Chapter Thirteen
He’d seen the young English knights arrive and was well aware they’d been invited to a meeting in the solar with Tristan and Addax that neither he nor Dermot had been invited to. Somehow, over the past few weeks, the divide between English and Irish was growing. A chasm was developing.
But he didn’t particularly care.
Carr had been stewing for weeks, waiting for the reply to the missive Dermot had sent to his mother the week Andromeda arrived.
Somewhere, Dermot had an unwed cousin, and Carr was anticipating a marriage for his daughter with more gusto than he should have.
It was his chance to be rid of his child, to send her back to Ireland and away from Wrexham.
Truth be told, the wait had been frustrating because there was a certain baker’s assistant in the village that he’d been unable and unwilling to see since his daughter arrived.
No one special, simply a woman to bed, but that aspect of his life was paused until he could get rid of his daughter, and that delay was frustrating him more with every passing day.
He was tired of waiting.
But today had been a busy day for Wrexham in general.
Along with the English knights from Northumberland and a delivery of horses, a messenger had arrived from Liverpool.
Given that one of the largest ports on the western coast of England was only forty miles to the north, it made things easy when sending missives or men to, or from, Dublin, which was directly across the sea from Liverpool.
Missives could be sent to Dublin in less than a week, and replies could come just as fast because there were any number of ships crossing the rough Irish Sea on any given day.
Today, the missive had finally come from Dermot’s mother.
As Tristan and Addax met with the new knights, Dermot had relayed the contents of his mother’s reply, which included the information that Dermot did, indeed, have a young cousin who was looking for a bride.
He was a smithy by trade and could earn a good living, according to Dermot’s mother.
Carr had no way of knowing that the very Irish who had tried to break in to Rockbrook Castle now knew exactly where Andromeda was, thanks to Dermot and his mother.
He had no way of knowing the young cousin was none other than Gavan mac Lochlainn.
Carr was trusting and never asked to see the missive as Dermot gleefully told him that an Irish husband was ready and waiting for Andromeda.
All Carr knew was that he was about to be rid of her.
But there was more that Dermot hadn’t told him.
Along with the missive from his mother was a second missive describing “cousins” that had reached Wrexham some time ago because of the information Dermot had supplied.
When he’d sent word of the lady’s arrival on the day she’d come to Wrexham, according to his mother’s missive, the “cousins,” which was a code for the Aingil Lochlainn, had quickly acted on the information.
Up until that point, according to the old lady, they’d focused their search for her in Ireland.
But Dermot’s information was an answer to prayer, and they had made their way over to Liverpool, with their destination being Wrexham Castle.
Everything was finally falling into place.
Dermot suspected they’d been in Wrexham for weeks, but no one had made the attempt to contact him yet, which was probably for the best. They were working through Dermot’s mother because her missives were not suspect at the castle, simply a mother writing to her son, so the second missive had mentioned sending the bride home with the cousins as escort.
That meant the Aingil Lochlainn were somewhere in Wrexham, waiting for contact with Dermot.
Waiting for the lady to be brought to them so they could take her back to Dublin.
It was smart of them, really. They could never send enough Irish over to infiltrate the castle or fight to claim the lady, so although they were in Wrexham—somewhere—they were waiting to make contact with Dermot.
They were being patient. He hadn’t known of their presence until he read the second missive, but now that he had, he would have to make the effort to get out into the town and look for them.
Once he found them, they would make plans to whisk the lady out of Wrexham Castle.
That was where Carr came in.
Of course, the man knew nothing about the Aingil Lochlainn and Dermot’s involvement.
It was better that way, because although Carr was averse to his daughter being at Wrexham Castle, he was still technically an enemy of the Aingil Lochlainn because they were enemies of his wife’s grandfather.
Dermot wasn’t entirely sure that Carr would actually allow them to take his daughter.
He might suddenly find his backbone and defend her. Dermot couldn’t take the chance.
So… he told Carr what he wanted to hear.
A groom was waiting.
As Dermot went off to burn the missives from his mother, Carr was armed with what he believed to be his daughter’s destiny.
He’d avoided her for the weeks she’d been at Wrexham Castle, but now he had something to say to her.
No matter their relationship, she was still his daughter, and any decision he made for her, whether or not she liked it, would be upheld by the law and the church.
That meant that whatever plans Tristan had for her would be superseded by Carr’s determination to send her back to Ireland.
He was about to take charge.
His daughter was usually in the keep, the kitchen yard, or in the hall.
He’d rarely seen her stray from those areas.
He slept in the keep, but on the ground level, and both he and Andromeda had gone to great lengths to avoid one another.
Since Tristan was meeting with the new knights in the keep, he wandered in that direction, but he didn’t want Tristan to think he was trying to barge into the gathering, so he avoided going inside.
Instead, he headed to the kitchen yard with the plan of asking the cook if he might know Andromeda’s location.
The kitchen yard was surrounded by a tall stone wall and reinforced with a heavy iron gate that, when secured, could keep out an army.
The gate was unlocked, however, and Carr went inside, shooing some chickens away from his feet and pushing aside a goat that came too close.
He stood there a moment, looking for the burly, one-eyed cook, when he suddenly caught sight of his daughter coming from the stone buttery.
Immediately, he moved in her direction.
Andromeda had a half of a wheel of cheese in her hands as she headed for the open door of the kitchen, which was built into the sub-level of the keep.
A door opened onto stairs that led down to the kitchens below.
She wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings, but rather trying to find a comfortable position to hold the cold and heavy cheese, when Carr put himself in her path.
She nearly ran into him.
“God’s Bones,” she muttered, nearly dropping the cheese. When she looked up and realized who it was, her manner stiffened considerably. “Do you require something, Carr? You do not usually come into the kitchen yard.”
Carr. She couldn’t even bring herself to call him by his name, but he didn’t care. His manner, too, was hard as he faced her.
“You and I must speak,” he said in a commanding tone. “Put the cheese down and come with me.”
Andromeda didn’t move. “Whatever you have to say, say it now,” she said. “I have work to do.”
She was being unfriendly, matching his mood, and he hissed at her. “I told you to come with me.”
“And I told you to say what you will now. What is it?”
His jaw twitched dangerously. “Is that what years with de Courcy have taught you?” he said. “Such disrespect?”
She sighed, shifting the weight of the cheese in her arms. “I do not have time for this,” he said. “What do you want, Carr?”
He snorted rudely. “What I want is for you not to have come to Wrexham,” he said. “But, clearly, I shall have to make amends for that. I have brokered a betrothal with a cousin of Dermot’s. The man is a smithy, and he is looking for a bride. I am sending you back to Ireland to marry him.”
Andromeda stared at him without any discernible reaction at first. She digested his words, finally cocking her head in a curious gesture.
“You are ridiculous,” she said. “I am not going back to Ireland. I am staying here, where I am needed, and if you do not like that, it is no concern of mine. That is your problem.”
Carr’s features were growing tenser by the moment. “You truly have no concept of how the world works, do you?” he said. “I give the orders. You will obey them.”
“The only person I obey is Tristan, as the garrison commander.”
Carr’s lips twisted in a smirk. “I suspect that is in all aspects,” he said. “How long have you been warming his bed? Since your arrival, or did it take a few days?”
Andromeda’s disgust masked the fact that his words had wounded her.
“I suppose you think I’m like you in that respect,” she said.
“I’ve heard you take women to your bed that are not my mother, but it is no concern of mine.
If you want to rut like a bull, that is your affair.
Do not try to impress your lack of morals on me, for you would be wrong. ”
Carr’s eyes widened. “Who has told you such things?”
“It seems to be common knowledge that you are the male version of a trollop.”
Enraged, he grabbed her by the arm, and the cheese ended up on the ground. “Listen to me, you little chit,” he snarled. “I am your father, and you will not speak to me in such a manner. You will go to your chamber now, pack your satchel, and be prepared to ride to Liverpool at dawn.”