Chapter Six #2
Atlas carefully laid out small pieces of wood before looking at his mother.
“I will bring back the honor that Roget destroyed,” he said.
“I have been in the solar below with Berwick and Markus and Shand. I know what Shand has done, Ama. He is as greedy and underhanded as Roget ever was and I have made the decision to send him away from Trastamara.”
Amabella stared at him. “Away? To where?”
“I do not care where he goes, as long as he leaves. I do not want to see him ever again. I have Berwick’s full support in this matter.”
She looked at him in shock. “Shand is going… forever?”
“Forever.”
It was too much for Amabella.
Words she never thought she would hear.
Tears sprang to her eyes and she looked away, struggling to compose herself.
Atlas saw this and he quickly stood up, taking Ambra from his mother and handing her over to Savia, who patted Atlas fondly on the cheek.
A few whispered words from Atlas to the old nurse had the old woman taking all three children away.
As they disappeared, perhaps in search of yellow eggs, Atlas sat down next to his mother and took her hands in his.
He studied the woman for a moment, the mother he loved with all his heart but had never been able to help. As a young boy, that had devastated him, and as a young man, the ache was even deeper. Deeper because he understood the helplessness of his position.
But he was no longer helpless.
“Ama,” he whispered. “You needn’t worry anymore.
I am in command now and I promise you will have a good life.
I will make sure that you do. I know what Roget did to you.
You and I have had conversations about it and I’ve heard what others have said.
I am telling you that you will no longer have to bear that shame. I will take care of you from now on.”
Amabella looked at her big, brave son, trying so hard to be a man in a world of older, more seasoned men.
He’d grown up so much since she’d last seen him, that was true, but in her eyes, he was still her little boy.
She still wanted to protect him from what he would be facing, but she knew that she had to back away and let him take the lead.
He was a man now and he’d been well-trained.
Moreover, he had the entire House of de Wolfe behind him.
He would succeed.
She had to believe that.
“I know you will,” she said softly, touching his face. “You will do a very good job of it.”
He smiled timidly but he ended up averting his gaze, having a difficult time looking at her.
“One of the first things I intend to do is go to Mordrington and evict Fenella,” he said quietly. “She will be the first shame you no longer have to bear.”
Amabella could see how difficult it had been for him to speak those words, a family shame that was not a secret.
Truth be told, she’d stopped caring long ago.
She couldn’t stand for Roget to touch her and was relieved when he would run off to Fenella.
It had been a small price to pay to keep her husband off of her, but she didn’t need to tell Atlas that.
He saw it for what it was – a family shame.
He didn’t know that his mother had actually grown comfortable with the arrangement.
She squeezed his hand.
“Fenella has two sons,” she said quietly. “I told you of them. They are not very old; mayhap the same ages as Alfie and Ambra.”
Atlas stiffened. “I do not care,” he said. “They are bastards, mistakes that should have never been born. They are not my brothers, nor will I ever call them that. Fenella can go back wherever she came from and take those two aberrations with her.”
“She is from Clan Hume. You do not want to offend the clan, so be fair when you deal with her.”
Atlas looked at her, then. His brow furrowed. “Fair?” he repeated. “Was Roget fair with you when he took that… that whore to his bed?”
Amabella shushed him. “You will not speak so in my presence,” she scolded softly.
“You cannot change the past. All you can do is change the future, and you are already determined to do so. I do not want the name of that woman or her poison entering our world, Atlas. Get rid of her, but be fair about it, and we will speak no more of her. Ever.”
Atlas calmed down a little, knowing his mother was correct.
“Agreed,” he said. “But once she is gone, I will station fifty men at Mordrington and send an army of servants to clean it out and scour every piece of it. Then, you may go there whenever you like, secure in the knowledge that the home has no trace of her in it.”
Amabella smiled at him. “You are very thoughtful and I love you for it,” she said. “It was such a lovely house, though I’ve not seen it in years.”
“It will be lovely again,” Atlas said firmly. “All of this will be lovely for you again, Ama. It is what you deserve.”
Amabella kissed him on the cheek, her courageous and protective son. It did her heart good.
“You are already a fine lord,” she said. “But there is one more thing you must attend to.”
“What is that?”
“Your father’s burial. Shand was going to send to St. John’s for the priest. Mayhap you should do that now.”
Atlas nodded, but it was clear that he was not enthusiastic.
“If it was up to me, I’d throw his body in the river and let the fish consume him,” he grumbled.
But when he saw his mother’s expression, he lifted a hand to her.
“I know; that was cruel, but it is how I feel. Short of feeding the fish, what do you want done with him?”
“He can be buried at St. John’s with your grandfather and grandmother.”
Atlas scowled. “You would put him next to people I respect and admire?”
Amabella lifted a dark eyebrow. “As I told Shand, put him next to my father, a man he was happy to see die. Let him spend eternity explaining his actions to him.”
Atlas rather liked that idea. “I will,” he said. Then, he released her hands and stood up. “Now, if you do not require me, I should get about my duties and my first duty is to send Shand on his way. I want that man out of Trastamara this very moment.”
Amabella stood up, studying her son’s serious face. “Be fair,” she said softly. “How you deal with men, even men who have wronged you, will define your command.”
Atlas snorted. “That is the same thing Berwick said.”
“He is correct.”
Atlas nodded as he headed for the door. “I will be fair because it is required of me,” he said, reaching for the door. “But I would truly like to kick that man right in the arse for all he’s done.”
Amabella fought off a grin. “You can still do it,” she said. “Just make sure no one sees you.”
Chuckling, Atlas quit the chamber and quietly shut the door, leaving Amabella to ponder the man her son had become. Up until just a short while ago, she was looking at a future of fear and uncertainty. Now, all she could feel was hope.
Hope and joy.
Everything was going to be all right.