Chapter Twenty
“He hasn’t left her side for three days,” Orion said. “He will not sleep. He will not eat. He just sits there, holding her hand and watching her face. The man is a mess.”
He was speaking to Hugh, who had been out on an errand for the garrison for a few days when the incident with Desdra happened.
Everyone in the city knew what had occurred.
He’d heard about it the moment he returned to Bristol Castle.
It was a tragedy on so many levels that it was difficult to know where to start.
“My God,” Hugh muttered. “What about her father?”
“Dead,” Orion said. “Zeus and the other Guardians took care of that. They felt guilty about even admitting the man so that he could attack Desdra, so they took his behavior personally. The last I saw, they’d put the body on one of the de Long merchant vessels and were going to dump it at sea.
Ciaran le Daire can become food for the fish. It is better than he deserved.”
Hugh nodded. “That is the truth,” he agreed sincerely. “But what about Desdra? What is her condition?”
“Grave,” Orion said, shaking his head. He was exhausted, having not slept over the past few days, just like Jareth.
“Fortunately, she did not fall on her head even though she went out the window headfirst. The yew tree in the front, near the entry, broke her fall and flipped her onto her left side, so she fell on that. Her ribs are broken, as is her left arm and her left shoulder, and she is very bruised on the left side. I suspect something may have ruptured inside of her, but there is nothing to be done. We must wait and let God’s will be done. ”
Hugh grunted with great remorse. “God,” he said. “What a horror. Is there anything I can do? Fetch another physic, mayhap?”
Orion shrugged. “We’ve already had the physic who tended Jareth’s shoulder come to The Feast,” he said.
“Willow is his name and he seems competent enough. He has packed her entire left side with cold rags to minimize the swelling and the damage. He’s also packed cold rags around her head and neck.
He’s trying to take her temperature down so the body will have time to recover.
As I said, we must wait now. That is all that can be done. ”
It was pitiful that no one could do more. Hugh seemed particularly pained about it.
“I told Jareth that Aphrodite’s Feast would be good for him,” he said.
“He was so reluctant to accept the inheritance, so I feel as if we had to convince him that it would be worthy. And we could all see how he and Desdra were falling for one another—something quite unexpected, I might add. I’ve never known Jareth to be a fool for a woman. ”
“Desdra is no ordinary woman,” Orion said softly. “Go and see him. He’ll be glad to see you. He’s in the chamber across the landing.”
Hugh simply nodded and headed up the stairs from the entry.
There was an incredible pall of depression hanging over The Feast, so much so that they’d closed their doors since the incident between Desdra and her father.
The muses didn’t feel like entertaining anyone and The Guardians felt as if the incident had been their fault, so they simply shut the doors and refused any visitors.
That had never happened in the history of The Feast, but it was indicative of a group in mourning.
It was in everything about them.
As Hugh went upstairs, Orion wandered outside, to the window that Desdra had fallen from.
He looked up, seeing the broken limbs that had kept Desdra from killing herself in the fall, but it was still a long way down.
She had landed in dirt, but it had been hard earth.
With a sigh, he turned in the direction of the river.
Beyond the tree was the road and then the riverbank, with the silty waters of the River Avon as it made its way to the sea.
The gulls were crying overhead and people were down on the riverbank, pulling in the boats from the fishermen.
Everything seemed normal, but it wasn’t.
Nothing was normal these days.
“My lord?”
Orion turned to see Anosia standing a few feet away. She looked wan and strained, as all of the muses did. Something happening to Desdra had affected them all. But he smiled at her and extended his arm in her direction.
“Come,” he said. “Keep me company. I was simply thinking for a moment. Where have you been?”
Anosia came toward him, beneath the shade of that big tree.
She was dressed in a simple garment, something that was unlike her.
There were no ribbons in her hair, no jewels around her neck.
She was dressed simply and demurely, but nothing could detract from her astonishing beauty.
If anything, the plainness of her garb enhanced it.
“I have just been in to see Desdra,” she said. “Lord Jareth says she has not awakened yet.”
Orion nodded slowly. Then he reached out a hand to her, and when she looked at it in confusion, he simply took her hand and brought it to his lips. He smiled; she flushed.
He laughed softly.
“You must become accustomed to that,” he said. “I will again ask you if you will return to your cottage and allow me to provide for you. A woman of your beauty and talent should not have to entertain for money. Let me take care of you.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “As your kept woman?” she said. “Your concubine? Nay, Orion. I will not be kept.”
“But you are fond of me.”
“You gave me no choice.”
She was grinning as she said it, and he grinned in return. “I did not say you would be my kept woman,” he said. “I will return and marry you at some point, but not until my position with the king is solid.”
Her smile faded. “Why is it not solid?”
He shrugged. “Because I am relatively new,” he said.
“These men that I am part of, the Guard of Six, do not like me very much. They are a tight unit, and a unit like that must work together with complete trust or it will fail. It is difficult to trust someone you do not like, so the king may decide that I do not belong with them. That is the only reason I do not marry you now—it is because I do not know what the future holds yet.”
She caressed his fingers. “They simply do not know you yet,” she said.
“When they come to know you better, you will become part of them. I know. I watched my husband and his men as they trained and prepared for war. If you work enough with men, and do your part, it is inevitable that they will accept you.”
He smiled faintly. “Wise words, lady,” he said, but his smile quickly dwindled. “Will you not tell me your real name, love? I cannot call you Anosia when I know it is not your name. But I promise I will use the name when we are in front of people. Please?”
Anosia considered that request, one of many such requests he had made to her.
Truth be told, she was weakening. He was sweet and he was sincere, and she couldn’t help the attraction she felt toward him.
She’d been at The Feast for a long time, and in that time, no one had broken down her walls like Orion had. It was difficult to resist him.
Difficult, indeed.
“Very well,” she said softly. “If you are going to cry about it.”
He nodded firmly. “I will cry,” he said. “I’ll cry buckets and then you’ll be sorry.”
She laughed. “No need,” she said. “The name given to me by my mother is Olivia.”
His smile blossomed. “Olivia,” he repeated as if it were the most beautiful name he’d ever heard. “Lady Olivia, it is a pleasure to finally meet you.”
She dipped her head demurely. “And you, my lord,” she said. “I will tell you more if you wish.”
He knew telling him her name had been a supreme act of trust. He appreciated it deeply. But he didn’t want to push her.
“I will listen to whatever you wish to tell me,” he said. “If your name is all you wish to share, then I am satisfied.”
She was still holding his hand. Or perhaps he was still holding hers. Whichever it was, she released his fingers and looped her arm through his elbow companionably. She just stood there, holding his arm, gazing out to the river beyond.
“Desdra has made me realize something,” she said.
He was enchanted simply watching her profile. “What is that?”
“Time is short,” she said simply. “There is no time to waste in life with rules or hesitation or resistance. I learned that life was short enough when my husband was killed. His name was Brenner le Kerque and he was a knight for the Earls of East Anglia, the House of du Reims. You see, my father is Humphrey de Bohun, the Earl of Essex. He was allied with du Reims, and Lord du Reims used to visit my father all the time, especially when Simon de Montfort was gaining power. Brenner used to come with Lord du Reims, as his most trusted knight, and I fell in love with him. My father was horrified, of course, and disowned me when I announced my intention to marry him. We had a few very happy years, and two beautiful girls, before he was killed at Evesham.”
Orion had been listening intently. “No wonder you have such elegance about you,” he said. “You are an earl’s daughter.”
She turned to him. “I am,” she said. “I was expected to make an advantageous marriage, but instead, I married for love. Now you know why I cannot go home.”
Orion understood that. He understood very well what it was to have a family you could not return to. After a moment, he grunted softly as thoughts rolled through his head, thoughts he’d not entertained in years.
“I will tell you something I’ve not told anyone,” he said. “I, too, have a father I cannot see. My family name, officially, is Payton-Forrester, but the man I call my father was not the man from whose loins I sprang.”
Anosia looked at him curiously. “What do you mean?”
He sighed faintly, looking out to the river as he collected his thoughts. “As I said, I’ve not spoken of this to anyone,” he said. “I am not even supposed to know.”
“Know what?”
“That I’m the bastard of a great northern knight.”
That didn’t clear up her confusion. “I do not understand,” she said. “Your father is not your father?”
He shook his head. “He is actually my uncle,” he said quietly.
“My father, to the world, is William Payton-Forrester. I look enough like him that there are no questions, but the truth is that I am his sister’s bastard child.
She had an affair with a knight by the name of Paris de Norville, who is the captain of the army for the Earl of Teviot.
It’s a massive army. They are allied with the House of de Wolfe, who has the largest army in the north.
Paris de Norville and William de Wolfe are family, as their wives are cousins. ”
She nodded in understanding. “So your uncle raised you as his son to spare his sister from the shame of bearing a bastard?”
“Aye,” Orion said. “She died in childbirth, with me, and my true father, de Norville, does not know about me. He was never told.”
“Then how do you know?”
He smiled ironically. “Because William Payton-Forrester told me one night when he’d become ragingly drunk,” he said.
“As it turned out, it was on the anniversary of my mother’s death, so he got drunk and was making threats to kill Paris de Norville.
When I asked him why, as I thought they were good friends, he told me everything. He does not even remember doing so.”
Anosia gazed up at him, giving his arm a little squeeze. “And how do you feel about that?” she said. “About the life you have led as another man’s son?”
He shrugged. “I do not blame de Norville,” he said.
“He does not even know. And I do not blame my father, Payton-Forrester, because he did the right thing by raising me as his own. He is a good man. I am not entirely sure why he never consciously told me the truth, however, though I suspect it was to protect his sister. I can understand that, I suppose. How do I feel? Fortunate. Fortunate that I had such an upbringing by a good family who loved me.”
Anosia smiled at the sweet sentiment. “You are, indeed, fortunate,” she said.
“I was brought up in a big family by a father who was only concerned with his sons if they could make him proud. He did not give much thought to his daughters until one of them displeased him by marrying the man she loved. I cannot imagine what he would think if he knew I was here, at Aphrodite’s Feast.”
Orion put his hand over her fingers as they held his elbow.
“You did what was necessary to ensure your children had food in their bellies and a roof over their heads,” he said.
“Even though I do not want you entertaining for money, even I cannot fault you for being determined enough to do what was necessary so your children would not starve.”
She laughed. “Thank you,” she said. “Sometimes I, too, wish circumstances did not drive me to this, but I will always be grateful to Aphrodite’s Feast for an opportunity few have.”
“And I will always be grateful that it brought us together.”
She laid her head on his big bicep, feeling things she hadn’t felt since Brenner was alive. It was a sweet moment between them. Orion kissed the top of her head and was preparing to speak when something down the road caught his eye.
He was watching a tide of people move toward Aphrodite’s Feast, toward them. Hundreds of them. Shocked, he and Anosia watched the crowd of people move closer and closer.
“Who is that?” Anosia asked with concern. “What are they doing?”
Orion shook his head. “I do not know,” he said. “I do not see any weapons or battle implements. It does not seem to be an army.”
Anosia could see both men and women in the crowd. “I wonder where they are going?” she said.
Orion wasn’t sure. He just shook his head, watching the crowd. When it became apparent they were heading for The Feast, he broke for the entry door, pulling Anosia behind him.
“Get inside,” he said. “Let me see what this is about.”
She nodded, somewhat fearfully, as he pulled her into the foyer.
The Guardians at the door had seen the tide, too, and were most curious.
As they began to discuss how to handle the situation, Anosia went into the reception chamber, to the window, and watched the approaching crowd.
So many of them coming. It was most puzzling.
But she was about to discover the truth.