Chapter Ten #2
He flipped up his visor, smiling sweetly. “You should,” he said. “If any woman in England could do them justice, it would be you.”
Caledonia grinned like a silly fool at his compliment before glancing at Nicola. “Is he always like this?” she asked.
Nicola was giggling, too. “Always like what?” she said. “Like a stabbing pain in my backside? But aye, he is always like that. He can get around our mother with sweet words and smiles, just like he does with you.”
Caledonia broke down laughing. “I meant to ask if he is always so kind.”
Nicola eyed her brother, who was smirking at her, waiting for a typical sister’s answer when it came to a brother.
“Aye,” she said begrudgingly. “He is always so kind. I have several brothers, you see. Brian is the eldest and he looks like Thor, except that he had an accident several years ago, so he walks with a limp. He does not fight. Did Thor tell you that?”
Caledonia shook her head, looking at Thor. “Nay,” she said. “We’ve not spoken much about his siblings, so I did not know.”
“Brian can still fight,” Thor said. “He broke his leg in battle and it never healed correctly. He is not agile in a fight, but he is an excellent commander.”
“And this is your twin?” Caledonia asked.
“Aye,” Thor said. “My mother said that I was holding on to Brian’s foot when we were born. It is only by fate that he was born first.”
“If you were holding on to his foot, it seems that you were trying to hold him back.”
Thor snorted. “Probably,” he said. “But he is my brother. I adore him.”
“We have other brothers, too,” Nicola said. “Taite serves with the de Winters of Narborough Castle, but John and Hart serve at Ashington with our father.”
“You have five brothers?” Caledonia asked.
“Six,” Nicola said. “Keats is the youngest brother and is a trainer at Kenilworth Castle. He is Blackchurch trained, like Thor and Taite, and commands a high price as a trainer. Papa is very proud of him.”
Caledonia looked at her curiously. “Blackchurch?” she repeated. “I do not know what that is.”
“A training guild for elite knights,” Thor said. “They only train the best of the best. I was trained there along with Taite and Keats, but John and Hart did not make it. Brian’s injury prevented him from the intense training of Blackchurch.”
“What do you mean, John and Hart did not make it?”
“They failed. If you fail at Blackchurch, they banish you.”
“Is it terribly difficult?”
Thor nodded. “Blackchurch knights command a very high price because they have been so intensely trained,” he said. “We can withstand anything. We know everything. We can accomplish anything. Why do you think I was so successful as a mercenary?”
On the road ahead, someone was shouting that that took Thor’s attention.
Caledonia watched him charge up to the front of the escort, unable to take her eyes off him.
She had no idea that, beside her, Nicola was watching her.
When she felt Thor’s sister grasp her hand, the spell was broken and she looked at Nicola only to see that the woman was grinning at her.
“I think you are starting to look at my brother the way I look at Darius,” Nicola said.
Caledonia cocked her head. “How is that?”
“You look at him as if you adore him.”
Caledonia’s cheeks flamed in an instant and she lowered her gaze, away from Nicola’s probing eyes. “He… he is one of the only people in my life who has ever been truly kind to me,” she said. “Sometimes I still cannot believe he is real.”
“He is real.”
“And you are not just saying that because he is your brother?”
Nicola giggled. “What would you have me say?” she said.
“Do you want to know the truth? I was born when Thor was twenty years of age. I was a very late baby for my parents and my mother told me that I was attached to Thor, even as an infant. Of course, he was training and doing things that knights do, so he was not home a good deal of the time, but when he was, he and I were inseparable. I love all of my brothers, but Thor has always been my favorite. You ask if he is real… He is very real. And very kind. But I will warn you—it takes a good deal to anger him, but when his temper is unleashed, you do not want to be anywhere near him. He is positively terrifying.”
Caledonia tried to catch another glimpse of him. “He has had ample opportunity to become enraged at me, but he has not,” she said. “The man has the patience of a saint.”
“He does,” Nicola agreed. “But he does not for people who cross him. Or his enemies. I have heard my father tell tales of El Martillo.”
“He told me about his life as a mercenary.”
Nicola didn’t reply. She fell silent as Caledonia continued to peer from the window, catching sight of Thor up near the front of the escort in conversation with another knight. But the few moments of silence were broken by Nicola’s soft voice.
“Callie,” she said quietly, “we have spent a week together and I like you a great deal. But the truth is that I do not know you well. I have never seen my brother so happy, so I will say this to you—thank you for making him so. Thank you for bringing joy into his life because he deserves it. I pray that the two of you always know this happiness. But I swear, by all that his holy, if you betray him or hurt him in any way, I will kill you myself.”
Caledonia looked at her, sharply, only to see that she was completely serious.
It was a hard expression, something Caledonia had never seen on Nicola’s face before.
Rather than become offended by her statement, however, she was touched by it.
She knew it was from the heart, from a sister who loved her brother, so she took it very seriously.
“I have made mistakes in my life,” she said softly.
“I have not been as kind as I could have been, or attentive, or even thoughtful. You know that my life has been… difficult, and I will not explain things to you again, but suffice it to say that I would not knowingly hurt Thor. Not when he has shown me a side to life that I did not know to exist. I will always try to make him happy, I promise. I hope you believe me, because it is true.”
Nicola smiled weakly. “I believe you,” she said. “But I had to say it. My brother means a good deal to me.”
“And to me.”
“I can tell.”
Caledonia smiled bashfully. “Mayhap you can, but can he?”
Nicola laughed. “Have you not seen the way he looks at you?” she said. “Callie, he is positively smitten. He is probably already in love with you.”
Those words hit Caledonia hard. He is probably already in love with you. No one had ever been in love with her before. To her knowledge, no one had ever loved her before except for Constantine. And maybe her mother.
But no one else.
She wasn’t sure there was anything about her to love.
“How would you know that?” she asked in surprise. “We’ve only known each other a matter of days. How is it possible to know you love someone in so short a time?”
Nicola shrugged. “Think about it,” she said. “Does he fill your every waking thought?”
“Aye.”
“Do you long for the sound of his voice?”
“Aye.”
“Would you do anything for him, anything in the world?”
“Anything he asked and more.”
“Then mayhap you are in love with him, too.”
Caledonia’s eyes widened. That was something that had never occurred to her—and having never been in love, she had no idea what it would feel like.
But she did know that her heart skipped a beat when she saw Thor and that she craved the man’s touch.
She craved the sight and smell and sound of him. Was it love?
It was certainly something.
She was distracted from her thoughts as Thor rode up to the carriage again, indicating the city up ahead.
“The crowds on the street of the merchants are starting to wane,” he said. “They are planning on closing their shops soon, so if we are going to purchase goods, we must go now.”
With that, he instructed the soldier driving the carriage to pull it forward at a brisk pace.
The conversation between them was forgotten while Caledonia and Nicola held on as the carriage lurched over the road, making a right turn into the city.
They passed through the gates, and immediately the bustle of the city came into view.
And what a city it was.
Birmingham had big buildings, both businesses and residences, built from classic wattle and daub or the occasional stone.
Caledonia felt at home here, a city she’d been in many times.
She had good memories here, of going to market with her mother and of the relatively carefree life she led as a child.
She remembered Constantine buying her sweets here.
Birmingham was one of the few places that didn’t harbor any difficult memories for her, so she wasn’t distressed as the carriage came to a halt and the door opened.
Darius was standing there, smiling at Nicola.
The woman practically jumped into his arms, and Caledonia chuckled as Darius tried to peel Nicola off him for propriety’s sake.
She could see Thor standing behind Darius, giving his sister a deeply disapproving expression as Darius was trying desperately to force her to behave properly.
But Nicola wasn’t listening to Darius and didn’t care what her brother thought.
She ended up winding her arms around Darius’ left arm and sticking to him like glue as he pulled her away from the carriage so Thor could remove Caledonia.
When he stepped up to the cab door, Caledonia paused before exiting.
“Should I jump on you like Nica did to Darius?” she asked. “I want to make sure I understand your expectations.”
She was jesting. Thor rolled his eyes. “It would be more appropriate than what she just did,” he said, eyeing his sister unhappily. “Christ, that girl has no sense of decorum at all. You’d think she was the only woman in the world who had ever been betrothed.”
Caledonia grinned. “She is very happy,” she said. “I’ve been listening it to it for seven days now. I can tell you exactly how happy she is.”