’s party was very busy tending horses and hitching up the wagons, and the quartermaster was discussing additional provisions with Coven’s majordomo.

  Everyone seemed to be focused on their tasks as Cortez and Andres crossed the bailey to the gatehouse where the vault was located. Entering the gatehouse on the right side, they traveled down a very narrow set of stairs that led them to the vault below.

  It was very damp and very cold in the hole, surrounded by moist stone and with a single torch illuminating the dark. There were two cells, and very small ones at that. Gorsedd was in the cell on the left, a bigger cell, and he had plenty of fresh straw and blankets to keep him warm. He was also snoring quite loudly when his sons approached.

  Cortez and Andres stood outside of the iron grate and watched the man for a moment as he slept the sleep of the dead. When Andres went to rattle the bars and wake him, Cortez stopped the man.

  “Nay,” he said softly. “Let him sleep. Mayhap it is best, after all. I do not want my last memory of my father to be that of anguish and rage. I would rather have it be one of him sleeping peacefully. That is how I would wish to remember him.”

  Andres understood. He put a hand on his brother’s arm. “You will send me word when you arrive in Falkirk, will you not?” he asked. “I would like to know what you find once you get there.”

  Cortez nodded. “I will,” he said. “Mayhap… mayhap in time you can join me at Sherborne. It would not be the same without you.”

  Andres forced a smile. “You would miss pulling me out of gutters and paying off fathers whose daughters I have compromised?”

  Cortez snorted. “I will not miss that part,” he said. He sobered, gazing steadily at his younger brother. “But I will miss you. Take care of yourself, Andres. It is important that my future children know their uncle.”

  In the cell, Gorsedd snored loudly and rolled around in his straw. The brothers watched to see if he was waking up, but he was not. He slept through their conversation. Cortez turned back to Andres.

  “I must go now,” he said with some trepidation. “As for you, be well as you watch over Father. And if the majordomo is correct and his mind really is going, keep all weapons away from him. I do not want him hurting himself or others.”

  Andres nodded, feeling a great sense of disappointment that Cortez was continuing the great quest for Robert Edlington without him. But he understood.

  “Safe travels, brother,” he wished. “Send me word when you can.”

  Cortez hugged his brother tightly before letting him go and swiftly taking the steps up to the bailey. He realized there was a lump in his throat at the thought of leaving Andres behind, but he was convinced it was the right thing to do. It was with a very heavy heart, however, that he left his father with such a painful situation between them. Mayhap someday it could be rectified. He fervently hoped so. He never blamed Diamantha for it, not in the least. The thought never even crossed his mind.

  Diamantha and Sophie were ready to depart on time. Both of them were bundled up in their traveling clothes as Cortez put them into the wagon. He told Diamantha that his brother was remaining behind to take care of their father, which saddened her somewhat, but she understood. She also knew that Cortez had spent the entire night in the vault with his father, trying to talk some sense into the man. She didn’t ask him about it, though. From the expression on his face, she assumed all did not go well and the thought distressed her greatly. She did, however, ask about the necklace and was told it was unsalvageable.

  The news upset her but she didn’t dwell on it, focusing instead on her daughter and on their day ahead. Cortez, in charge of the pet cage, couldn’t help but notice a fifth pet had been slipped in with the others, one of the little puppies that he had seen in the hall the night before. When he questioned Diamantha about it, she simply shook her head wearily and pointed to Merlin. It seemed that Sophie’s begging had broken the man down and he had brought her one. Cortez didn’t know whether to scold the man or laugh at him. The puppy ended up in Diamantha’s lap as the party from Sherborne left the small bailey of Coven Castle and out into the great countryside beyond.

  The great questing continued.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Trentham, Warrington, Euxton, Garstang, Carnforth, Kendal.

  The towns were becoming an endless parade of colorless, shaggy villages without much difference between one to the next. Seventeen days on the road had left Diamantha with a different perspective about England in general. It was a brutal and unfriendly place for the most part. The people were ignorant and cold, or they were starving, or they were trying to kill each other. England, as a whole, was nothing like her beloved Corfe, which seemed to be a heavenly little enclave in this country that appeared mostly full of sorrow and strife. This journey, so far, had opened her eyes to a lot of things, and not all of it good.

  They were north of Kendal this day, heading for the major city of Carlisle and the Scot border. Even though it was late November, the weather was surprisingly mild and the sun was bright overhead. It as such good weather, in fact, that Sophie had been allowed to ride General with the faithful Merlin walking alongside her. She had ridden the pony most of the day. Diamantha didn’t feel much like riding her mare so she sat on the wagon bench beside the quartermaster as he drove the wagon along the road, soaking up the sunshine. It was a glorious day.

  The land this far north was a deep and rich green as they moved through the wide, rolling hills and heavy foliage that comprised Cumbria. There were birds all about and on more than one occasion they had sighted fallow deer. A few of the foot soldiers had the bright idea to hunt a mother and her two fawns, but Cortez called them off because he didn’t want to upset Sophie, who had full view of
the white-tailed fawns. When she turned to Merlin and asked for one, he wisely told her to ask Cortez, who had spent about an hour trying to explain to her why she couldn’t have one. Diamantha was within earshot, and she grinned the entire time.

  Since leaving Coven, the relationship between the two had been quite different. They were more relaxed with each other and Diamantha had felt much more trusting in the man. Beneath the arrogance, the seriousness, and the resolute behavior that had comprised the man, she was coming to discover he was very humorous and very witty. Moreover, he had defended her staunchly to his father, actions which told her he was indeed a sincere and honorable man. He was polite, humorous, kind, and wildly protective of her and Sophie, all qualities of a truly respectable man. Every day saw her heart belong to him just a little bit more.

  Even now, as he tried to explain to Sophie why she couldn’t have a fawn, it was a very sweet and funny conversation. Sophie simply didn’t understand why she couldn’t have the little deer and Cortez did his best to give her the reasons why it was not a good idea. As rational as he sounded, he was losing ground against a three-year-old.

  Finally, Diamantha stepped in to save him. She climbed off the moving wagon and went to walk beside her daughter, taking General’s lead from Merlin. When the weather had been good along their journey, Diamantha had tried to walk some of the way simply because she felt better when she did. Riding all of the time cramped her legs up and walking made her feel much better on the whole. Sometimes she made Sophie walk, too, but that usually resulted in them lagging behind because her daughter had to stop every few feet to pick any flowers that might be popping up this late in the season.

  “Sophie, stop begging for a fawn,” she told her daughter. “Cortez has told you that the little deer needs to stay with his mother. You have several pets already, you do not need more.”