Chapter Eight #2
Addax leaned his head back against the chair, his gaze on the bailey beyond the lancet window. “We did,” he said. “But yesterday was a litany of failures on the part of Bretherdale and Max. That poor woman felt she had no other alternative.”
Cole scratched his head. “Cori wants me to beat Max to a pulp,” he said with a smirk. “By the way, how did he break his arm?”
Head still reclined on the chair, Addax turned to look at him. “De Wolfe did it.”
Cole grinned. “How?”
“Max was drunk and tried to attack him,” Addax said. “All de Wolfe had to do was shove him backward. Max fell awkwardly on his arm, so there is no great story behind it.”
Cole laughed softly. “Aye, there is,” he said. “The story of a man’s stupidity when attacking a superior being. De Wolfe could have killed him.”
“I know,” Addax said, rolling his head back around so he was looking at the bailey once more. “Speaking of Lady de Grey…”
He was suddenly on his feet, heading for the solar door. Curious, Cole stood up.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
Addax opened the carved panel. “Lady de Grey is out in the bailey,” he said, pointing at the window. “I want to see if Max apologized to her.”
“For what?”
“For behaving poorly. I’ll explain later.”
Cole just waved him on, and Addax quickly headed out of the keep and into the bailey.
He had seen Lady de Grey walking with another woman, who turned out to be one of Corisande’s maids.
As soon as Addax walked up, Lady de Grey’s rather bland expression seemed to change.
He could see her eyes brighten and a smile appear.
Clearly, she was glad to see him, and that seemed to do something to Addax.
He realized that he was glad to see her, too.
“Sir Addax,” Emmeline said. “You are not at the tournament field? I thought for certain you would be.”
Addax smiled politely. “Later,” he said. “Some of the sword bouts are going on this morning, and I’ve decided not to participate. And if anyone tells you it is because Kieran Hage is competing, they are filthy liars, and I shall beat every one of them.”
He said the last several words severely, but it was meant to be humorous, and she giggled. “I do not think I know Kieran Hage, but I will take your word for it,” she said.
Addax’s dark eyes twinkled. “You met him last night, my lady, but it was dark and difficult to see,” Addax said. Then he spread his arms wide. “The man has shoulders this broad. You cannot miss him.”
“And he is fearsome in a sword fight?”
Addax rolled his eyes. “Fearsome is where he begins,” he said. “Where he ends, no one knows.”
“He sounds terrifying.”
“He is,” Addax said. “But so am I, so Kieran and I understand one another.”
“Then I am relieved.”
Somewhere in their conversation, Addax’s polite smile had turned genuine. The lady seemed quite well this morning after her scare last night. He wanted to ask how she was feeling, but the maid was still standing there, looking at him, so he gestured to the bailey.
“If you are taking a turn about the ward, may I escort you?” he asked. “I can tell you a great deal about Berwick, and your maid probably has other duties to attend to.”
Emmeline readily agreed. “I am certain she does also,” she said as she looked at the maid. “You may return to Lady de Velt, Ansa. You may tell her that Sir Addax is my escort.”
The maid didn’t argue, but she did give Addax a long look before darting away. He waited until she was out of earshot.
“I hope she does not run back to Lady de Velt and tell her that I have demanded your company,” he said. “I cannot imagine Cori would tolerate that very well.”
Emmeline shrugged. “She is very protective, but not unreasonable,” she said. “I have enjoyed coming to know her. She is a fine lady.”
“She is,” Addax agreed. “Actually, I am glad we are alone. I wanted to make sure you were well after last night’s… activities.”
Emmeline’s warm expression faded, and she averted her gaze.
“My ribs hurt a little, and so does my head,” she said.
Then she paused before lifting her eyes to him once again.
“Sir Addax, I want to apologize to you. I have no idea what came over me last night. I’m not usually so foolish or so reckless.
All I can say is that the events of the day overwhelmed me, and something took hold.
Call it a demon if you will. I do not really know what it was, but it shall never take hold again. Once is enough.”
He looked at her seriously. “Given the events of the day, I am not entirely sure the strongest woman in the world could have endured those events and not felt some devastation,” he said. “Did Max at least apologize for being unkind?”
She nodded. “A little,” she said. “He said that he’d heard what happened and if he had offended me, he was sorry for it.”
“That’s all?”
“He came to my chamber just for a moment, and then he left again.”
“He did not stay the night?”
“Nay.”
Addax frowned. “Where did he go?”
She shook her head. “I do not know,” she said. “I have not seen him since.”
Addax was starting to feel that disgusted sensation again when it came to Maximilian. Perhaps he’d only been sorry to Addax’s face because he felt pressured, and the sentiment wasn’t real.
Addax wouldn’t be surprised.
“I see,” he said, trying not to sound unhappy about it. “In that case, mayhap we should go and find him. I have a suspicion he might be at the tournament field. Would you like to accompany me?”
Emmeline nodded. “Thank you, I would.”
“Shall I meet you at the keep once I’ve collected my horse?”
“No need. I shall go with you.”
He headed toward the stables with Emmeline beside him.
He kept glancing at her, discreetly, because she looked splendid this morning.
She was dressed in a mustard-colored garment that set off the color of her eyes, and her hair was gathered at the nape of her neck, topped off by a jeweled cap that was quite stunning.
She seemed in much better spirits than the last time he saw her, so perhaps it was as she’d said—a demon or something had overtaken her temporarily.
A momentary madness had swept her. Everyone was allowed to have a little madness now and then, and Addax had seen enough rational people over the years have momentary failures.
But he was still baffled as to how Maximilian could ignore a woman like this.
And that was a feeling he would carry all the way to the tournament arena.
*
Here he was again.
Truth be told, Emmeline had been hoping to see Addax this morning.
After the events of the previous night, she found that she was almost desperate to apologize to the man who had saved her life.
Had he not been on the lookout for her when he had, and had he not shown just the slightest bit of concern, the situation might have been much different.
She would have been dead.
It was as she had told him. The devastation she had felt realizing that she had entered into a marriage that was exactly the same as the one she’d had before was too much for her to bear.
She had been so young when she married Ernest, and, to be perfectly truthful, she didn’t know that marriage was supposed to be anything other than what she had with him.
Polite apathy, civil indifference. No warmth, no feeling.
Of course, she had seen other couples who had been affectionate toward one another, and in the course of her educational upbringing, she had read stories of love, of a man and woman loving one another and living for the mere sight of one another.
Perhaps in some small way she had hoped that she and Ernest would have that kind of relationship, but it never came about, and then she’d entered into a marriage with Maximilian that had the same flavor and feel to it.
That had thrown her over the edge.
She understood that now.
After the events in the river, Emmeline had lain awake the night before, pondering her actions, mostly because they had put Addax and his friends in jeopardy.
Those knights had been forced to dive into the freezing river, in the dark, looking for a woman who had briefly lost her mind.
Thank God they’d found her, but the embarrassment over the fact that they had to save her kept her awake most of the night.
That was why the first words to Addax had been those of apology.
He was the only person who had been kind to her since her arrival to Berwick, other than Corisande and Cole, and she didn’t want the man thinking that she was absolutely crazy.
Hopefully, he didn’t. But even with her apology, she was still ashamed at her actions.
Shame that had been difficult to shake.
Maximilian had indeed come very late in the night to deliver a tepid apology for whatever part he played in her difficult day.
As if the man didn’t know. Emmeline was not a foolish young bride, not like some very young girls when they were first married, who tended to be submissive and obedient to a fault.
Perhaps she’d been that way with Ernest in the beginning, but that abject obedience faded over time.
She’d still obeyed him when the occasion called for it, but that had been rare as the years went on.
He basically lived his life and she lived hers, and once in a while their lives would cross.
But that was where it ended.