Chapter Sixteen #2
Fox was watching the men in the distance, the sunset, the land in general. “I was just telling Tay that she will do well if she listens,” he said. “She’s stubborn, that one. But she is strong, and she is fierce. She must understand a fighting man and why he fights before she can command one.”
Kristian shook his head. “We take years to train our men,” he said. “Suddenly, we must train a woman in far less time? I wonder how well trained she will truly be.”
Tay glanced at him. “She will be trained enough,” he said. “She learns quickly. Moreover, she will not be leading the battle. If one of her father’s allies agrees to lead the charge to regain Breda Castle, I do not see her being in command.”
“Then why all the training?”
“So she can understand everything that is being undertaken on her behalf,” Tay said. “And after the Breda Castle is reclaimed, she will need to build an army again.”
Kristian looked at him. “Did you ever stop to think that whoever helps her regain her castle might simply claim it for their own?” he said.
“Lord Exmoor is taking a great chance by seeking allies to regain her father’s duchy.
What if they decide to stay? She would have done better with a mercenary army, one she can control and who will not stake a claim. ”
Tay had thought of that, to be truthful. Even a well-meaning army could turn greedy, or worse—think Athdara was incapable of rebuilding her family’s legacy.
But that was where everyone would be wrong. She was more than capable.
Over the past six weeks, Tay had seen just how gifted Athdara was.
She was his ward, that was true, but as the days and weeks passed, she’d become far more than that.
When he first brought her into his cottage, it had been for several reasons.
That first day or two, with the threat of bounty hunters, had been uneasy days.
The death of St. Gerard had made the situation even more volatile.
There had been a time when Tay thought St. Denis might evict Athdara because he’d been grieving so heavily, perhaps blaming her for what happened to his son, but that never came to pass.
Days went by after the death of St. Gerard, and Tay waited for the command to come, but it never had.
Things settled down. Tay had once promised Athdara that he would ask St. Denis about sending for her little brother, but now was not the right time.
Not so soon after the loss of St. Gerard.
Therefore, Athdara simply began her training as they’d planned.
Blackchurch continued on as it usually did.
But something had changed.
It was strange to realize just how much things had changed.
As St. Denis and St. Sebastian essentially retreated into Exford Castle, hardly seen or heard from, the trainers more or less took command of Blackchurch.
Everything went on as it usually did. Hopefuls became dregs and dregs became recruits.
There were new dreg groups monthly, and at the end of four weeks, there was a new trainee class.
Sometimes there were only five or six new trainees.
Sometimes there were thirty. That varied depending on how many dregs they had or if there were even any worthy candidates, but the most important thing was that life went on.
Blackchurch went on.
Tay and Athdara went on.
It all started with that barren cottage he’d brought her to.
Between Athdara and Marina, the place had been scrubbed from top to bottom and made to look like a proper home.
Athdara came down from the attic and took the bedchamber that faced the back of the house, while Marina took the attic.
They’d found Marina a bed, and both ladies wardrobes and trunks—which was a good thing, considering the belongings Athdara now found herself in possession of.
Tay had seen to that.
During a visit to Tiverton, he’d found a seamstress and purchased Athdara several pre-made garments that had then been sewn to fit.
He’d purchased soaps and combs and oils.
He’d purchased shoes from the tanner and cloaks and scarves from a merchant.
He’d purchased so many things that by the time he was finished, Athdara had more possessions than she’d ever had in her life, things fit for a queen.
But all she ever wore were the breeches he’d purchased for her, because she couldn’t very well train in a surcoat, and tunics that hung down to her knees.
But there was no disguising the feminine figure that lay beneath.
Tay noticed it more by the day.
He noticed her.
The stolen kisses between them never stopped.
In fact, Tay was rather aggressive in stealing them, but only when they were alone.
Never if there was a hint of anyone around.
When Marina went to bed, he would try to coerce Athdara from her chamber—and sometimes, it worked.
He would take her down into the common room of the cottage, which was now full of chairs, stools, tables, and two couches that had come from empty cottages that hadn’t been lived in for years.
They were built of wood and iron, flat with a type of latticed bottom, and then arms on either end that were slightly raised.
Athdara had put blankets on them to make them more comfortable, and Tay always took her to one of the couches, where he would draw her into his embrace and hold her as the fire crackled softly in the hearth.
They would sit that way for hours.
From the moment they first met those weeks ago in The Black Cock, there had been something between them that could not be denied.
Even when he didn’t know who she was and she didn’t know who he was, the attraction was evident.
Tay was drawn to her as he’d never been drawn to anyone in his life, and Athdara succumbed to him easily.
That broken heart he’d suffered from the careless merchant’s daughter had long since healed.
In those nights when they would sit on the couch and embrace, he would speak of his time training, of his time away from home, and of the mother and brother he missed.
Athdara had learned a great deal from him during those rare and peaceful moments.
One of the main things she learned was that Tay was a titled lord—Lord Alness.
He’d inherited the title and the lands when his father died, but the small offshoot of Clan Munro that his family was part of was helmed by his father’s elder brother as the clan chief.
Tay’s title had been granted to his father as a young man, and now it belonged to Tay—along with a fortified manor home in Dalmore where his mother and brother lived.
He sent money to them on a regular basis for the care of his brother, who had been injured at birth.
He couldn’t see or walk, but he could hear.
According to Tay, he was a joyful lad. Tay sent money to make sure Garry had everything he needed, but he had no desire to return to Scotland.
As it turned out, Tay was more English than Scots.
He’d spent most of his life in England, and he simply associated himself with the English more than the Scots.
His mother, as Athdara had known, was from the ancient city of Athens, and Tay had even visited Athens to become acquainted with his mother’s family, but that was where any association ended.
He was a man of different blood, both Scottish and Greek, but his soul, his training, was English.
Oddly enough, however, he wasn’t confused about his identity. He knew very well who he was.
He was a knight and a trainer.
He was Blackchurch.
That was all he needed to know.
Athdara had learned a great deal about the man, wrapped up in his arms and watching the fire flicker as he told her stories of his youth.
She’d spent the past two years completely alone, fighting for every little thing she had, but the past several weeks had seen something odd happen to her—a sense of belonging.
There were people who cared about her, who would help her.
She belonged to something larger than herself.
To someone she was mad about. She hadn’t felt that kind of joy and peace in a very long time.
Athdara was finding her worth in life.
Therein lay the problem. The more the days passed, the more attached she became to Tay, and he to her.
They were establishing a life at Blackchurch even though neither of them really realized it.
They had never moved beyond kissing or some heavy fondling, because he would stop her when their passionate kissing became too intimate, so it wasn’t as if he was determined to bed her.
He simply never let it go that far, even though they did live in the same house and things between them became quite heated and sexy at times.
Marina was always there, always between them during the day or at any other time when she was awake, but at night the woman slept heavily, and Tay and Athdara took advantage of that.
But Tay knew that, at some point, they would end up in his bed.
It was something that both excited him and frightened him.
The physical aspect, he could handle. But the emotional one…