Chapter Twenty-One #4
D’Vant finished removing the last shackle and Val rubbed at his wrists where the iron had chaffed his skin.
“It would stand to reason that I should have thoughts of revenge against de Morville and the others, but I am more concerned with myself at the moment,” he said.
“I am afraid it will take some time to restore my reputation in this regard and it greatly concerns me, to be truthful. It will make the execution of my duties as itinerant justice far more difficult if men believe I have murdered a priest.”
Henry sighed heavily. “It will make it impossible,” he said.
“Even if you are innocent, there will be those who cannot be convinced of it. I will do all I can, of course, to let the nobility know that you had nothing to do with Canterbury’s death, but the common man…
the fools who live and die by God’s word…
may never believe it. They may never trust you again. ”
Val knew that but it was still difficult to hear.
He made his way to where Henry was sitting, leaning against the tabletop in a weary gesture.
After a moment, he shook his head. “It is unfortunate,” he finally said.
“I have greatly enjoyed my royal appointment. I have executed my duties to the best of my ability and have built a great reputation. And now… now it is all gone. Everything I have worked for is gone because of men who were trying to gain your favor.”
A sense of desolation filled the hall as the men began to realize that Val’s life as the Itinerant Justice of Hampshire was over.
It was a position of law he could never hold again, through no fault of his own, because there would always be those who doubted his credibility.
He’d been betrayed and ruined by men he trusted.
It was a grossly unfair situation in the purest sense of the word.
No one understood that better than Vesper.
She had been listening to everything, horrified anew by the details of what Val had been involved in, realizing as everyone else did that Val’s reputation was in ruins.
Although she’d promised Val she would not speak, something in her simply couldn’t remain silent.
The man she loved, the great and noble knight she deeply respected and admired, was seemingly at an end but she couldn’t accept that.
She refused to. Something had to be done but they were all standing around, looking as if they were preparing for a funeral.
Well, there would be no funeral if she had anything to say about it.
“Then you must help him, my lord,” she said, her voice trembling with nerves because she knew she should not be speaking.
“Val is a great and noble man who has shown that greatness in just the short time I have known him. He has an infallible sense of justice and duty and it is completely unfair for such a man to be ruined. You cannot allow that to happen.”
Henry looked up to see an exquisitely beautiful woman standing in his hall. He hadn’t noticed her when he entered but he was noticing her now. As he watched, Val went over to her, giving her a rather disapproving look. Henry pointed.
“Who is this woman?” he asked.
Val put his arm around Vesper’s shoulders as he faced the king. “This is Lady Vesper d’Avignon,” he said. “We are to be married.”
That seemed to bring back at least some of Henry’s humor. The dark eyes twinkled. “What a right and glorious announcement,” he said, looking to Margaretha, who was still standing a few feet away from him. “And you, Lady de Nerra? Does this please you?”
Margaretha was still in the throes of relief over the fact that Henry wasn’t going to punish Val for his role in Canterbury’s assassination. She was feeling rather lightheaded, in fact. When she realized that Henry was addressing her, she eased herself down onto the bench behind her.
“Pleased?” she repeated. “I am positively ecstatic. I shall finally have some grandchildren.”
It was a light moment in a circumstance otherwise wrought with anxiety and sorrow, but Vesper wasn’t willing to give in to whatever weak humor was about.
She was still deeply concerned for Val and his future.
She didn’t want the subject turned away from Val and his situation so she sought to bring it back to that focus.
“May I tell you how dedicated Val is to his duty, my lord?” she asked, pulling away from Val and moving in Henry’s direction. “My father is McCloud d’Avignon. He fought for you in France. He and Val became very good friends.”
Henry cocked his head thoughtfully. “D’Avignon?” he repeated. “I know this man.”
Val nodded as he came up behind Vesper. “McCloud was with me six years ago when we moved into Normandy and Brittany to reclaim your lands there,” he said. “He was also with me two years later when we punished your unfaithful barons in Normandy. He was a good knight.”
“Was?” Henry said. “He has passed?”
It was Vesper who answered. “He is alive, my lord, but he is not the same man,” she said.
“Although I do not wish to sully my father’s reputation of the past, the truth is that he has changed.
Recently, he met Val again after a few years of separation and plotted to take advantage of him.
You see, my father has fallen into poverty over the years and my brother, who was a grown man with the mind of a child, took to murdering people and stealing their food so he and my father could eat.
My father should have stopped him but he did not.
When my brother was captured in the midst of a crime, it was up to Val to dispense justice since the crimes were committed in his jurisdiction.
Although Val and I were becoming fond of each other at the time, Val could not let that sway his good judgment.
He did what was required of him and executed my brother for murder.
The point, my lord, is that Val is a man with an unbreakable sense of right and wrong.
He is too good a man for you to allow a mistake to ruin him.
You must help him regain what has been wrongly taken from him – his reputation. ”
Henry was listening to Vesper with some sympathy. She was a lovely, well-spoken woman and he saw what Val saw in her. As a man who appreciated a beautiful and accomplished woman, Henry had a rather high opinion of Vesper after hearing her speak.
“He truly executed your brother?” he asked. “A son of an old friend?”
“He did, my lord, but only because it was required of him. I am sure he took no pleasure in it.”
Henry’s gaze moved to Val only to see a rather ambivalent expression on his face.
Certainly there was no pleasure there but there may have been a hint of regret.
It was then that Henry began to understand the bond between Val and his lady, something that wicked fathers, executions, and rumors could not destroy.
That kind of connection was a rare thing.
“Mayhap he did not,” he said. “But any man who would execute his lady’s brother is a man of duty, indeed. And you do not hate him for it?”
“I do not, my lord.”
Henry nodded, his gaze still upon her. “I would believe that, because you are here with him when my order was only for Val to face me. Yet, you and his mother have come as well. This kind of thing is not for women to observe.”
As Val cleared his throat softly, with some embarrassment, Vesper held up the small bejeweled dagger. “I was afraid men, in their anger over Canterbury’s murder, would try to harm him,” she said honestly. “I did not come without a purpose in mind. I came to protect him.”
Henry’s eyebrows lifted. Then, he started to laugh, a great laugh that had half of the hall grinning because of it.
“Even from me?” he asked.
She shrugged hesitantly. “Mayhap, my lord. Are you going to release him?”
Henry threw up his hands. “I am afraid of what you will do if I do not. Of course he is released, my lady. But as you know, that does not solve his problem. No matter what I say, there will be those who believe he murdered Canterbury.”
“Then how will you help him, my lord?” Vesper asked anxiously.
Henry sighed heavily, his smile fading. He stood up from the bench he was seated on and pensively wandered over to the advisors who had followed him into the hall, Tevin included. He looked at Tevin, in fact, as he stroked his chin.
“What say you, du Reims?” he asked. “How can we salvage de Nerra’s reputation?”
Tevin’s gaze moved to Val, who was standing with Vesper, his big hand enclosing hers. He could see the apprehension in their manner although Val was trying very much not to show it. Still, he knew the man was concerned, as he should be. He felt a good deal of pity for them both.
“Val is a great knight, my lord,” he said. “The man shines on the field of battle. I have seen it.”
“Excuse me, my lord, may I speak?” A powerfully built man with a massive beard moved out from the rear of Henry’s advisors, moving to the forefront where Tevin was standing. His gaze was on Val as he came to a halt near Tevin. “Do you remember me, de Nerra?”
Val peered at the man a moment before realization dawned. “Percy,” he said, a faint smile coming to his lips. “Of course I remember you, my lord, although I have not seen you in many years. You did not have the forest growing on your face when last I saw you.”
William de Percy, a cousin to the mighty de Percy family of the north and the military commander for Agnes de Percy, the family’s only heiress, grinned in return.
“It has, indeed, been a long time since we last met, but I never forget a man or his reputation. When I heard that you were in league with a scandal, I could hardly believe it. Now I see that my instincts about you were correct.”
Val nodded sincerely. “Thank you, my lord.”