Epilogue
“Cariad, here you are. There is something I want to give you.”
Katherine put down her quill and smiled. They had been back in Wales for a week and she had spent most of her days learning how to improve her writing—and all her nights learning how to pleasure her husband better. Both skills had benefited from the dedication.
“You must stop this,” she chided, standing up.
Every day it was a new surprise, a new present, a new experience.
The day they’d arrived, Katherine had found Mel waiting for her in her chamber.
Orders had been sent ahead that the maid who had befriended her would now be her lady in waiting.
The two women had fallen into each other’s arms. The following day, Siaspar had called the tailors back and commissioned three gowns to suit his new wife’s tastes.
The day after that, to her delight, he had taken her to the sea.
It had been the best day of her life. Soon, others would follow.
“I don’t know why I should stop, when it’s giving us both so much pleasure,” he purred in her ear.
Her cheeks went crimson. No doubt, he was alluding to what they had done in bed the night before. It had been naughty, shocking even. She had loved every moment.
“But this is different,” he added before she could say anything. “I had it done a few weeks ago, and I can finally give it to you.”
Siaspar opened his hand. Resting on his palm was a brooch in the shape of a dragonfly.
“Oh!” Katherine gasped. Wrought of gleaming silver, adorned with a mixture of blue glass and reddish orange stones, it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
“I promised myself I would give it to you when I was finally free to spend my life with you. Now that moment has come.” He stroked her cheek. “The blue matches the color in your eyes, you know, which is why I chose it.”
“It’s so beautiful. And what is this reddish stone on the wings?”
His lips curled up, as if delighted that she should have asked. “Jasper.”
She smiled. Of course. “How fitting.”
“Indeed. All you need now is something to pin it on,” he added. “And I have the very thing right here. Close your eyes.”
“No… Siaspar, it’s too much.”
“Wait until you have seen what it is before refusing.”
Heart thumping, Katherine waited. A moment later, something heavy and luxurious wrapped around her shoulders.
“Is this what I think it is?”
He gave a chuckle. “How am I supposed to answer this? I don’t know what you are thinking, do I? Open your eyes and see.”
Katherine smiled because she had already guessed what the incredible softness under her fingers was. A cloak. And not just any cloak. The warm color and the fox fur trimmings made it the most elegant she had ever seen.
“Do you like it?”
“I love it. It’s beautiful.”
Siaspar pinned the dragonfly brooch on the cloak to hold it in place. “Here. The dragonfly who captured a fox. How apt.”
Katherine sighed. “I cannot believe I’m about to say this but I’m grateful to Lady Malpas for what she made me do.”
It was clear from the tightening in Siaspar’s jaw that he could not agree. Nevertheless, he didn’t say anything. Katherine understood that this would be the last time the woman’s name was mentioned at Castell y Ddraig.
Unsurprisingly, given her less than endearing attitude, the fact that the master had returned home without his first wife had not raised any protest or even questions in the Welsh community.
The startling declaration that he had remarried already and that the woman he had chosen was none other than the scullion who had worked in the kitchen a few months ago, had not created the upheaval Katherine had feared.
Though she was English, as she was not a noblewoman, she was not seen as a threat, and her willingness to adapt to the ways of her future husband’s country had earned her the respect of everyone, mighty and lowly.
Master Owain had praised her intelligence and open-mindedness, Dewi had agreed that she was much more engaging than his friend’s sister, Cadell had been delighted to see that his advice had not caused his foster brother’s misery and the servants remembered her for a hard worker and guessed that she would always appreciate their efforts.
As for Gwyn the squire, his approval had been even easier to earn. Katherine had acquired a near holy status in his eyes since the day she had serendipitously, or so he thought, sent him to his master’s chamber, thereby ensuring he did not bleed to death.
“Fox. Llwynog,” Katherine said with a smile, stroking the soft fur running along the edge of the cloak. Her knowledge of Welsh had improved dramatically since Siaspar had taken to teaching her himself.
“Very good, yes, llwynog.” There was a wistful look in his eyes. “Do you know, that was the day I knew you were the woman for me.”
“The day I compared you to a fox?” That was unexpected to say the least. She gave a laugh then decided to tease him, something that was guaranteed to please.
“If I remember correctly, that day was also the first time you saw me in a gown that did not reek of smoke. Could you be that shallow, my lord?”
“No.” He drew her to him. “I had seen how pretty you were under the grime on that first day, despite my anger at what I thought was your deception and the smell of smoke was not so overpowering as to put me off. I had smelled your own scent in bed the night before, remember? When I bit your neck and marked you as mine.”
He nipped at the place on her collarbone where the bite had once been.
“So what changed that day?” Katherine, breathless. It was impossible for Siaspar to touch her without provoking a reaction in her whole body.
“My mother called me Llwynog when I was young, the only person to ever do so. She said I reminded her of the animal.”
Something inside her melted. “I see.”
“Indeed. You couldn’t possibly have known that, yet you told me the exact same thing that day. It was as if you had seen to the true nature of me, as if no one could ever know me better than you. And you are now my perfect companion, the little vixen to my fox.”
“I thought I was a dragonfly?” Katherine challenged, brushing a finger over the brooch at her chest.
“You are everything that is beautiful, and more.”
His eyes were burning hot, the need in them urgent. Desire rose in her chest, obliterating everything.
“Make love to me, husband. Here, now. Give me little fox pups to love. Unruly, playful, a mischievous lot.”
“Of course, mischievous. Who would want dull, predictable children? Not me.”
“No. Me, neither.”
But before he could sweep her into his arms, the door of the solar burst open. Wild-eyed, Cadell stormed into the room.
“Have you heard?” he asked, addressing Siaspar. “Tell me you’ve heard. Tell me it is true?”
Katherine had never seen the man so agitated. She exchanged a glance with her husband. What was happening? An attack? Were the English coming to seize the castle? But then why did Cadell want it to be true?
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Siaspar said, sounding as worried as she felt. “What is it?”
“Lady Johanna arrived at Bryn Glas last night.”
Though Katherine had never heard of the woman or indeed the castle, it was clear from the glint in the man’s eyes that she was the woman who sent his heart aflame.
The tension in her chest relaxed. They were not under threat. Only Cadell’s heart was in danger.
“And?” her husband asked, crossing his arms over his chest. She could tell he was cautious, unsure this was good news or not.
“And she’s now a widow.”
Coming Next
Cadell—the Dragon