“You are going to battle,” she wept.
He kissed her hair, her forehead. “Aye,” he whispered.
Her sobs were loud and unrestrained. “I may never see you again.”
He couldn’t lie to her. He could feel tears stinging his eyes. “Aye, you will,” he said confidently. “I will return to you, I swear it, even if it is in the caress of a breeze or the visit of a sparrow who sits on your windowsill. Even if my body does not return, my heart and soul will always find you, Chloë. You have them with you even now. That will never change.”
She wept loudly, devastated at the news. Keir held her, rocking her gently as she expended her grief. After several long and painful moments, he swept her into his arms and carried her to her bed. Laying her down on the overstuffed mattress, he lay down beside her and gathered her into his arms.
Chloë sobbed until there was nothing left. Wrapped in his enormous arms, she clutched his tunic, her face buried in his neck. Keir had one arm around her body while the other was up around her shoulders, a great hand in her hair, caressing her head, soothing her.
“Please,” she whispered, begging. “Please do not go.”
He hissed her forehead tenderly. “I must,” he replied.
Her sobs renewed with vigor for a time, eventually fading off into sniffles and hiccups. Eventually, she fell still and Keir knew she had fallen asleep. He could hear her deep, steady breathing. He lay there with her for a while, simply to feel her close to him, before very carefully disengaging himself and rising from the bed. She was so emotionally exhausted that she didn’t stir in the least.
Pulling the coverlet over her, Keir silently gathered his mail and slipped from the room. With Chloë sleeping, he could focus on what he needed to accomplish before tomorrow’s departure. The first thing he intended to do was stop Lady de Geld from sending any sort of missive to Ingilby. Without Keir around to protect Chloë, he was very concerned. Better not to rattle the man’s cage and leave well enough alone.
After a shave and a clean change of clothes, Keir went in search of Lady de Geld and found the woman in Coverdale’s solar. She was there with her husband as well as Lord Coverdale. Keir didn’t like the mood of the room when he entered it and liked it even less when Anton began to speak. He knew of the missive from the king and had something to say about it.
By then, stopping a wedding announcement to Ingilby was the very least of Keir’s worries.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Nay!” Chloë was screaming at her father. “You promised, Father. You promised!”
Anton held his position in a very unpopular battle. His wife and both daughters were against him, but he had to hold fast. He knew best in this instance. The womenfolk in his family were thinking with their emotions, as women often do, and he was thinking clearly where they were not. Truth be told, however, it was a struggle to hold his ground. He did not like to see his wife and daughters so unhappy when it was directed at him.
“I made the promise before I knew the man was going off to war,” he told his daughter steadily. “You will marry this man today and be a widow tomorrow? I think not. I know you do not agree with me, Chloë, but you must understand I am doing this for your own good. If St. Héver perishes in Wales, as his widow, you will be relegated to the average offers for your hand. As an unwed maiden, your price is premium.”
“Nay!” Chloë screamed again, smacking her hands on the desk in Coverdale’s solar. “I will not hear of this. You promised Keir and me that we could be married and we will.”
Anton was becoming increasingly upset over her disrespectful tone. Chloë wasn’t usually a screamer, which was something else of a shock to him. However, Cassandra was livid. The blond sister had a bold mouth and was not afraid to voice her opinion in the face of what she considered sheer stupidity.
“And me?” she spat. “Kurtis is not going to war but will you make me wait as well for some foolish, contrived reason?”
“You will not speak to me in that tone,” Anton warned her.
“Or what?” Cassandra snapped. “Will you prove that I am right and you are not a man of your word? How dare you go back on your word to Keir and Chloë. The man is going off to war and all you can think of is keeping your daughter’s price high for the next potential husband?”
“Enough!” Anton roared. “Leave this solar, Cassandra. This matter does not concern you.”
Cassandra wasn’t finished nor would she allow her father to cast her aside. She moved towards the man, teeth bared, and lowered her voice.
“Think very hard about what you are doing,” she seethed. “If you go back on your promise to Keir and Chloë, men will know this. They will know this because I will tell them and your oath will be no better than sand through fingers to any man who holds bond with you. Keir is a well-respected and honored knight, and I am ashamed that you would rescind your word to him. It is a vile, treacherous act against your own flesh and blood.”
Anton reached out and slapped her across the face but, to her credit, Cassandra didn’t flinch or cry. She took the blow, her blue eyes drilling holes through her father before turning and quitting the room. Chloë watched her sister go with big eyes, turning to her father with a new round of venom.
“You struck her?” she gasped. “Why would you do such a thing? She only speaks the truth.”
Anton jabbed a finger at her. “Do not believe for one minute I will not beat you as well for your insolence. You insult my integrity.”
“That is because you have none if you go back on your word to Keir!”
“I will not hear this!” Anton bellowed. “If you cannot abide by my wishes, I will marry you to the next man who bids for your hand and forget all about you, you ungrateful wench. My castle is in ruins because of you and now you seek to question my authority on the matter of your marriage? You are mine to broker as I please, daughter, and I will not marry you to a man who is riding off to his death in battle. You are more valuable as an unwed maiden than you are as a widow.”
Chloë was so upset she could hardly breathe. She gazed steadily at her father, hating the man more than she could express. He had always been rather shallow and careless, but nothing like this. He was turning into something dark and deceitful right before her eyes and she hated him for it.
“I will commit myself to a convent before I allow you to broker me like a prize mare,” she hissed. “I will be Keir’s wife and no one else’s.”
“You will do what I tell you.”
“Is that all I am to you? A bargaining tool?”
“You are my daughter and I will mold your future as I see fit.”
Chloë was beginning to tremble, her emotions overwhelming her. “And if Keir returns from Wales? What then?”
“Then you shall marry him,” Blanche looked up from her needlework, which she had patiently been working throughout the entire violent argument between her husband and daughters. She glanced at Anton as if daring him to contradict her. “If Keir returns from Wales, well and good. You shall marry him. But if he does not return, your father only wants you to have the best opportunities. Your selection of husbands as a widow will not be nearly as prestigious as your selection as a maiden. Although I do not agree with your father’s tactics, I understand his reasoning. In the end, he is only thinking of you, Chloë.”
Chloë looked at her mother, wishing she had more support from the woman. But something stuck in her mind, something both of her parents had said – an unwed maiden. After last night, Chloë was no longer a maiden and that little fact was verging on the tip of her tongue. She wasn’t ashamed of it in the least. Perhaps if she told them, they would have to allow her to marry Keir. It was her secret weapon, one that could easily be used against her, but she had to take the chance.
“I will not command as high a price as you think,” she said deliberately, turning baleful eyes to her father. “I am no longer a maiden, Father. There is no value in used goods. You must marry me to Keir now because I belong to him,
body and soul. I am his forever and you cannot separate us.”
Anton’s eyes bugged with shock, with outrage. “He stole your innocence?”
“Nay!” Chloë shouted back. “I gave it to him willingly because I love him and because you promised him that we could be wed. I gave my innocence to the man intended to be my husband. Now you would seek to take that away from us both!”
She was screaming by the time she finished, so much so that Blanche stood up and went to her, putting her hands on her daughter to calm her. Chloë was struggling against tears but it wasn’t working; little sobs kept bubbling out and she wiped at her eyes, her nose. Blanche, never one to be particularly comforting, put a soothing hand to her daughter’s red cheek.
“Anton,” she said in a low, firm voice. “Perhaps we should reconsider. You did give your word to Chloë and Sir Keir.”
Anton began to stomp around, throwing the cup in his hand that was half-full of wine. “I will not hear this,” he shouted. “Now Chloë is compromised, the most beautiful woman in the whole north of England, and she is cheapened like a whore by a knight who could not resist her flesh. Who would want to marry her now that St. Héver has marked her?”
“I would rather be a whore than a liar,” Chloë screamed at him, the tears beginning to fall. “You have always been weak and foolish, Father, but this goes beyond what I even thought you were capable of. You cannot keep me from Keir!”
He jabbed a finger at her. “One more word from you and you will never marry this man, not even if he returns from Wales, and I will sell you off to the brothels in London if you cannot show more respect and common sense.”
The door to the solar suddenly flew open, slamming back so hard that the iron hinges bent and one of them actually popped out of the wall. Keir charged through, his handsome face taut with rage. He went straight to Chloë, who collapsed into loud sobs when she saw him. He threw his arms around her, holding her tightly, trying to focus on comforting her and not snapping Anton de Geld’s neck. He had been lingering outside of the solar, listening to every word spoken until he could stand it no longer. His ice blue gaze was steady over the top of Chloë’s dark red head.
“If you ever speak to her in that manner again, I will kill you,” he growled. “She is not a whore and she is not cheapened. She is a wise, gifted and beautiful woman whom I am deeply in love with and if there is any shame in this matter, it is yours and yours alone for breaking your bond. Chloë has done nothing wrong.”
Anton was pale and trembling as he stood near the hearth, the anger in his veins pumping but not foolish enough to lash back at St. Héver. The man was twice his size and many times more deadly. As his mouth worked, struggling for a reply that wouldn’t send St. Héver’s sword into his gut, Kurtis suddenly charged in to the room and moved straight for him. Cassandra, her cheek still red from her father’s slap, bolted after Kurtis, holding on to the man and struggling to restrain him.
“Nay, Kurtis,” she begged. “Please… he was angry. He did not mean it.”
Anton could read his death in the eyes of the men before him. He scurried away to the hearth and grabbed the nearest implement he could find, which happened to be a big copper shovel used to remove ash. He wielded it against Kurtis as the man came close, but Kurtis lashed out a big hand and knocked the shovel halfway across the room. As Anton backed up against the wall, Kurtis thrust a finger in to the man’s face.
“Only because she has asked me not to kill you, I will not,” he growled. “But I will tell you this; I do not care if you are the father of my wife. If you ever touch her again in anger, I will rip your head from your body. Is this in any way unclear?”
Before Anton could reply, the room filled up with knights and Lord Coverdale. They had heard the shouting in the solar and seen the reaction of the St. Héver brothers, and Byron was quick to gather muscle and race into the solar to save Anton from being cut to pieces. Coverdale knew what Keir was capable of and he would not see the man hanged for murder. He could see Keir with Chloë in his arms but the more immediate problem seemed to be Kurtis. He went to the man, putting himself between Anton and the knight.
“Kurtis,” he pointed to the door. “Get out of here. Take Lady Cassandra with you. The priest should be here shortly so you will go and wait in the chapel. Do as I say.”
With Cassandra tugging and Lucan shoving, they managed to remove Kurtis from the solar. It was like trying to drag a stubborn bull but they managed it. Keir watched them pull his brother from the room, focusing on Coverdale as the man came over to him. Chloë was still sobbing softly in his arms and Coverdale was not unsympathetic. He eyed the woman with some pity before looking to Keir, sighing heavily.
“I think it would be best if you left also,” he said quietly. “Your presence will only inflame the situation.”
Keir looked at his liege before turning his attention to Anton, still backed up against the wall. “I asked you this earlier when you informed me that due to my orders from the king, you had no intention of allowing me to marry Chloë before I left for Wales,” his voice was hoarse with emotion. “I will ask you again – what will it take for you to allow us to be wed today? I will give you all that I have, everything that I own, if you will allow this.”
Chloë lifted her head, looking up at him with surprise. “You… you offered to give him your…?”
Keir nodded, shushing her softly as he returned his attention to Anton. “Well, my lord? You will gain the Lordship of Sedberg, a rich fiefdom that will supply you with income. I will give it all to you if you will allow me to marry Chloë before I leave on the morrow.”
Anton was shaken, furious, indecisive. He knew one thing for certain, however, and that was the fact that he would not be bullied into changing his mind. Now it was the principle of the matter. He had made a decision and he was going to stick with it, no matter how unpopular it was. It wasn’t even a matter anymore of doing what was best for Chloë. Now it was a matter of standing up for his ability to make a decision regarding his family, right or wrong.
“You cannot buy her,” he told him. “I told you earlier today that I cannot allow my daughter to wed a man who is going to battle. If you die, her marriage prospects will be seriously limited. Is that what you want, Sir Keir? To limit my daughter from having a rich and comfortable life simply because you selfishly want to marry the woman before you go into battle? It would seem to me that if you truly love her as you say you do, you could understand my concern.”
Keir could see the man was twisting the situation to make it seem as if he had not gone back on his word. He was trying to rationalize a truly bad choice. Keir had had the same argument with Anton earlier that day.
“I do not intend to die,” he pointed out. “Moreover, if I do, Chloë will inherit my Lordship of Sedberg. If that is what you are truly worried about, that fact alone will make her attractive to a potential husband.”
Anton waved him off. “She will inherit more from her mother when she dies,” he brushed him off. “Sedberg is not worth much, and certainly not enough to make her appealing to a potential husband enough so that he will overlook the fact that she has already been married.”
Keir looked at Chloë, who was now calming in his embrace. He smiled faintly at her.
“Nay,” he argued. “Her beauty is enough for any man to overlook what might be considered a flaw or less than attractive. Chloë herself in the prize, not what she inherits or how much money she has. I would take her with only the clothes on her back and be deliriously happy for it.”
Chloë smiled weakly at him and he winked at her. It was a warm moment between them, something that lifted both their spirits, only to be doused again when Anton spoke.
“Be that as it may, I have made my decision,” he said, coming away from the wall where Kurtis had cornered him. “I will say nothing of the fact that you have taken my daughter’s innocence because it cannot be regained. She was a willing participant and it is done. However, I still feel strongly that you n
ot marry before you leave for Wales. I have explained my reasons and my decision on that is final.”
“But she is already compromised. She is already my wife in the eyes of God if not in the eyes of the law. I have claimed her and she is mine.”
Anton would not be swayed. “It does not matter. I would not make my daughter so willing a widow. Let us see if you return from Wales. Let us see if I was wrong.”
Keir was still looking at Chloë, the smile fading from his face as he turned to Anton. “And if I return from Wales, will you still deny us?”
Before Anton could reply, Blanche spoke. “Nay, we will not,” she said in her firm, resolute tone. “Chloë will remain pledged to you during such time as you are in Wales. If you return, you will be permitted to wed her. Consider it your incentive for keeping yourself alive in the midst of the Welsh rebellion. You have my word that Chloë will remain yours until, and if, you return. Is this acceptable?”
It wasn’t what Keir had wanted but it was the best that could be done under the circumstances. It was enough. After a moment, he nodded his head.
“It is,” he agreed. “But I will add one more provision. She goes to Pendragon and remains there until my return, under my protection.”
“Agreed.”
It was done. With nothing left to argue and nothing left to say, Keir’s attention returned to Chloë. He could already see the horrible longing in her eyes and it shook him.
“Then with your permission, I would like to spend my last few remaining hours with Chloë before I leave on the morrow,” he said quietly.
Anton opened his mouth to respond but Blanche cut the man off with a sharp hand as if to block whatever was intended to come out of his mouth. He’d said enough, creating chaos with his unpopular decision, and Blanche was now in charge.
“You may,” Blanche waved the pair off. “Go now and say what needs to be said. There is no way of knowing how long you two will be apart.”
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