Chapter Sixteen #2
She had no idea where Lady Courtly or Lady Douglass were.
She never did hear their voices in all of this.
At this late hour, everyone should have been asleep and would have been had Chad’s cousin, Curtis de Lohr, not arrived in the early evening with his army in tow.
A very large army that, even now, was making camp all around the walls of Isenhall, encircling it like a protective web.
With Henry approaching, it was clear that Curtis was taking a stand on behalf of Isenhall but he made sure Gallus and Maximus and Tiberius knew his opinion on the matter first.
It was an arrival that had prevented Chad from taking Alessandria into Coventry to marry her.
Those plans had been pushed aside for the moment.
As the women had listened from the stairwell near the small feasting chamber on the entry level where most of the business of Isenhall was conducted, Curtis had made it very clear to the brothers, as well as to Chad and Bose, that he felt Gallus’ continued resistance to Henry was a lost cause.
De Montfort was dead and so was the man’s rebellion, and Curtis implored Gallus and his brothers to reconsider their collective stance.
There were families at stake here, families that could not survive if the de Shera brothers perished in a foolish stance for a man who had been brutally killed at Evesham.
Gallus and Maximus and Tiberius loved and respected Curtis, and they were deeply grateful for the man’s show of force against Henry’s approaching army, yet they were polite but firm in their argument against him.
They believed in greater things for their children and if their deaths would further the cause, they saw no issue with it.
At least, that was what Gallus and Maximus said, but Tiberius seemed to be wavering.
His voice was not as loud as his two older brothers, and the discussion, soon to be a heated argument, went on well into the night.
Finally, Curtis retired to his army outside of the walls of Isenhall, frustrated and disillusioned at Gallus’ stance on the matter.
Once Curtis departed, Jeniver stepped into the man’s shoes.
Even now, she was pleading with her husband to stop his rebellious ways and swear fealty to Henry because she did not want to lose her husband.
She did not want her son to lose his father.
Gallus was trying to hold his position against her but he was becoming frustrated.
When Jeniver began weeping, loudly at times, his responses to her were heartbreaking.
The man was willing to die for a cause and his wife couldn’t understand why.
So the children cowered on the upper floor, listening to the weeping and begging, and Alessandria listened right along with them, sick to the bone.
She knew this was her fault, all of it. She still firmly believed that Chad wasn’t telling her the truth about Henry’s approach and she was convinced it was because the man knew she was at Isenhall and he wanted her.
She couldn’t grasp anything else because the entire reason for her being taken from Newington was because Henry had wanted to take her as a hostage.
He wanted her badly enough to come to Isenhall to get her and the Lords of Thunder were preparing to defend her.
Still, she knew there was more to the situation than that.
She could hear that from the argument between Jeniver and Gallus.
She knew her cousins were in support of de Montfort, who was now dead, and it was clear that Gallus didn’t want to surrender the ideals that he had fought long and hard for.
But, surely with de Montfort dead, those ideals must have died with him.
Alessandria, therefore, knew that Henry was coming to Isenhall for her, not because Gallus fought a losing battle.
Henry was determined to have her.
Sickened and confused, she stood up from where she had been seated on her bed, moving to the small window that overlooked the eastern portion of Isenhall’s compact fortress. The night was cool and windy, and gazing up at the sky, she could imagine the stars blowing about in the breeze.
It was very late and she knew she should be asleep but she wasn’t tired in the least. She wondered where Chad was and how he felt about the entire circumstance.
Perhaps he was with his cousin even now, discussing what was to come.
The battle that would soon take place because Henry wanted a woman Chad had snatched away from him.
How many men had to die because Henry was determined to have her?
There was a soft knock at her door and she turned to see Lady Courtly entering.
With long, blond hair secured in a bun at the nape of her neck, Lady Courtly had a sweet oval face, lush lips, and big eyes the color of a hot summer sky.
She was a very hard worker, and very kind, and Alessandria liked her a great deal. When their eyes met, Courtly smiled.
“You are not sleeping, either,” Courtly said quietly. “I came to check on the children and saw the glow from your taper.”
Alessandria smiled weakly. “I am not tired,” she said. “Even if I were, I doubt I could sleep. So much has happened today.”
Courtly nodded, coming into the room and quietly closing the door behind her. “Aye, it has,” she said, resignation in her tone. She sighed. “I was foolish enough to believe that when Max returned from Evesham, we might finally know some peace. It was an idiotic hope.”
Alessandria thought she might have meant her. No one wanted to harbor a woman the king was after. Feeling guilty, she eyed the woman.
“Is… is Maximus in the keep?” she asked. “I would think he would be helping defend his brother against Jeniver.”
Courtly shook her head, rubbing her arms as the chill night breeze blew in from the windows.
“I have given my husband my opinion,” she said quietly.
“After hearing Lord Curtis plead for my husband and his brothers to surrender to Henry, I told my husband what I think of the entire situation. It is as we have discussed, Aless – Jeniver and Douglass and I would rather have our husbands alive. We have seen them go off to war many times, always for de Montfort, but since the man’s death, we would like to live in peace.
Surely, Henry is not a great king; he is not even a great man.
But the fact remains that until our husbands swear fealty to him, we will never know peace.
I would rather have my husband alive and submissive to Henry than dead for supporting an idea that will never come to fruition. ”
She said it very sadly and Alessandria went to her, putting a timid hand of comfort on the woman’s shoulder.
“I am sure that Maximus will do the right thing,” she said.
In truth, she wasn’t sure what she could say, considering how guilty she felt at the moment.
“I have been watching all of you for the past two weeks and it is clear that your husband adores you. I am sure he would not want to jeopardize his family.”
Courtly forced a smile. “My husband will do what is best,” she said.
“He always has. Max is a man of deep thought and feeling. He is with Ty at the moment and they are discussing the situation. I have a feeling that the two of them feel differently than Gallus. I am coming to think that in this matter of conviction, Gallus is standing alone.”
Alessandria was puzzled by the statement. “Do you believe they will surrender to Henry?”
Courtly shrugged. “Mayhap,” she said. “I heard Lord Curtis speak of a meeting with Henry at St. Mary’s Cathedral at dawn, but it is possible that it was only talk. However, it seemed that Lord Curtis wished to speak with Henry to avoid any hostilities. Mayhap he will even try to send the man away.”
“You heard him say that?”
Courtly nodded. “That, and other things,” she said. “You were there. Did you not hear him also?”
Alessandria shook her head. “I was not as close to them as you were,” she admitted. “I did not hear much. I could only hear Chad’s voice when he spoke.”
She said it so dreamily that Courtly’s forced smile turned real. “Of course you did,” she said, touched by the young woman in love. “But you needn’t worry about anything, Aless. You and Chad shall be married very soon and you will go to live at Canterbury, away from this madness.”
“I have not seen Chad since Lord Curtis arrived,” Alessandria said. “I assume he is still with his cousin.”
Courtly nodded. “I believe he went with Lord Curtis back to his camp,” she said.
“Bose went with them as well. I am sure they are discussing the situation with Henry and I am equally sure that Chad will come to see you when they are finished. Have no fear, Aless; Chad has not left you. All will be well again very soon.”
Alessandria thought the woman was sounding very much as if she were trying to pretend nothing was really amiss.
From the weeping and arguing still happening on the floor below them, it sounded just like something was very much amiss.
As Courtly patted her on the cheek and left the room, Alessandria continued to stand by the small window, feeling the cold breeze, wondering what Chad was discussing with his cousin.
Were they discussing the real reason behind Henry’s approach?
The truth that Henry was really coming for Alessandria and the Lords of Thunder happened to be standing in the way?
Perhaps Henry truly thought he could force them into submission if he held her hostage; peace was often made in such ways.
Hostages weren’t an unusual thing. Some were actually treated quite well from what she had heard. Had Alessandria known what trouble would come to her and those she loved by not allowing Henry to take her hostage, she would have gladly gone with Henry’s men when they followed her to Canterbury.
Perhaps that is what she needed to do, after all.
Much of this problem started with her and it should end with her, or so she naively thought.
She still didn’t particularly grasp that the Lords of Thunder had a long and turbulent history with Henry long before the king wanted to take her as a hostage.
But in thinking on the situation, Alessandria was coming to think that it was up to her to save the entire family and end this situation.
Perhaps if she turned herself over to the king, he wouldn’t be so apt to destroy her cousins.
Lord Curtis is meeting Henry in St. Mary’s Cathedral at dawn…
In recalling that bit of information, Alessandria knew what she had to do.
There was no doubt. Perhaps if she went willingly to Henry, showing him that at least one de Shera was willing to submit to him, then it would save her cousins as well as countless other people who were being sucked into the situation, including Chad.
Chad….
He was ready and willing to fight for her.
He had been ready and willing since the beginning, whisking her from Newington and making sure to keep her safe every moment.
He’d fought off Henry’s knights for her.
His father had lied to the Henry’s men for her.
Everyone had done something for her to keep her safe, but the truth was that she needed to return the favor.
So many people facing death and destruction while she remained safely locked away.
Perhaps it was time for her to stop being selfish.
With a heavy heart, Alessandria turned her face towards the small window, feeling the cold breeze on her skin, knowing what she needed to do for all of their sakes.
If Henry was going to be in St. Mary’s Cathedral at dawn, then so would she.
Chad had shown her St. Mary’s once, on that lovely stolen trip to Coventry those weeks ago, so she knew where to go.
Perhaps her sacrifice would save them all.
It would mean never becoming Lady de Lohr, and perhaps never seeing Chad again, but if it would save the man’s life, she was willing to do it.
Tears sprang to her eyes as she thought of a marriage that would never be, of a love that would never know its full potential. It was foolish, really – as a ward of Newington, she never expected to find love or marriage.
It had been her desire to become a nun, to serve God, so the insertion of Chad in her life had been completely unexpected.
Perhaps like a dream, it wasn’t meant to last. It was only meant to give her a taste of a world so beautiful that it was beyond belief.
She had known love and she had known a man’s touch, his body melding into hers.
They were intimate memories she would have to live on for the rest of her life, for now, she could no longer be selfish.
God, she loved him. She loved him so much that it hurt. But her desire to save him was stronger than her desire to stay with him.
Farewell, Chad….