Chapter Twenty-Two #2
He was starting to move back in her direction, and Katiana was afraid that he might see her if he came any closer, but then he suddenly turned around again and started heading deeper into the forest, calling her name.
Katiana was able to lift her head a little, watching him move further and further into the bramble.
With a glance over her shoulder that showed the horse to still be on the side of the road, grazing, she knew this was her chance.
She had to run.
And run she did.
Bolting from her hiding place, Katiana took off toward the grazing horse.
Ansel didn’t catch on at first because he was deep in the trees, but he heard a distant noise and turned to see Katiana sprinting across the field, back to the road.
He took off running, faster than his sister was running by sheer power.
The pair of them raced across the field, with Katiana closing in on the grazing horse.
But the animal saw her coming and, startled by the swift moments, scampered across the road to the meadow on the other side.
Katiana was within about ten feet of the road itself when something grabbed her skirt.
With a scream, she swung her stick around and caught Ansel in the eye.
Howling, he went down.
Enveloped in hysteria, Katiana began to beat him about the head with her stick.
She whacked him and whacked him, leaving bloody scratches as he tried to protect himself, but he finally grabbed the stick and the wrestling began.
It didn’t last long, however, because he was much stronger than she was.
When he finally yanked the stick away from her, she began to scream and run, but it was only momentary.
Ansel caught up to her, grabbing her by the hair and the arm as she screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Stop it,” Ansel commanded. “Stop it or this will go badly for you!”
Katiana was kicking and scratching and screaming. “It is already going badly for me,” she bellowed. “Let me go!”
Ansel yanked on her hair, and she screamed again, this time from pain. He managed to get a good grip on her shoulder, entangled his hand in her hair, and threw her to the ground. Pouncing, his hands went over her mouth and onto her neck to silence her.
He began to squeeze.
“Shut your lips,” he said, squeezing as she struggled. “Shut your lips or I will shut them permanently.”
Katiana managed to open her mouth, biting his fingers as hard as she could. Ansel roared in pain, slapping her across the face so hard that he momentarily dazed her. But his hands went back to her neck, squeezing hard.
This time, he was going to kill her.
To hell with Lancaster and his fortune.
Unfortunately, Katiana was in a bad way.
She was already starting to see stars. But she screamed and fought, scratching him with her nails, fighting as hard as she could because she knew if she didn’t, this was the end of her.
It was the end of her life with Titus, the end of the children they would never have and the life they would never know.
It was the end of every dream she’d ever had, a future she had hoped for. All of it, ending.
Dying like she was.
Dying…
The world was growing dim.
Suddenly, there was a commotion around them.
The thunder of hooves. Something hit Ansel from the side, because the man grunted with the force of the blow.
He toppled off Katiana as several bodies jumped on him, and, half-conscious, Katiana could hear her brother crying out in pain.
But someone was kneeling beside her, gently slapping her cheek and telling her to breathe.
“Breathe, lass, breathe!”
She wasn’t sure if she could. She was in limbo, hearing sounds of fighting, as someone lifted her up and someone else rubbed her arms briskly, her cheeks.
Someone even rubbed at her neck, and then she was coughing and gagging as air filled her lungs.
Sweet, clean air. Katiana’s eyes flew open, and she found herself looking at Patrick and Scott and Troy.
They were all rubbing at her wrists and arms and even her torso, trying to get her to breathe.
She sucked a long, ragged breath.
“He tried to kill me!” she cried, coughing and sputtering. “I was dead! I was almost dead!”
Patrick held her tightly. “You’re all right, Katia,” he said softly. “You’re safe now, I swear it.”
It took Katiana a moment to process what he was saying. Only a few moments ago, she had been in the fight for her life, and now… now, she was surrounded by Titus’ father and uncles. Was she really safe?
Realization struck, and she burst into tears.
“My God,” she sobbed as Patrick sat her up and steadied her. “He… he said that he was going to sell me to Lancaster as a hostage. He was going to make Lancaster pay!”
“A hostage?” Scott repeated, trying to soothe the frightened woman. “But why?”
Katiana was holding on tightly to Patrick as she answered him. “He said that you would not fight if Lancaster held me as a hostage,” she said. “He said that Lancaster would pay handsomely for a de Wolfe wife to use against the House of de Wolfe.”
Patrick and Scott looked at each other in astonishment. “Then your brother sides with Lancaster?” Patrick asked her.
Katiana shook her head, or tried to. She wiped at her nose with the back of her hand. “Nay,” she said, her voice trembling. “He said I cheated him out of a fortune by marrying Titus. He couldn’t marry me off to the highest bidder. He just wanted the money. It was all about the money.”
A great deal became clear in those sobbing words.
She was weeping heavily again, traumatized by the entire event, as Patrick and Scott and Troy looked at each other in shock.
They were old men and understood the nature of men in general, especially the greedy ones.
As Katiana wept in Patrick’s arms, the three of them looked over to see Ansel being beaten to a pulp by Titus, his brothers, and his cousins.
Even Blayth and Thomas landed a good blow now and again.
But Titus was a madman, breaking bones in Ansel’s face and knocking out his front teeth.
There was blood and teeth everywhere, spraying back on Titus and Magnus and Markus until Ansel was nothing but an unconscious heap on the ground.
Then, and only then, did Titus stagger over to Katiana and throw his arms around her.
“She’ll be fine, Titus,” Patrick said, watching his son break down in relief and grief. “She’s got a few bruises, but she’ll be well, I promise.”
Titus couldn’t even answer his father. All he could hear were Katiana’s sobs as he held her against him, squeezing the life from her.
When they’d charged up the road and caught sight of the battle between Ansel and Katiana at the edge of the road, he didn’t even remember jumping off his horse and throwing himself at Ansel.
One moment, he was on his horse, and in the next, he was on top of Ansel, breaking the man’s face.
Titus had been a knight for almost twenty years, and he’d never had a fight like that in his life.
A fight fueled with blind, unadulterated rage.
As he sat on the ground with Katiana in his arms, he could feel hands on his shoulders, knowing it was his father and his uncles.
They knew how frightened he’d been and were trying to comfort him, but the only thing giving him comfort at the moment was the woman in his embrace.
Finally, he relaxed his grip enough to look her in the eye.
“Thank God you’re whole,” he said, his lower lip trembling and his eyes swimming with tears. “I thought he’d killed you.”
Katiana had her hands on Titus’ face, touching him, convincing herself that she was, indeed, safe. “Nay,” she whispered. “He tried, but I did something I’ve never done before—I fought back. I think that confused him.”
Titus sighed heavily. “Thank God you did,” he said “What happened? How did he get to you?”
Katiana shook her head. “I do not really know,” she said. “I was in the kitchen yard with Zora and—”
He cut her off. “So she was part of this,” he said. “I knew she was, but I wasn’t sure how she fit into the situation.”
Katiana shrugged. “I do not know, either,” she said. “She sent me a note telling me that she wanted us to be friends and to meet her in the kitchen yard, so I did. We were talking, and then suddenly, I woke up on Ansel’s horse. He must have knocked me unconscious.”
Titus began running his hands over her scalp, finding a bump and some dried blood on the back of her head. “He hit you there,” he said as she lifted her hand to finger the bump. “And he took you out from the postern gate. That’s where we saw Zora. Thank God we saw her at all.”
“Where is Zora?”
“Back at Berwick,” Titus said. “She has been arrested. I will deal with her later, but for now… now, I must deal with your brother, who has earned my eternal hatred.”
Katiana was feeling a little stronger, so she looked over at Ansel, a heap on the ground as a few men stood around him.
Taking hold of Titus, Katiana managed to get to her feet with help from her husband and his father.
Scott, who was an experienced healer, took a look at the bump on the back of her head and told Titus to get her home and into bed.
And that was exactly where Titus planned to go.
“Papa,” he said, his gaze lingering on Ansel.
“I must tend to my wife, for she is my priority now. I will leave Ansel to your good justice. Whatever you decide for him and for Zora, I trust you. All I ask is that the punishment fit the crime. He tried to kill my wife. Zora tried to help him. Keep that in mind when passing judgment.”
With that, Titus lifted Katiana into his arms and, with the help of Scott, carried her back to Jesus, leaving Patrick, Troy, Blayth, and Thomas standing in a group watching Markus, Magnus, Nathaniel, and Atreus as they huddled around Ansel.
There was an occasional kick to the kidneys when they thought the older knights weren’t watching.
But they were.
“I would say attempted murder on a de Wolfe wife is a serious offense,” Patrick said.
“But I fear I am too emotionally involved to be fair. Troy, you and Scott and Blayth and Tommy can pass judgment. Do what you will with him, but I want him away from Berwick. I do not want to see him, or Zora de Allery, for the rest of my life.”
The brothers understood.
Leaving the de Wolfe men to deal with Ansel, Titus mounted with Katiana in his arms and tried to leave everything behind him.
He didn’t want to waste any more time on his wife’s brother.
As they headed back to Berwick, the only thing on his mind was the woman in his arms, the woman he came close to losing this day.
A woman who, a scant month ago, had crashed into him on a London street on a runaway horse.
Little did Titus know that a skittish horse and a frightened rider would be the moment his life changed forever.
Little did he know that the goddess of a woman he saved from injury or death would become his all for living.
It was true that he was an Executioner Knight and he had a duty to his country as well as to his family.
But the woman in his arms, at this moment, was his most important duty of all.
He’d never forget it.
Funny how love could change everything.
Gazing down into Katiana’s pale but smiling face, Titus understood what it meant to love and be loved.
For the youngest of four brothers who had always been the wanderer, the impulsive and unruly one, he found his greatest strength—and his greatest source of contentment—in a woman who had never known the blessing of a family.
Now, she did.
And so did he.