Chapter One #3
He was the biggest man she had ever seen, with enormous arms the size of small trees.
What she remembered of her observations, other than his colossal size, was the fact that he had blue eyes, and they were strikingly emphasized by a face that was as tanned as leather.
And the face itself was tremendously intimidating, as she recollected; his jaw was square, and his cheekbones were sharp and angled.
Other than that, she hadn’t any other observations because he had worn his armor and helm the entire time.
Not that she cared about the rest of him in any manner, but she was willing to wager he had horns underneath his helm.
Anyone who would smash a dead man’s tomb had to be purely evil, though it was merely the act of the desecration she found offensive.
The fact that the knight had transgressed against Gaylord had no effect on her whatsoever.
A tray suddenly appeared beside her, distracting her from her thoughts. Nicola glanced up into the face of a young serving woman. She was petite and pretty in a pale sort of way. The girl smiled and offered her a cup on the outstretched tray.
“Mead, my lady,” she said.
Nicola took a cup. “So they are letting you move freely within the keep, Janet?”
The girl shrugged, handing a cup of goat’s milk with cinnamon to Tad. “There are soldiers about, watching our every move. But for the most part, we have been allowed to go back to our work.”
Nicola sipped the mead. It was sweet and tangy. “What of the knights?”
Janet knew what had happened to Gaylord’s crypt. All of the adults knew. She eyed the boys before continuing. “There are several around the castle, my lady. But I was talking to Hermenia and she seems to think that there are a select few in actual command.”
Hermenia was the old cook who also did the sewing and other household chores. She also gossiped like a magpie. “I see,” Nicola said. “Will you impart to me her wisdom, then?”
Janet smiled at the sarcasm. “Le Bec is unquestionably in command, but he has been seen relaying orders to three or four other knights, who then go about and make sure the deeds are carried out. But there are lesser knights all over the walls and out in the countryside where they hold our soldiers. I believe Hermenia has counted more knights than she has fingers and toes.”
Nicola didn’t like the sound of that. But she knew as much, considering it had only taken three days for Babylon to fall. Fortifications or not, her husband had only two hundred men and simply by le Bec’s sheer numbers and siege tower had they fallen.
“You and Hermenia will keep inside,” she instructed. “Liesl and Raven, too. I’ll not have the lot of you being abused by enemy soldiers.”
Janet nodded. “I’ve already told them as much, my lady.”
Nicola took another drink of her mead, this time deeply. “Especially Liesl and Raven. God’s Bones, but those two are silly and pliable.”
“They’re young, my lady,” Janet said. “Why do you think my mother sent them here, to serve with me? She hoped they would grow up.”
Nicola realized she sounded harsh and smiled at the woman who had served her faithfully for many years.
She set the cup back on the tray just as the objects of her reproach, two very young girls of fifteen and sixteen years, entered the solar.
Liesl, plain and pale like her older sister, and Raven, with dark hair and dark eyes, carried food for the boys.
They had been as much companions and older sisters to the brood and Nicola was, in truth, thankful for their help.
When Gaylord had beaten her ill for days on end, the sisters took care of her boys, and the little ones loved them.
“The knights are gathering in the great hall, my lady,” Raven said. “I fear they are up to no good.”
Nicola’s stomach lurched, but outwardly she remained calm. A gaggle of knights could never be a good thing.
“They are in control of Babylon now and we will do as they command. But,” she held up a finger, “I would have the two of you and your sister stay up here in the family apartments. I will not have you catching their attention in any way.”
Raven was all butterflies and innocence, pretending she was not capable of such things, while Liesl simply looked frightened. “We have no intention of catching their attention, my lady,” Raven said. “We plan to stay far, far away from them.”
Nicola didn’t think that would last, at least not by the knight’s standpoint.
The reality was that someone had to serve the meals, which Liesl and Raven usually did.
So did Janet. Keeping her girls from the knights and fighting men might prove difficult, but she would do her best to protect them.
She sighed and stood up, stretching her legs as she walked across the room to the narrow lancet window.
The countryside beyond was green and moderately cool in the fall air.
The breeze was chilly but she stood there a moment, letting it caress her, forgetting for a moment that she was captive in her own castle.
But then again, she had been Gaylord’s captive for many years, so it was something she was accustomed to.
She had resigned herself to the state of her life so many years ago that it was difficult to think of it any other way.
She heard one of the girls gasp behind her and she turned around. Standing in the doorway was a big blond knight. He eyed her appraisingly.
“Lord le Bec will have a word with you, Madam,” he said.
Nicola had no intention of arguing, though her heart was pounding in her chest. Before she could make it to the door, the twins were up and ready to do battle.
“You leave my mother alone!” Teague spoke with his terrible lisp.
Tiernan didn’t even speak; he simply ran at the knight and began punching his leg.
The knight just stood there as Nicola calmly pulled her son aside and whispered something in his ear.
Then she murmured something to the other twin and both boys turned back, pouting, to their toys.
With a deep breath, she winked at Tab to reassure him and left with the knight.
She could hear Tiernan crying as she walked towards the stairs and it nearly broke her heart.
For the second time that day, their mother was being taken away.
Raven had been right; there were several knights gathered in the great hall.
It was a long room with a huge hearth at one end and the colors of the House of Thorne flying from the open beams. The blond knight silently indicated a man standing next to the hearth and it took Nicola a moment to realize she was looking at le Bec without his helm.
She hadn’t recognized him. He sported a head of short, spikey dark hair, standing up from dirt and sweat. He had pieces of his plate armor off and as she approached him, she was terrified anew by the size of the man. He had a neck like a tree trunk.
Le Bec was studying the stone carvings of the hearth.
Nicola stood a respectful distance away, silently, waiting for him to acknowledge her.
After what seemed a small eternity, he looked at her with deep blue eyes.
The mere expression on his face made her feel as if a bucket of cold water had just been thrown on her.
She could almost taste her fear, but she would never let him know it.
“Lady Thorne,” he moved from the hearth towards the long table that sat in the middle of the room. He perched his bulk on a corner and looked at her. “I am pleased that you did not lie to me.”
“My lord?”
“Your husband. His body was in the crypt.”
“You know my husband on sight, my lord?”
“I know all my enemies on sight.”
“I was not aware you had ever met my husband, my lord.”
Kenton nodded faintly. “On two occasions, once at a tourney and once in London.”
Nicola didn’t know what else to say. She simply stood there, feeling dumb and scrutinized. “If that is all, then I shall return to my children, my lord.”
“That is not all.”
He let her stand there for several more long, drawn out moments. Eyes lowered, she could hear the sounds around her. For the number of men in the room, it was eerily quiet. She knew they were all staring at her and she resisted the urge to snap at them.
“Babylon is mine,” Kenton said after an eternal and uncomfortable pause. “And with that reasoning, you and your household are also mine. Now that Gaylord is accounted for, it is time for you to be dealt with.”
Her head snapped up. “What does that mean – dealt with?”
His face was like stone. “Exactly that,” he said. “I’ve no use for a pampered lady about the place. Babylon will be a military installation from this day forward.”
He had succeeded in stirring her indignation. “Allow me to put your mind at ease, Sir Kenton,” she said sternly. “I am not, as you put it, a pampered lady. I am a functional part of this house and hold and run it quite efficiently.”
Kenton didn’t doubt for one second that she was not as capable as she said she was. He sensed a strength in her that set her apart from other noble women he had known and it was oddly intriguing. But he had a decision to make, strength or no.
“I’ll harbor no nursery here with miniature ruffians running about,” he said. “Your children have no place here.”
“They were born here. They have more right to be here than you do.”
Over her left shoulder, Kenton could see Conor fighting off a smile.
Gerik and Ackerley stood well off to the side, shocked that the lady prisoner should speak to their liege so.
Kenton sighed softly and crooked a finger at her, beckoning her towards him.
Wary but unwilling to disobey, Nicola moved forward, stopped, then kept walking when he motioned her closer.
She brushed up against his massive thigh when he finally stopped beckoning.
Inches from him, she could feel his hot breath in her face and it was wildly intimidating and strangely curious all at the same time.
“Madam,” Kenton’s voice was low and quiet, “I have battled the most powerful armies this world has to offer and I have no intention of fighting with the likes of you. I will tell you this one time only; you will cease this insolence or I will toss you and your children in the vault and throw away the key. Is that, in any way, unclear?”
She struggled between fear and indignation. “Forgive me if I have been insolent, my lord,” she said. “But I would like to know when the truth has been considered insolent.”
“You’re doing it right now.”
“Am I? I was not aware.”
He gazed into her pale green eyes, again feeling that strange tingle in his chest, only this time it was a warm, tightening sensation. It was not unpleasant but he thought perhaps he was becoming ill. The sensation unnerved him.
“You are, indeed, aware,” he growled. “And this type of behavior will cease.”
His tone was enough to make her back down. “As you say, my lord.”
He stared at her, trying to discern if she was lying. He read nothing but fortitude and truth in her eyes. He almost read a challenge. Unbalanced, his jaw began to flex in an uncharacteristic display of emotion.
“You and your brood will keep to the apartments until I decide what’s to be done with you. Under no circumstances will I see your children in the great hall or anywhere outside of the keep. If I catch one of them, he shall be mine.”
“For what purpose?”
He couldn’t believe she was being combative after what he had just told her. “How’s that?”
She was quite serious. “I asked you for what purpose, my lord,” she repeated. “If you catch one of my boys, what will you do with him? Surely you don’t intend to make use of him in the midst of your mighty military installation.”
He just stared at her in amazement. He swore he could see a twinkle of sarcasm in her eye and it nearly drove him mad. The woman was toying with him. He knew he had to tend to her attitude here and now, or all would be lost.
“Throw her in the vault,” he commanded.
The twinkle fled from Nicola’s eye. Conor came up and grasped her by the arm, tugging her back towards the door to the kitchens.
Kenton couldn’t even watch the expression on her face as she was taken away; he was far too angry, but he realized he was very close to immediately countering the order. He had done it purely from spite.
He heard the door to the kitchens slam and that strange tug in his chest started again.