“You are a good worker, William,” she said. “But then again, you must be if you serve the Earl of Bath and Glastonbury.”
William tamped the straw down. “I do not serve him, my lady,” he said. “I serve Caius d’Avignon.”
“Who is he?”
“They call him The Britannia Viper,” he said. “He is one of the Executioner Knights, like your husband.”
Juliandra looked at him curiously. “Who are the Executioner Knights? I have not heard that term.”
“Those are the agents of William Marshal,” he said. “They are the most ruthless, skilled warriors in the entire world. Did you not know that?”
Juliandra stopped shoveling. “I did not,” she said. “My husband told me that he had served William Marshal, but I have never heard of the Executioner Knights.”
William piled more straw on. “I want to be one,” he said. “I am going to be a great knight, someday. Even greater than William Marshal.”
Juliandra smiled at the young man with big dreams. “I am sure you will be,” she said. “Do you plan to serve the king, then?”
William shrugged. “Mayhap,” he said. “It depends on what he offers me for my fealty.”
“You are going to have lords bid on your services?”
He looked at her, completely serious. “Of course,” he said. “My father says that I am worth the price.”
Juliandra bit her lip to keep from grinning at his arrogance. “Where is your father?”
“Warstone Castle,” he said. “My father is the Earl of Wolverhampton.”
Juliandra nodded. “I see,” she said, setting her pitchfork aside. “I wish you well in your quest to become the greatest knight England has ever seen, William. With so many great knights in England, you have a task ahead of you.”
William didn’t seem too concerned. The wheelbarrow was full and he rolled it out, heading for the kitchen yard as Juliandra walked after him, silently laughing at the brash young squire who wanted to be the greatest knight England had ever seen.
Over near the gate to the inner ward, she could see Alexander and Peter, dressed in full regalia and their horses loaded for travel, as they spoke to Kevin and Sean. The sun was climbing in the sky as the morning advanced, and the gatehouse that had been shut yesterday after Aeron’s visit remained closed.
Juliandra’s heart fluttered at the sight of her new husband. He had been so brave against Aeron the day before and she had heard him tell his brother that they were going to keep the castle sealed up indefinitely, at least until the situation with Aeron eased. She also knew that Alexander and Peter were heading back to Lioncross Abbey today, while Sean intended to remain for a little while. She liked the man and looked forward to his extended visit.
Kevin, Sean, Alexander, and Peter all happened to notice William driving the overloaded wheelbarrow towards the kitchen yard and there was no mistaking the curiosity on their faces. Inevitably, they looked to Juliandra, who was walking behind the young man, and she waved to them. They waved back. Kevin broke off from the group and headed in her direction.
“You have de Wolfe doing a servant’s job?” he asked her, incredulous.
Juliandra didn’t see what the fuss was about. “I went to the stables to get fresh straw for the kitchen yard and I found him there, being taken advantage of by several of your soldiers.”
Kevin frowned but nonetheless reached out to take her hand, tucking it into the crook of his elbow. “Soldiers were taking advantage of him?” he asked. “What do you mean?”
“Gambling,” she said, lowering her voice because it was scandalous. “They were forcing him to roll dice. I saw it and broke up the game so they would not take all of his money.”
When Kevin realized what she was saying, he started to laugh. “Sweetheart,” he said in a tone that bordered on scolding. “You should know that de Wolfe is a master gambler. He is a genius when it comes to such things, so more than likely, he was taking advantage of the soldiers. He is not the innocent boy you think he is.”
Juliandra looked at him in surprise. “I did not think he was innocent, though he is young,” she said. But she put a hand over her mouth in astonishment. “He was the one doing the gambling?”
Kevin nodded, still snorting. “That is why he is heading back to Hawkstone Castle, where Caius lives,” he said. “The de Lohr brothers tried to break William of his habit and couldn’t do it. So, he is returning back to Cai and more than likely, a life that includes crime.”
She started to giggle because he was still laughing. “He says he is going to be the greatest knight England has ever seen.”
“To be perfectly honest with you, I would not be surprised.”
“He’s that good?”
“He’s that good.”
They enjoyed a chuckle over Juliandra’s badly misguided opinion of William, but it was in good fun. But the laughter soon faded as they lost themselves, for a moment, in each other’s eyes.
“And how are you feeling this morning?” he asked softly. “Happy?”
Juliandra wound her hands around his big forearm, leaning into him affectionately. “You’ll never know how happy,” she said. “I’ve never felt like this.”
“Nor have I.”
She looked at him, smiling sweetly. “You are happy, too?”
He nodded. “More than you know.”
She squeezed his arm. “I am glad,” she said. “I feel as if my whole world is here at Wybren and always has been. But I also know that is not true. There is still The Neath, and my father’s stall in Pool, and my father himself. Do… do you think we could send word to him that we have wed? I am not asking you to release him, but I would at least like him to know. It would be better if I could go to him and tell him myself.”
Kevin’s good humor faded.
He was perfectly happy to push aside the greatest mistake he’d ever made and it was very easy to do right now as he basked in the euphoria of his marriage to Juliandra, but he knew he couldn’t ignore it. The more he ignored it, the more it would weigh down upon him until it suffocated him. Already, he was living on a steady diet of regret.
Christ, why did I have to be so stupid in the first place?
But in her polite question, he saw a way out. He could send “word” to the alleged location where he was holding her father and then receive word in return that the man had perished. It would be the easy way to do it, the coward’s way out. But at this moment, he couldn’t stand the thought of losing what he’d gained.
A woman he adored.
More and more, he knew he couldn’t lose her, but he hated that he had to lie in order to save himself and his marriage.
Quite possibly her love.
His love.
“I will send word,” he said after a moment. “I will do it today.”
Her face lit up. “Will you?” she said. “Thank you ever so much. It means a great deal to me.”
He patted the hands that were wrapped around his arm. “I would do anything for you,” he said. “I am going to go speak with Sherry and Peter before they depart, but I will send the missive when I am finished. What are your intentions for today?”
Juliandra pointed to the kitchen yard ahead where they could see William spreading the straw. “First, I shall scold William for gambling,” she said. “Then, I have a few chores to attend to. I will be around the kitchens if you need me.”
Reaching out, he grasped her by the upper arms, pulling her against him. “I will always need you,” he murmured seductively. “I need everything about you.”
She grinned, unaccustomed to such affection, but loving every moment of it. “Do you?” she whispered.
His answer was to kiss her, lustily, and leave her standing there with weak knees. He walked away, winking at her, as she licked her lips. Heart racing, Juliandra turned back for the kitchens, thinking of the man she had married.
Thinking of joy she couldn’t fully describe.
All she knew was that it was flowing th
rough her veins with every beat of her heart.
Entering the kitchen yards, she could see that William had mostly distributed the straw and was spreading it around with a rake to soak up the excess moisture in the cooking area. Considering the young man had let her believe that he’d been a victim of unscrupulous soldiers, Juliandra let him rake. When he looked up at her, clearly unhappy with the fact that he had to do manual labor, she simply smiled and waved.
He went back to raking.
The kitchens were in full operation and the smell of baking bread was heavy in the air. Juliandra went into the smoky, steamy kitchens where the cook, a big woman with a red face, was making a stew in an enormous pot over the hearth. She was leaning over, tasting her creation, as Juliandra came up beside her.
“Well?” she said. “How does it taste, Aline?”
The woman, who had come with Kevin from England, liked Juliandra well enough. She held out the spoon to her and she tasted it.
“It needs something more,” Juliandra said. “It does not taste well enough yet.”
“Onions,” Aline said. “I need onions for it. And more salt. I didn’t use enough of either.”
Juliandra turned away. “I will get the onions.”
She was already walking towards the stairwell that led down into a vault below the kitchens where most of their foodstuffs was stored, but Aline stopped her.
“Not there, m’lady,” she said. “There are no more down there.”
Juliandra came to a halt. “Where shall I look?”
Aline pointed in the direction of the keep. “In the vault below the keep,” she said. “When we came here, men took sacks of onions and turnips down there because there wasn’t enough room in the kitchen stores for them.”
“I’ve never been down there,” Juliandra said. “Where are the stairs?”
The cook gestured with her hands. “When you pass through the entry, there is a door to your right,” she said. “That will take you below the keep. You may as well bring up some turnips, too. Take a few servants to help you.”
Juliandra looked around at the kitchen servants, who were already busy doing something. She waved the old cook off, heading out into the kitchen yard where William was just about done. She was going to punish him yet again by making him haul bags of onions for her now.
“William,” she called. “Come with me.”
William tossed aside the rake, glad to be doing something other than menial tasks. “Where are we going, my lady?”
“Into the vault below the keep.”
She was moving at a brisk pace, but William’s long strides kept up with her. They crossed the inner bailey, which was now devoid of Kevin and the other knights because they had moved into the outer bailey. Juliandra missed the sight of her husband and had to smile at herself for it. She found it both silly and wonderful that she missed the man when he was even briefly out of her sight. But those thoughts were pushed aside to focus on the task at hand as the keep loomed ahead.
It was cool and dark inside. Juliandra had William collect two small torches that the servants always kept lit for light, wedged into iron sconces just inside the door. She took one and William took the other as she opened the heavy oak door that the cook had indicated. Pulling it open, she held out the torch to show the surprisingly wide flight of steps that led down into a black abyss below.
“Shall I go first, my lady?” William asked.
Juliandra brushed him off. “Of course not,” she said. “Follow me.”
She took the stairs slowly because they were stone and slippery in places. The torches cast eerie shadows on the walls as they made their way to the bottom. The smell of earth and mildew was heavy in the air, creating an unsettling ambiance. Once they hit the bottom, they could see that the vault was surprisingly large and, already, they could see sacks of food lined against the wall as well as barrels of grain.
There were other things down here, too. As William collected two sacks of onions and started back up the stairs, Juliandra poked around. It was a vast storage area containing a wide variety of things – broken furniture, chairs, implements for a garden among them.
Juliandra walked around, peering at stuff, getting a feel for what was down here. Being that she was chatelaine, she should know everything about the place she was in charge of. She wanted to know what, exactly, was stored down here.
There were two small chambers off the larger one and she could see more things stored in those chambers. It was quite cold in the vault and she wasn’t wearing a particularly warm dress, so she hastened to take a quick look so she could leave. Lifting her torch, she went into the first small chamber.
It was cluttered with things, but stretched out on the floor in the corner was something covered with a blanket. At least, it looked like a blanket until she took a closer look and noticed something familiar about it.
It was a cloak.
Puzzled, she bent over it, realizing that it wasn’t an ordinary cloak. She recognized a cloak that had belonged to her father. She knew that because a corner of it was flipped up and she could see the red woolen lining.
Lining he’d had specially made for it.
Puzzlement turned to something else. She wasn’t sure what else, but it was dark and bottomless, like a quagmire without end. Her heart began to pound against her ribs as fear took hold. She wanted to know why her father’s cloak was here and she yanked on it to get a better look. But it wouldn’t come off. It did, however, fall away, revealing the ashen, and very dead remains, of Gethin ap Garreg.
It took her a moment to realize what she was looking at.
William heard Juliandra’s scream all the way up in the bailey.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“My lord, you must go after her!”
Kevin was at the gatehouse with Sean just as Alexander and Peter were mounting their steeds as William came running towards them, wide-eyed. Before Kevin could say a word, William shouted again.
“My lord, your wife!” he said. “She is running away, through the postern gate!”
Because William was clearly rattled, Kevin’s own panic began to rise. “What?” he gasped. “Running away? What are you –?”
“Hurry!” William pointed to the gatehouse. “If you hurry, you can intercept her as she comes down the pathway from the postern gate.”
“Postern gate?” he repeated. “What in the hell are you talking about, de Wolfe?”
William was pointing, back to the kitchen yard. “I am telling you that your wife is running away,” he said. “I do not know why – she left the keep screaming and ran towards the postern gate. I could not stop her. You must catch her!”
Kevin had no idea what was going on, but he knew that William’s sense of urgency was feeding his. Juliandra was running off, screaming, and Kevin was at a loss to understand any of it. Alexander and Peter were already mounted, but Peter leapt from his horse and shoved the reins at Kevin.
“Go,” he said. “Take my horse!”
Kevin vaulted onto the steed, barely noticing that Alexander was turning his horse over to Sean, who would surely want to go with his brother. As the horses thundered out, they headed across the drawbridge, down the road and to the edge of the village. The path for the postern gate, seldom used, came around the north side of the castle and ended up at the end of the village, so they spurred the horses in that direction just in time to see Juliandra running onto the road.
“Juliandra!” Kevin called after her. “Wait!”
She either didn’t hear him or was ignoring him. In either case, she bolted across a grassy knoll with Kevin in pursuit and Sean right behind him. They chased her into a field, finally cutting her off so she couldn’t run any further. She was running in a panic, blindly, and Kevin was desperate to know what was wrong.
When she was sufficiently stopped, Kevin leapt from his horse.
“Juliandra!” he said, greatly concerned. “Sweetheart, what is the matter? Why are you running?”
Juliandra
was weeping and gasping, and at the sound of Kevin’s question, she groaned so loudly that it became a scream.
“He’s dead!” she cried. “He’s dead! My father is dead!”
Kevin froze. That wasn’t what he had expected to hear and, suddenly, his worst nightmare came to life. In that one, brief moment, everything he knew, everything he feared, was in front of his face and he had no idea how to react. His mind went blank, every rational thought he’d ever had slipping away into oblivion.
He struggled to stay on an even keel.
“But… how…” he stammered. “How would you know this?”
“Because I found him!” she screamed. “I found him in your vault. Did you know, Kevin? Did you know he was there?”
She was gasping, panting, pacing in a circle, wanting to run but wanting answers at the same time. Watching her turmoil, Kevin knew one thing – he couldn’t lie to her. It was his lies that had caused this in the first place and he wasn’t going to make it worse. She knew her father was dead, so he did the only thing he could do at that moment.
He threw himself on her mercy.
That lie, that horrible lie, was unraveling before his eyes.
“I am sorry,” he said, closing his eyes and suddenly pitching forward onto his knees as if all of his strength had abruptly left him. “Juliandra, I am so sorry. God forgive me for not telling you, but I cannot lie to you now. Aye, I knew he was there. I simply could not bring myself to tell you.”
Juliandra stopped pacing and looked at him, her eyes wide with horror. “You knew?”
“I did.”
Her face went from bright red to deathly pale. “How long have you known?”
“Since the day he tried to go around my toll booth.”
A cry of disbelief escaped her lips. “He has been dead all this time?”
“Aye.”
“And you let be believe that he was alive?” she gasped. “You knew that he… my God, you knew it all along?”
“I did. God forgive me, I did.”
She stared at him in disbelief and the tears, recently abated, returned with a vengeance. She screamed again, this time in rage as she realized what he’d done.
The Agents of William Marshal Volume II: A Medieval Romance Bundle Page 80
