Chapter Nine #3
“It does,” de Russe said bluntly. “You have spent a great deal of time with a woman who is your captive. Le Bec, your motives are your own. We will not question what you do with the woman. But should Warwick catch wind of your attention towards her, and should he also catch wind of the fact that you have not yet moved against Rochdale or Manchester, he might make it difficult for you.”
It was a very honest answer and Kenton was well aware.
His jaw ticked, thinking on his reply, but it was Conor who made the first move.
He put himself between Kenton and de Russe, glaring at de Russe as Kenton had not seen the man glare, ever.
The big, red-haired knight’s nostrils flared as he faced down de Russe.
“You are not in command, de Russe,” he growled. “Kenton le Bec is in charge of Babylon and of the western road, and you will not question the man in any fashion.”
Gaston was at least a head and a half taller than Conor. Compared to the men around him, and they were all big men, de Russe was a giant. His smoke-colored eyes narrowed at de Birmingham.
“Someone has to question him since you and your comrades have not had the courage to do so,” he said, slandering Conor’s bravery in the first strike of their verbal battle.
“Everyone at Babylon knows that le Bec is interested in Lady Thorne. He makes it obvious every single day, but soon that interest and his lack of action in carrying out Warwick’s orders is going to get back to Warwick and we are all going to be in trouble because of it. Did that not occur to you?”
Conor was balling a fist which almost always preceded him throwing a punch.
Against de Russe, that would be suicide.
Conor was an excellent knight but simply by sheer size and strength alone, de Russe could quite easily harm him.
Kenton, knowing this, stepped around the table and quickly put himself between the pair.
“Conor, go and summon Gerik and Ackerley,” he said quietly. “Go, now. Bring them here. We must all discuss this.”
Conor’s cheeks were flushed with rage. “But….”
“Carry out my order. I will not tell you again.”
Conor was having great difficulty complying but, ultimately, he was an obedient knight. He had never refused an order from Kenton and he wasn’t going to start now. Glaring daggers at de Russe, he quit the solar to carry out Kenton’s order. When the knight was gone, Kenton turned to de Russe.
“He is as fast as lightning,” he said in a low voice. “You may crush him in the end, but you would not come away undamaged. If I hear that you two have battled it out, I will send you away. Is that clear?”
De Russe nodded, unimpressed by Kenton’s assessment of de Birmingham’s skills. “It is,” he said. “But if he strikes first, I will defend myself.”
“Understood,” Kenton replied, his gaze lingering on the big and mighty de Russe. “Did it ever occur to you and Wellesbourne that I have spent time with Lady Thorne for reasons other than bedding the woman, which I’ve not done in any case?”
De Russe shook his head faintly as Kenton looked to Wellesbourne. “Did it occur to you?”
Matthew shook his head. “I am not entirely sure what you mean.”
Kenton lifted his eyebrows and moved away from the pair. “You two are very young,” he said, heading back to the cluttered table. “Wellesbourne, how old are you?”
“I have seen twenty-two years in August,” Matthew replied. He jabbed a thumb in Gaston’s direction. “He saw twenty-two years in April.”
Kenton’s focus moved between them. “Twenty-two years,” he muttered.
“You both make me feel very old at nearly forty years. But the point is that I have seen much more than you have in my lifetime. There is more to winning a war than simply overpowering castles and laying siege to cities. Sometimes the mental aspect of war is far more critical.”
Matthew crossed his big arms curiously. “What do you mean?”
Kenton pulled up a stool and sat next to the table.
“You must win minds over more than bodies,” he said.
“Lady Thorne was married to Gaylord Thorne, an enemy of Henry, for many years. She knows his allies and mayhap she even knows what they have discussed. There could be treachery afoot that I do not know about. I cannot beat any information out of the woman. It is in my best interest to be gentle with her in order to discover what she knows. Hell, already I know that it is impossible to threaten the woman into submission. I have tried. Now, I am trying another tactic.”
It made sense. Matthew looked to Gaston, who simply poured himself another cup of wine.
Matthew was beginning to feel badly about their thoughts towards Kenton, thinking the man had been off-course because of a lovely woman, but he wasn’t sure how Gaston felt about any of it because Gaston wouldn’t look at him.
Gaston had great difficulty in admitting that he was wrong, in any case.
Although Matthew wasn’t entirely sure that what Kenton was telling them was the entire truth, he didn’t argue with the man. He gave him the benefit of the doubt.
“Then I greatly admire your wisdom,” he said to Kenton. “Forgive us if we overstepped our bounds. It was out of concern, I assure you.”
Kenton nodded, now feeling extremely guilty that he had lied to these knights.
He hadn’t been doing anything of the sort with Nicola, being kind to her to extract intelligence from her, but he wanted them to think he was.
Kenton paid attention to Nicola because he wanted to, pure and simple.
It had nothing to do with pressing her for information because he was quite sure she didn’t know what her husband had been involved in.
But for nosy young knights, he would put them in their place and lie to them.
It sounded logical, logical enough that they believed him. At least, he hoped so.
“I am grateful for your concern,” he said simply.
“But now that you are here, let us finally speak of the move on Rochdale and Manchester. I agree that we must move as soon as possible to claim those cities, mayhap as early as next week. The men are supplied and rested so there is no longer any reason to delay.”
Matthew nodded firmly, snapping his fingers at Gaston to join them as he moved closer to the table where Kenton was pulling forth a map of Lancashire.
Gaston, downing his second cup of wine, obeyed the wordless command and moved towards the table as well.
He, too, was eager to move past the uncomfortable conversation of the last few minutes.
Now, they would move forward with Warwick’s orders and le Bec was doing what he had been ordered to do – plan the advancement of Henry’s cause. Matthew and Gaston were satisfied.
Conor, Gerik, and Ackerley joined them several minutes later and the six of them plunged into some serious war planning.
Kenton wasn’t oblivious to Conor and Gerik and Ackerley as they glared at de Russe over Kenton’s head and, at one point, Kenton quite pointedly stepped on Conor’s toe when the man began to grumble over a suggestion from de Russe.
Conor took the hint, and his injured toe, and moved away from the table.
Kenton didn’t want any animosity between men who would face battle together so it was important to quell whatever hard feelings had arisen.
Conor behaved himself for the rest of the day and the situation soon settled somewhat.
But the settled situation between the knights would be the only settled situation Kenton would face.
He discovered that quite clearly when he entered the hall for the evening meal and quickly realized that Nicola was avoiding him.
Concerned, as well as oddly hurt, he let her.
He didn’t know what was wrong but he intended to find out.
When the meal was finished, he went on a hunt for the Lady of Babylon.