Chapter Nineteen
Mira wasn’t sure when she realized that she was awake, but it had something to do with the birds outside her window being extremely loud.
They were so loud that she rolled onto her side and put her hand over her ear, but it didn’t help.
Her sleep-fogged mind struggled against consciousness until she finally had to give up.
The birds won.
Rolling onto her back, she found herself staring up at the ceiling of the chamber she shared with Helen and Davina and Astoria, only a quick perusal of the chamber showed that the girls weren’t there. But someone else was.
Douglas was standing over by the window.
When their eyes met, he smiled.
“Did they wake you?” he asked, pointing to the eaves outside of the window. “I have been standing here for quite some time trying to convince them to quiet down, but they refused. I am sorry.”
Mira smiled faintly. “It was a lovely thing to awaken to,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “What are you doing here, alone with me? Does Isabel know?”
“Not to worry. She knows.”
“How long have I been asleep?”
“Since last night,” he said. “It is almost the nooning hour now. The physic gave you something to sleep last night.”
“Why?”
“Because you needed it.”
Mira’s smile faded. She took a deep breath, heaving a heavy sigh. “It was not a dream, was it?”
“What, love?”
“Raymond.”
Douglas came away from the window, making his way to the bed and taking her hand to kiss it. “It was not a dream,” he said softly.
Mira gazed at him a moment before gently removing her hand from his grip and holding both of her hands up to look at them. They were battered, with scabs, and she flexed her sore fingers gingerly.
“What did you do to him?” she asked, lowering her hands to look at him.
Douglas shook his head. “What do you mean?”
“Did you punish him?”
He didn’t answer her right away. In fact, he thought that was an odd question, so he cocked his head curiously.
“What do you remember about your struggle with Raymond?” he asked.
Mira drew in a long, pensive breath. “I came down the stairs after Astoria told me that there was rot in some of the grain,” she said, fighting through the cobwebs.
“I thought I heard the servants in the vault. Someone called my name, I think. But when I went down to investigate, Raymond was waiting for me. He grabbed me and we fought.”
Douglas nodded, reaching out to take her battered hand again. “Is that all?”
Mira tried to think very hard. “I… I do not know,” she said. “I feel like it was all a dream. I was fighting him. I tried to run. I was still fighting him and then I heard your voice. But I do not remember much more. That is why I asked if you punished him.”
Considering she’d taken a serious blow to the head, he wasn’t surprised that she didn’t remember all of the details, but what he was fixated on was the fact that she didn’t seem to remember Raymond was dead or that she had been the one to smash his brains in with a rock.
Perhaps it was her mind’s way of dealing with such a violent event, but in any case, the fact remained that she didn’t seem to remember what happened.
He thought not to tell her at all, but inevitably, someone would mention it.
He wanted her to hear it from him.
“Raymond is dead, love,” he said quietly. “You fought him and he tried to kill you. He did not survive his attack against you.”
Mira stared at him for a long time. From her expression, he knew she was trying to remember everything. He could almost see her thoughts and memories in her eyes. But it was clear that some things simply weren’t coming easily to her, and she reached out, grasping him with her other hand.
“God’s Bones,” she whispered. “Did you kill him, then? Is that why I heard your voice?”
“He will not rise up against you ever again.”
She took it to mean that he’d killed Raymond, and a tear trickled down her right temple. “Are you in trouble now?” she asked. “I never meant to cause you such trouble, Douglas, believe me.”
He squeezed her hands. “I am not in trouble,” he said. “You are not in trouble. Raymond is dead and he is no longer a threat.”
That didn’t ease her, and more tears started to come. “But his father is here,” she said. “He surely must be… Douglas, what will his father do to you for killing his son?”
She was becoming distraught, and he sat down on the bed, her hands against his lips as he spoke.
“Listen to me,” he said softly but firmly.
“Mira, you will not worry over anything because there will be no retribution. You were attacked. Raymond died because he attacked you and for no other reason than that. You did nothing wrong. Do you understand me?”
She was sniffling, her eyes watery. “A-aye,” she said. “But… I remember that he was following me during the feast, too. He told me that he had heard I wished to dance with him. Do you recall that I told you that?”
“I recall.”
“He seemed so insistent.”
Another thing that Douglas was compelled to tell her simply so she would not be so confused by it.
The truth would cause her some distress, but it was something she could at least reconcile.
Therefore, he decided to be honest with her where Astoria was concerned.
Given the situation, she was going to find out eventually.
“He was insistent because Astoria was telling him lies,” he said. “In fact, Astoria manipulated the entire situation. She was the one who told you to go to the vault, was she not?”
Mira nodded. “She was.”
“Because she had created the situation,” he said. “She was trying to force you into Raymond’s arms, which I was to discover so that I would cast you aside. She was the one orchestrating the entire thing to punish you for the fact that you have my attention.”
Mira’s tears seemed to be fading as a shocked expression took hold. The pieces of the puzzle were coming together in her muddled mind as she began to understand the extent of Astoria’s involvement.
“Is that what happened?” she said incredulously. “God’s Bones… I knew she was trying to harass me, but I can honestly say that it goes beyond what I thought she was capable of.”
Douglas wasn’t hard-pressed to agree. “I have seen things like this from much more important and mature people, men playing games that shape nations, but nothing like what Astoria attempted,” he said. “She was trying very hard to separate us.”
“And she pulled Raymond into her scheme.”
“Exactly,” Douglas said. “I suppose we will never know if he would have attacked you without Astoria’s prompting. Mayhap he would have, mayhap not, but her lies pushed him into it. I wish we’d known that from the beginning. Mayhap we could have prevented what happened in the end.”
Mira pondered her last memories of Raymond, remembering the smell of earth in the vault and the terror in her heart but little more than that.
“I cannot be glad for his death, though I will admit I am relieved,” she said.
“So many years of harassment have ended, Douglas. It seems too good to be true to never have to worry about him again.”
“His reign of terror, where it concerns you, has come to an end.”
She gazed at him for a few moments before a smile spread across her lips. “For that peace of mind, I will thank you,” she said, squeezing his hands. “I’ve never had a champion before.”
He smiled in return. “Not only a champion, my lady,” he said. “A husband.”
“And you know this for certain?”
“Lady Isabel has given me permission to court you,” he said. “She said that your mother would not care, so she gave her permission. I was going to tell you the good news last night before the evening got away from us. I will, therefore, tell you now. I have permission to court you.”
Her smile was huge. “Are you sure you want to, given the madness of last night?” she asked. “If you have changed your mind, I would understand.”
He shook his head. “I will not change my mind,” he said. “You are, and always will be, my choice.”
My choice.
The words from the pendant. Suddenly, Mira’s smile vanished and she sat up quickly, looking around in a panic.
“The pendant,” she said. “I was wearing it when Raymond… Where is it?”
He held her arms to prevent her from pitching herself right out of the bed. “It is safe,” he assured her. “When I brought you up here after the fight, I took it off your bodice and tucked it away in the wardrobe. It is quite safe.”
Mira was visibly relieved as she turned to him. “Thank you,” she said sincerely. “I could not bear it if something happened to it.”
It was a heartfelt sentiment. He could feel it.
He was holding her hands but he let them go, reaching up to stroke the side of her head.
He just wanted to touch her. Her blonde hair was like velvet in his hands, soft and warm and glorious.
He tried very hard not to think about this petite, beautiful woman in a fight for her life against a man who was intent on brutalizing her.
That made him want to kill all over again.
“Nothing is going to happen to it,” he murmured. “Or you. You have me now and I will see that you are always safe and warm and protected, Mira. I promise.”
Mira leaned into his hand, her green eyes glittering at him. “It seems like a dream,” she said. “I have never been courted before.”
“And I have never courted before.”
“Do you know what to do?”
He shrugged, his eyes glimmering with mirth. “I think so,” he said. “I have four older brothers who have courted women. I have learned something.”
“Is that so?” she said, interested. “What have you learned?”
He thought on that question. “Peter is the eldest,” he said. “From him, I learned persistence. The man was very persistent when he courted Liora. Curtis is the second eldest and he married a Welsh princess. Do you know how they met?”
“How?”
“She tried to kill him in battle.”
Her eyebrows lifted in surprise. “And he married her?”
Douglas chuckled. “He did and he is very happy,” he said. “From him, I have learned patience. Women require great patience.”