Chapter Fifteen #3
Merlin shrugged, somewhat embarrassed. “She insisted,” he said feebly. “I could not deny her.”
Cortez pursed his lips wryly as he reached down and picked up the little rabbit, allowing Merlin to stand.
As the sergeant bid Diamantha a good evening and left the chamber, Cortez bolted the door behind him.
When he turned back around, he noticed the big tub over near the hearth, partially concealed in the shadows of the room, and on the small table there was a pitcher with cups and a platter of food.
There also appeared to be a clean bed, mattress and all.
They had all they needed for the evening and that helped his emotional state a good deal.
Already, Diamantha was telling Sophie to put the animals back in their cages so she could bathe the child and prepare her for bed.
It was clear that she was trying to put the horror of the hall behind her.
Cortez, with the little rabbit still clutched against his chest, went over to the cage and handed the rabbit to Diamantha, who put it back in the cage with its mates.
He watched Diamantha’s lowered head as she took Sophie over to the tub and began taking her clothes off, finally submerging the child in about eight inches of very warm water.
As Sophie splashed about, Diamantha went over to their satchels and began pulling out clean clothing. Cortez followed her.
“I am sorry,” he whispered, putting his hands on her arms and kissing the top of her dark head. “My father… I would have never imagined him capable of what I witnessed tonight. Had I had any idea he would have reacted that way, I certainly would have taken steps to avoid it.”
Diamantha sighed faintly as she pulled out a sleeping shift for Sophie.
She was pensive, subdued. “It is not the first time someone has reacted negatively to the fact that I bear de Velt bloodlines,” she said nervously.
“I know what atrocities the man committed, many people do. But I also know from my grandmother that marriage changed him. He became an excellent father and husband, and actually became quite a benefactor in his later years, mayhap to make up for all of the pain and suffering he had caused. He donated heavily to the church and also donated quite heavily to the university at Oxford. But… he wasn’t perfect, even with all of that benevolence. ”
Cortez cocked his head. “What do you mean?”
Diamantha’s gaze was on her daughter as the little girl poured water over her head from a small wooden cup that had been floating around in the tub.
“My great-grandfather conquered many castles,” she said quietly.
“He did it just the way your father said. He impaled men on poles and left them to die. He killed women and children. In the end, he kept many of those castles he conquered simply because he had killed all of the families they belonged to. There was no one left, at least no one close enough to assume the properties, so he simply kept and maintained them. He gave them to his children, or to the men who served him. Do you happen to know where your great-grandfather was killed?”
Cortez thought a moment. He had heard tale of the location, once. As he pondered her question, the answer came to him. “Comyn Castle, I believe,” he said. “My father’s mother was born there. It was their family seat.”
Diamantha lifted her eyebrows ironically. “And she survived the siege by the great Jax de Velt?”
Cortez shook his head. “I do not believe she was there at the time,” he said.
“I seem to remember my father saying that his mother fostered for most of her childhood. The fact that she was sent away to foster probably saved her life. In fact, had she been there and your great-grandfather had killed her, then I would not be here today. Quite fortuitous, I would say.”
He was smiling at her as he said it and she smiled weakly in return. But the smile soon faded. “Did you know your great-grandfather had been killed by my great-grandfather?”
He shook his head, his smile fading as well. “In truth, I did not,” he said. “I knew he had been killed in a siege but I did not know the details until tonight.”
“It was a rather terrible way to find out.”
“Indeed it was.”
Diamantha sighed, so much emotion roiling in her breast. “I feel so terrible about this, Cortez,” she said miserably. “Do you think it would do any good for me to apologize to your father? I will if you think it would help.”
Cortez could only shake his head. “It probably won’t,” he said. “I told you that my father is very family oriented and speaks of his ancestors as if they are still living, breathing relatives. The fact that his grandfather was murdered… it is a very real event to him, even these years passed.”
Diamantha was gazing up at him earnestly. “Then what do we do?” she asked. “I do not want to be a wedge between you and your father. I could not bear it. And what of Andres? He will be forced to choose sides if you and your father are at odds.”
Cortez didn’t have all the answers. He kissed her cheek, trying to comfort her, trying to comfort them both.
It was an unexpected twist in the situation and one that could have easily torn them apart.
They’d had such a turbulent beginning and this was just another blow.
But he was coming to realize, with great joy, that rather than run from him or fight with him about it, Diamantha was turning to him for comfort.
She trusted him. She viewed him as her defender in all of this, which is exactly how he wanted it.
Rather than tear them apart, they were instead drawing closer together. He could feel it.
“Finish bathing Sophie and get her into bed,” he finally said. “I believe I shall go and see my father and try to talk some sense into him. Mayhap he is calmer now and will listen.”
Diamantha cast him a long glance. “You will not fight him again, will you?”
Cortez shook his head. “Nay, I swear it. I only want to talk to him.”
Diamantha wasn’t so sure but she wouldn’t refute him.
Instead, she nodded her head and moved off in the direction of the bathtub where her daughter was splashing water all over the floor.
She was about halfway across the room when she suddenly came to a halt and retraced her steps.
Cortez was just opening the chamber door when she called to him.
Cortez paused, his hand on the door latch, as Diamantha approached. She didn’t say a word. She simply stood on her toes and kissed him, on the cheek, a sweeter kiss he had never received. Then, with a faint smile, she turned around and returned to the tub where Sophie was having a marvelous time.
Cortez stood there a moment, watching her as she walked away. He could still feel the heat from her lips against his flesh. It was enough to make his giddy heart start thumping again.
“Bolt this door when I leave,” he told her. “You will only open it for me. Is that clear?”
Diamantha was on her knees beside the tub now. She nodded obediently. “It is,” she said. Then, she called after him one more time. “Cortez?”
He was almost through the door now but came to a halt. “Aye?”
Diamantha instinctively put her hand to her throat. “The necklace you gave me,” she ventured hesitantly. “The one that belonged to your mother. Your father… well, it broke. Do you think you can go to the hall and find the pieces? Mayhap we can have it repaired.”
He nodded, thinking of the sight of his father ripping the necklace from Diamantha’s neck. Given how his father valued that necklace, the moment of violence was positively surreal. “I will see if I can find it,” he said gently.
“Thank you.”
Cortez winked at her as he finally quit the chamber and shut the door behind him.
He was halfway down the dark, narrow stairs when he heard her throw the bolt.
Descending all the way to the ground floor of the keep, his giddiness faded and his battle-hewn mind began to focus.
Something very bad had happened this evening and he intended to rectify it, however he could.
He was either going to help his father see reason or put him out of his life and mind forever.
Although Gorsedd was his father, and he loved the man, he couldn’t condone his terrible and unreasonable behavior.
It was shocking and horrifying, all of it, but Cortez wouldn’t allow his father to rule, or ruin, his life.
Not now, not just when he’d found some measure of happiness again.
It was foolish to choose his new wife over his father and he knew it, but in a sense, he wasn’t making the choice at all.
Gorsedd was. It would be Gorsedd’s choice as to whether or not he could accept Diamantha, a distant de Velt, into the family.
If he couldn’t then Gorsedd would lose much more than his son’s respect.
He would lose his son.
*
Near dawn, Andres found Cortez in the great hall of Coven.
At first, Andres nearly missed him, seated in their father’s chair at the great feasting table, partially hidden by the shadows of the room. The hearth was dark and the great hall was very cold at this time of the morning. Andres made his way over to him.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
Cortez was looking at the tabletop in front of him.
He was fidgeting with pieces of the great silver collar he had found on the floor, at least twelve or more pieces, and he wasn’t even sure he had all of them.
The break had been by the clasp so the main part of the collar was thankfully intact, but the damage had been done.
He couldn’t fathom the rage his father must have had in order to have done such a thing.
As Cortez sat in his father’s seat at his father’s table, holding the necklace that had once belonged to his mother, his heart was breaking into a thousand pieces of sorrow.
“I came here to find this necklace,” he finally muttered. Then, he glanced up at his brother. “Are the men getting ready to leave?”