Chapter Sixteen
In the great hall of Wybren Castle, Juliandra ferch Gethin became Lady de Lara.
The witnesses to the marriage were Sean, Gareth, Bannon, a disgruntled Cal, Alexander, Peter, and William.
They watched as a tiny priest with terrible teeth presided over a short ceremony where the couple spoke their vows.
The priest read a verse about marriage from his large, shabby bible and said a prayer that lasted longer than the ceremony itself.
When it was over, food was brought forth and they sat down for a second time that day to enjoy a meal.
But this time, it was different.
There was something joyful in the air.
Sean sat next to Juliandra, monopolizing the woman’s time as he carried on a conversation with her.
Mostly, he spoke of his wife and children, of his home of Lansdown Castle, and his plans to expand his empire.
Although he was the Earl of Bath and Glastonbury, his castle was quite a distance from his properties because it had been in his wife’s family for three hundred years, before the first earl had been appointed.
As Juliandra listened with great interest, Sean spoke of gaining permission to build a greater castle closer to Bath, somewhere to the east because there was a great lake there that he had seen, once, and he wanted to be near the water.
It had been a marvelous conversation and Juliandra was coming to know a man who seemed more introspective and serious than Kevin was.
Sean conveyed something she couldn’t quite put her finger on – it was almost as if beneath that handsome facade, something darker lurked.
Not in the evil sense, but perhaps in the sense of life’s experiences.
He almost seemed… wounded to her. It was difficult to explain.
But in spite of that, she knew she liked him.
Sean de Lara was a kind and interesting man.
But even as she listened to the earl speak on the Mendip Hills, part of his earldom, her thoughts were wandering to Kevin as he sat beside her.
She couldn’t really see him because her focus was politely on Sean, but she could feel him.
That seemed to be a running theme with her, ever since she had come to live at Wybren in earnest. She had an extra sense when it came to Kevin, knowing he was around her, watching her.
It was a connection they already had.
As the afternoon dragged on, she was thinking more and more about what was to come.
She had to admit that she was nervous to be alone with Kevin, but eager.
There wasn’t anything about him that didn’t make her feel eager and anxious, and after the kiss they’d shared earlier in the kitchen yard, she was more than willing to do it again.
Kevin must have sensed her anticipation because he finally pulled her up from the table when Sean was mid-sentence.
“Would it be too much trouble to borrow my wife?” he asked jokingly. “I only just married the woman, but you’ve been monopolizing her time. May I?”
Sean snorted, waving them off. “By all means,” he said. “Go. Enjoy. I will see you both later.”
Kevin lifted a sarcastic eyebrow. “Thank you, Brother.”
Sean grinned at him, but the warmth in his eyes was obvious. “Again, my congratulations,” he said. “Well done, Keev. I am happy for you.”
Kevin smiled in return, a moment of tenderness between brothers who had seen little of it over the years.
It was as if all of those years of hurt and pain had faded away, only to be recalled in moments when they would no longer matter.
Kevin and Sean had made amends and their bond was stronger than it had ever been.
Life, between them, was good once more.
Leaving his brother and the knights still at the table with that powerful pear cider to keep them company, Kevin took Juliandra out into the sunshine of the waning day.
It was still daylight, but leaning towards dusk, and the castle was busy preparing for an evening meal that Juliandra would not be supervising.
Not this night.
She had something else to do.
So did Kevin. He kept looking at her, smiling at her, laughing softly when she would flush and look away.
He had her by the hand, taking her over to the keep where he had moved all of their belongings into the large chamber.
It was a beautiful chamber, in truth, or at least it had once been.
A big bedframe was still there, and still serviceable, and all it had needed was a mattress and linens, which servants provided earlier.
Kevin was thinking ahead to what they were about to do when Juliandra’s soft voice filled his ears.
“I like your brother,” she said. “He seems to be a very nice man.”
Kevin never thought he would hear those words where they pertained to Sean. “I like him, too.”
She chuckled. “I should hope so,” she said. “But I sense something about him.”
“What?”
She shrugged as they entered the keep. “I am not certain,” she said. “He is intelligent and kind, and it is clear that he loves his wife and children very much, but there is something in his eyes that suggest… a wounding.”
They had reached the stairs and Kevin went first, taking her hand as he went. “What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “It is difficult to describe,” she said. “As if there is something inside him that is wounded, or has been wounded. He is joyful, but it seems as if he has not always been so.”
“He hasn’t,” Kevin said. “There was a time when Sean de Lara was the most feared man in all of England.”
“He was?” she gasped. “Why?”
Kevin figured he might as well tell her. She was related to Sean now, so she may as well know about him. At least, some of it. Better to hear it from Kevin than from someone else.
“Because he was a personal bodyguard to King John,” he said, his voice quiet.
“My brother is one of the greatest spies England has ever seen and he spent nine years spying on the king. It very nearly cost him his life. So, your observations are astute – there was something inside of him, badly wounded once. He is only now overcoming it.”
They had reached the floor where their new chamber was located and they emerged into a small landing that had two doors in it. One led to a smaller chamber and one to their larger one.
“Poor man,” Juliandra said. “But I am glad he is overcoming it.”
“So am I. But do not mention it to him. If he wishes to speak about it, he will.”
She felt as if she had been entrusted with important information and she took his request seriously. “I will not, I swear it.”
They entered the chamber, which didn’t look anything like it had only hours earlier.
The bed was freshly made and the floor was cleanly swept.
Juliandra’s possessions had been moved into a wardrobe and into a trunk next to the wardrobe, while all of Kevin’s possessions were shoved into a corner.
He didn’t want anyone touching them and he had yet to organize them, so they sat in a pile.
As Kevin closed the chamber door and threw the heavy bolt, Juliandra went to the fire, which the servants had stoked. Taking the iron rod leaning against the wall next to it, she poked at the fire, stirring the flames, which brightened. Over near the bed, Kevin began to remove his clothing.
“I have been thinking on something,” he said.
She poked at a big piece of wood, breaking it up. “What?”
He began to remove his outer tunic. “It is customary when people are married to take a trip somewhere,” he said. “When we are certain that Aeron will not storm Wybren and try to burn it to the ground, I will take you anywhere you wish to go. Where would that be?”
Juliandra looked at him in surprise. “Truly?”
“Truly.”
She set the iron rod down and brushed off her hands. “I… I do not know,” she said. “I have only been as far as Shrewsbury. Where do you think we should go?”
He gave her a half-grin as he pulled off his mail coat, bending over to shimmy it off. “London, mayhap?” he said. “Paris? Would you like to see the lands where the ancient Romans lived?”
Her mouth popped open in astonishment. “But that is so far away!”
He nodded. “It is very far away,” he said. “But if you wish to go there, then I shall take you.”
It was a sweet declaration and something that made her feel very special.
No one had ever made her feel as if her wants were important, as if she mattered somehow.
Her father respected her, of course, but this was different.
A handsome, powerful knight thought enough of her to marry her and, still, she could hardly believe it.
As Kevin stood next to the bed and untied the padded tunic he was wearing, she made her way over to him, watching what he was doing, pondering this moment between them.
“I have never been to London,” she said. “Or Edinburgh. Which is closer?”
He thought on that. “Probably London,” he said. “Edinburgh is very far to the north.”
“Have you been there?”
He nodded. “There is a great big castle and dirty streets.”
“And London?”
“A great big castle and dirty streets, only more of them.”
“Where would you go?”
He thought on her question as he pulled off his padded tunic, a thin tunic being the only thing left.
“When I was young, my father took my mother and brother and me down to the seashore at Brighton,” he said.
“My mother was ill at the time and he took her there hoping it might help her health. I was very young, but we went in the summer and I remember fishing in the sea with my brother as my father and mother sat with us, soaking up the warm sun. It was quite possibly the only time in my life that I ever knew peace. I always thought I wanted to return someday.”
Juliandra was gripping the canopy post, listening to him with a smile on her face. “I think it sounds wonderful,” she said. “I want to go to Brighton, too, and sit in the sun.”
He glanced at her, grinning, as he reached down to pull the tunic over his head. “It burned my mother’s face,” he warned. “She turned bright red. So did I, as I recall.”