Chapter Eighteen #2
Victor nodded, glancing back at his collection of weary and worn men, including Trevor and his lover.
The lover was an older man, a seasoned soldier, and along with William du Reims, whose health had suffered greatly in captivity, the three of them kept vigilant watch over the men.
Victor eyed his group of weary and beaten men, now exhausted after a two day march south.
“I’ve not told them anything, you know,” he said quietly. “I was not going to say a word until you told me to.”
Devlin nodded, appreciating the trust. “Now is the time,” he said. “Let them know what is to happen. I will listen to what you say.”
Victor went to his men, collecting them around him, and tactfully explained the situation they were about to face.
Everyone either seemed confused or apathetic about keeping Devlin’s identity a secret, and Devlin watched Trevor’s face in particular when Victor discussed the situation regarding Lady Emllyn or, as he suspected, his daughter, Cate.
The man’s eyes widened with surprise and then narrowed with confusion.
After a few moments as the news sank in, he shook his head with disbelief and rolled his eyes. Devlin nearly grinned.
In truth, all of the men seemed rather concerned for her, enough so that they were willing to lie about de Bermingham’s true identity. The lady’s peril was enough to guarantee their compliance on the matter. With his men informed and his task complete, Victor approached Devlin.
“Everyone is in agreement now,” he said. “Any further instructions?”
Devlin shook his head as he gazed at the settlement in the distance. He was hesitant to speak what was on his mind, the last few words before Victor faced an uncertain situation, but he felt he had to say something. It would weigh far too heavily upon him if he did not.
“If… if you do see Emllyn and confirm that she is your daughter,” he said quietly. “Do not… that is to say, I would rather that she…”
Victor cut him off. “I will not say a word to her about assuming the Lady Emllyn’s identity,” he said.
“But if she sees you and I together, and she knows you have freed us from your vault, then she will assume we have spoken about her and she must further assume that I told you of the Lady Emllyn’s death. She is a bright girl.”
Devlin nodded, his eyes averted. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was feeling at the moment; he was excited to see Emllyn, so much so that his hands were sweating.
He couldn’t even begin to describe the longing in his heart, waiting to be quenched by the first vision of his angel in days.
Everything leads me to thee, he thought to himself.
But in the next breath, he wanted to take her over his knee so badly and spank her for lying to him that he could hardly think straight. It was an odd combination.
“I know she is,” he said. “I would rather she confess her identity to me of her own free will rather than you force it out of her.”
“As you wish.”
With that, Victor begged his leave and headed on foot to de Cleveley’s settlement while Devlin and the other knights took the group back into the forest that bordered Glenteige from the west. They would stay out of sight until Victor made his determinations.
Meanwhile, as they waited for Victor to accomplish his directive, it afforded Devlin a closer look at the knight Emllyn had risked her life for.
Trevor was very efficient, helping settle the men and making comfortable the ones who had suffered the most. He even sat du Reims down because the man was in no shape to be on his feet.
He seemed very concerned for the others, a show of compassion that was surprising from an arrogant young knight.
When everyone was settled and breaking out the last of the jerky and cheese, Trevor approached Devlin.
“The men are settled, my lord,” he said politely. “Would you eat with us?”
Devlin inspected the man; he’d grown thinner since the first time he’d seen him in the vault. He could just picture Emllyn throwing herself at the handsome young knight and the man’s utter resistance to female company. After a moment, he shook his head.
“Nay,” he replied. “But take what nourishment you can. It has been a two day march and I do not know when we will be supplied with more food.”
Trevor simply nodded politely and turned away. But Devlin stopped him; he found he couldn’t help himself.
“I understand that the Lady Em… I mean, the Lady Catherine was somewhat of your shadow,” he said.
Trevor looked a little surprised by the question. And then he looked nervous. “Did Victor tell you that?”
Devlin shook his head. “The woman who introduced herself to me as the Lady Emllyn did.”
Trevor was at a loss for words. But when he spoke, there was both concern and awe in his tone. “Then… then it is true she stowed away on Kildare’s armada?”
“To follow you, I was told.”
“But… in God’s name, why?”
Devlin shrugged. “She told me that she had followed her lover because she wanted to prove to him that she could be a good wife,” he said. Then, he wriggled his eyebrows ironically. “Why did you never tell her that you were not interested in women?”
Trevor was nervous still and he hesitated before answering.
He knew what Devlin meant; it was obvious in his expression, but it wasn’t something he was keen on discussing with a stranger.
Still, there was no point in avoiding the subject.
It wasn’t as if he’d been hiding it since he and Nils had been joyfully reunited after their release from Black Castle’s vault.
Nils had been in one cell and he had been in the other.
They’d hardly been able to touch each other through the bars and crowded conditions.
“I did tell her,” he finally said. “But I did not use the correct terms, I suppose. I said I had no interest in a wife, but she seemed to take it as a challenge.”
“She would.”
“Then you have come to know her, my lord?”
Devlin nodded. Then, he laughed softly. “Have no fear,” he said. “When I see her again, I will not tell her why you had no interest in marriage. But take heart; I have a feeling she is no longer interested in you. I believe she has moved on to bigger prey.”
Trevor’s dark eyebrows lifted in surprise. “She has?” he asked, relief in his voice. “If that is indeed true, then I would shake that man’s hand for doing me a great and important favor.”
Devlin just looked at him. Then, he slowly extended his hand. Trevor looked at it with confusion.
“I do not understand, my lord.”
Devlin’s lips twitched with a grin. “You said you wanted to shake the hand of the man who is doing you a great and important favor.”
Trevor still stared at it. And stared. Then, realization dawned; his eyes widened as he reached out to take Devlin’s big, white hand.
“You, my lord?”
“It would seem so.”
“But… but I do not understand! How?”
“How, indeed.”
“And… and you are agreeable to this?”
“Aye.”
Trevor’s expression washed with one of great pleasure and he shook Devlin’s hand firmly. In fact, he was nearly overjoyed to shake it.
“Then the rumors of your courage are true,” he said enthusiastically. “You are the bravest man I have ever met!”