Chapter Thirteen
Hyssington Castle
“You summoned me, my dear?”
Jasper had gone through his obligatory sneezes after entering his wife’s pungent-smelling chamber, now standing near the door in his usual place whilst Rosamund remained over on her bed, her usual place.
He could see her outline through the sheer panels of curtain, silhouetted by a taper on the other side of her bed.
The faint illumination gave her a surreal, other-worldly quality.
“I have,” she said. “Thank you for coming so quickly.”
Putting aside the sewing she had been working on, Rosamund rose laboriously from her bed. Her maid was there to help her, gently steadying the woman as she stood, and then releasing her so that Rosamund could shuffle over to where her husband was. Jasper watched his wife come around the bed.
“I came quickly because I assume you wish to tell me of your conversation with Kathalin,” he said, sounding impatient.
“You spoke with the woman three days ago and have yet to tell me the results of that conversation. I have sent her with Gates and Alexander to Shrewsbury so now we may speak openly about her for she is not here to overhear anything. What did you two speak of when I left you alone, Rosamund? I demand you tell me.”
Rosamund moved for the chair near the hearth. “Why did they go to Shrewsbury?”
Jasper clearly had no time for idle conversation. “To purchase a few pieces of jewelry for her so she looks like an earl’s daughter for the coming celebration,” he said. “I will not have her looking bereft and poor if we are trying to attract a husband for her.”
“And you feel dressing her in jewels will accomplish this?”
He nodded shortly. “I do,” he said. “Now, what is it you wish to speak of? And why have you not told me of your conversation with Kathalin before now?”
Rosamund reached the chair, grasping it with her fabric-covered hand.
“I apologize for not discussing my conversation with her after it happened,” she said, “but there was much to think on. I wanted to have my thoughts straight before approaching you with my suggestions. Truly, our conversation was nothing you have not already heard from her. She does not wish to be married but I asked her to allow us to have a celebration with potential husbands in attendance. I told her that if she did not find any of the young men appealing then I would consider allowing her to return to St. Milburga’s. ”
Jasper’s cheeks flushed with anger. “How could you tell her that?” he said. “I will not send her back!”
Rosamund nodded, settling herself down in the chair.
“Nor will I,” she said. “I only told her I would consider it. I did not tell her that I would do it. But therein lies the problem, Jasper. I fear that we cannot wait to wed her to the son of an ally. We must do it immediately. The longer we delay, the more troublesome this situation will become, so it is something we must do right away. That way, she will never be able to return to St. Milburga’s.
It will be much more complicated for her to be accepted by the order if she is a married woman. ”
“It may not make any difference to her. She can still run away, you know.”
“Not if her husband keeps her confined.”
Jasper was frowning deeply. “The only way a husband will be able to keep her confined is to either throw her in the vault or lock her up for her own good,” he said.
“What kind of wife will that be for him? I will not permit her to shame me before an ally and sully the de Lara name because she tries to flee her husband.”
Rosamund lifted a hand to quiet him. “I realize that,” she said. “But I have an idea. It will take a strong ally, indeed, to help her see reason. To help her understand that the wife of a warlord is an important role.”
Jasper rolled his eyes. “I know of no such ally, Rosamund,” he said impatiently. “If you have an idea, I would hear it now.”
Rosamund nodded. She considered her words carefully before continuing.
“Lioncross Abbey is a massive fortress that would be difficult to escape from,” she said.
“I remember seeing it in my youth. Lady Elreda was once a close friend. She is a woman I would trust with convincing my daughter that marriage to her son is a fine and noble role in life. The de Lohrs would not permit Kathalin to escape; because she is a de Lara, and our child, they would look upon her as one of their own. They are close friends, Jasper. We must impress upon them the importance of a marriage between our daughter and Alexander. You once said you would consider Alexander, did you not?”
Jasper wasn’t quite so impatient as he listened to his wife’s plan. It wasn’t a bad one at all. After a moment, he scratched his chin pensively. “Aye, I did,” he agreed. “Alexander is a fine knight. And a marriage between our children would secure the entire southern section of the Marches.”
Rosamund nodded. “Indeed it would,” she said. “Instead of this celebration to parade our daughter before potential suitors, we should have simply sent a proposal of marriage to Lioncross. It would have solved the entire problem.”
Jasper continued scratching his chin. “Henry and Elreda were sent a missive requesting their presence at the celebration,” he said. “They should be arriving within days. We can simply make the proposal then. Moreover, they can meet Kathalin and inspect her for their son.”
“True.”
He suddenly frowned. “She will behave, won’t she? She will not say something foolish to discourage them?”
Rosamond shook her head. “I think not,” she said. “If Kathalin believes we will send her back to St. Milburga’s should she not find any young man appealing, I believe she will behave herself. She will not want to jeopardize her chances of being sent back.”
Jasper grunted. “You also know that if she believes we will consider sending her back to the priory, then she more than likely will find something wrong with every young man at the celebration, including Alexander.”
Rosamond nodded her head in agreement. “She believes, for the moment, that she has a say in this matter,” she said.
“What she does not know is that she has no say at all. She never did. We shall cement a contract with Alexander de Lohr and have the wedding immediately whilst the guests are already here for her celebration. The party to introduce Kathalin to eligible young men will turn into her wedding feast.”
Jasper wasn’t feeling quite as anxious as he was when he had first entered his wife’s chamber.
Thanks to Rosamund’s cunning plan, he could see an advantageous marriage for his daughter providing Henry de Lohr agreed.
He couldn’t imagine why the man wouldn’t but he would make sure to produce his best wine and finest food when the House of de Lohr arrived.
He would make sure to do all he could to convince them to marry their son to his stubborn daughter.
“Agreed,” he said, thinking on things to come when Henry arrived. “I will make the necessary preparations for the Henry and Elreda. I should like for them to stay in the chamber Kathalin is occupying. It is our finest.”
Rosamund nodded. “It is,” she said. “Kathalin can stay in the chamber on this floor, the smaller one across the landing from me. It is my maid’s room, but I will have my maid sleep in here with me for the time being.”
Jasper thought on that particular sleeping arrangement because it meant he couldn’t call upon the maid when he was feeling particularly lusty so long as the woman was sleeping in the same chamber as his wife.
But no matter; that was secondary to what needed to take place in order to assure that the de Lohrs accepted the marriage proposal on behalf of Alexander.
Aye, Alexander de Lohr would make a fine son and a fine ally, and Jasper was pleased. More than that, Kathalin would cease to be his problem and become someone else’s. A selfish thought, but Jasper was a selfish man.
Let someone else deal with her insolence.
Without another word, he left his wife’s chamber in his pursuit to make arrangements for what was to come.
The trap would need to be appropriately laid for Henry and Elreda with the bait being Kathalin when she returned from Shrewsbury.
Jasper was quite certain that after Henry and Elreda met his daughter, they would heartily agree to the proposal.
He was quite certain Alexander would agree to it as well.
“What do we do?” Tobias Aston asked. “If we do not let him in the gates, he’s simply going to stand there and scream.”
Stephan knew that. He and Tobias were in the great gatehouse of Hyssington, watching the scene below.
Lord Linley was at the gate, drunk, and bellowing for Gates to come out and face him.
It was very cold in mid-morning as they watched the man, beating upon the massive iron and oak gates, and it was something of entertainment for the soldiers.
Lord Linley was making a spectacle of himself as he bellowed and threatened Gates de Wolfe for bedding his daughter and forcing his daughter to bear “his own spawn”, as Linley put it.
“Linley is a drunkard and a fool,” Stephan said with distaste.
“This is nothing new for him, behaving like this for all to see, but if de Lara sees the man there will be trouble. He already paid Linley’s daughter coinage to keep her mouth shut about de Wolfe’s bastard, but if the father is here now to extract more money, he’ll find himself in the vault – or worse. ”
Tobias watched Linley as the man slipped in the mud below, ending up on his knees in the midst of his ranting.
“He is asking for Gates, not de Lara,” he said.
“Do you know when Gates is supposed to return from Shrewsbury? He shall be coming right into the middle of this if he returns any time soon.”