Chapter Nine
“He will be here any moment,” Hallam was saying softly. “I believe he wants to do what is right. He does not seem to be siding with your husband.”
“But what does that mean?” a woman replied. “You know I have not involved myself in my husband’s military plans but, in this case, I must. I fear what he plans for Lady Emelisse. Do you know?”
It took Caius all of two seconds to realize it was Lady de Wrenville. He paused as he reached the top, listening to their conversation with curiosity.
“I do,” Hallam said softly. “He plans to marry her to Marius.”
Lady de Wrenville gasped. “Him?” she said, evidently horrified. “Hallam, that will be a horrible fate for the lady, especially after everything that has gone on over the years. Does she know?”
“I do not believe so.”
Lady de Wrenville began to pace because Caius could see her shadow on the wall.
“Then you must speak with Sir Caius,” she said decisively.
“He is the one in command of my uncle’s army, is he not?
You must convince him not to support my husband and you must convince him to remove Lady Emelisse.
Mayhap I am caring too deeply about things that do not concern me, but I have been here long enough to see the situation for what it is.
He married me to gain an army and he will have Marius marry Lady Emelisse to gain a fortress.
I do not wish my fate upon her, not in the least.”
Hallam didn’t say anything for a long moment. “If it hadn’t been you, it would have been someone else,” he murmured. “He needed military support that a marriage could give and he discovered you. But it could have been anyone else who could provide him with a big army.”
Lady de Wrenville sighed heavily. “It just happened to be me,” she said. “I have always wondered how he found me.”
Hallam drifted closer to her; Caius could see his shadow as well.
“I suspect it came through the king,” he said.
“In fact, my suspicion is that this entire situation came through the king. Marius has his ear and, undoubtedly, John knew about the conflict with Hawkstone. It is my suspicion that John suggested the marriage with you to gain William Marshal’s military support.
If the king is controlling Marius, then he is controlling Covington.
And if Covington calls for aid from The Marshal, that means the king controls The Marshal to a certain extent. ”
Lady de Wrenville shook her head in awe, her shadow moving on the wall.
“I see that now,” she said. “But my parents did not. They were so happy with a marital offer that they did not look beyond the offer itself, or the implications. At thirty years and four, my time for finding a husband was over ten years ago. They knew another offer would not come along so they took it.”
Hallam’s shadow was moving closer to her. “Had I known of you before this, they would have had another offer,” he said softly. “From me. But God has not been kind to us.”
“Nay,” Lady de Wrenville said, resigned. “Even so, I cannot stand by and watch Marius marry that girl. Knowing what I know, I shall intervene if I can. God only knows what Marius will do to her if he becomes her husband.”
Hallam’s voice was gentle. “You have endured a tragic fate, yet you will make sure another does not meet the same fate you have,” he said. “You are noble and kind and true, my lady. Your heart has a great capacity for love.”
Lady de Wrenville stopped pacing. “For you, it does,” she murmured. “I have said it before, Hallam. You are too fine a man to be serving this monster I have married. I wish…”
He shushed her softly. “No more,” he said. “Sir Caius shall be here any moment. If I can convince him to remove Lady Emelisse, I shall. I promise.”
Caius had heard enough. He decided that was the moment to make an appearance and he stomped the last few steps, making his approach obvious as he came to the top of the steps.
He appeared in the doorway as Lady de Wrenville and Hallam turned to him, both of them trying not to look as if they’d been caught doing something they perhaps should not have been. Hallam was the first one to speak.
“I wanted to make sure you had Lady de Wrenville’s permission before speaking to Lady Emelisse,” he said. “You may proceed.”
That’s not why you came here, Caius thought, but he didn’t say anything. He was rather interested in the dynamics that were evidently going on here at Winterhold – a woman married because of the army she could provide and her husband’s knight who evidently had feelings for her, and she for him.
Quite interesting, indeed.
But in what he heard, it also told him that Hallam hadn’t been trying to trap him.
Whatever the man had told him had been genuine because there was more to the story than he’d initially believed.
In truth, this situation was growing by leaps and bounds every minute and his trust for Hallam grew, just a little.
“Thank you,” he said as he headed for the small chamber door. “Lady de Wrenville, has Lady Emelisse supped yet?”
Lady de Wrenville shook her head. “I have just sent for food,” she said. “Why do you ask?”
“Because my meal was interrupted,” he said. “I will eat with the lady, if you would be so kind as to arrange it.”
Lady de Wrenville nodded quickly and headed for the door. She disappeared down the stairs, but Hallam remained. Before Caius knocked on Lady Emelisse’s door, he glanced at the knight.
“You and I will have a discussion when I am finished with Lady Emelisse,” he said. “Do not go far.”
Hallam nodded. “I will be here when you have concluded.
Caius turned to the chamber door, rapping softly. When a voice from the other side demanded his identity, he gave it, and the bolt was promptly thrown.
A well-dressed maid appeared.
“Enter, my lord,” the maid said.
He did. As he proceeded into the chamber, the maid departed, shutting the door quietly behind her. It was a good thing because Caius probably would have forgotten to. The moment he set eyes on Emelisse, every thought in his head seemed to go up like a puff of smoke.
She was sitting on a three-legged stool in front of the blazing hearth, wrapped up in a cloak that was too big for her just like the gown had been.
It was cold in the room, in spite of its small size and the lively fire in the hearth.
Caius could feel it. In fact, as he stood there, he could feel the icy wind coming through the shutters that were old and tired.
Before he even uttered a word of greeting, he went over to the shutters and inspected them, seeing that they simply weren’t adequate against the storm outside. Returning to the door, he threw it open, startling Hallam. The man was several feet away, whirling to Caius as the door flew open.
“I need a woolen blanket cut into two halves,” Caius told him. “Bring me that and hammer and nails, and quickly.”
Hallam frowned. “What is the matter?”
Caius threw a thumb in the direction of the chamber. “Her shutters are about to collapse under the force of the wind,” he said. “That chamber is completely inadequate in this storm. If I cannot repair the shutters, then we shall have to move the lady or she will freeze to death.”
Hallam wanted to see what he was talking about.
He came into the chamber and between him and Caius, they determined that the shutters were indeed inadequate in this storm.
As the man headed off in search of items to keep the shutters secure and block out the chill wind, Caius shut the chamber door behind him.
He turned to Emelisse.
“I will apologize for not noticing the inadequacy of these shutters when I was here earlier, my lady,” he said. “If we cannot repair them satisfactorily, then we shall find you more comfortable quarters.”
She stared at him a moment as if surprised by all the fuss. “My lord, I do not expect you to see to my comfort,” she said. “I am a prisoner. Given the circumstances, this is far better than it was earlier in the vault. I am quite satisfied.”
He shook his head. “Even prisoners can expect decent treatment,” he said. “I will insist.”
She continued to stare at him as if unsure what to make of his chivalry.
She was a captive and he was… well, it was her understanding that he had come to support de Wrenville.
But his actions suggested that he wasn’t entirely on Winterhold’s side.
Confused, she pushed her hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear.
“I fail to understand why you should, my lord,” she said. “Please do not misunderstand. I am grateful to have you as my advocate. But I do not understand why you should be concerned.”
Caius tried to tell himself that he would have the same concern for any prisoner in the face of such an upsetting situation, but if he was honest with himself, he wasn’t entirely sure that was true.
From the beginning of their association, he’d been drawn to Emelisse.
He didn’t even know the woman but, somehow, she had his attention.
After a moment, he averted his gaze, looking around for something to sit on.
“I am concerned as the only neutral party here,” he said. “As I told you, William Marshal has a stake in all of this and until I can determine who is in the right, and who is in the wrong, if any, I shall be your advocate and ensure you are treated fairly.”
It sounded reasonable enough and he was proud of himself for explaining it so logically. But her brow furrowed as she considered his words.
“You did, indeed, mention that you had come on behalf of William Marshal,” she said. “But my question is why? We never knew that Covington de Wrenville was such a close ally of The Marshal.”
Caius had found a chair and he pulled it up, sitting opposite her in front of the hearth. “He was not until he married Lady de Wrenville,” he said, finally looking up at her. “Lady de Wrenville is the former Alice de Gras. Her mother, Margaret, is a beloved sister of William Marshal.”