Chapter Nineteen #2
Rhori nodded faintly, remembering the red-haired, blue-eyed lass he was so deeply in love with.
Pretty, vivacious, and naughty at times, she had been the fire to his ice until a sudden and horrific fever had taken her from him.
She had been perfectly well and then a week later, he was weeping over her body.
They’d never even had the chance to wed.
He had to admit that watching Cassius go through the pangs of grief brought back a good deal of grief for him, too.
He understood what it was like.
“I will admit I wonder how things would have been,” he said after a moment. “Would we have had a son with her fiery hair and disposition? Or my dark hair and calm manner? I cannot imagine having a son with Lucy’s fire. A lad like that would have been the death of me.”
Cassius smiled weakly. “He would have been your pride and joy and you know it,” he said. “I told Dacia that the first born son must be named by my father’s mother.”
“Magnus the Law-Mender?”
“Aye,” Cassius said. “He has named all of his male grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He would have undoubtedly laid claim to any first born son of mine.”
“Will you raise Northmen sons, then?”
Cassius laughed softly. “Not me,” he said. “They will be English to the bone. But it looks as if I may raise no sons at all. Not if I cannot raise them with Dacia.”
Bose came out of the kitchens at that point, carrying a pitcher of ale in one hand and leading a servant girl with the other.
They’d all seen this girl around. She was young and pretty, with big breasts and big hips.
She swung them for any man who came in through the door and they’d seen her fondle a few men that had taken her into a corner of the tavern.
Bose came up to the table and set the pitcher down.
“This is Helen,” he said. “She told me that she thinks you’re very handsome, Cass.”
Cassius looked up with disinterest as the servant girl smiled seductively at him. “M’lord is magnificent,” she said. “I’d be happy tae spend some time with ye.”
As she said that, she pulled at a string that was keeping her bodice laced up. The string unraveled and the top of her shift fell open, exposing her cleavage. Another casual tug and her right breast nearly fell out. But Cassius simply looked away while Rhori shook his head in disapproval.
“Go away, girl,” Rhori told her. “We have no need for you.”
The girl’s face fell, but Bose grabbed her by the wrist. “Speak for yourself,” he said. “If you don’t want her, I’ll take her. Remember… I’ll put anything in my mouth. Just ask the ladies.”
Being very drunk, it made him do things he wouldn’t normally do.
Rhori watched in morbid fascination as Bose sat down with his back to the wall and pulled the girl on top of his lap.
She giggled, straddling him, as he reached into the top of her shift and exposed both of her breasts.
When he began suckling on them, Rhori had to turn away.
“Christ, Bose,” he grunted. “Take her back into a chamber if you’re going to do that. We don’t need to see it.”
Bose did. He stood up, with an erection lifting his breeches like the pole of a tent, and carried the girl back into the chamber he had been sharing with Cassius and Rhori.
He threw the door open, startling Argos sleeping on one of the beds, but the door wasn’t hung properly so it hit the jamb and bounced back open.
They could still see Bose’s naked arse as he dropped his breeches and began to ram into the girl, who groaned in delight.
Frustrated, Rhori stood up, went to the chamber door, calling to the dog before he slammed it shut and headed back to the table he shared with Cassius. Argos, smelling food, was happy to go sit next to Cassius and beg for a few bites.
As Cassius fed the dog a few chunks of beef from his plate, Rhori was about to take his seat when the front door to the tavern flew open. He glanced up, purely as a reflex, but when he realized who stood in the doorway, his eyes widened.
“Christ, Cass,” he hissed. “Look.”
Cassius didn’t look up until Rhori elbowed him. Then he looked to the entry with disinterest until he recognized the man who had entered.
Darian de Lohr was coming towards him.
Cassius dropped the beef and bolted to his feet.
“Darian?” he gasped in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”
Darian was in full armor and he had a host of Doncaster soldiers with him. They could see the men filtering into the tavern. He tilted his helm back, peering at Cassius as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Cassius,” he said, bewildered. “What in the hell is the matter with you?”
Cassius didn’t know what to say. He was weaving so unsteadily that he had to sit back down or he would fall down. It was Rhori who answered.
“We have been sequestered in this disgusting hovel for a week,” he said quietly so Cassius wouldn’t hear. “Ever since I sent you that missive.”
“Cassius still refuses to leave?”
Rhori nodded. “The further we move away, the further he is from Lady Dacia. So… we have been watching him feel sorry for himself.”
Darian sighed heavily, ripping his helm off and slamming it onto the table. “He must sober up,” he said, irritated and brittle. “We have a long ride back to Doncaster.”
Cassius heard him. “I am not going back to Doncaster,” he declared. He may have been terribly drunk, but he wasn’t out of his mind. He understood what was being said. “I am never going back to Doncaster, Darian, and you cannot make me. She does not want me back.”
Darian cast a pleading look at Rhori. “You must sober him up,” he said quietly. “Something has… happened.”
Rhori didn’t like what he was hearing. “What happened?” he asked. “Is Lady Dacia well?”
It disturbed him even more that Darian didn’t answer him directly. Instead, he turned to Cassius and sat down right in front of the man.
“Cass,” he hissed. “Look at me. Do you understand? Look at me.”
Cassius’ head lolled in his direction. “I am looking at you.”
“Can you understand me?”
“Of course I can understand you. I am not a dolt.”
“Then understand me clearly. Dacia may be dying. You must come back.”
Cassius went from drunkenly disinterested to filled with terror all in one swift moment. He reached out, grabbing Darian by the arm and knocking his cup of ale off the table. It spilled all over the floor.
“W-What?” he said, his voice cracking. “What are you saying? What happened?”
Darian held on to him because, suddenly, he was quivering violently. “I had to tell you that to get your attention,” he said. “Now that I have it, listen to me closely. Amata has…”
Cassius cut him off, his face contorting with rage. “Did she have something to do with this?” he boomed. “I do not care if she is a woman. I’ll…”
Darian shook him to shut him up. “Nay,” he said.
“Cassius, listen. Amata’s father, Sir Hugh, forced Amata to confess the lies she told about Dacia.
Amata confessed it to the priests at St. George’s and to most of the village when they came to mass.
They all know that the rumors against Dacia are untrue.
Cass, her reputation is restored. Amata confessed everything. ”
Cassius just stared at him, his sotted mind trying to process everything. That was most definitely not what he had expected to hear.
“No more rumors that she stole me away from Amata?” he asked.
“Nay.”
“No rumors of a dead baby?”
“No more rumors.”
“Amata told the truth?”
“She did.”
Cassius blinked, appearing more sober than he had in days. “Then why did Dacia not send word to me?” he said. “I would have come back. I swear, I would have come back to her. All I want is to come back to her.”
“It only happened yesterday,” Darian said. “I came as soon as I could.”
“But… but you said Dacia may be dying? What happened?”
Darian sighed again, this time with pain in his expression. “It was an accident,” he said, squeezing Cassius’ arm in sympathy. “Her maid was supposed to give her sleeping powders but accidentally gave her a poison. You must come back to Edenthorpe, Cass. Dacia needs you.”
Coming from the man who had hoped to marry Dacia, once, it was a bittersweet moment for Darian as well as for Cassius.
In fact, Cassius put his hand on Darian’s cheek, perhaps a silent acknowledgement of Darian’s selflessness in the situation.
Even through his drunken haze, he knew that.
He could see a brave man before him. But that was as much as Cassius could do before he was on his feet.
“I am going now,” he said. “Rhori, have the tavernkeeper bring back that putrid boiled juice. Anything to help flush the ale out of my veins. And get the horses saddled.”
Rhori was moving for the chamber where Bose had just finished having his way with the serving wench. He threw open the door, startling them both.
“Bose,” he barked. “On your feet. We are returning to Doncaster immediately.”
Bose was laying in the bed, fully dressed with the exception of his breeches being around his knees.
“Why?” he demanded. “What is happening?”
“De Lohr is here.”
Bose’s expression darkened. “Cass does not need to return, Rhori. He’ll only find heartache there.”
Rhori’s gaze lingered on him. “More than you know,” he said. “De Lohr says Lady Dacia may be dying. We must go.”
He didn’t need to say another word. Bose was already flying into action.
Within the hour, they were heading for Doncaster.