The Rose Red Bride JK2

by Claire Delacroix

Erik knew that no warning could prepare his brother for what was to come.

  * * *

  Chapter Sixteen

  It was not like Rosamunde to feel trepidation, but she felt it to her very bones as Ravensmuir loomed high on the cliff above her ship. They approached the coast in early evening, as seldom she had before. This time, Rosamunde saw no point in subterfuge.

  Indeed, she hoped that Tynan would meet her. She would have to seek him out either way, for she had need of the ring she had returned to him to sate this vengeful spriggan.

  The sailors were hushed. They could be superstitious, as Rosamunde knew, and their hesitation to serve a woman would only have been increased by the tidings that she was haunted by a malicious fairy. Padraig stood by her side, like a guardian determined to see an unpleasant duty completed by his ward.

  Matters had been strained between them since Rosamunde had learned of Vivienne’s departure with Padraig’s aid. By the time she had awakened, the ship had been miles south, though, and there had been no real chance of pursuing Erik and Vivienne. Now that her temper had cooled, Rosamunde had to admit that Padraig had meant well.

  That did not keep her from fretting about her niece, however.

  Clouds scuttled across the sky on this day, which already was touched with rose, and the keep was silhouetted against the painted sky. Rosamunde had to admit to herself that for a pile of ancient stones, Ravensmuir had a certain dignity that prompted one’s admiration.

  “We cannot even know if the spriggan is yet with us,” she complained, as irritable that she was compelled to serve the will of another as for the deed itself.

  Padraig snorted. “I doubt it would abandon you now. The creature seems to doubt your intent, though I could not venture a guess as to why.”

  Rosamunde ignored that comment. Padraig was welcome to end his days in Sicily, to her thinking, for he had grown overly sullen and outspoken of late.

  But then, she had possessed less than her usual charm since she and Tynan had argued. The shadow fell over the ship from the cliffs that towered high above and Rosamunde shivered.

  “I will go into the caverns alone,” she said abruptly. “For I do not know what will happen and would not endanger any of you.”

  “I will accompany you,” Padraig said, his voice dropping in his concern.

  “No, not this time.” Rosamunde turned to face the man who had sailed in her company the longest of all men. There was silver at Padraig’s temples now and lines creased his tan beside his eyes. His eyes had narrowed, though they still were a vibrant hue, and he laughed less than once he had. Rosamunde had a sudden vision of him sailing southward, upon this very ship, without her at the helm. She was oft visited by such visions and knew better than to distrust them.

  She laid her hand upon his tanned forearm, knowing that this would be their last parting and feeling a measure of dread at what must lie before her. “Take the ship,” she said, her words husky. “See me ashore, then take the ship and sail south to Sicily.”

  Padraig frowned. “But what of the contents?”

  “Sell them, sell them wherever you can fetch a fair price for them, and keep the proceeds for your own.” Rosamunde could not look upon him. She was unaccustomed to granting such a large gift, and she feared Padraig would proudly disdain it, although it was his due.

  “But...”

  “I owe you no less for all your years of faithful service.”

  “But the ship?”

  “Sell it as well, or keep it for your own. I do not care, Padraig.” Rosamunde heaved a sigh and looked up at shadowed Ravensmuir once more. “I have had wealth and I have had love. Love is better.” She forced a smile for him, for he clearly thought her relieved of her wits, and blinked back her tears. “You will fare well enough,” she said gruffly. “I have seen it and we know that whatsoever I see, will be true.”

  Padraig took an unsteady breath himself, his gaze trailing up the cliffs that confronted them. “What do you see for yourself?”

  Rosamunde shook her head.

  It was Padraig who looked away then, a frown furrowing his brow. “I always said that you saw farther than most, but could not see what was before your own eyes,” he said, his manner both rough and affectionate. “Be cautious, Rosamunde, though it is not in your nature. This fairy means you harm, and even if you do surrender the ring to her, her taste for vengeance may not be sated.” He lowered his voice. “And even if the fairy spares you, the Laird of Ravensmuir may not.”

  “It does not matter,” Rosamunde said, knowing that to be true. “My fate lies here, as always it did, and the only course forward is through Ravensmuir’s caverns.” She turned and shook his hand lest she make the parting more difficult than it had need of being. “Farewell, Padraig. May the wind always fill your sails when you have need of it.”

  To her surprise, he caught her in a tight hug, then released her abruptly. He stared at the deck, and his lips worked for a moment in silence before he found the words. The ones he finally found surprised her, as she was seldom surprised. “We have fought back to back a hundred times, Rosamunde, and always I will consider you to be my friend.” He looked at her, his expression fierce, as if daring her to argue with him. “You have been my only friend, but a friend of such merit that I had need of no other.”

  “No soul ever had a friend more loyal than I found in you,” she said.

  “I did,” he replied.

  They both looked away then, Padraig to the sea and Rosamunde to the dark portal of the cavern. Never had they spoken such heartfelt words to each other and Rosamunde knew they would never have done so had they both not feared that this parting would be their last.

  “I will wait for the tide,” Padraig said, his words hoarse. “It does not turn for a short time yet. If you have need of me, if you have need of this ship, you have but to hail me.”

  Rosamunde knew she would not hail him, no matter what greeted her in the caverns. She also knew that she would not persuade Padraig of that simple truth. Her destiny awaited her here, whatever it was, and she knew it to her very marrow. She was afraid, as any soul of sense would have been afraid of such a reckoning.

  But destiny could not be evaded. It would wait for her, it would turn her steps back to Ravensmuir time and again until she faced her due.

  She chose to face it now.

  Rosamunde and Padraig parted in hasty silence then, for there was no more to be said. She climbed down the rope ladder under the watchful gazes of the hired seamen and took up the oars in the small boat tethered to the ship. She rowed toward the dark mouth of the cavern with vigor, reveling in her own strength and the splash of the sea water upon her skin. The sea lifted her and seemed to push her forward, the sun made its surface look to be embellished with gems.

  Rosamunde felt vitally alive and appreciative of the abundant gifts she had been given. She had always had good health, she had known a potent love, she always been uncommonly fortunate. She had cheated Death a dozen times at least, she had wrought better terms from Fortune time and again, and she had never lost a man at sea.

  It was only when the chill of the cliff’s shadow enfolded her that Rosamunde wondered whether her allotment of good luck had all been consumed, if she was left in this moment with no more.

  It was then, for the first time, that she fancied she heard the spriggan laugh.

  Darg’s was not a merry laugh, to be sure.

  Rosamunde tethered her boat, not sparing a backward glance to her ship even as she strode off into the cavern. A chasm rent the path from the pool to the large cavern in these days, a chasm with dark water low in it. Rosamunde well remembered its eerie clutch from her last visit here. She lit a torch with a flint she always carried, then lifted it high as she strode further into the labyrinth.

  She wondered whether the spriggan accompanied her or not, but had no way of knowing. She could not see the creature and if it matched its steps to hers, it laughed no longer.

  Rosamunde moved with quick purpose
, following the course she knew as well as the lines of her own hand. She would climb to Tynan’s chamber, she decided, for that was where she had left the ring and that was where she was most likely to encounter him alone. If he was not there, if the ring was not there, then she would decide upon an alternate course at that point.

  Rosamunde had never been troubled by the labyrinth, though she had known many over the years who found it upsetting. She had always thought of it as corridors, useful corridors filled with useful trinkets, a maze filled with only intriguing surprises. On this day, however, it smelled different to her. On this day, she could feel menace emanating from its walls.

  Perhaps it was because the labyrinth was empty as she had never known it to be. Perhaps it was because the relics that had filled the crates stacked here previously had provided a certain mystical protection, a protection which was now gone.

  Perhaps Rosamunde was simply afraid.

  She walked more quickly, turning a number of corners with a lack of caution that was not characteristic of her, and strode without hesitation into the single large cavern from which most paths branched.

  Rosamunde halted so quickly then that she almost stumbled.

  Another torch spilled a puddle of light upon the hewn rock floor on the opposite side of the chamber. The man bearing that torch stood with his boots braced against the floor. He did not so much as move, though she felt the weight of his gaze upon her. Despite herself, her heart skipped in a most unruly fashion.

  For the man who awaited her was Tynan Lammergeier, Laird of Ravensmuir, love of her life.

  * * *

  Vivienne had been steered false by an impetuous choice a dozen times, but never had she erred so thoroughly as this. She sat dejected in the forest near Blackleith, caring little that heavy raindrops began to fall. She drew her hood over her head, planted her chin on her fist and sighed.

  Erik and Ruari had run into the forest and now could not be discerned. Nicholas and his hunting party had disappeared into the distant smudge of forest. The two discontent wives had returned to their cottages, the children had gone home and even the chickens had disappeared.

  She had never felt so alone in all her days.

  Worse, her fate was her own fault. Matters were muddled in truth. Had she been Madeline, all would have come together perfectly at the end, but Vivienne had never possessed Madeline’s ability to note even those details set against her. She oft under-estimated the fullness of the challenge she undertook, and in this case, her choice to pursue Erik would affect only her own fate.

  Alexander would never find a spouse for her now, of that she was certain. In truth, Vivienne did not much care, for the sole spouse she desired was a man who clearly had a spouse already.

  She wished fervently though that her bold choice did not reflect badly upon the natures - and the marital opportunities - of her remaining unwed sisters.

  * * *

  The maids were as inept as Erik had suspected. He and Ruari crept up behind the two women with ease, for they were unaware of their surroundings.

  Save for the location of their patroness. The pair disparaged her choice of garb and manners with savage glee and ensured that they could not be overheard. The maids lingered on the perimeter of the forest, letting their horses graze as they laughed over their lady’s choice of silks.

  “That hue of gold makes her look to be dead,” chortled the one.

  “And the embroidery is more fitting for a wall tapestry than a noblewoman’s hems,” said the other.

  “Yet Lord Henry continues to pay the price of her every whim. Is the man blind or besotted?”

  The second maid laughed. “He cares not what the cost is to keep her blind.”

  “What is that to mean?”

  “You will know when he finds you alone in the larder one night.”

  “You cannot mean that he beds you?” the first gasped.

  The other was clearly not prepared to share all of her secrets. “This cursed rain,” she muttered. “I seem to always be obliged to relieve myself.” She dismounted, leaving the other with her thousand questions, and made her way into the forest.

  Fortunately, there was that length of rope in the saddlebag, the one Erik had used to scale Kinfairlie’s walls. It would be of use this day, for certain. He eased it from the bag and pursued the maid stealthily. She was just in the midst of lifting her chemise and utterly unaware of any threat when Erik pounced upon her.

  She lay trussed on the forest floor, eyes wide in astonishment, in no time at all. She made but one sound of protest before Erik shoved a length of cloth into her mouth.

  That sound was sufficient to kindle the other maid’s curiosity. “Adele?” she asked, then Erik heard her dismount as well. “Adele? Did you slip?”

  She asked no more before Erik granted her the same fate as her companion. The two women wriggled together helplessly on the ground. “I have need of your horses,” Erik said to them. “You will be released when all is resolved.”

  They did not appear to be reassured by this pledge, but he had no time to further placate them. He and Ruari swung into the saddles and rode in pursuit of Nicholas.

  * * *

  Vivienne did not know how long she sat despondent, but it was raining in earnest when six horses came galloping wildly across the meadows. So erratic was their pace that Vivienne rose to her feet, convinced that they were a mark of bad news.

  But Erik was not among them. It was the other three nobles from the hunting party, the two women and the other man, followed by the three squires. All of them were soaked to the skin, their fine garb looking bedraggled in the rain.

  Beatrice fairly flung her hunting hawk at a squire, then marched into the hall. Vivienne bristled that any soul would treat a tethered and hooded - thus helpless - creature so poorly. A peregrine was a noble huntress, worthy of respect for its nature as well as the sheer cost of acquisition and training. Daughter of a family engaged in the training and trade of such birds, Vivienne was outraged.

  She might well loose that bird, just to ensure that it did not have to endure such treatment again. It would be a small strike against the woman whose very existence had shattered Vivienne’s dream, and perhaps a petty one, but a deed that would aid the bird which could not aid itself.

  Vivienne eased closer to the lip of the forest. The other couple remained upon their steeds, though the woman complained bitterly about the weather. The squires made themselves scarce, hastening toward the stable with the hawks. Their palfreys stood with their heads down, clearly discontent to be left in the rain.

  Two of the boys then made their way into the hall, pausing en route for a quick word with the man, while the third cast the barest glance toward the hall before he mounted his palfrey and gave the beast his heels. He galloped in the direction the party had just come, and did so with such haste that he might have feared to be caught.

  With that squire’s departure, Vivienne sensed that something was afoot. This party must have seen Erik to have come so quickly from the forest, though their plan was far from clear. She would listen, and perhaps she would hear some detail that would be of aid to Erik. The forest curved closest to the new stable and she made her way to that point, clinging cautiously to the shadows though the rain would make it more difficult for them to see her.

  “Look,” the noblewoman said, her shrill voice carrying easily to Vivienne’s ears. “The finest damask that could be had in Paris, the most choice samite from Constantinople, and all of it ruined! What person of sense would abide in this foul clime? If it does not rain, then the rain has halted but moments before, or the rain will begin in moments.” She shuddered elaborately. “And the fare is scarce worth the journey. I tell you, Henry, if I am compelled to ingest another hare, no less one with all its bones yet lingering in some thin excuse for a mustard sauce, then I shall scream in fury.”

  “We leave shortly, my love,” the man said calmly. He was clearly accustomed to his wife’s manner, though he glanced grimly
skyward. “Must we leave this very night?” he asked plaintively. “Surely the rain will halt by the morning?”

  “We cannot leave soon enough, in my opinion, though it is vulgar for Beatrice to hasten us from her portal on such an evening as this. I always knew her to be common beneath her fine attire, to be sure. Why do we linger, at all? Why do we even wait for Beatrice and her foul children?”

  Vivienne’s ears pricked at this morsel. She slipped around the stable and strained her ears to hear more.

  “Because I have given her my pledge that we shall protect them, of course, my dear.”

  The wife turned upon her spouse in vexation. “But why? What earthly good are a pair of young girls? If they were boys, they might train in your service, but girls? They will have to be wed and they will have to be garbed, and almost certainly they will be as vain as their mother which will cost you dearly in the end. And for what? They can scarcely be said to be of noble birth, and I doubt they are beauteous enough to make a good match on their own merit alone. Girls are impossible, after all. Look how unreliable those maids have been! They cannot keep themselves in their saddles. I do not care if it takes them all the week to walk back to the hall: Beatrice is welcome to their abilities.” She tossed her head. “I do not know what you were thinking in making such an agreement.”

  “Beatrice’s daughters will make a fitting donation to the local convent, of course,” the man said softly and his wife stared at him in silent awe.

  Vivienne almost gasped aloud, so great was her shock. They could not do this to Erik’s daughters! It was one matter to donate one’s own child to a life of contemplation, but no man had the right to do as much with another man’s child.

  How dare they scheme thus?

  But clearly, she had not heard incorrectly. The woman smiled. “Oh Henry, you are clever. We shall make a contribution and that without emptying our treasury. Will we not have to make a donation for their care, though?”