Being nice to the man hadn’t worked. Reasoning with him hadn’t worked. Mayhap her only recourse was to somehow prevent the army from moving at all. But she had a feeling if she did that, then again, the consequences against her could be horrific. De Llion had forgiven an attempt against him once but she doubted he’d forgive a second attempt. Perhaps she needed to contemplate the option of poison over a little more before doing anything. Now that he was placing her in a position of some trust, she would have to be careful and not betray that trust until she was absolutely sure she could get away with it. If that moment ever came.
She wondered if it would.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Two Weeks Later, Late June
Pelinom Castle, Northumberland
House of de Velt
The day was mild and windy as a sea breeze blew in from the east, carrying seagulls upon it. The birds sometimes ventured this far inland, looking for food and scraps, their loud cries hanging upon the wind.
A very big man with dual-colored eyes and dark, graying hair pulled back into a tail at the nape of his neck was standing at the window of his solar on the second level of Pelinom’s keep, watching the birds overhead against the blue sky. Ajax de Velt could remember when his older sons, Cole and Julian, would make slingshots when they were younger and try to knock the birds out of the sky. Once, they hit another bird, a beautiful bird with a red neck that had fallen out of the sky, wounded. The boys’ younger sister, Allaston, had cried and carried on, and wanted to nurse the bird back to health. The boys had wanted to eat it. Jax remembered the battle that had ensued, which Allaston had eventually won because she was very clever and not afraid of a fight. God, he missed those days. He missed Allaston.
With a heavy sigh, Jax turned to glance at the package on his desk. It had been delivered a half-hour before by a messenger bearing colors that no one had recognized. The messenger had dumped the package at the main gate of Pelinom and fled. Once the package was retrieved, the messenger was well away and there was no point in pursuing.
The sergeant in charge of the gatehouse had delivered it to de Velt, seated in his solar conducting other business, but Jax had taken the package and opened it with some curiosity in front of the sergeant. What he had pulled forth had been unexpected and macabre. Reading the missive that had come with the contents of the package had nearly thrown him into a panic. He’d read the missive six times before the words sank in:
Your daughter from Alberbury is my prisoner. The hair contained herein belongs to her. I hold your daughter and will soon hold all of your castles upon the Welsh Marches. I have done to your men what you have done to others in the past. Your sins have finally found you and if you wish for your daughter to be returned in good health, you will come to me at Cloryn Castle. Time grows short.
The last sentence was a threat and Jax knew it. After having received a severed head a week ago, the head of a man who had been his commander at Ithon Castle in the Welsh Marches, Jax knew that something was afoot but he wasn’t aware of how bad it was. Now, he knew. Someone was after him, his property and his family, and they wanted it badly enough to kill one of his commanders and abduct his eldest daughter. He’d kept the threat from his family, however. He’d never told them about the severed head, although his eldest son knew, but he wouldn’t be able to keep the abduction of his daughter secret. Now the threat was becoming very real, and very grave, and they would all have to face it.
With slow, heavy steps, he crossed the floor back to the massive oak table that served as his desk. He stared at the contents of the package, in a wad on the tabletop, before reaching down to collect it. Strands of dark, silky hair lingered in his grasp as he inspected the nest of hair. It looked like Allaston’s hair, soft and dark, but of course, he couldn’t be entirely sure. He’d sent for the expert, and he was dreading the moment when he would have to tell his wife that their daughter was in danger. He still wasn’t going to tell her about the severed head, for it was something she didn’t need to know, but the delivery of the hair was another matter altogether. He knew she wouldn’t take it well. Setting the hair back down on the table, he wandered over to the window again to contemplate his next move as he wait for his wife. She wasn’t long in coming.
Lady Kellington Coleby de Velt slipped into her husband’s solar, her hands full of something that she was either mending or making, he couldn’t be sure. They had six children and four grandchildren, and she was always making or mending something. Petite, with blond hair gathered into a bun at the back of her head and big brown eyes, she was still a stunningly beautiful woman in her forty-fifth year. She easily looked much younger, this woman who had tamed The Dark Lord those years ago. She went straight to her husband, who was still standing near the lancet window, lifting her cheek for his kiss.
“One of your soldiers said that you wished to see me,” she said, her attention on the bundle of material in her hands. She held it up, unfurling an infant’s dressing gown in front of her husband. “Do you remember this? Cole was baptized in it. I am putting some flowers on it so he can use it for his daughter’s baptism.”
Jax looked at the unbleached linen with the delicate silk borders on the neck and on the sleeves. “What if he has a son someday and wants to use the same gown?” he asked. “Cole will not want his son to wear flowers.”
Kellington shrugged, fussing with the stitching on the neck of the garment. “Then I will remove them,” she said, glancing up at her husband as she made her way over to a chair near the hearth. “What did you wish to see me about, my love?”
Jax watched her for a moment, hating the fact that he was about to make her very, very upset. The thought was excruciatingly distressing and made him sick to his stomach, but he didn’t have much choice. Kellington had to know. As Kellington sat down and began to resume her sewing, Jax thought on what he was about to tell her. He wanted to be gentle about it.
“I received a missive today,” he began, moving towards his desk where the wad of hair lay. Kellington had remained at a distance from the desk and hadn’t noticed it yet. “There is something contained within it that you and I must discuss. It has to do with Allaston.”
Kellington’s head came up. “What’s wrong?” she asked, her face immediately tense with concern. “Is she ill?”
Jax shook his head. “Nay, she is not ill.”
His words did not ease her. “Then what message comes from Alberbury?” she demanded.
Jax put up a hand to quiet her. “The missive was not from Alberbury,” he said calmly. “I will preface this by saying that Allaston is in good health for the moment, but it would seem we have a problem. According to this missive, someone has abducted her from Alberbury and is holding her for ransom.”
Kellington stared at him and he could see the levels of shock rolling across her delicate features. Mild shock turned to moderate shock. Finally, her eyes widened and she set her sewing down, rising from her chair.
“How do you know this?” she asked with great apprehension. “What does the missive say?”
Jax picked up the mass of dark hair from the desk and silently extended it to his wife. Kellington stared at the hair a moment before taking it from him, her pallor going from a healthy pink to an ashen shade as she inspected the strands. Jax came around the desk, putting his hands on her shoulders comfortingly as he watched her examine the lonely mass of hair, beautiful strands without an owner.
“This hair came with the missive,” he said quietly. “It looks like Allie’s but I cannot be sure. Mayhap you can.”
Kellington stared at the hair a moment longer before lifting it to her nose, smelling it deeply. Almost immediately, she broke down in tears.
“I can smell my babe,” she whispered. “This is Allie’s hair. I would know it anywhere.”
“You are certain?”
Kellington nodded emphatically. “I would stake my life on it,” she wept. “My God, what have they done to my child?”
Jax put his arms around her
, holding her tightly. He felt so very sorrowful but in the same breath, he felt incredibly guilty. Whatever was brewing was directed at him with Allaston somehow caught in the middle of it. So many years of peace and now this. It was as unexpected as it was unwelcomed.
“I am assured she is in good health,” he stated, directing her to sit back down in the chair. As they moved, he collected the parchment from the desktop. “Let me read the missive to you.”
He did. Kellington wept softly as she listened, holding the dark mass of hair against her chest, over her heart. She was absolutely devastated with the turn of events. As he finished the last few words written before him, Kellington spoke.
“What does this mean?” she demanded, wiping at her nose. “Is there no ransom demand?”
Jax shook his head. “Nay,” he replied. “As you heard, whoever has Allie wants me to go to Cloryn Castle.”
“But why?” Kellington wanted to know. “I do not understand any of this. Why do they have her and why do they want you to come and get her?”
Jax sighed knowingly. “I believe the comment of my sins finding me is a clue,” he said with regret. “Cloryn Castle, and five others, has been mine for twenty-five years, ever since I took a good portion of the Marches for my own in the years before I met you. Cloryn Castle was manned by one of my commanders, Orion d’Savignac, who left his eldest son in charge some years ago when he and his wife moved to the south of France for Orion’s health. The man who wrote this missive states that he has done to my men what I did to men those years ago and has directed me to go to Cloryn Castle. I suspect that mayhap Cloryn does not belong to me any longer. I further suspect my soldiers garrisoned there have met a violent end.”
That was putting it mildly. As he’d told himself, he made no mention of the severed head from Ithon because it would only add more horror to an already horrific situation. As it was, Kellington was struggling to calm her tears.
“Do you think someone is trying to exact revenge on you somehow?” she asked. “Twenty-five years ago… you did some very bad things, Jax. Is it possible that someone is out for vengeance and is using Allie to get it?”
Jax was feeling guiltier by the moment. My sweet Allie, was all he could think. Will she pay the price for my sins those years ago? But he would not voice his thoughts. Kellington probably already knew them, anyway, and it would do no good to upset her more than she already was. After a moment, he sat back heavily on the top of his desk, gazing at the missive in his hand. He was a man of supreme control except when it pertained to his wife and family. They were the only ones who had ever seen the emotion he was capable of. And Kellington… his life, his love… she knew all of his dark secrets.
“That is exactly what I think,” he said after a moment, feeling despondence creep upon him. “I did many things those years ago, things that were necessary in the course of conquest. Never did I apologize for my methods because they were my own. I remember you asking me once why I killed men, women, and children, and I told you that it was because every one of them was a threat to me. Mayhap whoever has Cloryn, and Allaston, is someone who had a relative who fell under my blade. Mayhap he has a blood debt to settle with me. I am frankly not surprised by it. In fact, I have expected something like this to happen at some point. It was only a matter of time.”
Kellington was quieting since her initial outburst, wiping away the last of her tears. “If it is true that he seeks vengeance against you, then the missive seems to indicate he wishes to see you face to face,” she said, looking up at him with her big brown eyes. “You are not going to do it, are you? You promised me twenty-five years ago that your days of battle were over. You have kept that promise for the most part except where the security of our castle or family was concerned.”
Jax looked up at her, taking his eyes off the parchment. “If I do not go, I am sure it will not bode well for Allie,” he said. “I have no choice. I must go and retrieve my daughter.”
Kellington stood up, shaking her head. “So that is my choice?” she asked, agitation in her voice. “I must sacrifice my husband to regain my daughter? That is no choice at all, Jax.”
“Do you want Allaston back?”
She threw up her hands. “Of course I do,” she said. “But not at the expense of my husband!”
“Then what would you suggest?”
Kellington looked at her husband with some fear and he knew it was because she didn’t have an answer. To her credit, she tried to make it seem as if she did.
“Mayhap… mayhap we could send a mediator instead,” she said. “Someone who will bargain for Allie’s release on your behalf. Mayhap the man who holds her will release her if we give him enough money.”
Jax lifted his eyebrows thoughtfully. “That is possible,” he said, “although if this really is a blood debt, or vengeance, a mediator may anger him. He abducted our daughter for a reason, Kelli, and it was not to gain money. Nay, the man who holds Allie wants to see me. It says so in this missive.”
Kellington felt as if she was losing a fight. She didn’t want to give up. She wanted her daughter returned but she wanted her husband whole, as well. “But surely there is someone well respected and powerful who can act as a mediator,” she said. “At the very least, mayhap this man will stand with you and support you as you negotiate for Allie’s release.”
Jax shook his head. “You know better than to suggest I have allies all over England,” he said. “Yves de Vesci is my only ally and that is because the man is my liege. Any opportunities for allies were destroyed many years ago, Kelli. No one will ally themselves with The Dark Lord and I do not want allies. They simply complicate things.”
Kellington could feel her control of the situation slipping. “Then what of the men stationed at your other Welsh castles?” she asked. “You have six of them, five now if Cloryn is compromised. What of them? Surely you can gather your men from the Welsh outposts and converge on Cloryn to demand Allie’s return? Mayhap he will release her by a pure show of force.”
Jax shook his head. “That is doubtful,” he said. “Moreover, if Cloryn is compromised, I have no way of knowing if the other castles are, too. I do not want to ride all the way to Wales, presuming my castles are still intact, only to discover those have been compromised. Nay, love, I will take most of the men from Pelinom and nearby White Crag with me. Those two castles of mine will provide almost one thousand men. That will be sufficient to march upon Cloryn and demand Allie’s return, but if he does not return her, then I will have enough men to lay siege to Cloryn.”
Kellington’s expression suggested great displeasure at the entire scheme. “Then you are going?”
“I have little choice.”
Kellington’s gaze stayed on him a moment before hanging her head. “Then you are doing what this man who holds our daughter wishes,” she said. “You are walking into his hands.”
“I do not see any other way with Allie’s life at stake.”
Kellington was deeply torn. “But as long as you do not show your face, she will be safe because he will be expecting you to come,” she said, trying to reason out her thoughts. “But once you arrive, I fear that his reasons for keeping her alive will end. She will no longer be of value to him once you appear if it is, in fact, you whom he truly wants.”
Jax admitted the woman had a point but it didn’t crush his resolve. “He wants me to come,” he said, picking the parchment up from his desk and shaking at her. “I have no choice but to comply. If I do not, I risk Allie’s life.”
“And it is acceptable to risk your life, too?” Kellington fired back softly. She could feel the tears of heartache coming on. “I must risk you both? Jax, you are too old to be engaging in battle. You haven’t fought a battle in years. Why can you not send someone to Cloryn to mediate or, at the very least, make sure Allaston is really there and still alive? Why must you simply march straight into the jaws of the lion simply because some man tells you to?”
Jax knew she was upset. He was upset,
too, but he was also trying to do what he thought he needed to do. “The man who holds Allie has all of the power,” he said, rather sternly in an attempt to make her understand. “I have no power at all. He has what I want, what I love, and he knows it. Therefore, I must do as he says. I must go to Cloryn to try and gain my daughter’s freedom. All of your arguing will not change what needs to be done.”
That was perhaps true, but Kellington was still trying to find another way that wouldn’t see both her husband and child risking their lives. “What if you were to ask de Vesci to intercede on your behalf?” she asked, desperate. “He would do this for you.”
Jax shook his head. “De Vesci is too old to travel these days. He cannot make the trip.”
“What of Denedor, his captain of the guard?” she asked. “Denedor is very persuasive.”
Again, Jax shook his head. “The last I heard, Denedor had taken his family to the Northlands because his grandfather had passed away and there was much turmoil as a result,” Jax replied. “I do not believe the man has returned yet. Moreover, I doubt de Vesci would let him go. You know how he keeps the man close.”
Kellington thought hard on more options. “What of William Marshal?”
“He hates me with a passion and you know it.”
“Hubert de Berg?”
“I killed a nephew in battle years ago.”
“The king?”
“John?” Jax snorted. “It would probably cost me everything I own. The less contact I have with the man, the better.”
Kellington couldn’t give up, not yet. She tried one last time. “Christopher de Lohr?”
Jax didn’t immediately dismiss her suggestion. In fact, he actually seemed to consider it. “He is the most powerful marcher baron in England,” he said. “I have never had any interaction with the man. I do not personally know him.”
Kellington felt a stab of hope at that. “At least he does not hate you or want to kill you,” she said. “I have heard talk of the man. They say he is fair and wise. He is liked a good deal. If such a man would intercede on your behalf, mayhap the man who holds Allie would respond to him.”
Nunnery Brides Page 108
