Chapter Four #2
Shocked, Annavieve lowered her eyes and looked back to her food.
She was too confused to look at the man again, unbalanced by her response to him, for she had never felt such a thing in her entire life.
Startling as it was, it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation in the least. In fact, she rather liked it, and she realized that was what disturbed her most. She liked it. More confusion ensued.
But she couldn’t dwell on it. Forcing thoughts of the massive knight aside, she focused on the succulent beef that had been placed before her.
Taking the knife that had been placed next to her trencher, she cut away some of the steaming strings and tucked bits of beef into her mouth.
It was delicious. As she went to cut more for herself, an enormous hand gently but firmly took the knife from her.
“Allow me, my lady,” a very deep, quiet voice spoke as a body sat down next to her. “Ladies do not cut their own meat. With all of the men at this table, I should think someone would know that.”
Startled, Annavieve looked up into the face of the man with the intense eyes and the second time their eyes met there was enough of a jolt that she was physically rocked by it.
It wasn’t so much the expression on his face or the glimmer in his eyes, but more the sheer intensity of the eyes themselves.
There was something very deep and mysterious behind those green eyes.
There was also something exceptionally cold.
When he smiled at her, politely, she had to make a conscious effort to smile in return.
“It is kind of you, my lord,” she said. “I am quite capable of cutting my own meat, however. You need not trouble yourself.”
He had already cut several small bites off the meat. “No trouble at all, I assure you,” he said. “Forgive me if I am being rude since we have not yet been introduced, but I could not stand by and watch a lady cut her own meat.”
He was very chivalrous in spite of the coldness in his eyes. Annavieve’s smile turned genuine. “You are very kind, my lord,” she said again, watching him carefully cut her meat, “but, truly, you need not inconvenience yourself so.”
Kevin pretended as if he didn’t hear her.
He continued cutting her meat, leaving small, delicate, bite-sized pieces on her trencher next to the pile of boiled carrots with dill and pieces of onion.
Since he was determined to do the gallant thing by helping her with her food, Annavieve stopped her protesting and simply sat politely while he began cutting up the carrots.
Never in her life had she had a man tend her so carefully and it was actually quite astonishing.
In less than a minute, this mysterious man had made her feel more important and respected than anyone had ever done in her entire life.
Without even realizing it, the man had made her feel special as she had never felt before, ever.
As he cut the last of her carrots, Annavieve found herself inspecting him.
He was extremely big, broad through the shoulder, and the simple tunic he wore strained against arms as big around as her torso.
Hands the size of trenchers used the knife with skill.
She knew he was also quite tall from what she had seen of him in the doorway and as she looked to his scalp, she could see that his dark blond hair was growing back in soft stubble.
He had a square jaw, hard as granite, a straight nose, and those cold eyes were lovely.
Aye, they were quite lovely, as was the rest of him.
“Hage!” the king suddenly cried as if just realizing who was sitting at his table. “Hage, come here. Leave the lady alone and sit with me.”
Kevin set the knife down deliberately and Annavieve swore she heard the man sigh. When he looked at her, she smiled politely.
“Thank you for your assistance, my lord,” she said.
He simply nodded his head at her, rising to his feet and stepping over the bench.
Annavieve watched him go although she was trying to pretend like she wasn’t.
She couldn’t seem to take her eyes off of him.
He was polite and handsome, and simply looking at him made her heart beat strangely.
Hage, the king had said. Obviously, Edward knew him.
Annavieve watched, a smile playing on her lips, as the big man moved down the table, heading towards the king.
Oblivious to Annavieve’s reaction to him, although strangely disappointed that Edward had pulled him away from the stunning young woman, Kevin faced the king and his counselors at the other end of the table.
“Your Grace,” he greeted formally.
Edward shoved one of his advisors down the table, indicating for Kevin to take the man’s seat.
“Please, sit,” he said, waving at the servants to bring food.
“I must introduce you to my cousin, the Duke of Dorset. He is to be your new liege. Victor, may I present Sir Kevin Hage, known to ally and enemy alike as the Scorpion.”
Victor, who had thus far been paying attention to one of the young and attractive male servants, now found himself facing an absolutely colossal knight.
Dressed in a tunic and leather breeches, the warrior with the shaved head and intense green eyes had the look of a killer.
That was Victor’s first instinct; that the man was a professional killer in every way.
Victor could see it in every move he made and every breath he took, and Victor had seen enough knights in his time to know that.
Instantly, he was smitten with the vision before him.
“Hage,” he greeted calmly, his eyes raking the man from head to toe. “I am to understand you are a legend.”
Kevin’s reaction was impassive. “To some I am, my lord,” he said. “To others, I am a nightmare.”
“Then you are not a humble man.”
“Should I be, my lord?”
Victor was deeply pleased with his answer. He smiled, a genuine gesture. He liked knights with an overabundance of self-confidence.
“Most definitely not,” he said. “You understand that the king has gifted you to me in service.”
“I do, my lord.”
“Then obey my wishes without question and we shall get along famously,” Victor said.
“Know that I reward my men with great compensation for a job well-done. I have given two former knights homes in the country where they live now with their families. But you… if you are as great as I have been told, then I would give you an entire castle should you do my bidding to my satisfaction.”
Already, Kevin didn’t particularly like the duke. He spoke like a spoiled, somewhat wicked, man. It was simply in his manner, an underlying current of unsettling unpredictability. Even so, Kevin nodded without hesitation.
“I am yours to command, my lord,” he said evenly.
“Then I shall accept your fealty.”
“It is given, my lord, because the king wishes it.”
It was an honest answer. There was no feeling involved, of great excitement or loyalty – this was a business transaction. More than that, it was a royal command and the relationship was established from the start. Victor’s gaze lingered on Kevin a moment before looking to Edward.
“Well done, Cousin,” he said, a smile playing on his lips. “I am pleased.”
Truth be told, Edward gave a sigh of relief that Victor approved of Hage. Not that he had any real doubt, but Victor had been known to be fickle at times. Now, the betrothal and the knight would go through without further issue. At least, Edward hoped so.
“So am I,” he admitted. “You may take Hage with you when you go, but not before he regales us with stories of his exploits in the Holy Land. Surely he has many to recount.”
The entire table looked expectantly at Kevin, including Thomas and Adonis, who were sitting at the far end of the table directly across from Annavieve.
Kevin, however, hated talking about himself and he particularly hated to speak of any operation he had completed in the Holy Land, for most were incidents better not acknowledged much less repeated.
Therefore, he diverted the subject, but he knew even as he did it that it was only momentarily.
Victor and the king would return to their demands for stories soon enough.
“You will forgive me when I say that most stories do not bear repeating,” he said to them both, giving one last push to discourage them.
“It is not because I am not proud or unsatisfied in my work, but because I am sworn to secrecy for most of it. Surely you understand the need for discretion. It is a foolish man who boasts of his exploits and expects that men will not hear of such things and make attempts to seek revenge.”
Edward understood his logic implicitly. “I understand,” he said. “But surely there are a few tales you can relate to us.”
Kevin couldn’t think of more than two or three offhand and they weren’t very interesting ones. Glancing up, he caught sight of Adonis and Thomas far down the table and he gestured to them.
“Mayhap I can recall a tale or two,” he said.
“But before I do, I should like to introduce you to my comrades. These men are closer than brothers to me, my right and left hands. Allow me to introduce Sir Adonis de Norville and Sir Thomas de Wolfe. De Wolfe is the son of William de Wolfe, of course.”
That shifted the focus admirably to Thomas, who seemed rather uncomfortable that the entire table was now looking at him. He wasn’t one that liked public acknowledgment and his cheeks began to flush with embarrassment.
“De Wolfe,” Edward said with satisfaction. “Your father is as a god to me.”
Thomas nodded shortly. “Thank you, Your Grace.”
“If he were a woman, I would have married him.”
The table erupted in laughter and Kevin interjected before the conversation could continue and Thomas’ face could grow any redder. He had a point to make by introducing his comrades and his point wasn’t about the worship of William de Wolfe.