Chapter 21
“ Y ou are certain?”
“The runes do not lie,” she said. “And they have revealed themselves to me this day.”
Darien took a deep breath and, jaw clenching, turned to the men. “We must go to Wallingford.”
“And tell the empress what, precisely?” Roland asked.
How often had Darien’s father found ways to support decisions which were prompted by Liana’s mother’s visions? For so long he wanted to forge a new path, one that was not in service to the visions. What he’d failed to understand was the bond between the earls and their advisers. It was not blindly taking Liana’s counsel, but utilizing her skills to reach a conclusion.
But he’d not do it alone or with Liana in the shadows.
“What do you advise?” Darien asked her.
With her surprise evident, Liana looked from him to the others, men Darien trusted and respected. He would have her do the same. “Your words will be welcomed,” he said.
Sir Eamon gestured for her to sit at the table, and Darien held out the seat for her to do so.
Head held high, Liana thought for a moment before speaking.
“There have been nearly fifteen years of armed combat, and in that time, neither King Stephen nor Empress Matilda have achieved outright victory in support of their claim to the throne. Meanwhile, our country has seen a breakdown that has allowed rebel barons to acquire power.”
“Especially,” he added, supporting her words, “in the north and East Anglia. None could argue otherwise.”
Liana nodded as Sir Eamon and Roland listened.
“The Church wishes for peace. The people wish for peace. Naming her son as heir to the king could very well bring such peace for all.”
Sir Eamon sat back, crossing his arms. “We just received word that the countercastles the king has built at Wallingford have been fruitful.”
“But Henry has launched a counterattack and a major battle is now expected,” Roland added.
“It will not be a simple matter to convince either party of this as a path forward but?—”
Darien stopped talking, seeing Liana’s expression. He knew what it meant and had seen such resolve in her before. Her hesitancy to speak further foretold what she was about to say.
He nodded his encouragement.
Liana steeled herself. “It has already been foretold. Henry Curtmantle will become the king of England. He will be Henry II.”
Darien was so proud of her. It was more than Liana’s belief in her visions, but that she was willing to voice that belief aloud. He willed Eamon and Roland to trust her as he did. The two men exchanged glances as Darien held his breath.
Sir Eamon stood. He was one of the few men at Castle Blackwood with the authority to turn Liana’s vision into action.
“We leave for Wallingford at once. Darien, Roland, you will ask Gareth to choose a contingency of twenty. The four of you included, of course. I will brief the others.”
“At once,” Roland asked. “Daybreak?”
Eamon raised his brows. Darien understood the instructor’s meaning and he suspected Roland did as well.
“Many thanks for your willingness,” Eamon said to Liana as he also stood, Liana and Darien doing so as well, and strode toward the door. “To share your vision with us.”
“Godspeed,” she said as Eamon left.
Darien and Roland looked at one another.
“I will speak to Gareth,” Roland said, following Darien. “To not tarry.”
Nodding to Liana, he too left.
“You are incredible,” he said, meaning it. “How did this happen?”
Liana told him of her reading, the runes she drew and how she connected them. But he could sense there was more.
“What are you not telling me?”
Her pause gave Darien further evidence he was right. But instead of saying more, she shook her head. “There will be time for that. It seems ‘at once’ means you are leaving right away?”
He could no longer be so close without touching her. Darien pulled Liana into his arms, and she came willingly. His lips settled on hers, as if they were meant to do so. Soon he was kissing her without abandon, his lips moving down to her neck and then lower. When he reached the mark that he’d first spotted that day in her cottage and had been unable to look away from since, he kissed that too.
Reluctantly, some time later, he pulled away, wishing the eve they planned at the midday meal would come to pass. Instead, by nightfall, he and his comrades would be well on their way to Wallingford.
“I wish I could come with you.”
He wished it too. “It will be much too dangerous. We ride into the midst of this war.”
“Which means it will be dangerous for you as well.”
Darien said nothing, not wishing to confirm her words as they were very much true.
“You could be ending a war,” he said.
“I see only what already will come to pass.”
“But perhaps seeing it makes it happen sooner?”
“Perhaps.”
He would say more, but Darien could not find the words. How could he tell her that nothing would please him more than for Liana to become his wife when, in doing so, she would be introduced to court society, with scrutiny and questions about her family’s background and skills inevitable? If she became his wife, people would be far more observant of her actions, and her identity as a seer would not stay secret long. The only solution he’d been able to devise would be controlling the narrative.
To tell them first.
But that would be asking Liana to do the one thing she feared most.
So instead, he kissed her one last time. “I will return to Castle Blackwood as soon as I am able. And we will talk. Of us. Our future. You have my word.”
“Godspeed, Sir Darien of Crimson Hollow. May we meet again under a more united England.”
Leaving that chamber, leaving her, was the hardest thing Darien had ever done in his life.