by Hannah West
"What now," she asked as she turned in his arms to face him. Her face matched his as they pinkened.
He pretended to think although he knew what he was going to do. He was going to keep her confined to his room for the rest of the day. After few a taps on his chin he grinned lopsidedly at her. "I cannot think of a thing. Looks as if we shall just have to stay here all day."
She giggled and he loved the sound. It warmed him inside.
"Alrek said no one would blame us either. No one will come looking for us and he shall send up our food." He laid back and stared upwards. "I have never been married before so what comes next is what fate has planned for us." He looked at her from the corner of his eye for a moment. "Will you go back to your rooms or will you stay here?"
Confused at first it took her a moment to catch on.
"I was rather hoping you would not mind sharing quarters. This castle is drafty in winter and a body can never get warm." She shrugged. "Nobles when they marry keep different rooms for the lady and the lord, but after living among my people I see more happy couples among the poor then the rich." She laughed at a thought that popped in her head. "Maybe the nobles have such bad marriages is given to the fact they do not share a bed. My parents shared a bed until my mother died."
He suddenly rolled over and gathered her in his arms, just holding her there.
Knowing the man he had been when he got her and him from the stories of his men, this told her all she needed to know. He was giving her something he had never given anyone before. Complete and whole trust, all he had to give was now hers.
Tears slipped from her closed eyes and he pulled back. "What is the matter? Are you in pain?" His deep voice rumbled over her and she wiped away her tears.
"Nay, I am just happy. The last few years have been tough and I am grateful for the gift of you is all."
He tilted her chin up. "Nay, my sweet. It be you who was the gift. One I shall ever cherish."
There came a pounding on the door in wee hours of the morning. Still groggy with sleep Adrian rolled away from the warm body of his wife and went to the door.
“Quiet,” he hissed at the man. “Do you want to bring the castle down and around our ears?”
“Begging your pardon, my lord, but we have a problem,” his squire said.
He raised a brow and rubbed his eyes. “That problem would be?”
“A man has come to the castle gates commanding they be opened for their lord. The men haven’t let him in and he appeared to be alone, but he said he was Alex de Larren, son of the Earl of Kildenry.”
Adrian knew Alex de Larren, he had been a solider under Adrian’s command little over a year ago who had been felled in battle. He had taken a sword to the gut and with so many dead they had to move on without burying them. He had seen the lad as they had left, he had barley been clinging to life and a prayer had been said over him as they left.
“The lad is dead,” Adrian grunted.
“What shall we do, my lord? Surely, my lady, should know of this?” the lad blinked wide eyes at him.
Adrian’s jaw tightened. “Bring him in and put him in the great hall in chains. I will not risk anyone to a mad man. I will be down shortly.”
He closed the door and turned back to his bed. Sarina stirred and opened sleepy eyes to see him, she smiled softly.
“Hello, husband,” she said softly.
He smiled softly back to her and sat on the edge of the bed. He reached to her tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Go back to sleep, sweet. I must go deal with the man but I shall be back soon,” he said as he stroked the side of her face.
She sat up slightly, her dreamy haze fading. “What has happened? Do they call you at this time of the night for?”
He sighed. “There was a problem with one of the men at the gate. It is nothing to worry over.” He looked into her eyes. “While I take care of it promise you will stay here.”
She nodded slowly, confused by his change in mood. He had turned cold, something he had never truly done to her before. Distant and brooding.
He nodded in return and left their bed. He looked at her one more time before closing the door with a firm thud behind him.
As he took the stairs two at a time his anger grew at the man who would pretend to be his wife’s brother. His wife had confessed to being the boy who he thought was her bastard brother, much to his surprise. He had made her promise to never do such again and if she were to practice it would be with him so she wouldn’t get injured.
But she had confessed her pain over the death of her older brother. Though he had spent most of his life away from her, when he would visit and it made up for everything. She had loved him and he had loved her as well. But after he had died and her father as well, she had been left alone in the world.
If she knew of this man it would tear her apart, it was best he dealt with it quickly. He reached the last step and entered the great hall. A shaggy looking man with long blonde hair and dirt covering just about every part of his body struggled in his bonds until he laid a pair of brilliant green eyes on Adrian.
Adrian froze in his steps. He didn’t notice the sound of light footstep that had followed him.
“My lord!” the dirty man gasped.
She followed him down the steps, how could she not? They were still her people even if he had a problem dealing with one of his men.
It was when she saw the dirty beggar tied to a chair by the hearth that she froze. The man had called out to her husband and called him, ‘my lord’, and she didn’t know what to make of it until she saw the man’s eyes. As green as summer’s grass and the same shade as her own.
She burst out from the stair well running to the man. “Alex,” she cried as she flung her arms around the dirty man.
The man, beyond words tucked his head against her shoulder and wept.
It was then her husband came forward and glared down at the pair of them. Wiping tears from her eyes, she smiled up at her husband.
“Tis my brother,” she said breathlessly. “He has returned!” She turned back to her brother and hugged him tight. “I believed you dead and lost in battle.”
“I was,” he said quietly. “I was left almost dead when a girl found me. Her and her mother lived close by in the woods. They saved me, Sari. But it took a long time for me to heal, I almost died many times.”
She looked over his dirty face and stared to cry again.
“Shhh, there now, Sissy. It’s all fine now.”
Adrian came forward to look at the man. Even under the filth it looked like the lad he knew.
Alex looked up to his commander, still surprised to see him here. “Why are you here, my lord?”
Adrian simply held out a hand to Sarina and she smiled at him her soft smile. She slid from her brother’s lap and took his hand. He pulled her gently to him and she wrapped an arm around him.
“Alex, I would like you to meet my husband, Adrian de Lyon. Husband, my brother Alex,” she said with a watery grin.
Alex stilled for a moment. “Husband? What is the meaning of this?”
Unsure of why he was angry Sarina teared up again. “Why are you angry, Alex? He is a wonderful man.”
His expression hardened. “While I lay dying in the hut in the forest, news came to me. He killed father.”
Understanding dawned and it saddened her. Her brother only knew half-truths from a one-sided view.
She sighed sadly. “Father sided with Uncle, Alex. He knew he would loose and he paid the price of war. Father was a wonderful man, but he made his choice and chose wrong. You fought for William; does that count for nothing now?”
Her brother’s green eyes blazed. “Not when they left me to die.”
She could see the seeds of madness with her brother and pity over took her. War had changed him. He would never be the same.
“And let me guess, since both father and I were dead in the eyes of the king, you were a prize to be sold off? Did you come with all the la
nd that is rightfully mine? Now that I am back you shall have nothing! How could you marry our father’s murder?” he spat.
Anger flooded her and she took one good swipe at him before her husband pulled her back.
“You know nothing!” she screamed at him. “Father made his choice and paid for it. If I was going to live I would have to do as the new king bid me. It was lucky it was Adrian who was sent to me and I thank my lucky stars it is him who our people come to in troubling times. You are not lord here Alex. Not anymore.”
“He stole my right, I was the heir!” Alex shouted.
“Not since the moment father made his choice.” She looked to her husband.
Her heart was breaking he could tell, but when she turned to him, he knew it was he who she chose and sided with. For that he was grateful.
“I am sorry, husband. But I think it best if my brother were brought before the king. I grieve for my brother, but he is not the brother I knew. His mind has been broken by this war.” She squeezed his hand. “Tell the king to take care of him, please.”
She let go of his hand and started back upstairs to their chamber. She could hear her brother cursing her soul all the way into the dark.
It was the crack of dawn, the sun just peeking over the land as her brother was carted off by two of Adrian's men. They would travel with him to the king and the king would know what to do with her brother. He needed time to heal and needed time to understand. As much as it hurt her, Sarina knew she could not be the one to give him either.
Her husband had handpicked the two best men suited to the task and had even given the king their well wishes. So much had happened in the last two months her life had changed in ways she never knew could happen. She had a husband that cared for her, her people were content and soon she would start a family of her own.
She placed a wishful hand over her belly. Soon she would have a child of her own. Her husband could not visit her many times a day without it happening soon.
Sarina blushed at her thoughts. She had indeed changed as well.
She smiled as she turned away from the window overlooking the court yard. All was as it should have been.
Epilogue
It had been ten months ago to the day she had not seen or heard of her brother. Even the king didn't answer her. Her husband, Adrian, was of no help either and her birthday was on the morrow. She had asked for her brother to come so he could share in the good news she wished to tell her husband.
But it seems as if it were not to be.
She sighed and then smiled as she rubbed her slightly changed belly. She was not far along but the small roundness was there none the less. Sarina wondered how her husband was going to take it. She had been disheartened when she fluxes had come each month. He had held her and told her it mattered not if they could not have children, he needed none other than her.
A strong pair of warm arms wrapped around her middle and lifted her in a hug before turning her around. Firm lips pressed to her in a quick, rough kiss and she looked up dazed into the eyes of her husband.
He had been more reserved at first in their marriage, only touching her in private, and the same for his kisses. But over time she had teased him and begged him in public and now he was much more open. He even held her hand as they walked around and he needed no prompting in carrying her up the stairs to their room when she sent him a smoldering look.
Oh he was still shy, but for her, he would do just about anything.
"Mmm...hello, husband," she said breathlessly after he put her down.
He grinned at her making him look younger than his years. The grey at his temples had become silver and white, but the rest of his hair just as long and dark it had been the day they met.
"What were your thoughts, my lady wife?" he queried.
She grinned at him. "Oh here and there. I was just thinking about my brother and then about having a child."
Adrian's smiled faded as he looked into her eyes. It saddened him that all she wanted was a family and it killed him that he could not give it to her.
"You know," he said softly.
She finished his words just as softly. "That you would give me anything if you could."
She leaned up to kiss him and pulled his large self-down for a hug as she stood on her toes.
"You know I love you, and if there were no children, I still would. But," she took a breath and gave him a dazzling smile, "that isn't true."
He looked confused. "How could it not be true?"
"Because, my lord, we shall have a child. I am almost three months along. The midwife agreed with me just yesterday."
It was then she felt her giant husband tremble and he fell to his knees before her. Tears sprang to his eyes and he looked at her belly and then into her eyes.
"Are you sure?" he whispered.
She nodded and bit her lip as he leaned in a kissed her stomach through her dress.
With a whoop he picked her up and swung her around. After he sat his laughing wife down, he told her his news.
"A special someone have been traveling this way and shall be here for your birthday." He grinned, "Your brother is coming for a visit!"
