Chapter Five #3
“Then you know of him?”
“I have heard of him.”
Douglass studied Tiberius a moment. He was jesting mostly, that was true, but there was a seed of truth in his behavior.
Perhaps his declaration that she belonged to him was, indeed, the truth.
Like a game of strategy, a great game of chess that would decide her future, Douglass made the next tactical move in the conversation.
The stakes were growing very high, indeed.
“Then you shall not have to face him,” she said. “We shall be married today. I will run off with you this very moment and defy my father. Will you take us to the nearest priest?”
Tiberius looked at her with surprise. “Now?”
“Now.”
He blinked, considering her proposal. “Would you truly marry me?”
“Would you truly marry me?”
“I would.”
She lifted her eyebrows again. “Then know this,” she said.
“If I marry you, there will be no more women for you. I do not share and any infidelity from you would be unhappily and mayhap even violently met. I would haunt you until the end of your days, which would be sooner than you think should you betray me. Now, do you still wish to marry me?”
Tiberius was looking at her with a slight grin on his face.
“The moment I met you, all other women in the world ceased to exist for me,” he said softly, all of the jesting gone from his tone.
“Would you truly have such a sinner as me for your husband? If you would, then I can promise you that you would never regret it. You, and only you, would always be my forever.”
The light, teasing tone that they had so recently enjoyed had vanished, replaced by something sweet and warm and thrilling.
Douglass’ breath caught in her throat. For a moment, as she gazed into his eyes, she forgot to draw in air.
It was as if time itself had stopped, just for that moment.
In that instance, she knew he felt the same way for her that she did for him. There was interest. There was hope.
It was the truth.
“And you would be mine,” she whispered.
Tiberius grinned a bright, dazzling smile that lit up his entire face. But the moment he moved to take her hand, Courtly suddenly appeared in the doorway. She headed directly for Douglass, reaching down to snatch the woman away.
“Come along, my lady,” she said rather urgently. “I saw your father out in the bailey from my window. He will be looking for you and more than likely should not find you alone with Tiberius.”
Douglass leapt up, following Courtly even though her gaze was on Tiberius. “Will… will you come to the hall, Sir Tiberius?” she asked, not wanting to let the man out of her sight, not even for a moment. “Have you broken your fast yet?”
Tiberius stood up from his seat, feeling the throbbing in his head begin again.
But, much like Douglass, he didn’t want to be separated from her.
However, Gallus was expecting him and he was already late.
Torn, he suspected he needed to find Gallus before he joined the guests in the hall.
If he didn’t, Gallus would come looking for him and the results could be quite unhappy.
“I have not yet,” he told her. “I will come as soon as I can. Please do not leave before I have had a chance to bid my farewells.”
Douglass was scooting along with Courtly as the woman threw open the entry door. “I will not leave,” she told him. “I promise, we will not leave before you come.”
That was good enough for Tiberius. Smiling gently, he waved to Douglass as Courtly led the woman out of the keep.
He followed her trail to the doorway, standing there and watching as Courtly and Douglass met Bose in the middle of the bailey.
After a brief discussion, the three of them headed back into the hall.
Tiberius watched Douglass’ red head until it disappeared from view.
You will always be my forever. He had meant every word. God’s Bones, he never realized how much he meant them until this very moment.
He had finally found his forever.
*
In the bright, beautiful, early morning hours, Maximus found Gallus sitting in the armory of Isenhall with an unrolled piece of parchment in his hands.
Gallus had received the missive at dawn and, after reading it, sent for both of his brothers to join him.
Even though the knights were up and going about their duties, and Bose de Moray and his family were in the great hall breaking their fast before continuing on their journey, Gallus had only requested the company of his brothers.
There were serious dealings afoot, according to the missive he’d received from de Montfort, and he wanted his brothers to be the first to know.
“Good morn,” Maximus greeted his brother as he entered the dim, cool armory that smelled strongly of leather and dirt. “You summoned me?”
Gallus nodded, his features drawn and tense. “Where is Ty?”
Maximus shook his head. “I have not yet seen him,” he replied. “He is probably still drunk from all of the cider he consumed last night. Shall I go and rouse him?”
“Nay,” Gallus said, looking at the parchment in his hand. “I sent a soldier for him. He will be here.”
Maximus couldn’t help but notice that Gallus was focused on the rolled parchment in his hand. He could see the broken seal on it and flashes of carefully-scripted writing when Gallus unrolled it again to look at it.
“What is that?” Maximus finally asked. “Who sent the missive?”
Gallus was reading it again. He’d already read it no less than ten times that morning but he was reading it still again. He sighed heavily, his focus still on the yellowed, brittle parchment.
“It is from de Montfort,” he said. “It was sent from Kenilworth this morning.”
Maximus lifted his eyebrows. Kenilworth was a little more than an hour’s ride from Isenhall to the west. “De Montfort is at Kenilworth?” he asked. “Last I heard, he was traveling the south of England to drum up support.”
Gallus nodded. “I know,” he said quietly. “Evidently, he has drummed up quite a bit of support, mayhap more support than he bargained for.”
Maximus leaned back against the stone wall, folding his big arms across his chest. “What do you mean?”
Gallus held out the missive to Maximus, who took it and unrolled it, reading it carefully and slowly as Gallus spoke.
“Henry’s son and heir, Prince Edward, is apparently siding with de Montfort now,” he said.
Then, he shook his head, baffled. “I cannot believe I just said that. It is preposterous at the very least, but Simon assures me that it is true. That is Simon’s signature on the missive. Therefore, it must be true.”
Maximus looked at his brother, shocked, before returning his focus to the parchment. “Simon wants us to come to Kenilworth immediately,” he said, lifting his eyes to his brother again. “Edward must be there. He wants us to meet with the prince.”
Gallus shook his head, unhappy and unnerved by the entire happenstance.
“Edward is the next king of England,” he said flatly.
“Does de Montfort not realize this? Edward is a brutal warrior and a man of great vision. He will rule England with an iron fist and facilitate absolute rule, whereupon de Montfort’s efforts for change will be destroyed.
Everything we are working towards now will be destroyed.
I do not want to go to Kenilworth and listen to Edward’s lies. ”
“What about Edward?”
Tiberius’s voice was heard as the man entered the armory, smelling like rosemary soap and clean-shaven. In fact, he looked quite different, causing both Gallus and Maximus to take notice. Gallus reached out and tugged on the sleeve of the tunic Tiberius was wearing.
“Isn’t that mine?” he asked, suspicious. “My wife made that for me. What are you doing in my clothing?”
Tiberius pursed his lips wryly. “I had nothing else that was clean to wear, my dearest love,” he said.
“What would you have me do? Walk about nude until my clothing has been cleaned and dried? I am sure that would impress the women of Isenhall deeply. It would cause them to realize how inadequate you two are as husbands and they will lament the fact that they should have married me instead.”
Gallus grinned in spite of the insult as Maximus rolled his eyes. “I’ve not yet had the need to measure my manhood but I would wager it is better than yours.”
Tiberius scoffed arrogantly. “It is not better than mine,” he said. “Mine satisfies a woman as food satisfies the hungry. We are speaking of a massive side of beef as compared to your tiny, pork sausage.”
Maximus burst out laughing as Gallus cut his brother an intolerant expression. “Mine is better than yours for one good reason,” Gallus said. “It will produce the next Earl of Coventry. You and your inadequate manhood cannot make the same claim.”
Tiberius shrugged, conceding the argument at that point. He pointed to the missive in Maximus’ hands.
“What is that?” he asked, changing the subject. “And what about Edward? I heard his name mentioned as I came in.”
They went back to the subject at hand. Gallus took the parchment away from Maximus and looked at it again.
He made no move to give it to Tiberius because the man was a terrible reader.
He mixed words up or misplaced them entirely, so he was never given anything to read.
Something happened between Tiberius’ eyes and his mind that twisted everything around when he was reading or figuring mathematics.