A Loyal Heart

by Jody Hedlund

  As we galloped hard in an effort to keep up with the dogs, Olivia tossed a smile back at me, her eyes sparkling with the thrill of the chase. “Someday I shall be among the nobility who dismounts for the kill.”

  At her declaration, all I could picture was a boar charging directly at her, maiming her lovely body, or worse—killing her. A slow, thick dread trickled into my blood and pumped through my veins. I shouldn’t have allowed Olivia to come. Once she tasted the blood-pounding thrill of the hunt, she wouldn’t be sated until she participated for herself.

  I tugged on the reins and slowed my steed, letting the others in our party rumble past us. Several of my squires likewise began to slow, but I waved them ahead. “Go on!” I shouted. “We’ll be along.”

  “What are you doing?” Olivia reached for the reins as though she would take control of the steed and urge it onward again.

  But I held the reins fast and brought the steed to a jerking halt.

  The braying of the hounds and the galloping of the other hunters began to fade. Olivia turned her excited eyes upon me. “Make haste! Or we shall miss the kill.”

  I didn’t move. “I shouldn’t have brought you on the hunt.”

  “Whatever do you mean?” She twisted in the saddle to get a better look at me. “You know how much I have longed to participate in such a hunt.”

  “It’s too dangerous.” I couldn’t let her continue. “I’m taking you back to Tolleymuth.”

  “No. I am perfectly fine and shall finish the hunt.”

  “I won’t allow it.”

  “And I won’t allow you to coddle me.”

  “This is my decision, Olivia. And we’re not staying.” I veered my mount in the direction that would take us back to the castle. Before I could dig in my heels and drive the steed forward, Olivia slipped out of my grip and hopped down from the saddle.

  She stumbled and fell to the ground, thankfully into a heap of brush. Even so, a spurt of anxiety sent my heart diving into my chest, and I jumped down after her.

  “My lady,” I said reaching for her arm to assist her to her feet. “Are you hurt?”

  Before I could take hold of her, she bounded up and darted several feet away. She spread her feet, crossed her arms, and glared at me. “I am not fragile and will not break, so stop treating me as though I will.”

  Was I? I stared at her, the defiant tilt of her chin, the glint in her eyes. Yes, she was a strong and skilled woman, but that knowledge didn’t quell my fears. It only spiked them. She was too headstrong and unafraid, and someday that would get her into trouble. I wouldn’t sit by and watch that happen. In fact, I loathed the thought of having to watch her get hurt, possibly even mortally.

  I’d already had to sit helplessly by as one woman I loved perished, unable to stop the disaster from happening. I wouldn’t stand back and let that same thing happen again.

  “You are not as invincible as you believe,” I stated calmly, taking a step toward her.

  “I may not be invincible, but watching a hunt will not bring me harm.”

  “It’ll only incite you all the more to desire to participate. And I won’t allow you to join a boar hunt. Not now or in the future.”

  “Who gives you permission to determine what I may or may not do?”

  Again, I took a step toward her, intending to sling her over my shoulder and carry her back to Tolleymuth if I must. “We are betrothed. I’ll be your husband in less than two days. You are bound to obey me.”

  Her eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared with her displeasure. I didn’t want to make her unhappy, but I also wanted to keep her safe.

  “If you truly intend to marry me,” she said in a dangerously low voice, “then you must know I shall not be ordered about like one of your hunting dogs. I would have you weigh my opinions and ideas with as much respect as you give Lord Pitt’s.”

  So she doubted that I intended to marry her? My own doubts had assailed me over the past few days, but I didn’t plan to run away from my commitment. Did I?

  I shook my head to clear the frustration and confusion from the previous restless night. Even if I followed through, even if we wedded, could I weigh her opinions and ideas the same way I did those of my peers? Most women obeyed their husbands without question. Giselle always had. And Lady Glynnis obeyed Pitt.

  “I’m not treating you like a dog,” I finally said.

  “Out of everything I just said, you chose that as your response?” She huffed and then stomped away. She attempted to be graceful and hold her chin high, but the terrain was littered with windfall and prevented a swift and easy exit.

  She’d basically accused me of avoiding the real issues. But what was the heart of the matter? Why was I really upset? Deep inside I suspected my past and all that had happened with Giselle was locking me within a prison I didn’t know how to escape.

  “Olivia, wait.” I gentled my tone and began to stride after her. I wasn’t sure that I was the right man for her, but at the same time, I wasn’t ready to lose her. “Please.”

  At my plea, she stopped. But she didn’t turn.

  Behind us, the rapid thud of horse hooves told me our moment of privacy was nearly at an end. The pounding belonged to several horses and bore down upon us with an urgency that raised the hairs on the back of my neck.

  Something was amiss, though I knew not what.

  Olivia, hearing the sound of the horses, finally pivoted. At the widening of her eyes and the fear that flashed there, I guessed the newcomers were not my men returning to chaperone us.

  I spun and scanned the woods. I felt the rumble beneath my feet, detected a new scent in the air, and tasted the determination to fend off any threat.

  In a fraction of time, I determined that three horses were bearing down on us. I’d already unsheathed both my broadsword and the boar sword. I could fell two men at once. The third would be a challenge, as I would likely have to take out my dagger.

  “Aldric!” Olivia called in alarm. “Take care!”

  Before I could assess the meaning of her warning, I caught a glimpse of a cudgel seconds before it slammed into the side of my head. The world exploded into a burst of stars and pain. My body crumpled. And all went black.

  Chapter

  18

  “Aldric!” I cried again as he collapsed a half a dozen paces from me. He hit the ground hard, his eyes closed. My heart seized with the fear that he was dead.

  To my right the cloaked man who’d thrown the cudgel was bearing directly upon me.

  I lunged for Aldric’s sword, which had fallen from his grip and lay by his side. I swept it up and at the same moment swung at the incoming rider.

  I would have sliced off his arm had he not jerked away and rolled from his horse at the same time. The movement was familiar, one I’d learned during my years of training.

  “Cecil?” Even though Aldric’s sword was heavier than I was accustomed to, I wrested it back under my control and stepped warily toward the cloaked figure now crouched on the ground.

  He sprang up and at the same moment tossed his hood back, revealing his face.

  The Moor’s bronzed skin and narrow face with the black goatee should have been a welcoming sight. But I was too worried about Aldric.

  I retraced my steps and dropped to my knees beside Aldric before gently rolling him to his back. At the warmth of breath coming from his lips and the rise and fall of his chest, I expelled my panic. A rounded knot was forming on his head above his temple, but he had no gash.

  Cecil had rendered him unconscious. But I was acquainted with Cecil’s skills enough to realize he could have killed Aldric if he’d wanted to. “Why did you choose not to kill him?” I asked, glancing up to see two other riders rapidly approaching.

  “Turn him over,” Cecil said urgently. “Pretend he’s dead and walk away.”

  The Moor’s instructions bewildered me. I couldn’t walk away from Aldric, not when he was injured and unconscious. He needed me.

  “Make haste,” Cecil
hissed, tugging me to my feet.

  I resisted. “I shall not leave him.”

  Cecil jerked me closer. “Listen to me, Olivia. If you want to save him, then leave him.”

  At that moment, my gaze connected with the lead rider pulling alongside us. Underneath the hood of his cloak, I glimpsed auburn hair the same rich hue as my own, a handsome but hard face, and penetrating eyes that belonged to only one man. My father.

  He surveyed Aldric’s unmoving form. “Is he dead?”

  Another rider reined his horse behind my father, a man I recognized as his commander, Sir Eldridge, his strongest knight. He was short and stocky, not an overly large man. However, he was a brute and wielded a heavy hand with his men.

  Cecil pushed me away from Aldric. “If he’s not dead yet, he will be soon.”

  Father watched the fallen knight a moment, testing Cecil’s words.

  A tremor of fear raced through my blood turning me cold even though the day was growing hot. My father clearly wanted Aldric dead. But Cecil had disobeyed the kill order. What could that mean?

  I needed to distract my father, take his attention away from Aldric. With a jerk to free myself from Cecil, I approached my father’s steed. I lifted my chin and kept my countenance hard and controlled. He despised any sign of weakness and would dismiss me at once if he sensed I was afraid.

  “So you finally decided to rescue me,” I stated.

  “Where is the chalice?” His greeting was as hard as mine. I should have known he’d get straight to the reason for this encounter.

  “Lord Pitt does not have it in his possession.”

  “You are certain of this?”

  I nodded. “I searched everywhere and spent three days in the dungeons for breaking into Lord Pitt’s treasury.”

  Father exchanged a glance with Eldridge, a look that told me they’d already been aware of my fate. Apparently Lord Pitt had made sure Father was well apprised of my crime and the ensuing punishment. I had no doubt he also knew of my betrothal to Aldric.

  He looked me over as he would a prized possession. “Have they defiled you?”

  The blunt question knocked into me, both startling and embarrassing me. But I attempted not to show any emotion. “Of course not. I would have strangled any man who tried.”

  Father’s lips curled into a tight smile that he shared with Eldridge. “I told you she is too tough to allow it.”

  Eldridge’s face remained impassive, his eyes alert. His only response to my father was a nod.

  “It is beneficial that you maintained your virtue,” Father addressed me. “Lord Clearwater’s son would never agree to marry you if he learned you were a tainted woman. I would have had to give him Isabelle instead.”

  “Isabelle? She is much too young—”

  “She’s old enough to do her duty to her family if needed.”

  Duty to family? I swallowed the revulsion rising in my throat. Isabelle was only fifteen and was too sweet to be thrust into political intrigue. She wasn’t ready for marriage to a man like Lionel Lacy and probably never would be. She needed someone tender and compassionate who would treat her like the treasure she was. A man too hard would crush her.

  “As it is, Clearwater’s son prefers you,” Father continued. “We shall move forward with the betrothal arrangements as soon as possible—”

  “But I am bound to Sir Aldric.” After spending the last few weeks with Aldric, I could no longer imagine myself with anyone else. I wasn’t so foolish to believe Father would agree to honor my betrothal to Aldric. Yet I was suddenly desperate to find a way to stay with him. “I took vows in front of witnesses.”

  “You cannot be bound to someone who is dead.” Father flicked a disdainful glance at Aldric, but then returned his gaze, this time with narrowed eyes.

  “We should be on our way, my lord,” Cecil said, looking in the direction that the rest of the hunting party had disappeared. “Sir Aldric’s men will return before long.”

  “He’s not dead.” Father turned hard eyes upon Cecil. “When you asked to come along, you assured me you could take out Lord Pitt’s commander with one blow.”

  “And I did take him out.” Cecil’s black eyes didn’t waver. He knew how to handle my father better than I.

  At the rasp of steel and the glint of Eldridge’s dagger, the coldness that had been flowing through my blood pooled around my heart.

  I met Cecil’s gaze and saw the apology there. He’d attempted to save Aldric, had warned me, had tried to pull me away. But I hadn’t heeded him. Now Aldric’s death would be my fault. If only I hadn’t argued with Aldric and stalked away like a pouting child. If I’d stayed in the saddle with him, my father may have ambushed us, but at least we would have had a chance to fight back together.

  The direction of my thoughts took me by surprise, but I had no time to analyze them.

  Eldridge slid from his mount. “I’ll finish him off, my lord.”

  Father nodded. “Make it quick.”

  I was still holding Aldric’s sword, and my fingers tightened around the hilt. I couldn’t stand back and allow Eldridge to slice open Aldric’s throat.

  As Eldridge stalked over to Aldric, I stepped in his path. “You cannot kill him.”

  Eldridge’s expression was one of almost boredom. He began to step around me, but I moved with him, blocking his way.

  “We need to keep him alive,” I said in my sternest voice.

  Eldridge stopped and glanced back at my father, waiting for his cue on how to proceed. I used that moment to bring Aldric’s sword down upon Eldridge’s dagger, driving it from his hand so that it flew and landed several paces to his side.

  Father nodded at Eldridge, all the permission the commander needed to bypass me any way he wished. He unsheathed his sword and knocked mine to the ground in a blow that would have broken bones in my hand if I’d not released it as quickly as I did. As it was, I cradled my hand and bit back a cry of pain even as I bent to retrieve the sword, fully intending to plunge it into Eldridge’s back to prevent him from killing Aldric.

  “If you kill him,” I said, my voice rising in desperation, “you will lose any chance at finding the Holy Chalice.”

  At my declaration, Eldridge turned and regarded me.

  “You said Lord Pitt doesn’t have the chalice in his possession.” Father’s tone was deceptively calm, the tone he used when he was growing angry.

  “Lord Pitt no longer has it,” I responded. “But Sir Aldric does. Lord Pitt gave him the chalice, and he placed it into hiding for safekeeping.”

  “And where is his hiding place?”

  “He did not divulge such private information. But he assured me he would allow Charles to take a sip from it.”

  Once again, Father studied my expression.

  “If Sir Aldric is alive,” I continued, “he can retrieve it and bring it to Charles. I have no doubt he would do so for a good cause. Sir Aldric is a kind man and will not deny us the opportunity to save Charles.”

  Father remained silent.

  As I stared back at my father, another layer of iciness froze around my heart. He’d never shown me any kindness, I realized with startling clarity. Maybe I’d once believed his decisions had been kind, but after living with a truly noble and selfless man like Sir Aldric, the contrast was too much to ignore.

  Perhaps my father cared about our family in a general sense. Perhaps he had our family’s happiness and success at the heart of everything he did. Perhaps he even cared about the fate of his children.

  But he wasn’t kind. Not like Aldric.

  “Very well. Tie him up.” Father adjusted himself in his saddle, preparing to go. “If he knows the location of the chalice as Olivia claims, he may be of some use to us yet.”

  I wanted to sink to the ground in relief, but instead I forced myself to turn and walk away from Aldric. Though I wanted to insist on tending his wound and riding with him, I’d only put him in more danger if Father suspected how much I’d grown to care about the e
nemy knight.

  As we mounted and rode away, Aldric was still unconscious. Tied and gagged behind Cecil, he had no hope of escape, not with the way Eldridge had bound him. Nevertheless, I’d saved his life for now and had bought myself more time to figure out how to arrange for his release.

  “What about Izzy?” I asked when Father and Eldridge led us in the direction opposite Tolleymuth. “We cannot leave without her.”

  “We do not have time to arrange for her escape this day,” Father said.

  I slowed my horse’s gait. Although Lord Pitt was not as foreboding as I’d once believed, he was still a dangerous man when provoked. Upon news reaching him regarding my getaway and Aldric’s capture, he would retaliate. Of that I had no doubt. I suspected he would use Izzy. She would take my place in the game he was playing with my father. And I dreaded the prospect of what he might do to her.

  It was one thing for me to agree to a betrothal to Lord Pitt’s commander. But it was another thing entirely for Izzy to be subjected to such scheming.

  “I will ride into Tolleymuth alone to get her,” I said. “With the hunting party gone, I shall make up an excuse that I want Izzy to go hunting with me. The household will be none the wiser until later when Sir Aldric does not return.”

  My father didn’t slow his horse, but instead slapped the riding whip against the beast’s flank sending it into a gallop.

  “Father, please.” I wasn’t above begging where Izzy was concerned. “Please let me go after her.”

  “Leave her.” His reply was terse. “She may yet be of some use to us there.”

  I pursed my lips to keep from blurting any further protest. Aldric’s words about my father came back to mock me as they already had at other times: He seeks to increase his wealth and power in whatever way suits him.

  Was Father using us both to suit himself? Were we dispensable to him? I shook my head and reminded myself we were loyal to one another, that he’d secure Izzy’s release eventually.

  But this time, even as I assured myself, the words didn’t ring true.