Chapter Five
After waiting outside of the garderobe for about fifteen minutes before he was impolite enough to check on the lady, Thor really wasn’t surprised to find her missing. Windows were open and she was gone. He was simply angry at himself that he’d let her trick him.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out where she had gone.
Henry was nowhere to be found when he charged back into the hall, so he informed the nearest servant that he was going to retrieve Lady de Tosni.
In fact, no one seemed to be in the hall, his father included, so he headed out to collect his horse, which had been returned to Westminster by Daniel when Thor had gone to the tavern with the lady after the chaos at Gomorrah.
But now, Gomorrah was once again Thor’s target as he headed out of the stable, only to be stopped by his men, who had seen him from the palace where they’d been waiting for his meeting with Henry to end.
After a brief explanation as to where he was going and why, Clayne, Truett, and Darius were more than ready to return to Gomorrah with him.
While Thor’s men collected their horses, Thor went to the gatehouse to question the guards about letting a woman with white hair slip through.
The main gates to Westminster weren’t normally kept closed because of the administrative offices at the palace, so it wouldn’t have been difficult for a solitary woman to leave.
No one was stopped going out, only coming in.
The guards remembered her but there hadn’t been anything remarkable about her other than someone mentioning that the woman was flushed, as if she’d been running.
Not running so much as escaping.
That only made Thor angrier.
His men joined him at the gatehouse shortly and the group of them thundered into London, through the Ludgate entrance and on to the eastern side of the city where Gomorrah lay buried beneath the ruins of an old church. Rather than beat the door down like they did before, Thor was subtler this time.
He went in through the secretive secondary entrance.
As he’d hoped, they’d not barred the door after the initial breach earlier in the day.
Perhaps they hadn’t realized it, or perhaps they didn’t care, but in either case, Thor and his men descended into the depths of the guild, down where it was dark and dank and smelled of rot.
They could hear people talking in the distance and even some musicians striking up a tune, but no one stopped them as they came in the back way.
It was quite a contrast to the resistance they’d encountered earlier in the day, and Thor had his men split up and hunt for the white-haired lady.
No punching or kicking or fighting this time.
They were moving in stealth, in the shadows.
He had no idea where the guards were, the ones they’d encountered the first time, but he didn’t hunt for them.
He was hunting for something else.
Someone else.
In truth, the lady wasn’t difficult to find.
She was on the next level down, sitting at a table with drinks spread out before her and deep in conversation with an older woman.
Several feet away, couples danced to the strains of a citole.
Thor sat down across the table from her but it was a full minute before she even took notice of him.
Any hint of pleasantness vanished. Her eyes widened and the battle lines were immediately drawn as she picked up the nearest weapon, which happened to be a dull knife used for butter.
“I am not going back,” she declared. “I do not care how many men you’ve brought with you this time. I will not go back, and if you try to force me, I’ll give you more of a fight than you expect.”
Thor didn’t move a muscle. He simply watched her face as she spoke. Truly, she had quite a face. Her lips curved in a most alluring way and her pert nose had an arrogant tilt to it. But the defiance in her voice was undercut by something else. He thought it was fear.
She’s afraid, he thought.
Fear and desperation.
He could smell it in everything about her.
“Is that why you ran?” he asked. “Because you are afraid?”
Her brow twitched in confusion. “Afraid?” she repeated. “Afraid of what? You?”
He remained cool. “You tell me,” he said. “I can see it in your face.”
“You see nothing. You do not know me.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I know enough about you to know that you are foolish,” he said. “Only a fool would run from the king’s directive.”
That took her down a peg or two but she was still indignant. “What you call foolishness, I call self-preservation.”
“What are you preserving yourself from?”
Her gaze lingered on him. “Another miserable life,” she finally said. “I’ve already had two. I do not need a third.”
“How do you know it will be miserable?”
She didn’t have a quick answer for him. She simply turned away, eyes averted, as the older woman next to her continued to watch the situation carefully.
Mostly, she was looking at Caledonia, perhaps to get a sense of what was going on and if she needed help.
After several long moments, the older woman turned her gaze to Thor.
“You were here earlier,” she finally said to him. “With the knights that entered. You were with them.”
Thor glanced at her. “Mayhap,” he said, but it was all he would say. His attention, and the conversation, was on Caledonia. “My lady, what makes you think a marriage to me will be miserable? Am I not given the opportunity to prove otherwise before you condemn me?”
“You killed two of our guards,” the older woman said before Caledonia could answer. “You had no reason to do that. Why did you come here?”
Now, Thor turned his gaze on her in full. “Woman, if you do not go away and leave me to this private conversation, you will not like my reaction,” he said, his voice rumbling like thunder. “You are not part of this. Leave this table. I will only tell you once.”
The older woman’s jaw moved as if she wanted to reply but thought better of it. Sanity was in control and not a death wish. Standing up, she left the table without another word, leaving Thor alone with Caledonia. She was watching the older woman walk away.
“You did not need to be rude to her,” she said.
Thor’s gaze was fixed on her. “You will answer me,” he said. “Am I not given the opportunity to prove that you will not be miserable before you condemn me?”
Caledonia finally looked at him. “What do you want me to say that I have not already said?” she said. “You know I do not wish to marry you. I do not wish to marry anyone.”
“You do not have a choice,” Thor said. “As the heiress to Tamworth, you must marry. It is your duty.”
Her delicate jaw twitched faintly. “And you have come to force me back to Westminster.”
“If it was my intention to force you, we would already be halfway back to the palace,” he said. “It is my intention to bargain.”
That had her interest, but only slightly. “Bargain?” she repeated. “What bargain could you possibly make?”
Thor glanced at the table, at the empty cups.
It gave him an idea. Clearly, the lady was unlike any woman he’d ever met.
She wasn’t the sweet, delicate, obedient type.
Not that all the women he knew were like that, but all of them, to varying degrees, were at least obedient.
But not Caledonia—she had another level of stubbornness tucked down inside her.
It was almost a mannish type of stubbornness.
She had no fear and seemingly did not care what people thought of her.
She was an enigma, but one he intended to crack.
Now, it was a matter of principle.
“Do you gamble, my lady?” he finally asked.
She nodded slowly. “I have been known to.”
“And if you lose, do you keep your end of the bargain and pay your debts?”
“Always.”
“Then you consider yourself a woman of honor.”
“Honor is all I have left, Blue Eyes. What is your point?”
Oh, but she was bold with the apparent nickname she had for him.
Blue Eyes. She had such an unrestrained and bold way of speaking.
It was in her manner. It was in everything about her, this boldness that let everyone know she was strong and sharp and more than a formidable opponent.
Thor had to admit that he was appalled by a woman like that, but he was also strangely fascinated.
“My point is that we can settle this matter now,” he said.
“Until this moment, I have put up a weak fight. I will admit that I am conditioned to obey the king, no matter what, and my resistance to this betrothal had been strong at first but I quickly succumbed to the inevitable. That is why you’ve not seen me put up more of a battle, my lady.
I have more to lose than you do, so obedience is my only real choice.
However, you do not have the same conviction.
You continue to fight, but you cannot keep it up forever.
Henry will win in the end if you fight alone. ”
She was puzzled. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that I can fight with you. Or not.”
A flicker of interest came to her eyes. “Explain.”
“We can wager on it,” he said. “A fair game can decide if I fight with you or against you.”
Her eyes narrowed as she realized he was approaching her on level ground, on terms she could understand. They were in a gambling guild, after all. He’d found her here, and when she escaped, she’d come back. Clearly, she was comfortable here.
He wanted to bargain, did he? If she had him on her side, the king might forget this scheme, indeed.
Surely the king couldn’t force two people to marry who vehemently opposed the union.
Perhaps they could put up such a fight that the king would grow weary and move on.
But if he didn’t, Caledonia needed Thor on her side.
Running from him hadn’t worked.
Perhaps gambling with him would.
“Very well,” she said after a moment. “I am listening. What do you propose?”
He pointed to the cups in front of her. “That we drink together.”