Chapter Twenty-One #2
Sick with the realization, Creston put his hands over his face and fell back against the gatehouse wall. “My God,” he breathed into his hands. “Why would she leave? Why?”
The men were passing concerned expressions at each other, though none of them wanted to say what they were thinking. It was Fox who finally spoke.
“You said that you told her about Sidbury’s plot,” he said. “When did you tell her?”
“This morning,” Creston said.
“How did she take the news?”
“She was upset, of course,” he said, growing agitated.
“She was so upset that she had to lie down. I went out into the shed and got drunk, angry at myself because I was the monster who had upset her with the news. But sometime during the day, she must have… God, I don’t even know what to think.
She must have run away from me. I chased her away. It is my fault.”
Fox glanced at Tay, who nodded faintly. They were both thinking the same thing, and it wasn’t that the lady had run from her husband. It was something entirely different. Knowing how Creston felt about his wife, how they all felt about her, he hated to even speak what was on his mind.
But it was necessary.
“Creston,” Fox said, “please do not think I am being cruel and suspicious, but there is another possibility.”
“What possibility?”
“That she has gone to warn him.”
Creston’s head shot up, his eyes narrowing at a man who was a very dear friend. “Warn him?” he said. “Warn him about what?”
“That we know his plot,” Tay said, taking some of the heat off Fox.
“Mayhap she has gone to tell him that we know so that he will cease pursuing whatever it is he is pursuing. We’re not saying she is betraying you, or any of us, merely suggesting that she was upset enough to warn her grandfather off his plans. ”
Creston was struggling not to lash out at them but he couldn’t quite manage it. “For what purpose?” he demanded. “If you are suggesting she is somehow in on this plot to destroy Blackchurch, then say so. Tell me that to my face.”
He was enraged. Cruz put his arm across Creston’s chest, knowing the man was angry enough to strike. “Easy, mi amigo,” he said softly. “No one is suggesting that. No one believes she is part of this plot.”
Creston was so angry that he was trembling. “That is not what it sounded like.”
“She is not part of any plot.”
A female voice came behind Tay, and they all turned to see the Blackchurch wives walking up.
Athdara had spoken those words in defense of her friend.
The women had been out searching for Ophelia but then saw their husbands gathering at the east gatehouse, so they’d hastened to join them.
They’d heard enough of the conversation before they came close, and when all eyes turned to them, Athdara wasn’t shy about speaking her mind.
She never had been.
“She has no more gone to betray Blackchurch than I would have,” she said, looking at the men standing around.
“Mayhap you do not know how cruel Sidbury has been to her. I know that we are all aware she came into this marriage pregnant. Mayhap what you do not know is the fact that her grandfather starved her early in her pregnancy so her belly would not grow and give her away to Creston. He was desperate to make that marriage occur and did all he could to ensure that it happened. The man is vile and Lia feels no loyalty to him. She hates him with every breath she takes, so, nay, she did not go to betray us.”
Her words had Creston calming somewhat. “Did she say something to you that might give us any idea as to why she went?” he said. “Please, Athdara. Tell me.”
“I wish I could,” Athdara said. “But I did not see her today. Tay told me about the plot her grandfather has ordained against Blackchurch, and I wanted to speak with her about it, but I have not seen her all day. I assumed she was sleeping and did not wish to disturb her. But knowing Ophelia as I have come to, my guess is that she thinks this is her fault somehow. She is a very sensitive woman, you know. She has gone to Sidmouth to confront her grandfather and condemn him. I know I would.”
“Instead of standing around here, you should be on your horses heading south,” Astria said, looking at her husband in particular.
“I agree with Athdara—Lia is going to try to stop her grandfather single-handedly to protect the lot of you, so if I were you, I’d be riding to help her. She is doing this for you.”
That had Kristian and Payne already heading into the stable. They didn’t hesitate. Creston was still looking at the women, however, as if they might be his salvation in all of this. His despair was growing by the second.
“I have never understood a woman’s mind,” he admitted. “But, clearly, you do. Why would she do this? I told her we had a plan.”
Athdara shook her head. “That is your plan,” she said.
“It is not Lia’s plan. Cres, she is incredibly protective of you.
What you told her surely must have frightened her.
She has gone to do something about it. Don’t you understand?
Any wife would want to protect her husband, and that is what she is doing. She thinks she can.”
“But the danger…”
“Would danger stop you from protecting her?”
Creston felt as if he’d been kicked in the gut. He exhaled heavily, but it was a sound of pain. He knew that Athdara was right—Ophelia was very protective of him. He also knew she was an incredibly brave woman, even if that bravery was reckless. With increasing horror, he looked at Cruz.
“Oh, God,” he muttered. “I must go. I must go now.”
Cruz nodded quickly, moving with Creston as they ran for the stables.
Soon enough, everyone except St. Denis and St. Sebastian was moving in that direction.
Even Brenton and Myles were gathering their mounts and the women were going inside to help.
They could hear, and catch glimpses of, the trainers as they saddled their mounts and gathered belongings.
There was a great deal of activity going on in the stable as St. Sebastian turned to his father.
“Y-you’re going to let them all go?” he said.
St. Denis looked deliberately at his son. “Do you want to be the one to stop them?”
“G-good point,” St. Sebastian said. Then he began to look around. “I need a messenger to send to the assistant trainers.”
“Why?”
“B-because they are going to be temporarily promoted while everyone is out saving Lady de Royans.”
St. Denis was watching his team of trainers prepare to save the wife of one of them. They were behaving as if it were one of their own family members in peril, but such was the bond between the men.
He knew that very well.
“It is more than saving Lady de Royans,” he said quietly. “They are off to save Blackchurch. They are off to save what our family has taken two hundred years to build, so what they do, they do for us as well. We have the best knights in the world serving us, Sebo. Never forget that.”
St. Sebastian turned to look at the stable, which was now lit up with servants holding torches and lamps as the trainers prepared their mounts.
He could see Tay arguing with Athdara because she wanted to go, too.
That mountain of a man was being berated by his wife and more than likely losing the battle.
That made St. Sebastian smile.
“W-we have the best people, Papa,” he murmured. “The very best people. They are Blackchurch.”
“Agreed,” St. Denis said. Having seen enough of his trainers and their preparations, he turned his attention toward the replacements.
“Have Bowen step in for Tay. He was Tay’s assistant for so long that he’ll know what to do.
No one handles the dregs better than Tay and Bowen.
As for the rest, have Anteaus take Sinclair’s recruits in the morning and Creston’s in the afternoon.
Rhodes seems to do well on the water, so he can replace Kristian for now.
We’ll work out the rest. Summon them to my solar and I shall meet you there. ”
St. Sebastian nodded and headed off, commandeering a soldier from the gatehouse as he went and sending the man to find the assistant trainers, who were all out hunting for Lady de Royans.
But St. Denis lingered behind, watching his trainers become a military unit.
As he’d told St. Sebastian, they were the best knights in the world.
Now they were about to prove it. They were going to save Blackchurch and, God help them, a small lady who was trying to do the same thing.
A terrible situation was about to break wide open.