Chapter Nine
It was early morning over the softly rolling hills of the Scots border.
The land, at this time of year, was green for the most part, with fields of grain waving golden in the wind.
William employed a good many farmers on his lands, men he fairly treated, as they worked the land and gave him a cut of the profits.
That went for the agriculture as well as the sheep herders, and there were many this far north.
He’d lost track of the herds he had, though Kieran knew.
The man wasn’t only his second in command, but he kept control of all of William’s properties.
Because of that, William cut Kieran in for some of those profits, as well, making Kieran a very wealthy man.
On this morning, William had been up before dawn because he’d had a shipment of yew saplings.
William had about two hundred archers and the yew wood was for new bows that his men had asked for.
The older bows were becoming brittle and in order to keep his archers well-armed, William had ordered the wood.
He and Kieran were at the gates in the morning as the wagons of wood began rolling in, brought specifically from a man down in Yorkshire who grew groves of such saplings.
When the last wagon rolled through the gates, William ordered the portcullis lowered as Kieran checked in the last of the wagon loads.
Anthony helped him, given that he had a head for numbers, while Talus remained on the walls, vigilant.
Troy had returned to Wark before dawn, a journey that took less than an hour, leaving William to continue hosting Herringthorpe.
In fact, Herringthorpe had been heavy on William’s mind.
He was probably just being foolish, but something War said the day before had stuck with him no matter how hard he tried to shake him. He kept telling himself that he was being ridiculous, but that didn’t seem to settle him down.
Something to do with War’s mother.
Jane de Percy.
There was more than just an acquaintance there. Many years ago, before William had met his wife, he’d known, and been fond of, Jane de Percy.
When War had spoken her name, it had shocked him.
But the shock was wearing off.
Jane had been a lovely woman with dark hair, dark eyes, and a big smile.
She’d been the youngest daughter of one of the great de Percy families.
In this case, from the allied castle of Sedgefield in North Yorkshire.
Jane’s father and John de Longley, the Earl of Teviot and William’s liege at the time, had been undergoing some negotiations, so Geoffrey de Percy had brought his family with him for a nice, long visit.
And William had come to know sweet Jane.
He had to admit that he was indecisive as to whether Jane was marriage material and he further had to admit that Jane was far fonder of him than he was of her.
She was fun and vivacious and he liked that, but he never looked at her as someone he could love deeply.
It wasn’t that she was terribly lacking in any way other than the fact that she was very much a little girl who had never grown up.
It was endearing for a while until it became annoying.
But that hadn’t stopped him when the woman seduced him.
He knew Jane was madly in love with him.
She’d told him enough. She hung on his every word, chased away any other woman who seemed to be interested in him, and generally acted possessively of him for the time she was at Northwood Castle, seat of de Longley.
He was amused by her at first and didn’t give her infatuation much consideration, mostly because she was immature and he figured that she’d forget about him soon enough.
But one night, she’d found him in the stables tending a lame horse.
That was where the intimate involvement had started.
The hour had been late. At the time, William didn’t know how she knew he’d be there, alone, but he found out later that she’d paid a servant to report to her on his movements.
As he’d taken care of the horse, she appeared in the dim stables, dressed in a heavy cloak.
Their conversation had been light, as it usually was, and Jane was always quick to smile or compliment him.
But this time, it was different. She wanted to talk in private, she said, someplace where they could not be interrupted.
He agreed, though he didn’t know why, and they’d gone to the rear of the stall and sat in the straw.
No sooner had he sat down when Jane dropped to her knees and tossed off the cloak.
She wasn’t wearing a thing underneath.
Truthfully, William wasn’t repulsed by her.
She had a sweetly rounded little body with big breasts and, being human, he’d succumbed to her seduction.
He let her push him back on the straw and unfasten his breeches.
He let her put her mouth on his manhood, which sprung to life when she touched him.
He let her straddle him, rubbing her wet heat upon him and when he could stand no more, he lay her back on the straw and took her innocence as she wept for joy beneath him.
That went on for the next two weeks.
Jane was the aggressor in all instances.
She would catch him in the stables or send him a note asking him to meet her in the alcoves of Northwood’s great hall.
He could have refused her but he didn’t.
He would meet her and she would put her mouth all over him before he positioned her against a wall or lay her on a floor and drove his throbbing member into her wet and willing body.
For Jane, it was all about the love she felt for him but for William, it was all about her responsive body and his natural male urges and nothing more.
She loved him and he let her.
Perhaps it made him a cad, perhaps not. Jane got what she wanted and he took his pleasure with her.
But it all came to a halt one evening when William happened to be in the guest corridor of Northwood’s vast keep.
He heard Jane and her father arguing, how Jane wanted to marry William but her father wouldn’t hear of it.
No de Percy was going to marry a mere knight, even if he was a rising star among the knights on the Scottish border.
Even when William intervened and offered for her hand because it was the right thing to do given that he’d already marked the woman, Geoffrey stood firm.
No marriage to a de Wolfe.
The next morning, Geoffrey, his wife and daughters, and the two hundred soldiers he brought with him abruptly left for Yorkshire, leaving de Longley puzzled until William told him what had happened.
It made more sense then and de Longley wasn’t particularly peeved at William for driving out de Percy, but he had hoped for an alliance.
What he ended up getting was polite coldness whenever he sent missives.
That was the end of the Northwood-Sedgefield bond.
William hadn’t thought about the whole situation in almost thirty years.
Not since it happened. Truthfully, Geoffrey’s refusal had been a relief, so he’d never been heartbroken about it.
But when War mentioned who his mother was and William estimated how old War was, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that War was old enough to have been born the year after William bedded Jane.
At least, William thought he might be old enough.
He really wasn’t sure. But it was that preoccupation that finally had Kieran snapping his fingers in William’s ear as the man stared off across the outer bailey without actually seeing anything.
He was far gone with thought.
“Did you hear me?” Kieran said. “William?”
William snapped out of his trance. “I heard you,” he said. “What did you say?”
Kieran snorted. “If you heard me, then you would know what I said,” he said. “I said that I’m going to have the archers put aside any bolts and bows that may not make it through the next engagement. We can decide what to do with them at that point.”
“Fine,” William said. “Do as you wish.”
Kieran nodded, but he was still staring at William. “What are you thinking of that has you so distracted?”
William almost denied him. It would have been easy to brush him off even though Kieran wouldn’t have believed him if he did.
Kieran and William had been together for many years and they knew each other quite well, better than almost anyone else save Paris.
William knew that Kieran wouldn’t believe him if he told him nothing was amiss.
Therefore, he didn’t try.
They were intuitive to each other that way.
“I’ve been thinking about something that Herringthorpe said last night,” he said quietly. “Are you done with inventory?”
“Aye.”
“Then walk with me.”
Kieran did. He and William headed off towards the trade area of the outer bailey, where the smithies and other tradesmen were beginning their work for the day. William seemed lost in thought again until Kieran spoke up.
“What is it?” he asked curiously. “What did Herringthorpe say last night that has you so distracted?”
William sighed faintly, lifting his gaze to the walls where the night shift was just coming off duty.
“He spoke of his mother,” he said. “Kieran, you know that she wanted to marry me those years ago. Remember?”
“I do,” Kieran said. “I remember that entire incident with her father. How he told you that you were not nearly good enough for his daughter.”
William wriggled his eyebrows. “I do not know if I told you at the time, but I was not distressed by his refusal,” he said. “Jane was an attractive girl and I liked her very much, but marriage… honestly, I did not want to marry her.”
Kieran shook his head. “You never told me that,” he said. “I assumed you did, but we never spoke of it after that.”
They’d come to the old armory, a tower on the northeast corner of the wall that was still used to store weapons, but only the older ones.
Other than being part of the castle defenses and the wall walk on the floor above, the tower wasn’t used much.
William paused, leaning against the old granite stones.
“There didn’t seem to be a need to discuss it,” he finally said. “I haven’t thought of that period in my life in quite some time, but I will tell you why I am so distracted. Do you remember when you told me that Herringthorpe looked like me in my younger years?”
“Aye.”
“There is a reason for that.”
“Why?”
“Because he may be my son.”
Kieran wasn’t expecting to hear that. The man was perpetually cool in all things but hearing those word come forth from William’s mouth had his eyes widening and his jaw dropping.
Quite an unusual expression from the man.
“What’s this?” he hissed. “Why would you say such a thing?”
William could see how shocked he was. “Because the reason I offered to marry Jane de Percy was because I had bedded the woman for weeks prior to the incident with her father,” he said.
“I wasn’t in love with her, but she was sweet and quite adventurous when it came to activities in the bedchamber, shall we say.
She seduced me and I let her, repeatedly, while I tried to decide if I wanted to marry her.
The only reason I offered was because I’d bedded her several times, so I thought…
well, I thought I would do the honorable thing and marry her.
But her father would have nothing to do with me. ”
Kieran’s mouth was still hanging open. “So you think…?” he began. Then he came to a halt and closed his mouth, thinking on War Herringthorpe as a de Wolfe son. “My God… William, he does look just like you as a younger man. I wasn’t the only one commenting on it. Paris did and…”
William lifted a hand to silence him. “I know,” he said quickly.
“I know Paris did and he was right. At least, there is a possibility that he was right. Herringthorpe was raised by Jane’s husband, Edmund, but I do not know when they were married and I do not know how old Herringthorpe really is.
I can only guess on the timing of his birth and my guess tells me that he was conceived, possibly, during the time his mother and I had our affair. ”
Kieran exhaled a long, thoughtful breath as the explosive news sank in. “What do you want to do?”
William shrugged. “I do not know,” he said.
“Clearly, I cannot tell the man what my suspicions are. They are not even confirmed, so I could just be imagining things. Even if I am his father, I am certain he does not know. He was raised by his mother and Edmund Herringthorpe. Surely they would not tell him. Mayhap Edmund didn’t even know. ”
Kieran thought on that, long and hard. As he was looking off across the outer bailey, lost in thought, he caught sight of his son, Christian, as the man came off the wall from the night watch.
Tall, blond and handsome, Christian was also the most cunning man he knew.
The man could extract a secret from a corpse, as people would fondly say of him.
He had the makings of a great knight and perhaps an even greater spy.
That gave Kieran an idea.
“Let me see what I can do,” he said to William. “Mayhap I can find some answers for you.”
William looked at him. “How?” he demanded. “Christ, Kieran, do not ask the man outright if that is what you are thinking.”
Kieran shook his head. “Not me,” he said. “I will not involve myself. Trust me, William. You always have before. But it seems that this question might needs some answers.”
William geared up to retort but he knew it was true. He trusted Kieran with his life. He’d trust the man to help him seek answers, answers he never really knew he needed until now.
But he was still nervous.
“He may not even know, Kieran,” William said quietly.
Kieran nodded in understanding. “I realize that,” he said. “He will not hear it from me or from anything I do. I swear it.”
“Think of my wife,” William said, a hint of emotion in his tone. “I am certain Jordan will not hold a youthful indiscretion against me, but information like that must come from me. It would be devastating if she heard it elsewhere.”
Kieran simply nodded, reached out to squeeze William’s arm in mute support, and then left him standing there against the armory wall while he went in pursuit of Christian.
Half of William was terrified of the possibilities.
But the other half wanted to know the truth.