Chapter Eleven #3
He was distracted from answering when Maryann and the rest of the de Thorington daughters emerged from the keep.
Maryann was scolding Spring, whose high-pitched voice could be heard arguing with her mother.
They were creating quite a commotion. From somewhere in the escort, Clark emerged and crossed the bailey towards the women, who were carrying satchels.
Wynter and Gage watched as Clark met the women at the bottom of the stairs, taking their satchels in his big hands.
Maryann, Spring, and Autumn headed towards the escort while Summer remained with Clark, taking a satchel from him to help him balance the load.
“She’s in love with him, you know,” Wynter said softly.
Gage looked at her. “Who?”
“Summer,” Wynter said, turning away from her sister and the big, blond knight as they headed towards the escort. “She has loved Clark for as long as I can recall.”
Gage looked at the pair but was unable to see any expressions of affection between them. “She’s a good deal younger than de Vries.”
Wynter nodded. “I know,” she said. “But age does not matter. I am certain that he loves her, too. He probably wants to marry her but the fact that I am unmarried has more than likely deterred him from asking for her hand. It seems that I am the dam blocking all of my sisters from finding husbands.”
Gage focused on her, a smile tugging on his lips. “Not anymore,” he said. “You have an offer of marriage from a man who would bring wealth into the marriage and his undying devotion, loyalty, and affection. I would give you all that I am, Wynter. Please tell me you will think on it.”
Wynter gazed into his eyes, seemingly unable to respond for a moment. When she did speak, it was with great emotion.
“Am I dreaming?” she whispered. “Are you truly speaking those words?”
His grin broke through. “I am,” he said.
“I know I told you that I would never marry, but that situation has quite quickly changed. Ever since we met up at The Rabbit Burrow, I feel as if I cannot take another breath without you by my side. I cannot explain it any better than that, only that I look at you and I see my destiny. It is a feeling I cannot shake. I hope that does not sound ridiculous.”
Wynter shook her head, feeling tears sting her eyes. “It does not,” she said. “But I would like to know why you have changed your mind so quickly.”
“Wynnie!” Maryann was calling to her daughter from the open carriage door. “Come, now! Hurry!”
Wynter lifted a hand to her mother, indicating she had heard her, but her gaze returned to Gage. “I must go,” she said. “We shall speak further on this subject the next time I see you, but Gage… please be careful. I know you are going into battle, so please… take great care.”
“I will,” he said, taking her elbow and turning her towards the escort. “Go home. I will send you word when I can.”
“And you will come to Ashleven when it is over?”
“I will, I swear it.”
She came to a halt. “You should know that Brian intends to come, also,” she said. “I told him that I prefer we only be friends and he has agreed, but I do not think it has deterred him from seeking a betrothal. If you are serious with your intention to marry me, then you should know.”
Gage was well aware. “If you wish to marry him, you need only tell me once,” he said. “I will not stand in your way.”
She came to a halt and faced him. “I told you that I do not want to marry him,” she said. “But that does not mean I want to hurt him. I have told him that I have only ever wished to marry one man.”
“What did he say?”
She shrugged. “He asked if you were the man but I did not confirm it,” she said. “Still, I think he knows. Gage… if you are truly serious about all of this, then…”
He cut her off. “I do not say anything I do not mean, Wynter. Aye, I am serious. I have never been more serious about anything in my life.”
She fought off a smile. “Then know that I have absolutely no interest in Brian,” she said. “But please… do not be unkind to him. He fought the battle but you have won the war.”
“Wynter!”
Maryann was yelling from the carriage again.
With a lingering glance at Gage, Wynter turned away and scurried to the carriage where her mother was waiting.
She climbed into the carriage and the door slammed.
As soon as it shut, the Ashington knights began to move the column forward through the open gates of Langley.
Gage stood back, watching them push past, lifting a hand in farewell to Etienne, who was bringing up the rear.
As the column moved past and through the gates, he noticed Clark standing on the other side of where the carriage had been.
He had clearly been watching the women pull out, as well.
Through the misty morning, their eyes met, and Gage could tell by Clark’s expression that he suspected Gage’s interest in Wynter to be more than platonic.
It seemed they both had something in common when it came to the de Thorington sisters.
*
It had been a long journey home.
The Ashington party reached Ashleven Castle just after sunset, when a heavy fog had rolled off the sea and enveloped the town.
The torches on the castle ramparts barely broke through the mist as the escort finally came to a halt in the castle bailey.
John was waiting for them on the steps that led into the enormous keep and his daughters rushed past him, one at a time, kissing his cheek as they went.
Maryann came last.
“Greetings, sweet,” John greeted her. “How was the visit to Durham? How is Sedelia?”
Maryann continued walking past him. “Inside,” she said quietly. “There is much to speak of.”
Curious, John followed. They entered the keep and he pursued his wife to his lavish solar, the one with the golden table.
He could hear his daughters’ voices overhead, the usual chaos when all four girls were in residence.
Truth be told, he was glad when they were gone but even gladder when they returned.
All of that noise was music to his ears.
“What is it?” he said as he closed the solar door. “You seem quite serious.”
Maryann began peeling off her cloak and he went to help her. “Much has happened,” she said. “It is best to start from the beginning. We arrived at Durham without incident, but that night was when the trouble started.”
John put her cloak on a peg near the door. “What trouble?”
Maryann went straight for the pitcher of wine and poured herself a cup. “Spring slipped out to a tavern after we had all gone to bed and took Wynter with her,” she said. “She does not think I know, but I do. My maids have told me because they heard Aunt Sedelia chastising the girls for it.”
John frowned. “God’s bones,” he muttered. “How did Sedelia know?”
Maryann looked at him as if he were an idiot. “It is her house, John,” she said snappishly. “She knows everything that goes on. Fortunately, our daughters’ folly was uneventful but while at this tavern, they met someone we used to know.”
“Who?”
“Gage de Reyne.”
John’s eyes widened. “Gage de Reyne was in Durham?”
Maryann took a long drink of wine before replying. “You are aware that Brian de Luci has been having difficulty with Lord Stagshaw.”
“Of course I know, but who told you? And what does that have to do with Gage?”
Maryann held up a hand for patience while she explained.
“Brian hired a mercenary army from Pamplona to help him subdue Stagshaw once and for all, and Gage is part of that army,” she said.
“The man is a mercenary and that is why he is back in Northumberland. Honestly, John, you would not recognize him. He looks as if he guards the gates of hell with Cerberus by his side. He looks like a barbarian.”
It was a lot to take in. John sat down in the nearest chair, pondering what he’d just been told. “Gage de Reyne, the mercenary,” he mumbled. “I never thought I would hear those words.”
Maryann jabbed a finger at him. “Do you recall the rumors that Gage had tried to steal his brother’s inheritance and that is why he was banished from Septentrion?
” she said. “Brian de Luci believes the rumors are true. He believes Gage has come back with the mercenary army to destroy Boothe and take everything for himself.”
John frowned. “Brian said that?”
She nodded emphatically. “What’s more, I believe Gage has his eye on Wynter,” she said. “You know that Wynnie has always been fond of him. What if he not only has his eye on claiming Stagshaw, but the Ashington earldom as well? He could easily do that by seducing our daughter!”
By the time she was finished, John was looking at her with a great deal of surprise. “I cannot believe he would do that,” he said. “We know Gage. He is a fine man.”
“We knew him,” Maryann pointed out. “He has been gone for six years. Who knows what kind of man he is now given the fact that he has become a bloodthirsty mercenary. He demands money to fight other men’s wars, John.
What if he has really returned to marry our daughter for the title and wealth she can provide him? ”
John didn’t want to admit she was making some sense.
At least, a little sense but a lot of speculation.
It was true that they no longer knew Gage de Reyne.
John had known him well, long ago, but time changed men’s hearts.
With some of them, anyway. Was it possible that Boothe had been right all along and Gage really did try to take his inheritance from him?
His gaze moved to the table with the gold inlay, cluttered with maps and missives and other things necessary to run an earldom. Amongst the clutter sat the missive sent by Boothe days ago for help against de Luci’s army.
A request for Ashington’s troops.
“I find it a wild coincidence that Gage should return with the very army hired to fight against his brother,” he said.
“Too much of a coincidence, in fact, but I cannot believe this was planned, Maryann, and I most certainly do not think that Wynnie is Gage’s ultimate goal.
Any affection she held for him is unrequited. ”
“Yet she will not marry Brian because of him.”
“I do not think that is entirely true.”
“It is,” Maryann insisted. “Whether or not Gage ever returned her feelings, the ghost of his memory has followed her into womanhood. She still pines for a man she can never have. But if he were to give her the slightest bit of encouragement, she would run to him. I know she would.”
That was true, all of it. John couldn’t deny it. Grunting softly, he averted his gaze. “I will assume Wynnie and Gage have spoken?” he asked.
Maryann nodded. “I do not know what they have spoken of, but they have,” she said.
“Wynnie slept the entire way home so I did not have the opportunity to ask her, so mayhap you should. Gage has not seen her in six years, so mayhap he has finally decided the Ashington wealth is worth the marriage to our daughter.”
“That is not giving Wynnie much credit.”
“He is a mercenary, John. He lives for wealth. She has wealth. Why can you not see this?”
As much as hated to admit it, she was making more sense. With a sigh, John stood up and went to his table, picking up the missive from Boothe with the childish scrawl.
“Boothe knows that Brian has hired a band of mercenaries to fight against him,” he said. “He has asked for assistance.”
Maryann expression turned serious. “What will you do?”
John let the missive drop back to the tabletop. “I will not help him,” he said flatly. “Boothe has been harassing Brian and he deserves to be punished. I will not lift a finger to help him. It does not matter if Gage is part of that mercenary force. Boothe deserves to be punished.”
“If Boothe dies, Gage is Lord Stagshaw.”
“He’ll be better than Boothe ever was.”
“Are you certain?”
He looked at her. “What do you mean?”
Maryann lifted her shoulders, moving for the door.
“How would you like an army of mercenaries based at Septentrion Castle in Northumberland?” she asked.
“It is quite possible that if Gage assumes control, his mercenary friends will join him. It will be worse still if he marries Wynnie because it will pull Ashleven into the swamp of his ambition.”
John contemplated that for a moment before shaking his head. “Pah,” he said dismissively. “I would never believe that. But I will speak with Wynnie about her encounter with Gage. Mayhap she can enlighten us as to what kind of man he has become.”
Maryann took her cloak off the peg. “Even if you do not like the answer?”
John lifted an eyebrow. “Knowing the truth is better than living in ignorance.”
“Do you want my advice?”
“I always want your advice.”
“Betroth her to Brian now,” Maryann said softly but firmly. “Secure this betrothal so Gage has no chance of marrying Wynnie under our noses. Let us marry her to Brian and be done with it.”
It wasn’t unsound advice, but John hesitated. “We have tried to warm her to him for two years,” he said. “She simply doesn’t have an eye for him. She will be miserable if we betroth her to de Luci and you know this.”
“Better misery with a good husband than marrying her to a man who only wants her for her money.”
It sounded rather brutal and John sighed heavily. “I am not sure Wynnie would understand that or agree.”
Probably not, but Maryann didn’t say anything more. She’d told him all she wished to say and the rest was up to him. She quit the solar, heading to the bedchamber she shared with her husband. John, however, remained in the solar, mulling over what his wife had told him.
Gage de Reyne is back and he is a mercenary.
Somehow, John had the feeling that the trouble between Langley and Septentrion wasn’t going to end with one army defeating the other.
Somehow, he suspected it was just a precursor to something larger.
He hoped he was wrong.