Chapter Twelve #4
“Welcome to Lioncross, my lord,” she said. Then, she turned to her husband. “Did you need to speak with me?”
Christopher continued to hold her hand, not putting it against his cheek. “Indeed,” he said, eyeing Jax. “It would seem that de Velt has a problem. A terrible man has abducted his daughter and he has asked me to mediate. What do you think of that?”
Dustin was immediately swamped with sympathy and outrage. It was written all over her face. She looked at Jax.
“I am so terribly sorry to hear that,” she said sincerely. “How old is your daughter?”
Something about the woman reminded him of Kellington, although he couldn’t put his finger on it. There was something in her eyes, a flame of strength that burned within the depths. Allaston had that flame, too.
“She has seen nineteen years, my lady,” he replied. “She was a novice nun at Alberbury Priory.”
Distress creased Dustin’s features. “She is so young,” she said sadly. “Who is this man who has abducted her?”
“A mercenary,” Christopher answered softly. “He is using the girl to lure Jax to him. He has a vendetta against the man, so de Velt has asked me to intervene. He wants his daughter back and wishes to keep his life in the process.”
“Of course he does,” Dustin said vehemently. “What does he want you to do?”
“Talk to the mercenary, I believe,” he said, looking at Jax. “Is that what you meant?”
Jax nodded. “I was hoping you would.”
“Of course he will,” Dustin said before Christopher could reply. “If he will not, I will go in his stead. We have two young daughters, my lord. I can only imagine my agony if one of my daughters was in danger. Turn me loose on the man and I guarantee you shall have your daughter back.”
There was such fire in the woman. Jax was rather taken aback at her passion, looking to de Lohr to see if the woman was serious.
From the look on de Lohr’s face, it was evident that she was.
Christopher kissed his wife’s hand again before gently pushing her back in the direction of the stairs that led to the living rooms above.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” he said with mock patience because he was trying to get rid of her. “Before I answered de Velt, I wanted to see what you thought of it. Thank you for your input.”
Dustin wouldn’t leave so readily. She was still looking at de Velt. “My husband will make sure he pays for the crime of abducting your daughter,” she said. “Have no fear that he will do what he can.”
“Thank you, my lady,” Christopher said, more loudly so she would get the hint and leave the room. He turned to smile at her to make sure she left before he continued the conversation. “Your advice is priceless. We thank you very much.”
Dustin was still fired up over the abduction of the young girl, muttering threats to the abductor as she left the hall. Both Christopher and Jax listened to her as she quit the room and headed up the steps to the upper floors. When she was out of earshot, Christopher turned to Jax.
“She tends to get excited over things,” he said, “but I must have her approval before I do anything and I had to make it seem as if it were her decision. Otherwise, she would give me extreme grief for involving myself in someone else’s battle.”
Jax laughed softly. He couldn’t help it. “Your wife and my wife are cut out of the same cloth,” he said. “I understand completely.”
Christopher grinned but soon sobered as he thought on the task that lay before him. After a moment, he spoke.
“There is something more you should know about this mercenary,” he said. “I assume he gave you a name when he sent his missive to you about your daughter?”
Jax nodded. “Bretton de Llion.”
Christopher drew in a long, thoughtful breath.
“I heard that name also,” he said, “and it was familiar to me, so I contacted a vassal whom I believed to be related to the name. It turns out that the name Bretton de Llion was the name of my vassal’s cousin, a cousin who lived at Four Crosses Castle when you attacked it.
De Llion was the name of the garrison commander and Bretton was his son.
We thought that somehow the boy survived the siege, which makes sense if this mercenary who calls himself Bretton de Llion is out for revenge against you.
It would make him the son of a man you killed. ”
Jax appeared rather surprised by the revelation.
He thought back to those dark and bloody days, thinking of Four Crosses Castle, which was the last castle he confiscated along the Marches.
He had put one of his best generals in charge of it, Apollo l’Ancresse.
The man still lived there with his wife and children and grandchildren.
Unlike his other general, Orion, who no longer lived at Cloryn, Apollo still inhabited the castle he was assigned after the conquest. But along with that information, Jax also remembered something else.
“Four Crosses,” he muttered. “I recall the place very well. A big castle with no moat and a big gatehouse. You say that this mercenary is a survivor of that siege?”
Christopher nodded. “That is the suspicion.”
Jax thought hard on that possibility. “Four Crosses was different from the other castles I confiscated,” he said. “It was the last one so mayhap I was feeling a bit more lenient because we did not kill everyone. We took some men and forced them into servitude.”
Christopher listened with interest. “Do you have any of these men left in your service?”
Jax shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “Those men have either died or have moved on. One man, a knight from Four Crosses, actually serves de Vesci. He is an older man and somewhat diminished mentally from a blow he received to the head during the siege of Four Crosses, but he is as strong as an ox. In fact, de Vesci keeps him as a bodyguard of sorts. The man can barely speak a full sentence but he can still kill.”
“What is the knight’s name?”
“John Morgan.”
Christopher stared at him a moment. Then, his eyebrows lifted. “Morgan de Llion was the name of the commander at Four Crosses,” he said, rather shocked at the potential implications. “Is it possible that de Llion’s father lived?”
Jax was rather surprised at the implications, too. “I suppose it is,” he said. “When we found the knight, he was incoherent. He gave his name as Morgan and we thought it was his surname.”
“Is it possible it was his first name?”
Jax shrugged. “It is possible, but you know as well as I do that Morgan is a very common surname in Wales.”
Christopher was thinking many different things at that moment, not the least of which was utter neutralization of the mercenary and the return of Jax’s daughter.
He was a man who thought quickly on his feet because his life often depended on it.
The more he pondered the thought, the more enthusiastic about it he became.