Chapter Seventeen #2
William kept smiling, most at Emelisse, who seemed mortified that he was looking at her so. The thought of marriage, and the marital bed, titillated the young man. Caius thought it was all rather comical, but he snapped his fingers so William would look at him and not his embarrassed wife.
“De Wolfe,” he said. “Look at me. I need you to do something for me.”
William turned to him eagerly. “My lord?”
“First, go and pay the man for the horses,” Caius said, digging in his coin purse and putting several coins in William’s open palm. “When you are finished with that, I want you to walk the village, looking for any signs that we have been followed.”
Emelisse looked up at him with some fear. “Do you believe we have been?”
Caius looked over her head, down into the bustling heart of the village.
“It is difficult to say,” he said. “They will find the dead soldier eventually and knowing you escaped, they will probably think you killed him. But Morgan and I are both missing, so they might think it was one of us even though rumor will say we had gone after you to bring you back. In any case, it is possible they might try to find us by sending men into the surrounding villages. It is possible that they could come here.”
That didn’t ease her fear, but she didn’t question him. She simply nodded, understanding that, even now, there was still a risk. But Caius didn’t dwell on it. He returned his attention to William.
“While you were watching for Winterhold men, I want you to find a vendor who sells rings,” he said.
“Rings, my lord?” William cocked his head.
Caius held up his hand, wriggling his fingers. “You know – rings,” he said. “Wedding rings. My wife needs a wedding ring.”
William nodded with understanding. “Of course, my lord,” he said. “Should I send him to the inn so the lady can select one?”
Before Caius could reply, Emelisse shook her head. “I do not need to select one,” she said. “I do not even need a ring, truly.”
Caius looked at her. “Aye, you do,” he said. “I want you to have one.”
There was something both flattering and possessive in his statement.
He was looking at her with warmth in those black eyes so capable of changing when the mood struck him.
Already, she knew that about him. He wanted her to have a ring, so she would.
Truth be told, she wanted the world to know she belonged to him, too.
There was something binding about a wedding right because he cared enough to give her one.
Therefore, she conceded the point without a fight and returned her attention to William.
“Something simple is fine,” she said. “A simple gold band is sufficient.”
She held up her hand and then held William’s up, comparing the size of their fingers. Even at William’s young age, he had a big hand, so she looked for the finger that was closest to the one she would put the ring on. She settled on the smallest finger on his left hand.
Armed with his orders and a general idea of the size of ring he needed to find, William took off for the livery. Caius took Emelisse by the hand once more and turned her in the direction of the inn that was across the avenue from the church.
“The White Bear,” he said as he read the sign on the inn. “It looks like a big place. I hope their food is good.”
Emelisse could read the sign, too. Her father had taught her to read as a child. With every step they took, she was growing more and more nervous. She could hardly believe that she was married to a man she would have believed well beyond her reach.
“I am sure it is quite sufficient,” she said. “It has been here a long time. I can remember seeing it when we would come to town for mass.”
Caius’ gaze returned to her, lingering on the woman he had just married.
He had briefly wondered if he would feel any regret in this moment, but he found that he did not.
In fact, he was quite excited about it. Surely it wasn’t for the property he had just acquired through her, or any wealth or political connections, for she had none of those. He was simply excited about her.
This woman who could make his heart jump with merely a look.
“Tell me about your life before Winterhold,” he said as they strolled towards the structure. “You told me once that it was so peaceful you never even raised the drawbridge.”
She smiled faintly. “Nay,” she said. “We never did. The chains were rusted because it had been in the same lowered position for so long. Caius, I wish you could have seen Hawkstone before de Wrenville decided he wanted it. It was like… like a paradise. As a child, it was a wonderful place to grow up.”
“And it will be again,” he said. “To raise children, I mean. I will spare no expense in restoring it.”
She came to a halt, looking at him. “That is not why I married you,” she said. “I do not expect you to pay for the restoration of the castle.”
He shrugged. “It is of little matter,” he said. “The property became mine when I married you. But if you feel so strongly against me spending my money for it, we can use The Roden Twins. I am sure they will be more than enough to pay for it.”
Emelisse suddenly lowered her gaze, an expression of pain crossing her features. Caius’ brow furrowed.
“Why do you look like that?” he asked. “What is the matter?”
She looked up at him, the pain in her expression becoming heavier by the moment. She finally pulled her hand from his and turned away, wandering back the way they had come. Concerned, he followed, grabbing her by the arm so she couldn’t move any further.
“Emelisse, what is wrong?” he demanded softly.
When she finally looked at him again, there were tears streaming down her face.
“Oh… Caius, forgive me,” she begged, her lower lip trembling. “I lied to you. I never thought… I was trying to save my own life and I lied to you. I am so sorry.”
He frowned. “What about?”
She wiped at her tears with the back of her hand. “The Roden Twins,” she said. “And… and our allegiance to France.”
He dropped his grip from her, his expression hardening.
There were a great many things rolling through his mind at that moment, not the least of which being the fact that he had trusted her so implicitly through this whole situation.
He was usually much less trusting with people he didn’t know, but with her, it had come easily.
He had staked his reputation for her. He had even fallen for her.
Aye, he could admit that. He had fallen for her. Therefore, her words were like a punch to his gut.
He was trying very hard not to feel a horrific sense of dread.
“You had better be extremely clear on what you are about to tell me,” he said.
He sounded cold and hard. Emelisse had never heard that tone from him before, but she didn’t blame him.
It was a secret she had been sitting on for almost a year, something she had learned to bury deep as if it had never happened.
It was something she had never planned to speak of, but now… now, she felt as if she had no choice.
Better sooner than later.
“I… I should have told you this before,” she said. “My father and brother swore me to secrecy and I promised I would never, ever speak of it. I never intended to. But you are my husband and Hawkstone is yours, so you must know that we no longer have The Roden Twins.”
“Why not? Where are they?”
She hung her head, miserably. “It is true that my father has never even been to France,” she said. “That was not a lie. But my mother’s family is French and they have property in the Loire Valley. The family name is le Leroux and they are powerful warlords near Angers.”
His cold expression didn’t change. “Go on.”
She took a deep breath. “A year ago, when it was clear de Wrenville would eventually overrun us, my father wrote to my mother’s family and asked for assistance,” she said.
“They responded, but it was not favorable. They wanted something for sending aid – money. My father sent them the only thing of value we had, The Roden Twins. They never came and they never responded. My father was so ashamed that he made me swear never to tell a soul. If anyone asked, I was to tell them that someone stole The Roden Twins.”
Caius had been waiting for something more devastating but, so far, none of what she said was anything close to shattering. He lifted his eyebrows.
“That’s it?” he said. “Your father sent the diamonds to France and he was cheated out of them?”
She nodded solemnly. “Caius, he was so ashamed,” she said miserably. “He was ashamed that my mother’s family did not think enough of us to send us help. They took our diamonds and simply kept them.”
Caius scratched his head. “Is that where de Wrenville got the idea that you were loyal to the king of France?”
She shrugged. “It is possible,” she said. “He had men watching us constantly – who came, who left, where they went. It is possible someone told him we had been sending missives to France.”
“And that is all there is to the situation?”
“That is all, I swear upon my mother’s grave.”
It all made perfect sense to Caius and he realized that he was relieved beyond measure.
Emelisse had such a guileless way about her that he didn’t sense any deception.
He was usually very good at sniffing out lies and subversion, but he genuinely didn’t sense any of that with her.
The woman had told a lie, small as it was, and she had confessed before things got out of hand. He appreciated that.
He appreciated her.
Reaching out, he cupped her face in his two big hands.