Chapter Twelve
Maximus recognized the woman the moment she walked into the inn, drenched and sputtering.
He had been standing at the usual de Shera table, the one near the barkeep, discussing Courtly’s disappearance and her subsequent note that they had discovered a few minutes earlier.
Thinking the women were sleeping, they had left them alone until Stefan had returned to tell them that he could not find one hostel or inn that had room for all of them.
Then, there was no point in waking the women at all and they’d found the note only by chance when Gallus had gone to look in on his wife again and found her very much alone in the chamber.
Courtly’s note had been on the table nearby.
They had been preparing to go after her when Lady Ellice walked through the tavern door.
Maximus crossed the room in seconds. Perhaps he even flew. He wasn’t entirely sure. All he knew was that, suddenly, he had his hands on Ellice as if she alone held all of the answers to Courtly’s disappearance.
“Where is she?” he demanded savagely. “Where is Courtly?”
Ellice was somewhat caught off-guard. Having charged blindly into the inn to get out of the rain, she suddenly found herself in the hands of a madman. She yelped with surprise, looking up into a very angry, very worried face.
“Sir Maximus!” she gasped.
Maximus’ grip on her arms tightened. “Where is she?” he repeated.
By this time, Gallus and Tiberius had joined Maximus and were attempting to pull his hands off the woman.
“Max,” Gallus said softly, urgently. “Let her go. Come, now, release her.”
Maximus managed to get one hand off of her but he still kept a grip on her arm, even as Gallus and Tiberius led them over, in some odd-looking group clutching at each other, to the table where all of the de Shera men were gathering.
Someone extended a cup of warm wine to Ellice, which she gratefully accepted.
She was soaked through. But Maximus had to let her go in order for her to lift the cup to her lips and he did so, though reluctantly. Ellice drank deeply before speaking.
“Courtly is at Kennington,” she said, licking her lips. “She came back because she was afraid my brother was going to launch an attack against you. She believed that if she went back to her father, then he would cease his hostilities.”
Maximus already knew that, more or less. “Is she well?” he demanded. “Did she make the journey safely?”
Ellice nodded and took another long drink of wine.
“She is well,” she replied, hearing the great concern in Maximus’ voice.
“You needn’t worry over her health. But I have come to tell you that my brother is sending her back to Trelystan this very night.
There is no time to waste. If you want to reclaim her, do it when she is on the open road with only a few soldiers as protection. ”
Gallus and Tiberius, as well as Maximus, were listening carefully.
Maximus, who was usually the calm one in all situations, was having a difficult time keeping his bearings under these circumstances.
When he had discovered Courtly missing, he had felt panic as he had never experienced in his life.
All he could think of was the woman, alone, traveling back to Kennington in such terrible weather.
Moreover, she was heading straight for her abusive, crazed father.
But hearing that she was safe, at least for the time being, soothed him like nothing else could have.
She was safe and whole. That was truly all that mattered to him.
The rest, he could deal with as long as she was healthy.
“De Lara is sending her back tonight?” Gallus repeated what he’d just been told. “How is that even possible? He would do such a thing in this weather?”
Ellice looked around the table at the host of powerful knights, de Shera knights.
These were the heart of the de Shera war machine, but the truth was that she’d hardly been out of Kennington in years and certainly not enough to find company with men she did not know.
Looking into the faces of the de Wolfe brothers, of Garran, and finally into Stefan’s very handsome, young face stirred her female blood somewhat.
She had almost forgotten what it was like to be around attractive men.
“As I said earlier, when you were at Kennington,” she said, tearing her eyes away from young Stefan, “my brother believes he is protecting his children and will do what he feels necessary in order to do that. At this moment, he is only concerned with removing them from Oxford and, in particular, separating Courtly from Sir Maximus. The weather does not matter. All that matters is that they leave as soon as possible. He wants to put as much distance as he can between Sir Maximus and his daughter, and do it quickly.”
“Tonight?” Gallus clarified.
Ellice nodded. “Tonight,” she confirmed softly.
“But be advised that my brother will not be part of the escort. He must remain here for de Montfort’s gathering, as I am sure you are all well aware, so he will not be returning with his daughters to Trelystan.
He will send an escort of de Lara men to take them.
It may be your one and only opportunity to reclaim her if you truly wish to do so. ”
Maximus was much calmer now than he had been only moments earlier. “Do you know what road they are taking?”
Ellice lifted her shoulders. “I can only assume the north road that skirts the edge of Oxford and heads north towards Evesham,” she said. “It is the only one they could possibly take.”
“Do you know when they are leaving?”
“The men were beginning to mobilize when I left Kennington. It is possible they will leave within the next hour or so.”
Maximus digested the information a moment before turning to Gallus.
“We can take thirty men and intercept them on the road north,” he said.
“But the issue is this – if we leave any of them alive, they will run back and tell de Lara that I have his daughters. But if we kill all of the soldiers, it will look like any manner of massacre at the hands of outlaws and the women will be missing. De Lara will not know what has become of his daughters and he will more than likely refrain from coming after me, at least for a time.”
Gallus sighed heavily as he sat back in his chair, looking to Maximus. “As a father myself, I am not entirely sure I can condone leaving de Lara to believe that his daughters have been abducted by bandits. That would be a most painful thing.”
Maximus cocked his head, almost defiantly.
“Then do not ride with me and you can disavow knowledge of the entire situation,” he said.
“Either way, I am riding to intercept that escort and I am going to kill every one of them because any man I leave alive will run back and tell de Lara that I have abducted his daughter. That will bring the House of de Lara down upon us ten-fold.”
Gallus could see that he was about to enter into an argument with his brother and he forced a smile at Ellice. “A moment, please, my lady,” he said, standing up and pulling Maximus with him. “A word with my brother is all I need.”
Ellice let them go, watching as the tall, youngest brother joined his two siblings. As the men huddled together, Gallus spoke in hushed tones.
“Max, I realized you want this woman,” he said quietly.
“I told you before that I want to see you happy. I was more than willing to allow her to remain with us here at the inn and then fight off de Lara when he came for her. But now you are speaking of intercepting her father’s escort, killing every man there so they cannot give you away, and then abducting not only Courtly, but her younger sister as well.
Now you will have both daughters and you want de Lara to think that they’ve been abducted by unknown outlaws?
There is something less than honorable about that. ”
Maximus’ jaw flexed unhappily. “Then do not go with me,” he snapped. “I will go myself. I do not need you.”
Tiberius reached out and grabbed his older brother. “Wait, Max,” he said, trying to soothe the man. “Gallus did not mean it the way it sounded. I believe what he is saying is that a situation like this will only create a bigger mess with de Lara.”
Maximus was furious and struggling to calm himself.
“If either one of you ever asked the same thing from me, to help you regain the woman you love, then I would do it without question,” he hissed.
“But I am evidently not afforded the same courtesy. Unconditional, brotherly love means unconditional support, in all things, but if you do not want to be a part of this, then I will go it alone.”
Gallus grabbed hold of him, too, before he stomped away in anger.
“Nay, you will not,” he sighed, relenting.
“Ty is correct. It is my sense that going about it the way you are suggesting will only create more of an issue with de Lara. God’s Blood, Max, if you marry the woman, de Lara will be your father-in-law for the rest of your life and grandfather to your children.
Do you truly wish to have an adversarial relationship with him forever?
How do you think that will wear upon his daughter and, eventually, your marriage? Could she even grow to resent you?”
He had a point. Maximus stopped his angry posturing and took a deep breath, laboring to ease his anger. He pulled upon that reasonable and steady demeanor that was his usual manner. Where his emotions were concerned, where Courtly was concerned, he was coming to see that he could be very volatile.
“I am too emotional about this,” he conceded, raking his fingers through his dark brown hair.
“I am sure you are both correct. Forgive me for being so angry about it. But I intend to intercept that escort. I will rely on the two of you to decide how, exactly, we extract Courtly. All I want to do is kill them all and leave no trace. Mayhap it is not the best way, but it is my way.”