Chapter Twenty
Ashleven Castle
“What do you mean you know where Wynter has gone? How do you know?”
Etienne was facing John in the man’s opulent solar because not ten minutes earlier, Maryann had been screaming that Wynter had been abducted by wild animals during the night and John was preparing to mobilize his army to search for her.
Etienne had been on the night watch and, frankly, he was surprised it had taken the family that long to realize that Wynter was missing.
Now, he had a confession to make before the whole of Ashington’s army went on the offensive.
“She has not been abducted, my lord,” he said, wondering just how badly he was going to be punished for this. “She is with Brian de Luci.”
John frowned, confused. “She’s with Brian?” he repeated slowly. “But how do you know? Etienne, what is happening?”
Etienne swallowed hard. He had always been an obedient knight so the fact that he kept his lord in the dark on something as important as his daughter was out of character for him.
But it couldn’t be helped.
“I have called off Dirk, my lord,” he said. “I have explained that the lady has not been abducted and there is no need for patrols. Mayhap you should send for Lady Ashington. She will want to hear this, too.”
John was looking at the man with great confusion and great suspicion. “Nay,” he said flatly. “I will not send for her until you tell me everything. Now, where is my daughter?”
Etienne took a deep breath, struggling to maintain his courage.
“Brian de Luci came last evening, my lord,” he said.
“He did not come to see you. He came to see Lady Wynter. He came to tell her that Gage de Reyne had been badly wounded and was probably dying. Brian thought Wynter should be with him at such a time, so he took her back to Septentrion.”
John’s eyes widened. “Back to Septentrion?” he said, incredulous. “Without my permission?”
“Aye, my lord.”
“Back to a compromised castle?”
Etienne nodded. “He did not ask your permission for fear you would deny him,” he said.
“My lord, you know that de Luci would have never done such a thing had he not felt it extremely important. He is a man of great character and responsibility, above all. I happened to be at the gatehouse when he arrived and he asked that I keep his appearance from you. Truth be told, I did not know of his true motives until he spoke to Lady Wynter and only then did I realize he meant to take her with him.”
John was nearly beside himself with shock. “But you let her go.”
“She insisted on going, my lord. I could not stop her.”
John’s jaw ticked unhappily. “I would believe that,” he said. “But you should have told me.”
“Lady Wynter did not want me to.” Etienne wasn’t sure which direction John was going to go with his reaction.
The man was usually quite even tempered, but he had been known to rage.
Therefore, he pled his case. “My lord, I realize you see this as a betrayal, but I see it is having little choice. Lady Wynter was determined to go to Gage’s side and with de Luci as her escort, it was my opinion that she was in good hands.
I did offer to go with them, but I was told to remain here in case you should notice her absence before she could return. ”
John eyed Etienne. Serious, obedient to a fault Etienne.
The man’s judgment was usually impeccable and John couldn’t decide if this was a failure on his part or simply a decision he truly believed in.
But beyond those questions was something even greater in his mind – he realized something had gone terribly wrong at Septentrion if Gage de Reyne was on his death bed.
Boothe had mentioned Gage’s death, but John hadn’t believed him.
He was very sorry to hear that Boothe may have been right all along.
Given the facts, he realized that Etienne wouldn’t have been able to stop Wynter from going to Gage’s side.
But the fact that Brian came for her at all confused him – he’d been trying to marry his daughter off to Brian for two years, but the man was letting Gage come between him and the Ashington earldom.
He simply didn’t understand that part of it.
“It makes little sense that Brian would come for her only to bring her to Gage,” he finally said. “Shouldn’t he be trying to keep them apart?”
Etienne shook his head. “I do not know, my lord,” he said. “Mayhap he supposed that if Gage is dying, it would do no harm to bring Wynter to him. The man will no longer be an obstacle at some point and Lord Tynedale can marry her without competition.”
John glanced at Etienne, thinking he made a very good case as to why Brian would do such a thing.
He’d taken Wynter to the man she had always loved so she could comfort him as he dies and then he would come out of the situation looking like a hero.
Perhaps enough of a hero that Wynter would willingly marry him.
Perhaps it was a brilliant move on Brian’s part.
But John wanted to get to the bottom of it.
“Very well,” he finally said, holding up a hand. “I suppose it does not matter how or why she went, because we know, but the fact remains that she is at a compromised castle and I want her home.”
“Aye, my lord.”
“You will come with me. Leave Dirk in command.”
“Aye, my lord,” Etienne said. “Shall I form an escort?”
John eyed him. “And attract the attention of Stagshaw and his men, who will undoubtedly be lingering in the area?” He shook his head. “It will safer if it is just the two of us, traveling swiftly. We’ll be less noticeable that way.”
Etienne wasn’t sure he agreed, but he didn’t push. “As you wish, my lord,” he said. “Shall I have your horse saddled?”
John turned for the door. “Nay,” he said, thinking of the big brown stallion he favored so. “Peter the Rock is too slow and we must move quickly, so saddle the Arabian I bought in York. He is meant for distance.”
Etienne hesitated. “He is not quite trained, my lord,” he said. “Our stable master is having a difficult time settling the horse. Mayhap one of the big warmbloods will do.”
John frowned. “I did not buy that horse not to ride him,” he said. “Have him prepared, but whatever you do, do not tell Lady Ashington anything. I am not sure what I will tell her, but you will not say a word. She doesn’t much like Gage, so I do not want to add more fuel to the fire.”
“Aye, my lord.”
As John went to change his clothes, Etienne departed the solar and headed down to the stables where he instructed the stable master to have the white Arabian saddled as well as his own warhorse.
As that was being taken care of, Etienne went to find Dirk, who was upon the walls.
He told the man everything simply so he would be in possession of all of the facts before heading to the armory where he donned his protection.
If they were heading to a volatile castle, he wanted to be prepared.
Etienne returned to the stable yard when he was ready and awaited the earl, who was not long in coming.
Maryann was trailing after him, yelling about something Etienne couldn’t hear until she drew closer.
Evidently, John had told Maryann where her daughter had gone and Maryann was torn between a dying Gage and the fact that Brian had brought her daughter into the lion’s den, so she said.
Maryann could be quite vocal when displeased.
In fact, the woman followed her husband into the stable yard, angry because he was riding that beautiful white stallion so spirited that even the best riders had trouble with him.
But John didn’t seem to care. Given what he’d paid for the animal, he was going to damned well ride him.
As one of the grooms held the magnificent horse steady, John mounted the beast, who immediately started dancing nervously.
But John simply laughed.
Maryann tried to talk him into riding one of the steadier warhorses, but he wouldn’t hear of it.
He was wearing protection, of course, without a helm because he didn’t like them and given that he hadn’t gone to battle in fifteen years, he didn’t even know where his helm was.
Etienne watched Maryann nearly throw a fit because her husband wouldn’t listen to her.
He followed the pair, with the earl astride the increasingly nervous Arabian, out of the stable yard and all the way to Ashleven’s enormous gatehouse.
On this day, the gatehouse was going through some repairs.
One of the big guides that held the portcullis rope steady when the grate was opened and closed had rotted away over the years, so there were several carpenters at the gatehouse removing the guide and preparing to replace it with a new one.
As John approached the gatehouse, the carpenters stopped their work so he could pass underneath.
John was adjusting his reins about the time he reached the gatehouse when, abruptly, the guide that was being lifted into place suddenly snapped from its rope, hurtling to the ground not far from where John was.
As Etienne and Maryann watched in horror, the Arabian bolted and John lost his grip on the reins.
The animal reared up, tossing John straight into the stone wall of the gatehouse.
Men were rushing to grab the animal, but they weren’t fast enough.
As John fell to the ground, the horse lost its balance and tipped over, landing right on top of him.
Maryann screamed as the horse scrambled to its feet and ran off.
There was chaos in the gatehouse as Etienne leapt from his horse and raced to John’s side only to see the earl lying twisted on the ground, his neck at an unnatural angle.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that John de Thorington, Earl of Ashington, had broken his neck in a freak accident.
The scream that Maryann peeled off when she saw her husband’s neck was something Etienne would remember for the rest of his life.