Chapter Six #3
Annaleigh didn’t argue with her. She swooped down and picked her up, carrying her back towards the kitchen yard and away from the important visitors.
But Penelope ended up kicking and screaming, so much so that Annaleigh put her hand over the child’s mouth to keep her quiet.
By the time they reached the kitchen yard, Penelope chomped down and bit Annaleigh on the hand.
Dropping the little girl to her feet, Annaleigh drew back a swift hand and spanked her, open palmed, right on the buttocks.
Shocked that someone should actually punish her, Penelope looked at Annaleigh with great surprise before dropping into the dirt and sobbing.
“And ye’ll get more where that came from if ye bite me again,” Annaleigh said, shaking her finger at the child. “That was very naughty, Penelope. I’m going tae tell yer mother what ye did.”
“She took my sword,” Thomas said solemnly. When Annaleigh looked at him, he turned to her with great seriousness. “She took my sword. She said she wanted to fight whoever was coming to Castle Questing.”
“Why?”
“Because she said it was her castle and she didn’t invite them.”
Annaleigh sighed heavily, looking at the child still sobbing in the dirt. “’Tis not yer castle, Penny,” she said. “This is yer father’s castle and those people are his guests. Would ye embarrass him so?”
“What happened?”
Annaleigh looked up to see Jordan coming up behind her, but the woman was looking at her daughter with some concern.
“Why is she crying?” Jordan asked.
Annaleigh knew how Penelope was treated around Castle Questing so she hoped she wasn’t about to become Public Enemy Number One. “I saw her going out tae the bailey with a sword,” she said. “Thomas said she stole it from him and she was planning on challenging Lord William’s guest.”
Jordan frowned. “Challenge him?” she repeated, looking at her daughter. “Why in the world would ye do that, lass?”
“Annie hit me!” Penelope wailed, pointing a finger at Annaleigh.
Annaleigh quickly found herself on the defensive. “When I picked her up tae bring her tae the kitchen yard, she bit me,” she explained, holding up her hand to show Jordan the welt. “I spanked her.”
Penelope was on her feet, rushing to her mother and throwing her arms around the woman’s legs. “Annie hit me, Mama,” she said. “She hurt me.”
Jordan may have been a soft touch for her daughter, but she was better than her husband was. She knew when she was being manipulated. Reaching down, she grasped the little girl by the arms.
“Is that true?” she demanded. “Did ye bite her?”
Penelope wasn’t expecting her mother not to blindly believe her. “I… I… she hit me!”
“After ye bit her,” Jordan said accusingly. “Dunna lie tae me, lass. If ye do, it’ll go worse for ye.”
Penelope simply began crying again, loudly, because she knew she’d done something wrong.
It was as good as a confession as far as Jordan was concerned.
She swatted her naughty daughter on the behind for good measure and she cried louder.
But just as quickly, Jordan picked the child up, hugged her, and turned for the keep.
“Tell William I’ve had tae tend Penny,” she said. “Annie, greet his visitors in my place and make sure they have everything they need. Go, now. They’ve arrived.”
As Jordan disappeared into the keep with Penelope and Thomas, Annaleigh brushed the dust from the front of her dress and quickly headed out into the bailey where William’s visitors had just dismounted their steeds.
She could see men gathered around, including William, and she quickly made her way over to them.
“Annie!”
Edward de Wolfe came running up beside her. Dark and handsome, even at his young age, he was quite articulate and well-spoken. He’d seen eleven summers but he had the maturity of someone older. Annaleigh reached out and grasped his hand.
“Come with me,” she said. “I’m tae greet yer father’s guests in yer mother’s stead.”
“Where’s Mother?”
“She took Penny away.”
Edward lifted a disapproving eyebrow. “What’s she done this time?”
“Hush,” Annaleigh squeezed his hand and let it go. “We’ve guests tae greet, so no talk. Be polite and listen.”
She came to a halt behind Kieran, standing a few feet away, as the men chatted amiably. She could hear several voices but because they were so tall, and she so petite, she could only stand back and listen. But soon enough, the crowd backed away and William appeared, heading towards the keep.
His gaze fell on Annaleigh and she could see the puzzlement.
“Jordan had something tae tend tae in the keep,” she said quickly. “She asked me tae help ye with yer guests.”
William didn’t seem too happy, probably because it occurred to him, finally, that this might be a ploy for Annaleigh to meet War. At least, he thought so. If he knew his wife well, and he did, she wasn’t beyond such things if she truly believed she was in the right.
“What is happening in the keep that she cannot greet my guests?” he asked.
Annaleigh was reluctant. “Well…” she said uncomfortably. “It’s Penny.”
“What about Penny?”
“She’s been naughty.”
William didn’t need to be told more than that. Maybe it wasn’t a ploy, after all, considering any situation with Penelope was quite plausible. William turned to speak to the group of men behind him.
“My wife is unavoidably detained at the moment,” he said. “Let us continue this conversation inside where food and drink await.”
The men began to move and Annaleigh stood back as the group began to pass her by.
She would follow them indoors and quietly monitor the situation just in case they needed something.
Three men she didn’t recognize moved past her, and a few she did recognize in Troy and Talus and Anthony, but William was still speaking to the man she hadn’t seen yet.
But then he moved aside.
A man was standing there, positively enormous in breadth and height, and he was looking up at the impressive keep of Castle Questing. Just for a moment. But then his eyes moved to the bailey, to things around him, and finally to her, standing just a few feet away.
Those eyes.
Annaleigh looked at the man and he looked at her.
She’d seen those eyes before. William was with the other men, heading towards the keep, briefly leaving the man alone as he inspected his surroundings.
He took two steps before suddenly noticing her and, for a moment, they simply stared at one another.
Recognition was in the air as they both began to realize they knew one another or, at least, they’d seen each other before.
Perhaps eight months ago in a thicket of trees next to the River Till.
Realization hit Annaleigh like a battering ram.
“Ye,” her eyes widened. “It… it’s ye!”
His eyes lit up, beautiful eyes she’d remembered from those months ago. “Annaleigh?” he said, incredulous. “My God. Is it really you?”
She couldn’t even answer his question. She was so overwhelmed at the sight of him that she couldn’t even answer him. A shout from William got his attention and he suddenly turned away, rushing to catch up with the group and leaving Annaleigh standing there in shock.
But it was more than shock.
It was horror.
Horror that a reminder of the worst event in her young life had been standing in front of her.
Horror that the man had actually survived because she had given him aid.
Not only had she caused the event, but she’d aided the enemy.
At the time, guilt had forced her to. Guilt that the knight had been injured because of her.
She hadn’t really believed the man would survive his wounds, but he did.
And he was here at Castle Questing.
A reminder of everything she was trying to forget.
But, God… he was so handsome. In the dark thicket, covered with mud and gore, she’d never gotten a good look at him other than his eyes and those had been beautiful.
Recognizable. But now, she’d just caught a glimpse of the rest of him and to stay he was magnificent…
well, there wasn’t a word invented that could describe all that he was.
He was a god among men, a paragon of masculinity who had just stepped from the lofty heights of Olympus.
And he was here.
Stiffly, Annaleigh began to follow the men into the keep, lagging behind because she didn’t want to get any closer.
She was only following them because she’d told Jordan she would, but she was struggling to regain her composure.
It occurred to her that all she’d ever heard about the visitors were that they were from Bamburgh Castle, someone named Herringthorpe who was a powerful new garrison commander, sent by King Henry himself.
In fact, she’d built up a healthy sense of awe about him.
Even now, she still had it. But it further occurred to her that when she’d seen the man in that thicket, he’d only told her his first name –
War.
Was he the Herringthorpe everyone was talking about?
She was about to find out.