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Sometimes, like now when complaining seemed the current activity of choice, Elrik had to remind himself that these were more than just childhood friends, they were his two best men—they could both sleep in the saddle while still retaining control of their horses, both were handy with a blade be it a sword or a dagger and both men would always protect his back if the need arose. So, enduring their complaints was usually bearable.
This was not one of those nights. ‘The pace will pick up tomorrow and she’ll not break her neck.’
When Samuel opened his mouth, Elrik glared at him. The dark look gained him the result he’d desired—the man closed his mouth without saying another word.
Chapter Three (#uc936ff74-d9ab-5e9f-81da-b8ae495dc9e5)
To Avelyn’s relief, she’d slept well on the hardness of the ground. It was more like her old pallet at her mother’s than the over-soft, lumpy mattress in her shared chamber at her father’s keep. For the first time in what seemed ages, she’d awakened feeling rested, although a bit stiff, and ready to continue their journey.
She did wish, however, they could do so on foot instead of on the back of a horse.
Well aware that her wish would not be considered, she studied the horse being led in her direction. It was the one she’d ridden yesterday, the smallest of the four, but as far as she was concerned the only difference size made was in the distance to the ground—the fall would still hurt as much.
What did catch her attention was the saddle. The one she’d used yesterday—with the shorter pommel and cantle—had been placed on Roul’s animal, while his saddle, with the high front and back meant to help keep him seated during a battle, was on her horse. Lashed to the inside of both the pommel and the cantle was a rolled-up blanket.
That wasn’t the only difference. The stirrups had been cinched higher so that she’d be riding with her knees slightly bent, instead of hanging straight down, and a lead string had been secured to the reins.
Roul held his hand out. ‘Come, we need to make up for lost time.’
She hesitantly took a step forward and grasped his hand.
The fingers closing around hers were warm and a smile curved up the corners of his mouth, lending Avelyn a small amount of courage as she joined him alongside the horse.
He stroked his free hand the length of the animal’s nose. ‘I didn’t properly introduce you yesterday as I should have. Avelyn, this is Little Lady and she’s helped train more guards than I can count.’
‘You brought her along to train a guard?’
With his fingers still woven between hers, he raised their hands to the horse’s head. ‘No. I was uncertain if the runaway I sought could ride or not.’
He stroked the animal’s neck with their entwined hands. ‘And since I’ve discovered that she cannot, I am giving Little Lady here a task she is well suited to perform.’
From the way the animal eyed her, Avelyn got the impression she was not exactly a welcome task.
Roul nudged her shoulder with his. ‘Relax. She’s never bitten or thrown anyone.’
Under her breath, Avelyn muttered, ‘Yet.’
His laugh let her know that her comment had been heard.
It wasn’t until he grasped the lead string with one hand and rested the other hand on her shoulder that she noticed she was stroking the horse alone—his hand no longer covered hers. Avelyn frowned.
How had he managed that without her knowledge?
From the solid wall of warmth at her back she knew that while he might have released her hand and moved behind her while she’d remained unaware, he’d stayed close enough to prevent anything from happening. She stiffened her spine.
He lightly squeezed her shoulder. ‘I’ll be this close for the entire journey. Nothing is going to harm you.’
She wasn’t certain what bothered her more—the heated breath rushing against her ear, his nearness that made her feel protected yet threatened at the same time, his words promising her she’d come to no harm, or the sudden realisation that he wasn’t going to give her any chance to escape.
‘Ready?’
As much as she wanted to tell him no, she knew they weren’t going to stand here for ever. ‘I suppose.’
‘Up with you.’ He lifted her on to the saddle before she could change her mind and handed her the reins. ‘Lady will follow my horse’s lead. You need do nothing to guide her.’
He adjusted the roll of blankets behind her, wedging it tighter between her body and the cantle, then did the same with the roll in front. ‘These should keep you from sliding around on the saddle. If you feel unsteady, hang on to the pommel.’
After checking the length of the stirrups, he rested a hand on her knee and looked up, assuring her, ‘You will be fine. Just try to relax.’
Through the layers of her tunic and chemise, she felt the warmth of his touch. And he wanted her to relax? She nodded. ‘I shall try.’
Elrik mounted his horse and tucked the end of the lead string behind his belt. Since Little Lady would follow along without baulking, he knew he didn’t need to keep a tight hold on her lead.
Once they were on the road, his men split up, Fulke in front and Samuel behind. With them guarding the road, Elrik was better able to keep his attention on Avelyn.
Even though they were moving faster than they had yesterday, her rigid back and near-white knuckles from gripping the reins so tightly made him wonder how long she’d be able to keep up this pace.
Elrik rarely remained at King David’s court longer than absolutely necessary. The times he had tarried overlong, he’d discovered that few, if any, of the men and women in attendance wanted anything to do with David’s Wolf.
However, he had been called to court often enough to notice the actions and manners of the people there and he’d seen enough women of substance on horseback to realise that learning to ride was normal for them. So, Lady Avelyn’s lack of skill confused him.
‘How is it that you never learned to ride a horse?’
Without taking her stare from the spot between her horse’s ears, she asked in return, ‘Even if I’d have had a need to learn, where would I have found a suitable horse?’
‘In your father’s stable?’
The laugh that escaped her lips was more bitter than pleasant. ‘My father did not acknowledge my existence until after my mother died.’
‘I thought—’
‘The same thing everyone else thinks,’ she interrupted whatever he’d been about to say. ‘That I was born and raised in my father’s keep. An assumption that couldn’t be more wrong.’
Elrik knew she was the man’s natural-born daughter conceived outside his marriage. Still, she was an important enough possession to have been raised at his keep and taught the ways of nobility. Since Brandr had been more concerned with removing King David’s rule over the land, perhaps he hadn’t been aware of her birth. ‘Did he know about you?’
‘My mother said that he did. She’d been a servant in his keep, but when it was discovered she carried the lord’s child, the steward banished her from the keep.’ She paused, frowning a moment, then said, ‘Mother had been certain the order came from the lord or lady, yet he seemed shocked when he discovered me in our hut after her funeral. Perhaps he hadn’t issued the order.’
Elrik shook his head, wondering what he’d been thinking to have started such a personal conversation about things that were none of his concern, but curiosity prompted him to push forward, asking, ‘What do you mean he discovered you?’
‘I still don’t know why he came that day.’ Her voice was barely above a whisper as if she were talking to herself. ‘She’d pined for him for as long as I can remember. His name was the one on her lips when she took her last breath. But her prayers and wishes had gone unanswered. Not once in the fourteen years since I’d been born had he come to our home. Not until after her body was covered with dirt.’
‘And that’s when he came for you?’
‘Came for me?’ She looked up at him and shook her head. ‘No. I think he came to make certain my mother was truly gone.’
‘And instead, he found you?’
‘Only by accident. I’d been sitting in a corner eating my last crust of bread when he entered with two of his guards. They stopped me when I tried bolting to safety. I thought they were going to kill me from the way they were excitedly shoving me back and forth, daring each other to be the first to take a taste, but after staring at me for a few moments he ordered the guards to release me.’
Elrik doubted if their intent had been to kill her. ‘So, he did recognise you?’
‘He said I looked like his mother, the late Lady Avelyn. That’s when I realised I’d not been named for my mother’s mother, but for his. Which obviously shocked him, because he paled upon learning my name.’
‘No one had ever told you that?’
‘When my mother said I was named for my grandmother, I always thought she’d meant her mother. So, both he and I were rather surprised.’
She laughed at the memory and, this time, her laughter was lighter, not quite as bitter as it had been earlier. Since she seemed a bit more relaxed than she had when they had first started out, Elrik wanted to keep her talking, so he asked, ‘Did he then move you to the keep?’
Again, she shook her head. ‘Not that day. He had one of his men gather some food from the village for me and vowed to return in a day or so.’
It was difficult to imagine Brandr leaving a fourteen-year-old girl to fend for herself even for just a day or two, especially one who he knew was his natural-born daughter. Old enough to take as a wife—or simply use as one—she’d been left unguarded and alone. Perhaps that was what he had hoped would happen—it would have taken away his responsibility for her care.
Elrik glanced at Avelyn and noticed that she’d released her death grip on the reins and had rested one hand atop the pommel.
‘To my surprise, he did return.’
Since Brandr had shown no previous interest in her or her mother, Elrik could understand her surprise.
‘He and his men terrified the whole village when they loaded me and my few possessions into a cart before torching the hut.’
This time, the stiffening of her body and clenching of her hands had nothing to do with fear of the horse, but obvious anger at Brandr’s actions.
Elrik asked, ‘Did he give any reason for setting fire to what could have provided another with shelter?’
‘He’d claimed it was so I had no place to ever return to. But from the way he tore through my mother’s things first, I believed he’d been looking for something and, when he couldn’t find it, burned the hut to ensure no one else would either.’
‘What could your mother have had that was so valuable to him?’
‘While I suspect he was looking for a gold ring, I never cared enough to ask.’ Avelyn shrugged. ‘All I knew was that he’d destroyed the only home I’d ever known.’
He’d always considered Brandr to be heartless, but he’d never imagined the man to be so devious and petty. It would have made more sense to thoroughly search the hut again instead of torching it. Destroying an enemy’s property during battle was one thing, but to destroy what was essentially his own property out of frustration or spite was not only thoughtless and short-sighted, it showed a complete lack of concern for his villagers—the very people whose welfare was his responsibility.
Noticing the sad downturn of her lips, Elrik drew her attention back to her suspicions. ‘A gold ring?’
‘For my twelfth birthday, my mother gave me a gold ring, stating it had been my grandmother’s wedding band and that I was to keep it safe at all costs.’
‘And did you?’
‘I buried it beneath the floor under my pallet.’
Of course the man hadn’t thought of digging up the hard-packed floor. ‘That was good thinking for one so young.’
‘No, not really. I knew the ring was of value from the markings on it and burying it like a treasure was all I could think of doing.’
‘Markings?’
‘Yes.’ She reached inside the neck of her gown, tugged out the small pouch and handed him the ring, saying, ‘I don’t know what they mean.’
Elrik inspected the piece of jewellery. The ring was not a wedding band. He narrowed his gaze and glanced at her before looking back at the gold seal ring. She couldn’t read. Had her father seen to anything that might have benefitted his daughter? If not, then why hadn’t his grandfather done so?
She might have been born to a servant, but she was a lord’s daughter, more importantly the great-granddaughter of a king. There were things she needed to know how to do in order to be able to run a keep successfully, otherwise she would have to always rely on her husband, or trust the people in her service and neither were the best options. It would be far too easy for someone to take advantage of her.
He held the top of the ring out for her to see. ‘This is the letter “A” over the top of your great-grandfather’s seal. Your grandmother would have used it to put her official wax mark on any missives she’d sent.’ He turned the ring. ‘The roses on the side are simply for decoration.’
She frowned. ‘Why would my mother say it was a wedding band?’
‘Perhaps she’d been told it was and didn’t know any different.’
‘Why would she have it in the first place?’
Elrik handed the ring back to her. ‘I can only guess that your father gave it to her for some reason.’ It could have been a token of his affection, or payment for services rendered, but he kept those thoughts to himself.
While once again securing the ring in its pouch tucked safely beneath the neck of her gown, she asked, ‘I can neither read, nor write, so why would she have placed so much importance on keeping it safe when she gave it to me?’
‘Lady Avelyn, it is a way for you to prove your relationship to your family if need be. Your mother was looking out for your future in the only way she could.’
‘Oh.’ Her eyes widened. ‘Oh! Maybe this is what my father was looking for when he tore apart my mother’s home.’
‘Most likely.’ Although why Brandr would need any proof of his identity was a mystery he had no desire to unravel.
‘He could have just asked. There was no reason to destroy my home.’
Elrik had no reply to her comment as there was no good reason for his actions. A few moments of silence passed when he felt her watching him and when he turned his focus back to her, she asked, ‘Have I ruined your high regard for Lord Brandr?’
Fulke turned to look over his shoulder at her question until Elrik’s hard glare made him once again face forward. Not willing to divulge his hatred of her father, he answered her innocent question as non-committally as possible, ‘Fear not. My regard for Brandr has never been high.’
‘Yet you are returning me to him.’
He reminded her, ‘I am taking you to King David.’
‘Who will then hand me back over to the tender care of my father.’
The disdain in her voice prompted him to ask, ‘Your life with him has not been better than it was before?’
Avelyn looked at him, wondering if she’d already told him far too much. Instead of telling him that life with her father had been much harder than she’d expected, she said, ‘I learned more in the four years at his keep than I did in the fourteen years with my mother.’
It wasn’t a lie, she had learned more—much more about the ways of men and the lies they told.
‘I imagine it wasn’t easy to leave the life you’d known behind.’
‘No, but other people would disagree with you. There were many at my father’s keep who believed the life I had before was not worth living. They didn’t understand how being brought to Brandr could prove a hardship for me. The simple truth was that I had nowhere else to go.’ She would have rather been left alone living in her mother’s home.
‘How did you find yourself betrothed to Bolk?’
‘I suppose the same as any unwed woman—my family arranged it. From what Lord Somerled claimed when he arrived with the news, my great-grandfather arranged it all.’
She looked up at him. From the bland expression on his face, she knew he wasn’t interested in anything about her, but had likely been seeking to draw her fear away from being on the back of a horse. His tactic had worked, but it was time to learn what she could about him.
