Chapter One
London
“I would like to know how the king even knows of me,” Kevin said. “How on earth could he send word to see me?”
The question hung in the moist sea air. The cog that Kevin, Adonis, and Thomas had taken from Calais had come ashore at the white cliffs of Dover on a surprisingly mild fall day.
The gulls hung in the sea breezes overhead as the knights, and several other passengers, disembarked as close to the shore as possible.
Kevin disembarked with his horse, a spectacular white stallion he had purchased in Tyre, bred from the ancient Arabian stock crossed with the heavy-boned Belgian warmbloods that the Crusaders had brought with them.
The result was a smart, powerfully built, and astonishingly fast animal with a luxuriant black mane and tail.
The horse could swim, too, among his many talents, so Kevin literally had the horse jump off the boat and swim to shore, which he happily did.
Since no man other than Kevin could ride the horse, much less approach it, Kevin simply followed his horse up onto the shore, grinning as the animal bolted up the rocky shoreline, kicking up his heels, before turning around and returning to his master.
Like a dog, he followed Kevin obediently as the man took his baggage off the small skiff that had been lowered from the side of the cog.
This area of the shoreline was where boats from Calais disembarked so there was the usual amount of boat traffic and officials demanding tariffs.
It smelled heavily of musty rocks and salt, the scent of the sea backed up against the cliffs.
Bags in hand, Kevin stood before a man bearing the colors of Edward, the king, with the blue and red shield embracing golden royal lions.
He was a messenger who seemed out of place among the salty seamen and aggressive tax collectors.
The man had just informed Kevin of the king’s wishes and Kevin was understandably confused.
“Rumor of your return to England precedes you, my lord,” the messenger said. “All of England has heard of the Scorpion and our king, the consummate warrior, respects the reputation you have built for yourself. He wishes to see you for himself.”
Kevin peered at the man dubiously. “How did you know me on sight?”
The messenger pointed to one of the several tariff collectors milling several feet away, arguing with some of the cog captains that had come ashore.
“You are distinctive, my lord,” he said, pointing to Kevin’s neck. “Your boat captain noticed, too. If I were a man given to wager, I would guess those claws on your neck are scorpion claws. I am addressing the Scorpion, am I not?”
Kevin grunted. The right claw of the massive scorpion on his back came up on the left side of his neck. Instinctively, he ran a finger along the leather collar of his tunic as if trying to hide the claw that could not be hidden. There was no use in denying the obvious.
“I am Hage,” he said, vaguely. “What does the king wish to speak with me about?”
The messenger was good at his job, seasoned and capable of standing up to men who were fearful, stubborn, or even intimidating. “He has not discussed that with me, my lord,” he said. “I would suggest you travel to London immediately to find out. He is in residence at the palace at Thorney Island.”
Thorney Island. Kevin turned to look at Adonis and Thomas, who were gazing back at him in various stages of confusion and perhaps even doubt at the messenger’s words.
But Kevin didn’t doubt the man. He knew Edward’s tunics.
He’d seen them many times. Unless this was a spy who had stolen a royal tunic and was trying to lure him to his death, at the palace at Thorney Island no less, he believed the man.
He had no reason not to. Better to take the chance that the king really had summoned him. Therefore, he waved the man off.
“Very well,” he said. “If you reach the king before I do, tell him I am on my way.”
The messenger bowed sharply. “Excellent, my lord,” he said. “The king will be pleased.”
With that, the man spun on his heel and took off across the rocky shore, dodging seamen and passengers alike as they disembarked from the cogs off shore. As Kevin went to saddle his horse, Adonis followed him.
“Summoned by the king?” he repeated quietly, looking around at the rabble that was milling about on the shoreline to make sure no one had heard the messenger. “The last time you saw Edward was in battle in Wales and he believed you to be someone else.”
Kevin put the saddle on his horse and adjusted the cinch strap. “I am well aware.”
“He thought you were a Welsh insurgent.”
Kevin nodded. “That is true,” he said, thinking back to that dark night when he’d had a great adventure and a seriously close call against the king of England. “He thought that I was Bhrodi de Shera, the last hereditary king of Anglesey.”
Adonis, too, thought back to that rather harrowing night of battle. “You donned the man’s armor when he was wounded in battle so that the Welsh would not lose heart against the English,” he muttered. “You did it because Penelope asked you to.”
Kevin didn’t want to think back to that part of the circumstances but he had no choice; even mentioning Penelope de Wolfe’s name, six years later, still brought pain.
“I did it because she wished it,” he admitted. “I did it because I loved her and I did not wish to see her miserable when her husband was wounded in battle. The deception nearly cost me my life.”
Adonis nodded faintly. He glanced at Thomas as the man came upon them, listening to the conversation even as he was straightening out the knot of his horse’s reins.
“I was there that night,” Thomas put in.
“Lest you forget, Kevin, I was there. I saw almost everything. Edward captured you and had it not been for my father and your father, you would have been in very serious trouble posing as an enemy Welsh prince, in front of the king no less. My sister should not have asked that of you. What will happen now when you show up in London and the king recognizes you?”
Kevin shrugged. He wasn’t particularly concerned about it.
He was more concerned about the fact that Penelope de Wolfe was on his mind now and he didn’t want to be thinking about her the entire ride to London.
Damnation! He thought angrily. It had taken him nearly every day of those six long years in the Levant to forget her.
Could a brief mention of the woman once he was on English soil undo all that had been done to erase her from his mind once and for all? He wondered.
“It was dark that night,” he finally said. “I had more hair than I do now and was dirty, beaten, and dressed in another man’s armor. I doubt the man will recognize me.”
Thomas grunted in disapproval. “You are taking a terrible chance.”
Kevin looked at him. “I do not have a choice,” he said. “You saw for yourself; the king has summoned me. If I refuse, I will be in greater trouble.”
Thomas knew that but he still didn’t like any of it. Shaking his head, he turned back to his big red steed and slid the bridle over the animal’s big head. Adonis, too, was heading back to his horse even though his thoughts were lingering on the situation.
“Mayhap we should send for your father,” he said. “It is possible we will need the man there when you meet with the king. Uncle Kieran can explain away what happened if, in fact, the king recognizes you.”
Kevin shook his head. “I’ve not needed my father’s help since I was a child,” he said. “I will not call upon him now. If there is any reconciling to be done, I will do it.”
“Aren’t you going to send word to him anyway?” Adonis asked softly. “He will want to hear from you. I am sending word to my father right away, as is Thomas. If our fathers receive word from us and Uncle Kieran does not hear from you, he will worry and you know it.”
Kevin was about to take a hard stance but thought better of it.
After a moment, he nodded. “I will send word to him,” he said, his gaze taking on a rather longing expression as his movements slowed.
“I’ve not seen my father in six years. The last time I heard of him was three years ago and the missive from my mother said that my father was not in the best of health.
I… I am almost afraid to send word to him, afraid of what I will discover. ”
Adonis and Thomas were thinking the same thing. “My father’s health is good but he is older than God himself,” Thomas said. “I last heard from him two years ago. He said that all was well and that he had more grandchildren now.”
Adonis made a face at Thomas as if the man had just said something terrible but Kevin knew what Thomas had meant.
“He meant from Penny,” Kevin said, feeling that old familiar stabbing in his heart again. “As of three years ago, my mother said that she had at least two children. I am sure that she has had more by now.”
They should have been my children, he thought even though he tried not to think those words.
They came tumbling down upon him like boulders in an avalanche so he resumed saddling his horse, his movements quicker and more decisive now, as if trying to forget the impact of those thoughts.
He was shaking off those boulders, one by one.
Even though the events happened those six years ago, he still felt the impact of pain as if it were fresh.