Chapter Eight #4
She nodded quickly. “I will make it so that it will directly reflect on your reputation and honor,” she said. “It will be a fine place when I am finished with it.”
“Good,” he said. “And do not worry about your father. This is my castle, and he serves me. If I want you to remain because you fill a need, then you shall remain. He has nothing to say about it.”
Her emotional outburst was fading as she fell quiet for a moment, thinking on her father and his reaction to her appearance.
“We do not know each other well, my father and I,” she admitted.
“The truth is that we are strangers. On those occasions when he did come to Rockbrook to visit, he would only speak of the glory of my bloodlines. How I could make the whole of Dublin rise up and follow me with just a word. It seemed to me that he was always interested more in what I was than who I was. I suppose that was reinforced here today.”
Tristan could easily believe that. “He has spoken of your bloodlines before,” he said. “How your mother is the only daughter of the last King of Dublin, but he’s never really spoken of why you went to live with de Courcy until the day you arrived. He said that King John wished it.”
She smiled ironically. “He did,” she said.
“He, and William Marshal, decided that I must be hidden from the enemies of my grandfather, but it was more than that. I was told by Lord de Courcy that King John wanted to marry me to an English prince, a marriage that would link England and Ireland by blood. But I knew it was because such a marriage would take me away from Ireland and water down the Irish bloodlines. When one wants to conquer a country, isn’t that what happens?
By destroying those with the right to rule? ”
Tristan was impressed that she should understand the rules of conquest. “That is true,” he said. “The Normans did it when they arrived in England centuries ago.”
Andromeda nodded. “I know,” she said. “I was taught English history, so I know it well. I know it better than Irish history. In fact, my birth name is not Andromeda—it is Morrigan. I was named after the Irish war goddess. But my name was changed when I was hardly old enough to speak, and I became Andromeda. Andie is what most people call me. Morrigan has not existed for a very long time.”
Tristan understood something about royal bloodlines and being hidden from one’s enemies. “Andie,” he repeated. “I like that. May I call you Andie?”
Andromeda nodded. “I would be honored.”
“Thank you,” he said. “But King John and his intentions aside, somehow, your grandfather’s enemies found you.”
“They did.”
“How long have they known about you?”
She shrugged. “It was around my thirteenth year when a servant in the de Courcy household betrayed me,” she said.
“At first, my grandfather’s enemies came as friends.
At least, they pretended to be, but it was not the truth.
They wanted to watch me grow and determine what to do with me.
That was when the marriage offers began to come. ”
“The one you told your father about?”
She nodded. “Aye,” she said. “The one to Gavan. Someone must have told them about King John’s intentions for me, to marry me to an English prince, because they were persistent and increasingly hostile.”
Tristan lifted his eyebrows. “If a servant betrayed your presence, then it is more than likely that the king’s intentions were also betrayed to the opposition,” he said. “Did anyone send word to John or William Marshal about it?”
Andromeda shook her head. “I do not think so,” she said. “But I don’t really know. I heard Lord de Courcy tell his wife that John had so many problems with his barons that marrying off an Irish princess was the least of his concerns.”
“Probably,” Tristan said. “John did, indeed, have a massive amount of problems with rebelling warlords, as did the Marshal. John’s reign was a tumultuous time for us all.”
“I was forgotten, thankfully.”
“It seems that way,” Tristan said. “But even if John forgot about you, your Irish enemies did not. It seems they wanted to marry you to Gavan before John married you to someone else.”
“Possibly,” she said. “But the night that I was finally sent away, it was a harrowing situation. They had come to the gates of Rockbrook armed for war. Lord de Courcy sent me away for my own safety. Had they gotten into the castle and captured me, there is no knowing what they would do to me. I heard Lord de Courcy say that he believed the marriage offer was a ruse. They wanted me for something else.”
“What else?”
“To be made an example of, as Ascall mac Ragnaill’s granddaughter.”
“To kill you?”
“More than likely,” she said. “My grandfather was murdered, after all.”
Tristan knew enough about the dangers of enemy factions when it came to those of royal blood.
He knew what Eleanor of Aquitaine had done to Arthur, the son of his half-brother, Geoffrey.
With the English, there had been so many things that had to do with royal blood and eliminating the threat to the throne of England that made Irish politics look like child’s play.
But he was quite aware of the danger Andromeda was in.
The more he thought about it, the more he wondered if she was truly safe.
Surely the enemy faction would know she had escaped, and the assumption would be that she would go where she would be the most protected.
That meant going to her father in England.
That would bring the Irish to his doorstep.
But he couldn’t think about that now. She’d been out of Ireland for an entire year, living on her own, and no one had found her, so it was possible they thought she had died somewhere along the way.
That would have been the best of all worlds, because he knew, as he looked at her, that he wasn’t going to let anyone get their hands on her.
He would defend her. He’d only known the woman a few short hours and, already, he knew that.
“I would say that you are safe now,” he said, unsettled by the fact that he felt rather strongly about protecting her from those who meant to do her harm.
“Even if your grandfather’s enemies assume you’ve gone to your father, they know he serves the Earl of Pembroke, and that would be the first place they looked.
No one knows he’s at Wrexham, though it’s possible that if they asked around, they might discover his location. ”
She tried not to look too fearful. “Do you think they will?”
He shrugged. “It is difficult to say,” he said. “If they truly want you, they might.”
“Then it’s possible they may come here.”
“I would not worry over it,” he said. “You have been living without protection for a year now. I think it’s just possible that you hid yourself very well by working as a serving wench. Even if the Irish came to Ruabon, they probably would not have recognized you. You did look quite different.”
His dark eyes were glimmering as he said it, and she smiled reluctantly. “It was out of necessity, I assure you,” she said, but she sobered quickly. “But if they come here, I will leave. I do not wish to cause you more trouble than I already have.”
He shook his head. “You will not leave,” he said. “I will make them wish they’d never come, so do not worry. You are part of Wrexham now, and we protect our own.”
She looked at him, shocked. “You… you would protect me?”
“I said I would.”
“But… but the fight is not yours,” she said. “You cannot assume my burden.”
“Are you not my chatelaine?”
She blinked as if startled by the question, but she answered. “Aye,” she said slowly. “I agreed to your terms.”
“Then you are part of Wrexham, and we protect our own.”
Andromeda stared at him. One moment, she was in the chair, and in the next, she was on her knees in front of him, grasping his hands.
“Thank you,” she breathed. “You cannot know how much it distresses me that you should risk your men to fight my battle, but I thank you all the same. I can never repay you, my lord, but I swear to you that you have my undying gratitude.”
Tristan was rather startled by her sudden movements.
But he realized quickly that he didn’t like her on the ground, and he didn’t like the fact that what he considered to be a reasonable gesture had her nearly collapsing in appreciation.
It made him angry, in fact, because when her father should have been the one pledging to protect her, it had to be a stranger.
How in the world Carr could disregard such a sweet, delicate, but wholly strong creature was beyond him.
It was infuriating.
“Get up,” he said, standing up and pulling her to her feet. “You do not need to fall to your knees and worship me like I’m some bloody priest.”
She was holding his hands tightly as he helped her stand.
“I know,” she said. “I am very sorry, but you must know how grateful I am. I thought… I thought I was completely alone until now. A father who was supposed to protect me does not seem to have the inclination to, so you cannot know what your words mean to me. Where Carr mac Murda has failed, you have taken a stand when you did not have to. A man with such honor is a rare thing.”
There was a knock on the solar door, interrupting them, and Tristan let go of her to open the panel.
Servants appeared carrying trays of food and pitchers of drink, and Tristan instructed them to set it all down on the table near the hearth.
He had to sweep a few things off the tabletop, mostly clutter, but soon laid out before them was a feast fit for a king.
And a queen.
Andromeda had never eaten with such gusto, and such relief, in her entire life.
Perhaps coming to Wrexham had been a godsend after all.