The Centurion

by Kathryn Le Veque

Alyx hadn’t really thought about it. Was she starved? Not really. She couldn’t remember when she’d eaten last.

  She couldn’t remember much of anything except the pain in her heart.

  “You do not have to bother, my lady, truly,” she said. “I do not need to eat.”

  “Nonsense,” Edna shushed her as she finished beating the peat enough for it to become a smolder. Wiping her hands off on her woolen dress, she scurried toward the second room on this floor. “Ye sit there. This willna take but a moment.”

  Since Alyx really didn’t have anywhere to go, she simply sat there, leaning forward on the table until her head was resting on the tabletop. She could hear Edna speaking to someone in the other chamber and soon, a young woman rushed out from the chamber and to the spiral stairs.

  But Alex wasn’t paying attention. She was so exhausted that she fell asleep almost immediately after her head hit the top of the table. When she awoke a short time later, it was to servants bustling around in the chamber.

  The copper tub had been pulled away from the wall and was being filled with hot water. Alyx could see the steam rising. She smelled food only to see that someone had put a great deal of it on the table – oat mush, bread, butter, boiled pears, and cheese. Suddenly realizing she was, indeed, hungry, Alyx tore into the meal as the servants continued to fill the tub.

  The food was delicious. The mush had honey and chopped apples in it, and the bread was warm and fresh. Alyx ate until she could eat no more, utterly full and ready to go back to sleep.

  But Edna had other ideas.

  Chasing all but one of the servants out of the chamber, she encouraged Alyx to get into the tub. In truth, Alyx needed very little convincing. She was cold and dirty, and she stripped off her traveling dress with very little persuading. It came off and she climbed into the tub, settling down in something blissful and luxurious. As she simply sat and absorbed the heat, Edna pulled up a stool and went to work.

  “I hope ye dunna mind,” Edna said as she took a pitcher full of the hot water and poured it over Alyx’s head. “Ye look as if ye can use some help. I have no daughters, only sons, so helping out a lass is rare for me. Do ye mind?”

  Alyx shook her head. Sputtering out the water, she lay her head on her bent-up knees as Edna used a horsehair brush and a bar of lumpy, white soap to scrub her back and arms. She also used it to scrub Alyx’s head and Alyx was forced to lift it so Edna could get to all of her.

  Then, the drink came. It was on the table along with the food that Alyx had devoured. She hadn’t had much of the drink because it was strong ale, but Edna gave her a cup and told her to drink it all down. She did, coughing, and handed the cup back to Edna.

  The drink was meant to relax her and it had the desired effect as it began to flow through her veins. The combination of the warm water and the alcohol had her wanting to fall asleep again, but she fought it. For the moment, she was allowing herself to enjoy a bit of kind attention that she hadn’t experienced in a while.

  Even if it was at the hands of a Scot.

  “Is this the Kerr stronghold?” Alyx asked.

  Edna nodded as she scrubbed the woman’s dirty feet. “Aye,” she said. “Where did ye think ye were?”

  Alyx shook her head, her blond hair wet and kinky with curls. “I’m not entirely sure,” she said, feeling a buzzing in her head because of the drink. “Laird Kerr just started walking… I was not sure where we ended up.”

  Edna glanced up from her work. “Did he not tell ye anything, lass?”

  “Nay,” Alyx replied. “But I told him I wanted to go home.”

  “And he didna listen?”

  Alyx signed heavily. “Nay,” she said. “I must go home. My father will wonder what has become of me and if he thinks the Kerrs have abducted me, it will mean trouble. I do not want to be the catalyst for a bigger war.”

  Edna returned to her scrubbing. “Would yer da go tae war over this?”

  “I think several people would go to war over this.”

  Even as Alyx said it, she hoped it was even true. She wasn’t even sure. The more she’d thought on Torston, the more she was coming to wonder if he simply wouldn’t bother. Or perhaps he would to help out Winslow purely out of obligation.

  But she wondered if his heart would be in it.

  So much of what Douglas had said to her made sense – de Royans and his Lady Lilia are going tae raise the lad together. She has probably been taking care of the child all these years, waiting for the moment when the three of them would be together. De Royans has known this all along.

  Was the joke on Alyx? Was she really such a fool and she was the only one who didn’t see it? Torston had a ready-made family waiting for him, yet he told Alyx he’d break his betrothal for her. Given the mounting evidence, perhaps he really had lied to her.

  Alyx was coming to feel like the most foolish woman in the world.

  The tears started to come and Edna noticed.

  “Dunna be troubled, lass,” she said gently. “I can convince Doogie tae return ye home and there will be no war. But ye must forgive my Doogie… since his Mairi died, he’s not been himself. Grief does strange things tae a man.”

  Alyx shook her head, droplets of water spraying from her hair. “It’s not that,” she said, the drink loosening her tongue. “It’s simply that… oh, why are men such trouble? Why do they use sweet words and a serpent’s tongue to bend women to their will?”

  Edna lifted her eyebrows at the rather passionate outburst. “Is that what my Doogie did?” she demanded. “Did he use sweet words tae bend ye tae his will? Och! I’m going tae box his ears!”

  Alyx looked at the woman, realizing she thought that Alyx had meant Douglas. “Douglas is your son?”

  “Aye, the naughty little bastard.”

  Alyx’s eyes widened. Then, she started laughing. She couldn’t help it. It felt good to laugh, even briefly, but she quickly sobered. “Your son didn’t speak sweet words to me,” she said. “But he is a determined man. I wanted to leave and he would not let me.”

  Edna shook her head with disgust. “He’ll let ye go home, lass,” she said confidently. “Ye’ll go home if I have tae take ye myself.”

  Alyx believed her. In fact, she was a little more interested in Edna now that the woman seemed to be siding with her. “You don’t look old enough to be Douglas’ mother,” she said. “How many children do you have?”

  “I gave birth tae three sons,” she said. “Two have passed away. Doogie is my oldest lad.”

  Alyx watched the woman as she went to work on scrubbing Alyx’s hands and nails with that bristly brush. “And your husband?”

  “Died of a fever years ago.”

  She didn’t seem grieved by it but perhaps that was because it was a long time ago. Thoughts of Edna’s dead husband turned to thoughts of Torston again. Alyx felt her mood sinking again.

  “Was your husband your first love?” she asked.

  Edna finished with one hand and went to scrub the other. “We’d known each other since we were wee bairns,” she said. “Aye, I suppose he was. Was he my only love? Of course not. A woman is foolish tae have only one love.”

  “Why?”

  “Because each man brings ye something different,” she said. “Some bring joy, some bring pleasure, some bring security. Ye canna find all those things in only one man.”

  “Did you marry again after your husband died?”

  Edna shook her head. “I wouldna marry again,” she said. “Marriage… that is only meant for one time. Marriage is a special bond, lass, not tae be taken lightly.”

  Alyx pondered that as Edna rinsed her hands and took a piece of drying cloth to her hair, still dripping wet. She was drying the curly blond hair vigorously when Alyx spoke again.

  “My mother died when I was young,” she said. “There is a woman at Makendon Castle, the wife of my father’s knight, who has been kind to me. But she has her own daughter and her daughter is sickly, so there wasn’t much time for me. The o
nly person I’ve ever really had to advise me on things like men and marriage is my father. He’s a good man, don’t misunderstand me. He’s wise and reasonable. But he just doesn’t understand what a woman feels. What I feel.”

  Edna slowed her motion of drying Alyx’s hair. “Is there someone special then, lass?”

  Alyx was feeling her drink. She was speaking on things she normally would not have spoken of with a stranger. But she liked Edna right away and felt comfortable with her. Besides, her company was better than the alternative – Douglas.

  Somehow, she thought Douglas’ mother might protect her from her amorous son.

  “There is someone special,” she said. “At least, I thought there was but… but the situation is too complex. He will always be special to me, though, no matter what others say about him. I simply cannot believe he is not the man I have known for all of these years.”

  Edna was in the process of twisting Alyx’s hair into one big mass of hair, twisted up and secured with big, iron hair pins on the top of her head. “It sounds as if ye are confused about him.”

  “I am. But I love him.”

  Edna grunted with understanding. “Well, that makes the situation difficult,” she said. “Men are a confusing lot.”

  “Confusing. I never thought I would say that where it pertains to Torston.”

  “Is that his name?”

  “Aye.”

  “Is he comely?”

  Alyx smiled as she thought of her handsome knight. “Aye,” she murmured. “A more handsome man you’ve never seen. He told me he wanted me, but then she came.”

  “Who is ‘she’?”

  “His betrothed.”

  Edna’s eyebrows lifted as she came around the side of the tub, looking Alyx in the eye. “The man is betrothed, yet he has yer affection?”

  Alyx lowered her gaze, nodding. “I told you it was complex.”

  Edna chuckled, without humor, as if to agree with her. Then, she turned around and picked up another drying cloth.

  “Get out of the bath before ye shrivel,” she said, holding up the large square of fabric. “Let’s dry ye off and get ye into bed.”

  Alyx stood up, the water cascading down her slender, white body as Edna wrapped her up in the towel. The woman vigorously dried Alyx and put her in a voluminous muslin shift that was gathered at the neck, with long sleeves. It was soft and warm and comfortable, and Alyx felt better than she had since discovering the missive for Lady Lilia’s feast in her father’s solar. It seemed as if much had happened since then even though it had only been a couple of days.

  Edna was just finishing drying off Alyx’s neck and ears when the wail of an infant filled the air. Edna dropped what she was doing, leaving Alyx standing in front of the fire, and disappeared into an adjoining chamber. Alyx could hear her in the room beyond, speaking softly to someone and, suddenly, she appeared with a swaddled infant in her arms. Alyx watched her rather curiously as she came toward her, an adoring expression on her face as she looked at the baby.

  “This is wee Michael,” she said, rocking the fussy infant. “’Tis Doogie’s own son, he is.”

  Alyx looked at the baby. He was a sweet little thing with a perfect face and a haze of auburn hair on his scalp. But he was unhappy, having just awoken from a nap, and Edna rocked him gently.

  “He… he’s very nice,” Alyx said. “He’s so small.”

  Edna held up a chubby hand. “He’s thriving,” she insisted. “The wee lad killed his mother, but he’s growing strong. Mairi would have wanted that.”

  As Edna handed the baby back over to the wet nurse, who had followed her out of the chamber, Alyx spoke quietly.

  “You liked Mairi, didn’t you?” she asked.

  Edna nodded. “Mairi was a good lass,” she said. “She was the only daughter I’ve ever had.”

  Alyx could see that Edna was emotional about Douglas’ dead wife. “Did Douglas love her?”

  Edna nodded. “He did,” she said, trying to put on a brave front. “Her loss was difficult for him.”

  “Then why does he want a wife so soon after her death?” Alyx wanted to know. “Why is he offering for my hand? Should he not still be grieving for Mairi? Edna, I do not want to marry your son. I am sure he is a fine man, but I have no interest in marrying him at all.”

  Edna sighed heavily. “He’s afraid of being alone,” she murmured. “He’s afraid of Michael growing up without a mother. He’s trying tae replace what he lost.”

  Alyx could feel Edna’s grief. Not only had the woman lost her daughter-in-law, but her son was in turmoil because of it.

  “I am sorry for him, truly,” she said. “But I am not the right woman to ease his pain. Please… you will tell him that, won’t you? I don’t want to marry him. We would only make each other miserable.”

  Edna reached out, putting a hand on Alyx’s arm in a show of support. “I’ll do what I can, lass,” she said quietly. “But ye canna return home now. It will soon be dark. Stay the night and I’ll convince Doogie that ye should go home tomorrow.”

  “Thank you,” Alyx said, putting her hand over Edna’s. “Edna, for what it’s worth… I am glad to have met you. I think we could be friends, you and I.”

  Edna forced a smile and patted Alyx’s cheek before departing the chamber, leaving Alyx alone in a room that was surprisingly well appointed for a Scottish tower. The big bed next to the hearth looked particularly inviting and Alyx put it to good use.

  Exhausted, emotionally drained, Alyx fell asleep before her head even hit the pillow.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  The Lyceum

  “All is chaos,” Lionel said. “It’s the Scots… they did this. They killed poor Winslow. My dear, dear friend. Now they have his daughter.”

  Torston stood across the table from Lionel, looking at a man he barely recognized. Lionel was more disheveled and unsteady than Torston had ever seen him. He’d been suspicious of Winslow one moment and in the next, he was praising the man. All of it created quite a bit of confusion and uncertainty. Jess and Morley were also in the solar, listening to Lionel spout his madness.

  The madness that had finally claimed him.

  God, it had happened so quickly. Torston was still struggling to believe that Lionel’s eccentricities had turned into full-blown insanity in a matter of days. It hardly seemed possible.

  But the evidence was before him.

  “Lord Winslow had a bad heart,” Torston said steadily. “That was never a secret. ’Twas his heart that killed him, not the Scots, although the stress of Kerr’s peace offering didn’t help. That is why I have gathered Jess and Morley, my lord. We must speak on the abduction of Lady Alyx. We have confirmation that Douglas Kerr took her and I must go after her.”

  Lionel seemed to be looking at something in the room that no one else could see. He was simply staring off into space, perhaps thinking of Winslow, of the Scots, and of Alyx. It was difficult to know. Rising from his seat, he made his way to a marble statue he’d purchased in Rome, of a god he called Hades, the ruler of the Roman underworld. He paused by it, looking at it curiously as he ran his hands up the body of the statue.

  “Just like the abduction of Persephone by Hades,” he said. “Douglas Kerr has abducted a young woman and will make her his queen.”

  Torston’s jaw ticked. “I do not believe it will come to that, my lord, but I must go after her right away,” he said. “For Winslow de Ameland, I must act quickly. It is what he would have wanted.”

  Lionel seemed not to have heard him. “‘Beneath the earth I glided in my Stygian stream, I saw, myself with my own eyes, Persephone’,” he muttered. “‘Her looks were sad, and fear still in her eyes; and yet a queen, and yet of that dark land Empress, and yet with power and majesty the consort of the Tyrannus Infernus – Hades.’”

  Torston and Jess and Morley passed concerned glances. Lionel was reciting ancient poems as he saw a link between the abduction of a mortal by a Roman god.

  “My lord,”
Torston said. “Much as I understand that you are comparing Alyx’s abduction to that of an ancient goddess, I must insist on going after Alyx. We owe Lord Winslow that much, don’t you think? We cannot let this go unanswered.”

  Lionel was still looking at the statue. “Attack them,” he said. “If we do not attack them first, they will destroy us. We should have done that a long time ago, Torston.”

  Torston shook his head. “We cannot attack them because they hold Alyx,” he said patiently. “We cannot jeopardize her life so. This is a job for just a few men, Great Caesar. We must infiltrate with stealth and find her. I ask to take Jess with me. I will need him.”

  Lionel looked at him. “Are you not listening to me, Torston? I demand you muster my army. We shall launch an offensive against Kerr and destroy him.”

  “If you do that, you put Alyx in great danger.”

  “She is already Douglas’ queen, Torston. Don’t you understand? Winslow has already given the man his permission. That is why he took her.”

  Torston’s jaw ticked. “Winslow did not live to see Douglas Kerr again,” he said. “There is no way he could have given permission.”

  “He must have given it and you do not know it.”

  “I was with Lord Winslow when he died. We were speaking of Alyx and my desire to marry her. Had he already given Douglas permission, he would have told me.”

  Lionel lifted his eyebrows. “Impossible. Your bride is already here.”

  Frustrated, Torston was finished trying to reason with a madman. He turned to Jess. “As much as I would like to take you with me, I have a feeling you would be better served here in case Great Caesar decides to muster the army himself. You must not let him, Jess. I will select a few men personally to go with me and I shall leave tonight.” Then, he looked at Morley. “You stay with Harringham for now. He needs a minder and, at the moment, that is you. Do you understand me?”

  Morley nodded, a look of utter fear on his face. “I will need more people to help me, Torston,” he said quietly. “Great Caesar is difficult when his wishes are not obeyed. May I select a few servants?”