Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
On the altar behind the dais, a sea of candles danced, their celebratory glow lending the front of the chapel a golden light. But no lutes played this day, no violas, no voices rang with cheer. It was a somber occasion.
Lianae stood next to Keane before the king’s prelate, begging her knees to cease knocking beneath her new gown.
For the first time in days, she felt clean.
She’d scarce been able to wait to rip off that other gown—the one belonging to Elspeth.
It had offended her every second she had worn it, despite that it was more lavish than the one she now wore.
This gown was simply made, but made of blue and gold sendal, with gold trim about the neckline and sleeves and a girdle made of gold.
The cloak was velvet, trimmed with minerva and Lianae wore it thrown back, clasped at her throat with a golden broach.
Her battered and bruised feet were swaddled in pale blue silk.
Standing at her side, dressed in dark blue and gold, Keane looked more a prince than a simple warrior. His shining black hair was clasped at the back, as were his hands, as though he meant to keep them from strangling Lianae where she stood.
The priest cleared his throat. “Who comes forth to be wed today?”
It was the king who replied. “Keane dún Scoti and Lianae of Moray.”
“And who gives the bride to be wed?”
“I do,” said the king.
Lianae swallowed her grief, for she had hoped it would be her father’s right—and if not her father’s, mayhap her brothers. Behind them, the congregation remained silent, so silent she could hear the drip, drip of melting snow outside upon the eave.
“Do any oppose these two be wed?”
Keane cleared his throat although he did not speak, and Lianae held her breath as she watched the candles shiver in their sconces.
No one else spoke a word, but she had visions of the Earl bursting in through the chapel doors. Or mayhap Keane’s sister tearfully beseeching the King on her knees. None of these things came to pass, however. The room remained painfully silent, waiting for the priest to continue.
“Enough,” the king bellowed impatiently. “There will be none who oppose this union.”
And the prelate cleared his throat. “Very well,” he relented.
“Will you, Keane dún Scoti, newly appointed laird to Dunràth, have this woman to be thy wedded wife, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony?
Wilt thou love her, comfort, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health; and forsaking all others, keep thyself only unto her, so long as ye both shall live? ”
The priest was looking straight at Keane and when Keane didn’t immediately respond, he asked, “Will you?”
Her betrothed’s reply was curt. “Aye,” he said.
The priest settled a far less nervous smile upon Lianae.
“Very well now, Lianae of Moray, wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony?
Wilt thou obey and serve him, love, honor and keep him in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep thyself only unto your laird husband? ”
It seemed to Lianae that the priest accused her with his question. “I will,” she replied.
“Louder, child, so all may hear!”
“I will,” she repeated, enunciating the words more distinctly.
The priest smirked at her, avoiding Keane’s gaze. “Very well, then may God, who is merciful and just, bless this union and make you fruitful that you may bring forth sons and daughters to praise his name.”
“So be it,” Lianae said, when Keane remained silent.
“So be it,” Keane said tightly.
Lianae turned to face her new husband, vowing never to give him cause to rue this day. She would be a good wife to him, bear his bairns and she would cherish him until the day she died. She begged him to understand, pleaded with her eyes.
Forgive me, Keane.
The priest held up a small reliquary, asking them both to place a hand atop the sacred relic to consecrate their vows. Lianae did so, and was acutely aware of the weight of Keane’s hand as he placed it atop hers.
“As this man and woman have now sworn afore God and the bones of St. Peter, henceforth they will be known as man and wife. Amen.”
“Amen,” said the king very quickly.
“Amen,” said all those gathered in the chapel.
“Amen,” whispered Lianae.
Only one man did not voice the final benediction: The man standing at her side.
But it was done, and it was far more than she had dared to hope for, when all she’d ever wanted was to be spared a life from the tyranny of William fitz Duncan.
Her husband clearly did not share her joy. He stood beside her, his expression grim, and he could barely look at her, despite the lovely attire his sister had dressed her in.
What more fitting union?
A prince of the forgotten Pechts and a daughter of the conquered Moray.
Her people, like Keane’s, were the last of their kind, and for this alone, he might have welcomed her into his bed…
into his home… and, aye, even into his heart.
But some part of him longed to walk away, even now—the prideful part of himself that would be wounded by her lies.
“You may exchange the kiss of peace with your bride,” the priest allowed.
His bride.
His beautiful, treacherous, lying, conniving bride.
Kiss of peace?
How could there ever be peace now betwixt them?
Lianae met his gaze boldly, standing as tall as she could.
Even despite that she wasn’t particularly small, she rose only as tall as Keane’s shoulders.
Her golden-red hair was braided like two silken cords and her eyes glistened like polished amber.
She made the loveliest of brides—far lovelier than he might have imagined—but this too was beside the point.
Her cheeks blossomed with color and she bit nervously at her lower lip, swelling it with her blood. And despite Keane’s fury, their bodies seemed naturally drawn together.
They were so close now that Keane could feel the heat emanating from her mouth. The scent of her dizzied his senses, and still he refrained… hovering near.
Only this morning he might have given anything to kiss her just once more, and if he merely did so now, he would walk away with Lilidbrugh, Dunràth, a seat on the king’s council and a lovely new bride.
But he hesitated, wanting more…
He wanted what Aidan had—what Lael had discovered. He wanted what Cameron only longed for, and until this instant, Keane hadn’t realized he did too.
Lianae stood waiting, anxiously nipping at her lip and finally, resentfully, he pulled her close.
She swallowed visibly and he held her more firmly yet, wanting her to comprehend what it meant to be forced.
It would serve her right after all the lies she’d told.
But he could not force her. Nor did she test him.
She melted into his embrace and grew pliant, and only then did Keane bend to cover her mouth with his own.
Sweet and heady, that was her taste.
She promised him heaven and yet she’d already sent him to hell.
Keane’s body tensed, and for one ungodly moment, he forgot entirely where it was they stood.
Once again, they were standing in the snow-covered woods, her hands clinging to his waist. The taste of whitebeam filled his mouth and he stifled a groan lest it slip like juice betwixt her lips.
His loins tightened at the feel of her so near and he longed to deny his own desire—until such time as Lianae could look him in the eyes and speak the words he longed to hear…
“Ahem,” the priest said, clearing his throat.
The kiss was bittersweet, and it took much of his willpower, but Keane peeled himself away, inevitably leaving a piece of him as he did so.
The priest’s eyes shifted from Keane to Lianae, and then he declared, “What God has joined let no man put asunder.”
No man… or woman…
But she already had…
Needing succor, Keane sought his sister’s gaze.
In Lael’s familiar eyes, filled with equal measures of hope and regret, he found what he needed to see, love without condition and freely given.
Until he spied that in his wife’s eyes, he would harden his heart.
A kiss might have sealed his fate, but it would never rob him of his hope.
For all that they were much too pious, Jaime was pleased with the tapestries Lael ordered for the great hall.
The thick material easily muffled the sound of idle chatter and the deep reds and golds, coupled with the new chandeliers, managed to give the room warmth and cheer, neither of which the wedded couple managed to exude.
Somehow, his wife had managed to rouse the entire household to prepare a feast fit for a king.
She’d served Jaime’s favorite—a dessert called blancmanger that she’d introduced to him at their own wedding.
And along with the blancmanger, she’d served currant cakes, pheasant, brawn en peuerade, a delicious pork in wine sauce, connynges in grauey—rabbit in broth—and dauce egre, a wonderful fish cooked in a sweet and sour onion sauce.
There was plenty of warm bread, sweet cheese, mead and ale.
The only one thing there wasn’t enough of was laughter.
The evening was entirely too sober. Despite twinkling candles, music and a smattering of uisge, the great hall had all the good cheer of a funeral.
In fact, he’d attended hangings that were far more joyful than this.
The entire affair reminded him all-too-much of another wedding some years past—his own.
Lianae stood dutifully beside her new husband, her expression sullen and full of—in Jaime’s estimation—what appeared to be regret.