Chapter Fifteen
“Put your hand here,” she whispered, putting his palm against her breast. “Let me feel you against me, your flesh to mine.”
Thor didn’t need to be told twice. It was early in the morning, and he’d already made love to her twice the night before, but she tended to like it in the morning, too. This woman who had looked at intimacy with a husband as a duty and a horror now couldn’t get enough of it when it came to Thor. Not that he minded. With a growl, he picked up his wife and carried her to their bed, a very big bed that had once belonged to Robert.
But no one thought about that.
Now, it belonged only to them.
Once on the mattress, he loosened the fastenings on her surcoat, pulling at them as she helped him. There was eagerness in her movements and in his. When he yanked the bodice down, he tore her shift a little in his eagerness and snorted as she giggled, but it didn’t stop his momentum. He yanked again, freeing her breasts, and his mouth clamped down onto a warm and tender nipple.
As he suckled her furiously, Caledonia cried out softly, holding his head to her breast as if he were a starving child nursing against her. She hadn’t been allowed to nurse her own children, so there was something innate and intimate and satisfying for Thor to suckle her. She never knew she liked it until he did it, and these days, he took great delight in her breasts. As if they belonged to him, personally.
Perhaps they did, just a little.
Pushing her back on the bed, Thor continued to nurse hungrily at her breasts as he caressed her buttocks and stroked her inner thighs. She took his hand and put it against the dark fluff of curls between her legs, thrusting her pelvis forward and trying to entice his fingers into her body. Thor knew that and responded by slipping a finger into her tight, wet sheath, feeling her gasp with pleasure. When she began pushing her woman’s center against him, mimicking the pelvic thrusting he would soon be doing, it was all he could take. Unfastening his breeches, he put the tip of his hard, throbbing phallus against her warm and wet folds.
“Tell me you love me,” he murmured, gently kissing her chin, her mouth. “Tell me that I am your everything.”
Caledonia was bucking against him, trying to force him into her body. “I love you,” she whispered, something she had been doing for a few days now. “Give me your seed, angel. Let me bear your son and I shall never ask for more.”
I love you.Those words drove Thor wild. He thrust into her, listening to her gasp with the sheer glory of it. She cried out softly as he thrust again and again, seating himself to the hilt, feeling her tight wetness around him. It was bliss. Caledonia clung to him, wishing he could bury himself deeper. Thor was hung like a bull, something she reminded him of nightly, and it made him feel powerful and virile. He satisfied her every time, but she was so desperate for the man that she always wanted more. As he thrust into her, he was so forceful that she ended up nearly sliding off the bed on the other side. With soft laughter, he had to pull her back onto the mattress so they could continue. Caledonia wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him passionately as he made love to her. With every thrust, he rubbed his pelvis against hers, and she could feel sparks when their bodies met. Those sparks always ignited a wildfire, and even though neither of them wanted this to end quickly, it was difficult staving off the blaze.
As usual, the blaze flared and Thor couldn’t hold back his release. Caledonia put a hand down between them, feeling him as he climaxed into her body, but in doing so, she touched herself and climaxed along with him. Thor held her tightly, feeling her curious and loving hands between them, touching him, caressing him.
It was a magical moment.
“I love you,” he murmured into her ear. “I cannot remember when I haven’t loved you.”
Caledonia pulled her face from the crook of his neck, smiling at him. “I remember when you did not love me,” she said, teasing him. “I remember being thrown over your shoulder and hauled around like a sack of grain.”
“You deserved it.”
“And dragged away to face Henry.”
“You very much deserved it.”
She giggled as he moved his body weight off her, lying down beside her with his arms still around her.
“I am sure that I did,” she said. “But I am glad you did not give up. Your persistence has given me more happiness than I can comprehend.”
He gave her a half-grin, looking at her beautiful profile. He loved the way her nose tilted upward, and there were times when he would gently drag his finger down the slope of her nose, tracing the outline of it. There were times when he watched her sleep and couldn’t believe his life had turned out the way it had. Everything had happened so quickly. A marriage, a title, a castle, and a love he wouldn’t trade for anything on this earth.
It had been thirteen days since their arrival at Stafford Castle. Thirteen days of coming to know his wife, his wife’s daughters, of becoming familiar with his property. Thirteen days of watching Caledonia realize she was no longer the outcast and finding her role amongst people who wanted her to succeed.
It was amazing what a little love and support could do.
But it was also thirteen days of discovering just how badly the inhabitants of Stafford Castle had suffered under the de Lucera cousins and Madam Madonna. Thor really hadn’t planned on remaining at Stafford because he wanted to visit Edingale Castle, but it seemed that Stafford needed him at the moment.
For the first few days, servant and soldier alike had been afraid to speak up, to tell of their experiences under Cristano de Lucera, but once they started to, terrible stories came out. Stories that had Cristano stealing from his men, selling off servants to other castles for the money it would bring him, of selling the fine horses that Robert de Tosni had collected, and of relegating the soldiers and servants to eating gruel or anything they could hunt and kill while he and his cousins and Madam Madonna lived like kings.
But Thor was determined to change that.
The Stafford soldiers had lived so long with the de Lucera cousins that having a liege who actually cared about them was a shocking concept. But Thor was very much like his father, a man who was concerned for those he commanded, so as the days passed, the soldiers seemed to grow more comfortable with him. He and Clayne and Darius and Truett formed a powerful quartet, and together they worked to convince the Stafford soldiers that not all commanders were terrible men. Some of the soldiers even sent word to those who had abandoned their service to Stafford, and over the past couple of days, former soldiers began flooding back to Stafford Castle, eager to return to their posts and willing to give the new Earl of Tamworth and Stafford a chance. Since no one had much liked de Tosni or de Lucera, Thor didn’t really have to worry about their loyalties.
They were willing to go on a little faith.
The same could be said for Caledonia’s daughters. At least the two younger girls had quickly warmed up to their mother, who had spent the vast majority of her time sewing clothing for them and initiating lessons. Nicola had been a great help when it came to the clothing and the lessons, and even though she had been a rather flighty student herself in her younger years, she was very smart and helped Caledonia tremendously.
Janet, the middle child, was the one most eager to learn. The child had spent thirteen days being bathed and fed on a regular basis, having her hair combed and braided so that it was nice and neat, and spending a few hours every day learning letters and also words from the Bible. That was the way both Caledonia and Nicola had been taught, learning words that were printed in the Bible and then translating them to a language they all spoke. Janet had learned quickly and already could write her name and several other words. She was also learning her numbers and could already write the first five. After that, she still got a little fuzzy, but it had only been a few days.
Caledonia was very proud of her progress.
Joan, the youngest, was a little more of a challenge. Since Madam Madonna had forbidden anyone from talking to her, she was a little more than an infant when it came to communication. Caledonia had been trying for thirteen days to break her of eating dirt and grass, hoping it wasn’t just a habit but simply because she had been hungry enough to eat anything. That meant that the child always had a piece of bread or cheese in her hand, for if she wanted to eat something, it would actually be food and not foliage. As a result, she was getting quite a happy, round belly on her, which, given how skinny she was, was wonderful to see. She was starting to fill out, and as of the past couple of days, as long as she had bread or cheese or some other type of food in her hands, she wouldn’t resort to eating the dirt.
But both Caledonia and Thor watched her closely to make sure of that.
Jane, however, had proven to be the real challenge. She had been so conditioned by Madame Madonna that it had been difficult to break through. Both Caledonia and Thor tried, but she was still quite wary of her mother. Darius even tried because she seemed to like him quite a bit, and he was under the impression that the child had been so frightened by Madam Madonna and her doom-and-gloom message that she was torn between wanting to disbelieve what she’d been told and terrified of what would happen if she did.
It was heartbreaking for Caledonia to not be able to break through to her own child, but they were all working on it and trying to help the little girl understand that her mother was not a devil and that Madam Madonna had been lying to her. Nicola spent time with Jane in an attempt to break through to her, and out of all of them, she probably had the best chance because she was young and slightly immature and seemed to be able to understand Jane better than the rest. She had more patience with her, and Jane was starting to respond to that.
Slowly as it was.
In all, Thor and Caledonia felt as if their thirteen days at Stafford Castle had been productive and eye opening. Everyone was learning what their new role at the castle would be, and when Caledonia wasn’t with her daughters, she was learning the ins and outs of how the castle was run. She caught on quickly. One of the biggest problems at Stafford was the filth factor—it was everywhere because no one had taken decent care of the keep in years—so several days ago, Caledonia had instructed the house servants to start scrubbing floors and cleaning out cobwebs. It was a major task that was still going on, even today. In fact, that was where she was heading when she had been sidetracked with her magnificent husband.
Not that either one of them minded.
That was what Thor thought as he gazed at Caledonia’s profile. Reflecting over the past thirteen days made him smile. It was as if he’d been thrust into another world, one where he was wildly happy. Happier than he’d ever been with a woman he’d never wanted to marry.
There was a hell of a lot of irony in that.
“Are you truly happy, Callie?” he asked softly. He’d long since softened his stance on only calling her by her full name. “Honestly?”
She turned her face so that she was looking at him as they lay there, side by side. “Of course I am,” she murmured. “Can you not tell?”
He reached out, gently stroking her cheek. “I can,” he said. “I just need to hear it. I do not know about you, but I feel as if this entire marriage has been something of a dream.”
She smiled weakly. “It feels like that to me, too,” she said. “But a very happy dream. I’m here, with you, and I am coming to know my daughters. There is nothing that could make me happier.”
He smiled in response, gently rubbing her chin with his thumb. She had an enormous dimple in it, and he loved that. “I was thinking of something,” he said. “Something that may shock you.”
“What is it?”
“Let me ask you a question first,” he said, propping himself up on one elbow. “You are the last de Wylde, correct?”
“Aye,” she said. “For the Tamworth branch of the family. There are others, but they are not nearly as important socially as my father was. I am the last of the Ceowulf branch of the House of de Wylde.”
“A very old and very prestigious name.”
“It is,” she said. “But that happens sometimes. Old families die out, or at least the males who bear the name do. My daughters are de Tosni, but they bear de Wylde blood.”
“What would you say if I wanted to take the de Wylde name?”
She looked him in shock. “What?” she gasped, sitting up. “Why would you do that?”
He sat up alongside her. “It is not unusual for a man, from a family of lesser nobility, to take the name of his wife if she is of a higher social station,” he said. “It has happened before, many times. If I take the de Wylde name, our sons will be de Wylde. The line will continue through them. Tamworth has belonged to de Wylde for hundreds of years until now. Until me. I do not wish to break that continuity.”
She could see that he was very serious, and it touched her deeply. “Oh… Thor,” she breathed, reaching out to cup his face. “What a remarkable thing for you to consider. But what on earth will your father say?”
He shrugged. “My father married my mother to inherit the Ashington earldom, you recall,” he said. “I do not know why he did not take on the de Thorington name, but he named me after the family. I am the last vestige of a great line. My brother, Brian, will inherit the earldom, as you know, and I have four other brothers who will carry on the de Reyne name. But there is no one to carry on the de Wylde name. Your great bloodlines must not be diminished, Callie. I am willing to take your name and continue the de Wylde tradition. Become a de Wylde knight, as it were.”
Caledonia was stunned. It was the most selfless thing she’d ever heard of. “I… I do not know what to say,” she said. “That you should give more thought to your wife’s bloodlines than your own… Thor, that is incredibly generous.”
He smiled faintly. “We do not have to decide today,” he said. “But I wanted you to know what I was thinking. I want to discuss it with my father, too. I think he will approve.”
“Aye, you must discuss it with your father,” Caledonia said firmly. “You must have his blessing.”
Thor nodded. “I will,” he said.
Then he heard shouts floating in from the bailey outside and stood up, pulling up his breeches as he went and peered from the window.
“Darius has some returning Stafford soldiers out there,” he said. “He says they are hardly trained at all. We are going to have to start running a training school for those men. I cannot have soldiers who have no idea what to do in battle.”
Caledonia was up, pushing her skirts down and pulling up the top of her bodice, including the torn shift. “As I recall, Robert never worked with his army, and I do not think the de Luceras ever trained them,” she said. “I cannot remember ever seeing any organized teaching.”
He straightened out the top of her bodice, waggling his eyebrows apologetically when he saw where he tore it. “That is about to change,” he said. “And you and your sweetness have made me late. I must go.”
With that, he bent down and kissed her before heading for the chamber door. Caledonia scooted after him, collecting her slippers and pulling them on as she tried to walk.
“I must speak to you about the meat stores,” she said. “Evidently, there is very little, as we have discovered the servants and soldiers were being fed gruel. We must discuss what we are to do about bulking up the meat. I have some ideas, if you will listen.”
He paused at the door, his hand on the latch. “Of course I will,” he said. “But let me see to my duties this morning and I will meet you in the solar in the early afternoon if you wish.”
She smiled. “Good,” she said. “Thank you.”
He winked at her. “Thank you.”
With that, he opened the door, only to find two young children standing there. Thor nearly tripped on them. Janet and Joan gazed up at him with their bottomless eyes.
“What are you two doing out here?” he asked after he caught himself on the doorjamb. “I thought you were with Lady Nicola?”
They had been dressed by Nicola, that was clear. They were clad in adorable dresses made from the fine shifts left behind by Madam Madonna, garments that Caledonia and Nicola had worked hard on altering. Their hair was braided and tied back with a strip of the same material of their dresses. Nicola had been taking great delight in brushing and braiding their hair, so it was obvious his sister had been involved with them at some point that morning.
“I want to bring my chicken inside and Lady Nicola says no,” Janet said seriously. “My chicken is lonely outside.”
The chicken again,Thor thought. They’d been dealing with that damn chicken since the moment they arrived, an enormous black hen that Janet claimed as a pet. The thing was as big as she was and surely weighed as much, but she carried it around from time to time, or it followed her around mostly. Several times, they’d found it in the bedroom that the girls now shared, the big bedchamber that had once belonged to Madam Madonna. Those three little mattresses in the alcove had been burned and now Jane slept on her own small bed that Darius had made for her, while Janet and Joan slept on the big bed Madam Madonna used to occupy. Sometimes that chicken ended up between the girls in the bed.
But Thor tried to be patient about it.
“I do not think your chicken is lonely,” he told Janet, stepping out into the landing while the girls followed him. “She has friends in the kitchen yard to keep him company. Why not go down and see her?”
Janet frowned, looking a good deal like her mother in that gesture. “Her name is Mary,” she said flatly. “Mary is obedient. Why can’t she come inside?”
“Because she is a chicken,” Thor said patiently. “Chickens do not live inside. People do.”
“But she is my friend.”
“I understand. But she is still a chicken.”
He’d told her that a dozen times, but still, she continued to ask. He was fairly certain that she was trying to wear him down, hoping he’d give permission because he was either annoyed or finally took pity on her. Truth be told, it was difficult to look into that little face and not want to give in, but Caledonia most emphatically didn’t want a chicken in the bedchambers, so Janet was going to have to accept it. In fact, as Thor stood there and tried to reason with her, Caledonia emerged from their bedchamber.
“It is time for lessons, ladies,” she said, extending an arm to herd them toward the stairwell. “And stop asking about your chicken. Mary will be fine in the kitchen yard, where she has always been.”
“But she is lonely,” Janet said, starting her sob story on her mother.
“Not for long,” Caledonia said evenly. “You will see her soon.”
“If she cannot sleep with me, can we at least give her a bed?”
“She has a nest to sleep on.”
“She needs a bed.”
Thor was grinning, watching the interaction between Caledonia and her somewhat manipulative middle daughter. They were still becoming accustomed to one another, but they were learning quickly and bonding beautifully. The littlest daughter even slipped her hand into Caledonia’s without prompting as she began to lead them down the stairs. He thought it was all rather sweet and had to admit that he enjoyed being a parent more than he’d thought he would. He let Caledonia take the lead in all things, of course, but he liked having the baby fall asleep on him after supper, or Janet climbing into his lap because she wanted to talk more about her chicken.
A shockingly domestic life for a man who had never even considered such a thing.
But no more shocking than his suggestion to assume the de Wylde name. He had no intention of shirking the de Reyne name entirely, merely adding de Wylde to it. As he’d told Caledonia, it wasn’t unusual for a man to take his wife’s family name if she was of a higher station and he assumed what was largely considered a family title. He’d been thinking about doing it for a few days now, ever since this life he’d undertaken had become something delightful. He still couldn’t believe he had such a beautiful, brilliant wife, and already he was falling in love with her daughters.
Even Jane.
“Let us attend to our lessons now and we will discuss the chicken later,” Caledonia was saying as she went down the stairs with a little girl in each hand. “For now, we have tasks to attend to. So does Thor. My angel?”
He was right behind them as they came off the stairs with the keep entry directly in front of them. “I certainly do,” he said. “You attend your lessons, and mayhap I will speak with Darius about a… bed… for a chicken. Mayhap he can build one.”
Janet ripped her hand from Caledonia’s grip and threw herself at him, trying to hug him and grab him all at the same time in her excitement.
“Will you?” she nearly yelled. “Will you ask him?”
Thor had to steady her before she tripped and fell on him. “I will ask,” he assured her, but then he caught sight of Caledonia’s disapproving expression, and that cooled his own enthusiasm. “But… mayhap we should ask for your mother’s approval first. My love?”
Caledonia couldn’t very well deny the child. She thought a bed for a chicken to be quite ridiculous, but perhaps this was all part of gaining her daughter’s trust. She was building something here and wanted to make her child happy, so perhaps she needed to relent on this.
Even if it was with a bed for a chicken.
“If Darius will build such a thing, I suppose it is acceptable,” she said reluctantly. “Thor, why not take Janet with you to ask Darius? You can join us in the solar once you have spoken to him.”
Janet seemed wildly excited about a chicken bed. Fighting off a smirk, Thor winked at his wife and took the child with him, holding her hand as they headed from the keep. Caledonia watched them go, smiling as they faded from view. Then she looked down at the child still in her grip, noting that Joan was looking up at her. She smiled at her and squeezed her hand.
“Shall we go to our lessons now?” she asked, not really expecting an answer. Joan was bright, but speaking was still beyond her capabilities. “Lessons? Lessons?”
As she nodded, the child nodded. Caledonia wasn’t sure if she was simply mimicking her or if she really understood her, but it didn’t matter. She took the little girl into the solar, where they had an entire corner set up with a table for their lessons. Today, they were working on letters. Caledonia sat down, pulled Joan onto her lap, and wrote the letter A on a piece of vellum. They had been working on A and words associated with the letter A for the past week. That was how Caledonia had been taught long ago, so she simply repeated the lessons Lady d’Umfraville taught her.
Nicola joined them shortly and, soon enough, Janet returned. Nicola took over part of the lesson and spoke of all of the words that started with the letter A. She even gave the girls small green apples because the word apple started with an A. Janet was very good at writing the letter, and Joan could write it so that it was semi-legible, which was a big step for the little girl.
She was praised appropriately.
Toward the nooning hour, Nicola pulled out small pieces of vellum and a few paints they had made with berries and grass. There were only four colors, but that didn’t matter. With a frayed water reed as a brush, Janet and Joan could paint pictures as part of their lessons. They seemed to like learning to paint best of all, so Nicola helped them with their pictures while Caledonia headed off to the kitchen to bring them back something to eat for the midday meal. The door to the solar was closed, and when she opened it, a small body fell through, onto the floor at her feet.
Jane pushed herself off the ground.
“I am so terribly sorry,” Caledonia said, helping the child up. “I did not know you were there. Are you injured?”
Jane eyed her mother. “Nay,” she said bravely, rubbing her right elbow. “I am not. It does not hurt in the least.”
Caledonia could see that wasn’t true but didn’t argue with her. Frankly, she was surprised to see the girl at all. Jane made it a policy to avoid her mother at all costs, but more than that, Caledonia had come to see over the past several days that Jane was simply a loner. She was an odd child thanks to Madam Madonna’s care and spent several hours every day preaching to the animals in the stable. They’d all seen her do it. Darius even tried to talk her out of it, but she was firm. It was something she needed to do. Therefore, it was a distinct surprise to see her here.
But Caledonia wasn’t the only one who saw her.
From inside the solar, Janet piped up.
“Summer!” she cried. “Come! We are painting!”
Jane didn’t react at first. She seemed quite indecisive. Caledonia opened the door wider.
“You are most welcome,” she said softly. “We have been having lessons. We would like for you to join us.”
Jane looked between her mother and sisters, unsure what to do. She couldn’t even announce why she’d come in the first place, but she was here. She’d been eavesdropping on her sisters and mother and knew they were having fun and learning. She’d heard about it and even caught glimpses of it, like now. Darius had even tried to talk her into coming, but she was stubborn. This was so very foreign to her.
She couldn’t be part of it.
… could she?
“Nay,” she finally said, backing away. “I… I must go.”
The smile faded from Caledonia’s face as she watched her eldest child back up. “Go where?” she asked.
Jane didn’t have a quick answer because she was nervous. Nervous and scared. She wanted to go in with her sisters, but she knew that was wrong. “I must spread the word of God,” she said. “They must know that Christ loves them. I must go.”
“Jane,” Caledonia said as she began to follow the girl. “You do not have to spread the word of God any longer. You are safe, lass. No one is going to hurt you. We want to love you if you’ll let us. Won’t you join us?”
“Nay!” Jane said as she bumped into the entry door, grabbing for the handle. “I must teach about Christ!”
“Why?” Caledonia was suddenly on her, dropping her knees and grabbing the girl by the arms so she couldn’t get away. “Why must you do this? You are preaching to animals, Jane. Animals who do not understand you, who will never know the love of Christ. I know you must understand this. Why do you do it?”
Jane was trying to pull away, but not too strongly. “Because… because I must!”
“Why, lass?” Caledonia pleaded. “Did Madam Madonna tell you to do this? Did she tell you that you must do this?”
The tears started to come as Jane began to resist more strongly. “Let me go!”
“Not until you tell me why you feel the need to preach to animals,” Caledonia said steadily, though it was becoming a struggle to hold on to her squirming daughter. “Jane, if Madam Madonna told you that you must preach, then she was wrong. It is right that you should love God, but you do not need to preach. You are not a priest or a nun. You are a young girl and, right now, should be learning how to be a woman. You should be learning your letters and how to sew and how to paint. You should be learning things that all girls should learn, and that does not include preaching to the animals.”
Jane managed to get one hand free and began beating on the hands that were holding her. “Let me go!” she demanded, weeping. “You are wrong! I must preach if I am to go to heaven! Madam Madonna said so!”
“Madam Madonna was wrong.”
“Nay!”
Caledonia managed to grab Jane’s free hand and yank on the girl, forcing her onto her knees in front of her, where she couldn’t get leverage to pull away. Caledonia was afraid that if she ran, she would hide forever. The child had been so conditioned by Madam Madonna that she didn’t know right from wrong, love from hate, or anything else. She only knew fear. Caledonia prayed she could break through to her because if she couldn’t, Jane was lost.
And Caledonia wasn’t going to lose her.
“Listen to me,” Caledonia said softly but firmly, mere inches from Jane’s red face. “Jane, I want you to listen to me carefully because I believe you are a bright lass. I believe you can understand what I am saying and not surrender to your fear of Madam Madonna. Listen to me carefully, please. Did Madam Madonna ever show you love?”
Jane was yanking to pull her hands free from Caledonia’s grip. “Let go!”
“Not until you answer my question.”
Jane was growing frustrated and terrified. She wasn’t going to answer. She was stubborn, and Caledonia knew that must have been something she got from her mother because Caledonia was stubborn, too. Realizing her child wasn’t going to answer her, Caledonia attempted to break through.
“Love is good,” she said quietly. “God loves you and is happy when we show love to others. Especially our family. I love you, Jane. I have loved you since you were born. Madam Madonna tried to kill that love you have for me by telling you lies about me. None of it is true. I only want to love you and make you happy. I want to hug you and feed you tasty food and teach you how to paint and how to write. I want to see you grow up happy and find a good husband who will love you, too. I am not the devil. Sometimes, the devil tells lies, and that is all Madam Madonna told you. Lies. She was the devil, Jane. Only the devil would take a child from her mother.”
Jane shrieked. “That is not true!”
“It is,” Caledonia insisted. “If you continue to do as Madam Madonna wished, then you are allowing the devil to control you. Do you understand me? Do not let the devil win!”
Panicking, Jane bit the fingers that held her. With a yelp, Caledonia released her with that hand, but when Jane went in to bite the other hand, Caledonia slapped her across the mouth to stop her from doing it. Jane was behaving like an animal and Caledonia’s reaction was instinctive. The slap shocked Jane, who tripped back onto her arse as Caledonia released her.
“You will not bite me again,” Caledonia said sternly, though she was shaken. The entire conversation had shaken her. “Jane, you are my daughter and I love you. I want to show you that I love you, but I cannot do that if you are going to behave terribly. God is not happy with children who disobey their parents. One of his commandments is to honor thy father and thy mother. I would suggest you follow His commandment and stop your ridiculous behavior.”
With that, she turned for the solar as Jane sat there a moment, watching her, before scrambling to her feet. Caledonia slammed the solar door with such force that it echoed in the entryway.
Jane turned and ran. She ran until she ended up in the stables, in front of her equine audience, weeping and praying and preaching. She didn’t know anything else.
And that was how Thor found her.