Chapter Twenty-One #2
It was a hall where Henry conducted business as his forefather once had.
The great oak doors yawned wide to admit the entire party into the hall.
The floor was covered with stale straw, ankle-high, to keep in the warmth in the cold winter temperatures, but the smell of it was quite overwhelming.
Food had fallen from the tables into the straw and, if not eaten by the dogs, had subsequently rotted, so the entire hall had a rotting-food smell coupled with the scent of the dogs who were roaming the hall in packs.
The aroma was quite pungent and when Margaretha entered, she was hit by the smell and, for a moment, came to a pause and briefly closed her eyes, sickened.
D’Vant thought there was something genuinely wrong with her and looked at her with concern, but she waved the man on.
He took her deeper into the hall but when Vesper entered behind them, she wasn’t quite as tactful in her reaction as Margaretha was. Her hand flew to her nose.
“Sweet Jesù,” she gasped. “What a stench!”
Val looked around the hall for Henry, mostly, but he had a faint smirk on his face as he did so. “It is your punishment for demanding to come along,” he muttered. “Now you must sit in this filthy smell. It is probably rotting the inside of your nose as we speak.”
Vesper looked at him in horror, her hand still over her nostrils. “You could not have warned me?”
“Would that have made you remain at Selborne?”
“Possibly.”
“Then I was a fool not to mention it.”
He was grinning at her and, in spite of herself, Vesper started to laugh. The smell really was atrocious. But more than that, it was the first relaxed word she’d had with Val since leaving Selborne. She used her free hand to squeeze his arm.
“It would not have made me stay at Selborne,” she said softly. “Please do not be angry with me for coming with you. Had the situation been reversed, you would not have stayed away from me. I cannot stay away from you.”
The smile faded from Val’s face. “I suppose I understand,” he said. “And I do appreciate that you are so fiercely loyal.”
“I would do anything for you.”
His pale eyes glimmered at her, very much wanting to kiss her but he didn’t dare. This wasn’t the place. “Anything but return to Selborne.”
She fought off a grin. “Anything but that.”
He snorted softly before giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “When Henry enters, say nothing,” he said softly. “Do nothing. I believe all of this can be resolved quickly with the evidence I will present, so do not make it more difficult for me with emotional outbursts. Will you promise me?”
Vesper nodded, but it was with reluctance. “Even if he is terribly wrong and cruel?”
Val lifted his eyebrows. “This is the king we speak of,” he reminded her. “He can be as wrong and cruel as he wants to be. But he is not unfair or unreasonable. All will be well in the end, I swear. But mind your tongue.”
“I promise.”
The twinkle in his eye was back. “Good lass,” he said. “Now, let us find a place to sit in this mess. I see that Dacian has seated my mother; let us go and join them.”
Truthfully, Vesper was grateful for it. Although her rump was sore from riding, she very much wanted to sit on something that wasn’t moving.
There were three fairly large feasting tables in the hall, placed in the shape of a horseshoe, and Margaretha was sitting at the end of one of them.
Vesper took a seat next to her on a bench that had splinters sticking out of it, so she sat close to Margaretha to avoid the splinters.
But sitting next to the woman meant that Val moved away from her and she suddenly stood up, planning to follow him until he put a hand out to silently direct her to sit again.
She did, unhappily, as Val went to Dacian and lost himself in quiet conversation with the man.
Vesper never took her eyes from him. She was feeling some apprehension now that they were in Henry’s smelly hall, knowing that the king would soon make an appearance and all of the horror and rumors of the past several weeks would soon be made clear for all to hear.
All that Val had suffered through would finally be resolved and she found herself praying fervently for the king’s mercy so that they could be married and begin their life as husband and wife.
Perhaps that was a selfish hope but she couldn’t help herself.
She just wanted this to be over.
They’d been through so much since their acquaintance, things that should have ended any budding romance.
Her father’s manipulation, his lies, her brother’s execution…
any one of those things should have stopped a relationship between her and Val before it even got started, but they hadn’t.
Whatever bond they had between them was stronger than her father’s scheming and the demands of Val’s duties.
It was something that was worth fighting for.
And she would fight until the very end.
Off to her right, Vesper could see Kenan and the soldiers from Selborne, men who had been present when Canterbury had been killed.
They were here as Val’s witnesses to the fact and her apprehension was eased somewhat at the sight of them.
Surely Henry could not deny what so many men had witnessed.
She could also see Calum, carrying Val’s saddlebags and the forged missive contained therein that was the key to this entire terrible situation.
Poor Calum. He was a pawn in this ploy as much as Val was.
He had been the one at Selborne to receive that fateful message.
Thoughts of Selborne brought thoughts of her father.
She hadn’t seen him since last night. Val had said he’d left Selborne before dawn and Vesper wasn’t sure if she would ever see him again.
It was odd, however, considering how much McCloud had seemed to want her forgiveness for what he’d done.
She didn’t think he would have left before they at least had some understanding between them, but she couldn’t think of that now.
At the moment, Val’s situation had all of her attention. Her father would have to wait.
“De Nerra!”
The hair-raising cry distracted Vesper from her thoughts.
It came from the far end of the hall as a door swung open and men began to appear.
Everyone in the hall turned to the source of the shout as a well-built man with dark red hair, badly cut, came into view.
He wore a full beard, dark with shades of gray in it, and was wrapped in heavy woolen tunics that looked as if they hadn’t been washed or mended in some time.
Slovenly was the first thing that came to Vesper’s mind when she saw him.
But before she could turn to Margaretha and ask who the man was, the older woman was on her feet and heading straight for the agitated figure.
“My lord Henry,” Margaretha said loudly. “I have come with my son to face your good justice. Would you disrespect me so by not greeting me first?”
Henry wasn’t in any mood for pleasantries.
He’d come racing to the hall from the keep when Tevin had appeared with tales of Val de Nerra’s innocence but the truth was that Henry wanted to hear it from the mouth of his itinerant justice.
He’d spent the past few days building up such an outrageous scenario about Canterbury’s death that it was now more nightmare than truth.
Because of that, he was desperate to speak with Val but Lady de Nerra, Val’s mother, would not be overlooked.
To do so would be a grave mistake on Henry’s part and he knew it.
Therefore, he forced himself to focus on Margaretha.
He smiled at her, his teeth gapped-toothed but not unhandsome. In fact, he laughed when he saw her.
“I should have known you would come, my lady,” he said. “In fact, I am glad you have come. Mayhap you can explain to me what your son has done just as du Reims has tried to explain to me. What is this madness that I am hearing about him?”
At that moment, Tevin emerged into the hall right behind Henry.
Having run off to find the king before the man faced Val, he’d spent the past few minutes explaining to the king what had really happened at Canterbury.
But Henry wanted to hear it from Val and had charged out of the keep before Tevin could finish his tale.
Henry moved fast when he wanted to and he’d escaped the Earl of East Anglia in search of the only man who could give him the answers he sought –
Val de Nerra.
But there was the small matter of getting through Margaretha first. Before Margaretha could reply to Henry’s greeting, Tevin came up behind Henry and pointed to Val.
“De Nerra has been arrested just as you asked, my lord,” he said to Henry.
“But he should not have been. As I have told you, he is an innocent man and he can prove it. Val, tell Henry what happened and spare no detail. Do it now.”
Margaretha was forgotten as all focus shifted to Val.
In fact, Val found himself gazing steadily at the king.
He and Henry had always shared an excellent relationship and as he studied the edgy expression on the man’s face, a bevy of thoughts raced through his head, not the least of which was regretting the fact that he’d not confirmed de Morville’s missive with Henry from the start. That would have prevented all of this.
… or would it?
Taking a deep breath, Val summoned his courage.
“I was away from Selborne when Hugh de Morville, Reginald FitzUrse, Richard le Breton and William de Tracy arrived bearing a missive that I believed was from you, my lord,” he said evenly.
“I have brought the missive with me so that you may see it. The missive instructed that I was to arrest the Archbishop of Canterbury and bring him to Winchester to face your justice. The missive threatened to strip me of my appointment should I refuse, so naturally, I obeyed.”