by Jody Hedlund
Did his preparedness mean Olivia had reached him after all?
Fresh hope welled up inside.
I glanced over my shoulder to gauge my situation and swerved to miss an arrow. As I pivoted in my saddle, I was surprised to see Isabelle charging into the battle instead of retreating. Sir Darien and the other knight rode alongside her. Why would they do such a thing? They needed to take her back to Pitt’s camp where she would be safe.
She unsheathed her sword and pointed it forward in readiness for battle.
At that moment, I realized two things: the tall knight with the broad shoulders was none other than my brother, Sir Bennet, and the woman by his side wasn’t Isabelle. It was Olivia.
A deadly chill coursed through my blood. I tried to shout at her to retreat, but again, my gag stifled my words. Olivia had switched places with Isabelle to protect her sister. She’d apparently hoped the veil in combination with ducking her head would keep her identity a secret. Now that the battle was raging, it was clear she planned to take part in my rescue.
Bennet was steering her out of the worst of the melee toward the sidelines all the while fighting off advancing soldiers. Darien was doing the same. But an arrow came flying too closely, missing her head by only a foot.
The chill inside seeped deeper. Suddenly all that mattered was getting to Olivia and shielding her. She was a strong, capable, brave woman. Of that I had no doubt. But she had no place on the battlefield.
At the pounding of hooves behind me, I shot a glance over my shoulder and caught sight of Eldridge riding after me. He’d ushered the earl away from Pitt and had been leading him back to the castle. But now, likely with strict instructions to make sure I didn’t get away, he rode low and fast. With every long stride, he closed the distance.
I kicked at my mount’s flank. But before I could gain the momentum, pain pierced through my back and into my shoulder. I’d been hit. The slice of the arrowhead, in addition to the pain of my other injuries, was too much to bear. I lost my grip on the pommel and fell from my horse, slamming against the ground with such force that I couldn’t breathe.
Chapter
23
Aldric was down and Eldridge was almost upon him.
I shouted another command to my horse, dug in my heels, and flattened my body against the charging beast. I had to get to Aldric. His hands were chained, he was weaponless, and he was too weak to fight. He needed my help.
Unfortunately, Eldridge was closer and reached Aldric first. The stocky commander hopped from his horse and swung the hilt of his sword toward Aldric’s head, likely intending to knock him unconscious so he could control him more easily.
Thankfully, Aldric’s reflexes were still quick enough that he rolled away. At the sight of the arrow embedded into his shoulder, my blood spurted with new dread.
“He took an arrow to the shoulder,” I called to Sir Bennet, who’d been doing his best to keep me from danger.
From the moment he’d found me sneaking toward Lord Pitt’s camp and pricked me with the tip of his sword, I’d seen the resemblance to Aldric in his handsome features. When Lord Pitt had introduced him a short while later as Aldric’s brother, I hadn’t been surprised.
Apparently as soon as Lord Pitt had discovered that my father captured Aldric, he’d sent news to Sir Bennet. Aldric’s brother lived on the family estate at Maidstone Castle, which was in the neighboring vicinity to Lord Pitt.
Sir Bennet had answered the summons with all haste and had brought with him a small army of his own, including a long-time friend, Sir Collin, who was an expert bowman. Added to Lord Pitt’s men, they provided a formidable foe. I’d since learned that Sir Bennet and Sir Collin were a part of an elite group of knights trained by the Duke of Rivenshire, the king’s brother.
When Sir Bennet had ushered me into Lord Pitt’s presence, I’d informed him of all that had transpired since the boar hunt. I’d even revealed to him my father’s desire to have the Holy Chalice and his intentions of torturing Aldric to learn the location of the relic.
After I’d shared my news, Lord Pitt had conversed with Sir Bennet and Sir Collin before issuing numerous orders to his men and initiating a plan to counterattack my father. I’d insisted in taking Isabelle’s place, and thankfully Lord Pitt had agreed to it without a word of argument.
Now as I raced toward Aldric, I had only one thought in mind—I needed to keep Eldridge from capturing Aldric and dragging him back inside Wigmore. I wouldn’t let Father take Aldric hostage again.
Even if Eldridge had overpowered me in the dungeons, I’d find a way to defeat him this time. I was at a disadvantage without my armor, but I’d do anything to protect Aldric.
I loved him. The powerful truth coursed through my body. I no longer had the will to pretend or the strength to deny the love that had been pulsing through my veins with growing intensity so that now it drowned out all else.
Eldridge lifted the blunt end of his sword toward Aldric’s head again. I was close enough that I rose in my saddle and leapt from my horse. I crashed against Eldridge and knocked him to the ground hard. I rolled, my skirts tangling. Wrenching them free, I jumped up. Before Eldridge could catch his breath and move, I pounced onto his chest with both feet. Then I pointed my blade against his throat.
“I shall not allow you to hurt Aldric ever again.”
Eldridge gasped for breath but stared up at me with his hard, impassive expression.
From the corner of my vision, I saw that Bennet had dismounted next to Aldric and was beginning to cut the binding that gagged him.
“Help him onto my horse,” I ordered Bennet even as I moved my boot to Eldridge’s arm to prevent him from going after any hidden weapons. “Quickly.”
“Is she always this bossy?” Bennet asked Aldric, a hint of humor in his voice.
“Always,” Aldric said as he spat the rag from his mouth.
Bennet grabbed Aldric and assisted him to his feet. At the jarring motion, Aldric sucked in a hissing breath.
At the sound of his pain, I glanced at Aldric. Our gazes connected long enough for me to see his fear—the fear that something would happen to me. I could tell he wanted to order me to leave, to retreat somewhere safe.
Instead of doing so, he nodded his thanks for helping to save his life. In that simple nod, I loved him even more. He was a humble and strong man, one humble enough to learn from his past, and one strong enough to break the shackles and move forward.
I started to nod back but felt myself falling from Eldridge. He’d used the moment of my distraction to his advantage. In an instant, our roles were reversed. He flipped me to the ground and stood over me, his boot grinding into my chest and cutting off my breath.
From nearby, Aldric yelled something and Bennet replied. But before I could gather a new strategy, Eldridge swung the hilt of a sword toward my head. The blunt edge slammed into my temple and pain exploded into a thousand bright lights before all went dark.
Chapter
24
The moment Olivia landed on her back and Eldridge took a swing at her, I roared and barreled forward. I didn’t care that I didn’t have a weapon or that I was injured with an arrowhead still embedded into my shoulder.
Like an enraged wild boar, I put my head down and tackled Eldridge, taking him down to the ground. The moment our bodies collided, I swung my chained wrists into his head with a strength borne of my desperation and anger. The clank of the metal crunched against his skull.
Even with so heavy a blow, Eldridge fumbled against me, attempting to get a solid grasp of his sword.
I roared again, releasing my anger at him for hurting Olivia. I swung my shackled wrists once more, this time bringing them harder against his head. I pummeled him, until at last he grew still underneath me.
When I finally pushed myself away, my breath came in heaving gasps. The wound in my shoulder burned and blood trickled down my back.
As I stood, I staggered from the pain radiating from every inch of my body, but I
searched frantically for Olivia. She lay a dozen paces away with Bennet by her side. He pressed a ripped piece of his tunic against a gash in her head.
I stumbled over and dropped to my knees. Before I could brush him aside, someone had grabbed ahold of my chains and yanked me back to my feet. I started to swing again, enraged that anyone would try to take me away from Olivia.
But at the short dark-skinned Moor, I stopped mid-motion. He started to duck, and I remembered the first sword fight I’d encountered with him in Olivia’s chambers at Ludlow the day I captured her. Cecil had fought as well as a young soldier with a surprising dexterity and agility. In my weakened condition, if he wanted to hurt me, he likely already would have.
Instead, he held out a ring of keys and nodded toward my shackles. His eyes held no warmth, but I knew why he was offering to free me. He wanted me to take Olivia away from here, away from her father, and away from the danger.
I held his gaze and offered my shackles.
Blood oozed from a cut in his forehead, and he’d sustained a wound to his arm. But he stuck the key into the lock and twisted regardless of the repercussions both now and in the future. He pried loose the iron bands around my wrists and tossed them to the ground, followed by the keys.
Then for several heartbeats he studied Olivia’s face as though memorizing her features. “She’ll be happy with you.”
Without a goodbye, he spun and limped back toward the melee. From what I could surmise, our men were overpowering the earl’s who had begun to retreat toward the castle, taking the battle away from us.
Even so, I wasted no further time. I bent, pushed Bennet aside, and scooped Olivia up into my arms. I began to stalk toward my mount. Although my body protested the movement and weight, I pushed aside my discomfort. I needed to get Olivia away from Wigmore and any chance that her father might send someone after us.
“Let’s go,” I said to Bennet.
He’d regained his bearing and now stood watching me without moving. He lifted his visor and his eyes reflected surprise.
“Help me get on the horse,” I commanded tersely.
Still he didn’t budge.
“Now.”
“You’re in love with the girl.”
“She’s not a girl. She’s the earl’s daughter.”
Bennet had the audacity to grin.
I would have ridden away with her by myself without Bennet’s help if I’d had the strength to lift her into the saddle. But I didn’t. I could feel myself weakening. It wouldn’t be long before I’d be unconscious too.
“Please, Bennet. Help me.” My voice was taut with pain and weakness, so much so Bennet lunged forward.
He reached to take Olivia from me, but I held fast to her. “Help me get into the saddle.”
“I’ll hold her,” he offered, his brows furrowing in his suavely handsome face.
I bumped him away with my elbow. “I’ve got her.”
His eyes, so much like mine, rounded. “Very well.”
“Just break the arrow shaft in my shoulder and then assist me up.”
Within seconds, I was in the saddle, with Olivia cradled against my chest. The arrow head still burned in my muscle where it was lodged, but with the shaft broken I wouldn’t risk it slowing me down.
I turned my eyes away from Wigmore in the direction of a place I’d abandoned long ago, a place with too many painful memories, a place to which I hadn’t planned to return.
“Where to?” Bennet asked from his mount next to me.
I urged my horse forward. “Home.”
Chapter
25
The softness of a feather mattress embraced me, and cool, clean sheets covered me. I didn’t have to open my eyes to know I was in bed. Immediately I sensed I wasn’t in my own bed inside Wigmore Castle or even at Ludlow.
Where was I? Had someone returned me to Lord Pitt’s?
I sat up and surveyed my surroundings. I was in a large four-poster bed with thick embroidered bed curtains of the richest royal blue. The chamber was enormous with a stone fireplace covering one wall, several long windows along another, and a polished mahogany table with chairs near the hearth.
One of the chairs had been pulled alongside the bed but was empty. A leather-bound book with gilded corners lay on the floor, not upon rushes, but upon a thick patterned rug of the same deep blue as the tapestries.
I slid to the edge of the bed, noting the exquisite nightdress I was wearing with tiny embroidered roses at the scalloped neckline. My hair hung loose in silky waves, as if someone had recently brushed it. I lifted a hand to my nose and caught the fresh scent of lavender and realized I’d been bathed as well.
With a start, I stood, but immediately sat back down as a wave of dizziness overtook me. My head throbbed, and I gently touched the aching spot at my temple. It was still slightly swollen and the gash was tender. But it seemed to be healing.
From outside the long windows, a sweet melody of birdsong entered the room with a cool breeze that belonged to the morning. How long had I been asleep? What had happened to me?
The battle between Lord Pitt and my father came rushing back. I remembered fighting Eldridge away from Aldric, but somehow he’d managed to hit me. After that I knew nothing. What had become of Aldric? Had he escaped?
With a new sense of urgency, I rose to my feet again, this time going slower. Muted voices in the hallway outside the room came through an open crack in the door. Carefully, I made my way across the room until I stood by the door and could hear more clearly.
“Collin has already left,” came Bennet’s voice. “The Lady Juliana is expecting their first child, and he wanted to make certain he’s home for the birth of the babe.”
“Then I’ll send him a gift with my gratitude.” It was Aldric. I released a low breath of relief that he was here. Perhaps he’d been the one sitting by my bedside. He’d obviously stepped away for only a moment, not anticipating that I’d awaken.
“Collin has no wish for a gift,” Bennet said. “He’s a wealthy man in his own right and has no need of repayment. Such a gesture would only offend him.”
Aldric sighed. “Very well.”
“He was only glad he could be of service to you and the king.”
“Then you will at least allow me to repay you for all your help.”
It was Bennet’s turn to release a breath of frustration. “You were there for me during my greatest moment of need. And I was there for yours. We help each other, Aldric. That’s what family does.”
“You’re sure you won’t reconsider my offer to take Maidstone as your own? You’re more suited to it than I am.”
I straightened at Aldric’s offer. Were we at Maidstone? Their home? I glanced back over the room. It was spacious enough to be the master’s chambers.
“You know I love it,” Bennet said gently. “But I have Sabine’s home now. I have no need for another castle.”
The two were silent for a moment, and I considered making my presence known and ceasing my eavesdropping. But Bennet’s next words stopped me. “You’re the baron, Aldric. It’s in your blood. Not mine.”
Baron?
Was Aldric a baron? All this time, he’d led me to believe he was a poor landless knight when he’d been a baron?
Frustration flared to life, and I swung open the door.
The two brothers started at the sight of me. I had sights only for Aldric. For a moment, I forgot about my questions and frustration. He was simply too stunning for me to think of anything else. With the half-moon bruise under one eye and the layer of stubble covering his chin and jaw, he was even more ruggedly handsome than I remembered. His dark hair was slicked back and freshly groomed, and he wore a clean white tunic edged with a golden braid, fine hose that defined the muscles in his legs, and tall leather boots.
He was attired casually but in a refined manner that displayed his wealth. And his status as a baron.
“You are a baron?” My voice rang with accusation.
He hesi
tated and then glanced at Bennet as though seeking help in answering the question. Bennet only shook his head, clearly unwilling to answer for his brother.
Aldric lifted his shoulders and chin and stared back at me. “Yes, I’m Lord Windsor, Baron of Hampton.”
“Then why did you lead me to believe you were an untitled knight?”
Bennet’s gaze swung back and forth between the two of us, and he backed away. “I think I’ll go find my wife and allow the two of you some much needed time to talk.”
“Stay,” Aldric ordered in a low voice that made Bennet freeze.
“No,” I contradicted. “You may go.”
Bennet watched us another moment, attempted unsuccessfully to hold back a smile, and then backed away.
Aldric shot him a dark glare as he departed, and Bennet responded with an innocent shrug.
Once Bennet disappeared around the corner, I turned my full attention back upon Aldric.
“You lied to me.”
“I didn’t lie,” Aldric responded. “I chose not to reveal my true identity to any of my men so that I could lead them more effectively. Only Lord Pitt was aware of my true status.”
I studied his face, the strong features, the intense expression, the deeply moving eyes. “You could have told me,” I finally replied, the hard edge of my tone softening.
He took a step closer. “Would it have made any difference?” His voice softened too.
“No.”
“I’ll give up my title if you’d prefer.” Another step closed the distance between us so that he was standing in front of me only a breath away. “It means nothing to me.”
I was aware of our close proximity, of the magnitude of his presence, of the broadness of his chest.
“You have proven yourself worthy of your title.” I suspected he’d renounced it along with his home as self-inflicted punishment for his past mistakes with Giselle. But he’d proven time and again that he would face his fears and be stronger for it. “You have learned from your past mistakes and now must stop punishing yourself for them as well.”
