Curtis laughed, hearing his wife as she left the keep. But his smile soon faded as his focus returned to the missive on his desk. Avrielle had been right; if Gallus and his brothers continued their resistance to Henry, then they would be enemies in their own country. With the death of Simon, there wasn’t much left to fight for. Perhaps it was time someone convinced Gallus that for the sake of his family and legacy, he needed to give Henry his due. Curtis knew that whatever Gallus decided, Maximus and Tiberius would go along with. At least, he hoped so. The last thing he wanted to deal with was a rogue de Shera.
When Chris, Arthur and William arrived in their father’s solar some time later, Curtis had their orders cut out for them.
The de Lohr army began to mobilize once again.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Isenhall Castle
Four days into her stay at Isenhall Castle, Alessandria had barely seen Chad. He had warned her that they would be kept apart, especially after he declared his interest in her, and four days later she was coming to find out he had been correct.
Therefore, her days had been reduced to hoping for a glimpse of him, which mostly came around the evening meal, so her entire day was spent looking forward to that one meal where he would be present and she would be permitted to speak to him.
There were times, however, when she would see him walking about the castle, passing from the structure that housed the troops and on towards the stables, or even the gatehouse, and that brief glimpse would give her a dream to dream for the rest of the day.
It was a strange existence, really, in a castle where she didn’t know her hosts very well, although the ladies of the castle, Lady Jeniver and Lady Courtly and Lady Douglass, had been quite kind to her. Even the children had been curious and kind, and there was an entire gaggle of them. They had accepted her quite quickly and she had spent a great deal of time with them, playing with them or even telling them stories. She did love to tell stories, reciting tales she had heard from the nuns at Newington.
Even so, Isenhall was still new and different, and she felt very separated from Chad, leaving her feeling rather lost at times.
On this fine summer day, with a soft breeze blowing and the temperature quite warm, she sat on the steps of the keep because it gave her the widest view of the ward and the best hope for seeing Chad at some point. Because the clothing she had come with had been heavier, meant for travel, Lady Jeniver had supplied her with a bolt of fine, soft linen so that she could sew herself a garment that would be better suited to the warmth of the month.
Alessandria and Jeniver had carefully cut the material into sections that even now, Alessandria was sewing together with fine and sturdy hemp thread. It would hold the fabric better than silk would. She already had the skirt basted together and today she was working on the bodice, sewing the sleeves to it.
It was something to pass the time with and Alessandria was actually looking forward to wearing the garment, the first pretty thing she had ever sewn together. There wasn’t much call for anything other than constructing durable garments at the priory, so this was something of a new adventure for her.
It was late morning as she sat on the stairs, alternately watching her work and the activity in the ward. Maximus and Tiberius had a new Belgian charger they were trying to work with, a massive beast that would snap at Tiberius yet nuzzle Maximus, much to Tiberius’ outrage. It was evidently his horse but it liked Maximus better, and Alessandria sat on the steps and grinned as Tiberius ranted at Maximus for bewitching his horse. She was greatly entertained watching the interaction between them. But as the brothers had her distracted, someone managed to sneak up behind her and whisper in her ear.
“Good morn, my lady.”
Alessandria jumped, startled at the sound of Chad’s voice. When she whirled around to him, she was met by his handsome, grinning face. She grinned in return.
“Good morn,” she said. “What are you doing so close to me without an escort?”
Chad looked around. “I somehow managed to lose Gallus,” he said. “But that is a good thing. Are you willing to do something quite scandalous?”
Alessandria shook her head at him reproachfully, although she was still smiling. “I am afraid to ask what that would be.”
“You will not know unless you come with me.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “With you? Alone?”
He pursed his lips with some irony. “Aless, you spent an entire week alone with me.”
“And you know what happened.”
He just looked at her, surprised she should bring that up. But his manner inevitably softened. “Regrets?”
Alessandria shook her head. “None at all,” she whispered. “In fact… In fact, I miss our time alone together. It seems as if we have had no time together at all since we arrived at Isenhall.”
“I told you that would be the case.”
“I know. But it is still difficult to stomach.”
He smiled, an impish gleam in his eye. “Take heart, fair lady,” he said. “I am about to change that.”
“How?”
He held out a hand to her. “Come with me.”
Alessandria did. There was no question. But she still had her sewing in hand as Chad quickly took her around the side of the keep where there was a small tunnel leading between the wall and the keep, dumping out into the stables. The entire area smelled of animals and hay, made stronger by the warm weather. When Chad finally came to a pause and saw that she was dragging her sewing about, he removed it from her hand and draped it over a stable ventilation window.
“The town of Coventry is not far from here,” he said, his voice low so no one would hear. “Since the only possessions you have are those that others have given you, I thought to take you into the town and buy you a few things so you will not walk about feeling like a charity case. Would you like that?”
He was pointing at the garment she was wearing, the dark green wool that his mother had given her. It didn’t fit her quite right, as it had been made for his shorter and somewhat smaller sister. Alessandria looked down at herself, between being insulted by his observations and excited at the prospect of actually having some possessions of her own. More than that, she was excited by the prospect of going to town with him, just the two of them. Her excitement won out.
“Aye,” she said, somewhat eagerly. “But won’t Gallus and Jeniver wonder where I have gone? What will happen when they cannot find me?”
Chad snorted. “When they cannot find me as well, they will know where you have gone,” he said. “Not to worry. Now, you will leave through the postern gate in the kitchen yard. Do not wander; wait by the gate. I will ride from the gatehouse and come for you.”
With an enthusiastic grin, Alessandria ran off, back into the kitchen yards, while Chad went to casually collect his horse, whistling all the way, pretending like he wasn’t about to do something rather scandalous with a de Shera relative.
Chad’s fat stud was munching away on a bucket of grains in his stall and Chad removed the unhappy animal from his feed, taking him out into the yard where skinny stable grooms saddled the beast. Chad ended up helping them because they were taking too long and he wanted to be on his way before someone stopped him, a fear that grew stronger when Maximus and Tiberius came back into the stableyard with Tiberius’ new Belgian charger. The horse kept trying to bite Tiberius while Maximus petted and stroked the beast, who obviously favored Maximus. Chad grinned to see Tiberius so upset over his horse’s favoritism towards his brother.
“Is that your new stud from Antwerp?” Chad asked Tiberius. “He does not seem to like you very much.”
Tiberius’ features were molded into a permanent frown. “Max has no shame in seducing animals,” he said loudly. “He has bewitched my horse so that it will obey only him. I cannot do a thing with him.”
Chad was trying not to laugh as Tiberius came close to a tantrum. “The solution is simple,” he said. “Give Max the horse and have him buy you another one. You
will not want a horse that is in love with your brother.”
Tiberius nodded his head. “You are very correct,” he said. He pointed at his brother. “You owe me a new horse.”
Maximus merely laughed and led the horse away, putting it in the section of the stable where his two other horses were kept. It was a statement to Tiberius that he was claiming the horse for good and Tiberius waved his brother off, disgusted.
“He always steals things from me,” he muttered. “Had he not already been married, he might have stolen my wife from me as well. He even tries to coerce my children in to liking him better.”
Chad laughed as he finished up with his own horse. “I am sorry for you, lad,” he said, swinging himself up easily into the saddle. “But you must know that you are the smartest and most likeable brother of all. Maximus is a sour bear of a man most of the time.”
Tiberius nodded, conceding the point. “That is true,” he replied. Then, it was like he was only just noticing that Chad was preparing to leave. “Where are you going?”
Chad gathered his reins. “To Coventry.”
“Why?”
Chad cocked an eyebrow at him. “To purchase a gift for a certain young lady, if you must know.”
Tiberius grinned. “Ah,” he said. “She is a lovely girl, Chad. You are a fortunate man.”
“Aye, I am. Now, let me be on my way or I will not make it back in time for supper. That is the only time I am allowed to speak with Aless and I do not want to miss it.”
“Frustrated?”
“Unbelievably so.”
Tiberius snorted, waving him off, and Chad cantered from the stableyard and out into the ward where men were going about their business. He made his way to the gatehouse, pausing while they lifted the double portcullises in a great symphony of groans and creaks, before spurring his horse out onto the road beyond.
Chad knew that men were watching from the battlements so he continued out along the road until he disappeared into a grove of trees. Then, he swung into the trees and carved a wide path around the perimeter of Isenhall, about a quarter of a mile out, until he came to the rear of the fortress.
Then, he swung inward, through more trees, until he met with the clearing on the other side. He could see Alessandria standing against the wall near the postern gate, patiently waiting, but he had to pause until the few men manning the back side of the fortress moved out of range. Quickly, he thundered across the clearing, pulled Alessandria on behind him, and tore off back into the shield of the trees before anyone was the wiser.
It had been a slick and clever plan that now saw them quite alone. Nestled in behind Chad, Alessandria clung to him as they rode through the bramble, her cheek against his back and the cold feel of mail between her and his muscular, warm body. But it didn’t matter; they were together, her arms were wrapped around him, and it was just like it had been for that blissful week when they fled Canterbury for Isenhall. It was as if nothing else in the word existed.
For now, it was only them.
But their solitude couldn’t last forever, unfortunately. The town of Coventry was quite close and they arrived on the outskirts of the burg within a half-hour of leaving Isenhall. With the warm, bright day and few clouds overhead, the town was bustling with merchants and farmers, people moving about to conduct their business.
They came up from the southeast, up to the very large wall that surrounded the city, and passed through the New Gate that opened up into a residential part of the city. As the Earl of Coventry, Gallus had men stationed at the city gates along with soldiers from the Catesby family who were major land owners in the city itself.
Lord Catesby was a merchant by trade and had amassed a vast fortune that required many soldiers to help protect it. He wasn’t a political man and therefore worked well with Gallus regardless of the de Shera support of de Montfort, and as Chad passed through the gate and into the town proper, he saw very few de Shera soldiers and many more Catesby soldiers. After Evesham, that Gallus shouldn’t assign soldiers from his depleted army to guard the city gates wasn’t surprising.
“Where are we going?” Alessandria asked from behind him. “Did you have a plan in mind?”
Chad nodded as they plodded down the avenue, children playing in the streets and dogs barking as they moved along. It was a glorious, sunny day and he shielded his eyes from the bright rays as he looked on ahead.
“Indeed, I do,” he replied. “Past the cathedral on the north side of the city is the Street of the Cooks and Merchants. We shall go there to see if we can find suitable material in which to clothe you.”
Alessandria watched the people as they passed by; one child stuck his tongue out at her and she stuck her tongue out at him in return. As the boy went wailing to his mother, she fought off a grin.
“You truly do not have to purchase anything for me,” she said. “Simply to be with you is more than enough. That is truly the only reason I came.”
Chad’s big, gloved hand found her small hands, clasped around his waist as she held on. “I have missed not seeing you more frequently,” he said. “I was going out of my mind with longing even though I know very well that you are in good hands.”
Alessandria lay her cheek against his back again, so very content. “Jeniver and Courtly and Douglass have been very kind to me,” she said. “I never knew women could be so kind.”
Chad patted her hands. “Not every woman is like your Lady Orford and her horrible daughter,” he said. “There are kind people in the world.”
Alessandria watched a little girl carry around a puppy, with the puppy’s legs dangling. “I know,” she said. “I discovered that the day I went to Newington, although the kindness from the nuns is much different than the kindness of the ladies at Isenhall. The nuns were kind out of duty, I suppose, but Jeniver and Courtly and Douglass seem to be kind because they want to be.”
Chad could see the cathedral up ahead and, beyond that, would be the Street of the Cooks and Merchants. “Of course they do,” he said. “It is unfortunate that you’ve not known much kindness in your life, but take heart that it will no longer be true. I intend to be kind to you and spoil you until you grow sick of it. You deserve nothing less.”
Alessandria grinned, now also catching sight of the cathedral up ahead. It was a large complex with a spire, rising into the sky and seen well across the land, constructed from red stone that had turned brown and dingy with age. It was the same stone that the walls of the town had been built with.
“Look,” she said, pointing to the cathedral. “Is that the cathedral?”
Chad’s gaze was on the cathedral as well. “It is,” he said. “That is St. Mary’s Priory and Cathedral. Newington did not have a cathedral attached to it, did it?”
Alessandria shook her head. “Nay,” she replied. “It was part of the bishopric of Rochester. We went to Matins at Rochester every Sunday regardless of the weather. We would walk the entire way.”
He craned his head back to look at her with some surprise. “That is a distance to walk,” he said. “How long did it take you?”
She shrugged. “An hour or less,” she said. “I did not mind. The cathedral at Rochester is so beautiful. No offense intended for St. Mary’s, but Rochester’s is far more grand.”
Chad simply grinned at her. They passed St. Mary’s and its dingy stones, and Alessandria inspected the structure with interest. Just as she had done the entire ride from Canterbury to Isenhall, she inspected her surroundings and the towns they passed through with great interest.
Alessandria had spent so much time bottled up, away from the world, that everything was bright and new to her now, seeing sights she had never seen before. But they soon left the cathedral behind as they passed by the town’s center, heading to the Street of the Cooks and Merchants. Alessandria was enamored with everything around her.
“I have been wondering something,” she said.
Chad could see their destination up ahead. “What is that?”
“A
fter we are married, where shall we live?”
Chad thought on his reply. “From my father, I inherited the title Lord Thorndon,” he said. “The title comes with two small castles that my father staffs with Canterbury soldiers as outposts. One is Denstroude Castle and the other is Whitehill Castle, both of them on the north perimeter of Canterbury lands. I suppose we could live in one of those if you wish.”
“Lord Thorndon,” Alessandria murmured, rolling the title over her tongue. “It is a prestigious title.”
Chad grinned, turning to look at her. “And you will be Lady Thorndon,” he said. “When I inherit my father’s earldom, you will be the Countess of Canterbury. What a magnificent countess you will make.”
Alessandria returned his grin, humbled. “It seems like a dream to even entertain the thought,” she said, struggling to explain her feelings on the matter. “I am a simple woman, after all. I did not grow up in a fine home and learn fine things. To be a countess… I must say that I feel wholly unworthy, Chad.”
His smile faded. “You are the worthiest woman in the world,” he said quietly, firmly. “You are not polluted by politics or poisoned from those fine homes you speak of. You, and only you, are worthy of such a post. You will honor the name of Canterbury and the House of de Lohr.”
“Are you certain?”
He pulled the horse to a halt, still looking at her over his shoulder. “I would not say it if I did not believe it,” he said. “Aless, do you not have any concept of how beautiful and honest you are? You are a treasure, over any so-called fine woman I could ever find.”
His flattery was true and sincere. Alessandria flushed and lowered her head, basking in his compliments. She was unused to such things but Chad was certain to make her accustomed to them with his gentle flattery. He had been like that the entire ride to Isenhall, dropping gentle compliments now and again, introducing her to the world of courtship. It was something she was rapidly becoming accustomed to.
The de Lohr Dynasty Page 213
