Chapter Twenty
“Trenton!” Dane was shouting as he pushed through the de Russe escort in Wellesbourne’s vast bailey. “Trenton!”
He was bellowing as men began pointing, showing him the way to where they had last seen Trenton. Dane and Cort followed the pointing fingers, shoving men and horses out of the way, until they came to Trenton and Gaston, who had been heading in their direction. They had heard the bellowing, too.
“Dane?” Gaston said, both puzzled and incredulous. He saw Cort coming up behind the man. “What are both of you doing here?”
Dane and Cort were exhausted from a very hard ride that had taken them a little over a day.
Wellesbourne Castle was closer to Penleigh House than Deverill Castle was, so it was a shorter distance for them to travel, thankfully.
They knew that their father and eldest brother had traveled to Wellesbourne and they were hoping they were still there, relieved to see that the men hadn’t left to return to Deverill as of yet.
Even though Gaston had asked the question, Dane went straight to Trenton with the answer.
The man was going to want to hear this.
“Adela is dead,” Dane said. “Penleigh House burned to the ground, and her with it. She is dead, Trenton.”
Trenton’s jaw went slack. “She’s what?” he hissed. “How do you know?”
By this time, Gaston was standing next to Trenton, having heard Dane’s revelation. He grabbed Dane by the arm.
“How do you know this, Dane?” he demanded, looking between Dane and his other son. “Cort? What is going on?”
Cort was dirty and sweaty, appearing more agitated than Dane was. “We went to Penleigh,” he said. “We wanted to…”
Dane threw up a hand to stop his younger brother from perhaps delivering the facts in a rush. Cort was excitable that way. For the story that needed to be told, the facts needed to be concise, and Dane was trying to do just that.
“Do not be angry, Trenton, but Cort and I left Deverill the night before you came to Wellesbourne,” he said.
“We headed for Penleigh House because after speaking with you about Adela… and your problem with… well, you know… I told Cort the entire story and we decided to pay Adela a visit. She had been a thorn in your side long enough and we thought – we hoped – that we could bribe her into disappearing.”
Trenton’s mouth was still hanging open. He was having a difficult time following any of what his brother was telling him.
Reaching out, he grabbed Dane by both arms but it was more a gesture of support.
He had to grab on to something or he would surely fall over.
Dane had just told him Adela was dead and he was reeling.
Adela was dead!
“Bribe her?” he managed to sputter. “Dane, what are you saying? What happened?”
Dane could see how shaken Trenton was. He pulled at the man, pulling him out of the cluster of men and horses, as Cort went to Gaston and pulled the man along, too.
They all moved in a huddle, away from the escort, until they had a moderate amount of privacy.
Only then did Dane come to a halt, facing Trenton and his father once again.
“Cort and I decided something needed to be done about Adela,” he said, his gaze moving between his brother’s ashen face and his father’s astonished one.
“She was a wicked, horrible bitch when you married her, Trenton, and she’s done nothing but shame you and the de Russe name since that day.
You have ignored her, and Father cannot do anything about her, so we took matters into our own hands.
Cort and I made plans to confront her and try to bribe her into leaving Penleigh and going back to France, never to contact you again. ”
“And if she did not agree to our terms, then we were going to abduct her and take her to the slave market in Northwic,” Cort put in excitedly, talking over Dane. “We were going to sell her to the highest bidder so she would be taken away, never to be heard from again.”
As Gaston’s eyes widened, Dane punched Cort in the arm, greatly annoyed. Cort flinched and shut his mouth, and Dane continued.
“We hoped that you would think she was dead, Trenton,” he said, looking at the man. “If you thought that, then mayhap Uncle Matthew would let you be with Lysabel. God knows you deserve some happiness. We wanted to give it to you.”
Trenton was beyond overwhelmed. He was overcome. “You… you were going to get rid of her?”
“Permanently.”
Trenton could see that Dane was deadly serious. “But you said she was dead,” he said. “What happened?”
Dane nodded grimly. “Believe me, it was not our doing,” he said, “because I would happily lay claim to such a thing. We went to Penleigh and Adela was having a grand party. Bretons everywhere.”
“Smelly bastards,” Cort growled.
Dane ignored him. “Adela was not happy to see us, as you can imagine. As we were trying to coerce her into naming her price, she became angry and picked up a fire poker. When she swung it at me, I grabbed it, and it was her own momentum that toppled her backwards into the hearth. She went up in flames and set the entire house on fire in the process. She’s dead, Trenton, by her own wicked hand. We never touched her.”
Trenton stared at him. Then, he slapped a hand over his mouth as if he could scarcely believe what he’d just heard. He looked at Gaston, who was looking back at him with equal shock.
“When did this happen?” Gaston finally asked.
“Two evenings ago,” Dane replied. “Penleigh is in ashes. We should all return to ensure we collect what we can from the ruins, including Adela’s jewels or anything else of value that hasn’t already been taken. Cort and I did not stay long enough to sift through the ruins.”
“But you are certain she is dead?”
“We saw her burn before our eyes, Da,” Cort said, a distasteful expression on his face at the memory. “Believe me… she is dead.”
Trenton was only marginally calmer at this point as he digested the information. Adela was dead… it was whirling around in his mind until the news finally began to settle, and then, he could only think of one thing –
He was no longer married.
Adela was dead!
“God,” he hissed. “Is it true? Is it really true?”
Dane nodded, seeing some of the color rush back into Trenton’s face.
“Aye,” he said, grasping the man’s arm. “We went there to try and help you, Trenton. Although I find it distasteful to rejoice over a death, in this case, she brought it on herself. What happened to her was divine justice as far as I’m concerned. ”
Trenton’s breathing started coming in short gasps and he turned towards Wellesbourne’s keep. The only thing on his mind at that moment was Lysabel, and Matthew, and before he realized it, he was on the run.
Trenton headed for the keep at top speed as his brothers and father shouted behind him, begging him to stop, but there was no sense in trying to stop the man. He was blinded by the news and by the fact that he was now a free man. He knew it and he wanted Matthew Wellesbourne to know it, too.
Free!
Trenton was just reaching the entry as Ranse emerged and the two of them nearly crashed into each other. Ranse had to grab hold of Trenton to steady the man.
“My lord?” Ranse said, greatly concerned. “Is anything wrong? Can I be of assistance?”
Trenton shook his head, pulling free of the man’s grip, and continuing on into the keep.
Ranse watched him go with great concern and thought about going after him, but he was forced to step aside when Dane, Cort, and, finally, Gaston raced in behind him.
It was step aside or be trampled. At that point, Ranse decided that whatever was going on involved the de Russe men only.
If he was needed, his lord would send for him. He continued out to the stables.
Once inside the keep, Trenton made tracks right to Matthew’s solar door, throwing the panel open and charging in. Matthew was there, bent over the maps on his cluttered table, but when Trenton barreled in, he was so startled that he jumped out of his chair and nearly tripped over his feet.
“Trenton!” he gasped. “God’s Bones, man, what is the matter?”
Trenton ran right to him and it was then that Matthew saw the joy in his face, the light of a thousand candles lighting up his eyes and euphoria beyond words on his features.
“I’m free,” he breathed heavily. “I can marry her!”
Matthew had no idea what he was talking about, but Trenton seemed extremely agitated. He grasped him to keep him steady just as Dane, Cort, and Gaston thundered into the chamber.
“What are you saying, Trenton?” Matthew asked, concerned. “You are free? I do not…”
Trenton cut him off. “Adela,” he said, trying to catch his breath. “Lady de Russe. She has been killed. I am not married to her anymore. I am free to marry Lysabel!”
Everything became clear in that panting statement. Shocked and perplexed, Matthew looked to Gaston, who was just walking up on them, reaching out to peel Trenton off of Matthew.
“Lady de Russe is dead,” he said simply. “He has just received the news.”
Matthew stared at Gaston a moment before returning his attention to Trenton.
He took one step back, and then another, and then turned back to his table.
There were a million things going through his mind at the moment, not the least of which was the fact that he felt cornered.
He had Gaston, Trenton, Dane, and Cort in his solar and he knew very well what they wanted.
He knew the implications of this right away.
He didn’t like the pressure he was feeling.
“Trenton,” he finally said. “Get out. And take your brothers with you. Gaston, you will remain.”
That wasn’t the answer that Trenton wanted to hear and he opened his mouth to plead again, but Gaston shook his head, pushing him in the direction of the door.
“Go,” he muttered. “Wait for me outside.”