Chapter Fourteen #3
“Lady Emilia Hogsthorpe and I were kindred spirits,” he said, barely audible.
“She was a mission and nothing more. I was supposed to infiltrate the Hogsthorpe ranks and ingratiate myself to her, but I ended up falling in love with her. When the critical moment came and a particularly large group of mercenaries landed at Hogsthorpe’s bay, I delayed in sending word to de Lohr because by that time, she knew who I was.
She knew I was there to destroy her father’s plans.
She begged me not to—and for a brief moment, I surrendered. ”
Aidric was calmer, but he wasn’t entirely sympathetic. Not yet, anyway. “Who told her your identity?”
“I did.”
Aidric didn’t have much more to say to that.
Gerard had just confessed something unimaginably shameful in a vulnerable moment and Aidric was starting to understand his actions a little better now.
Not that he agreed with them, but at least he understood them.
He patted Orion’s arms, still locked around his chest, and Orion immediately released him.
“Gerard, I understand what happened to you and I am sorry that it happened,” he said. “But there is nothing on heaven or earth—not even a woman—who could convince me to go against my oath. It just isn’t possible.”
Gerard smiled thinly and turned to face him.
“That was what I thought,” he said. “But I did. I just do not want to see you make the same mistake because mine not only ruined my heart, it nearly ruined my career. Should you fall under the Jewel’s spell, it could ruin your very life.
My task was simply to prevent an invasion.
Yours is to prevent the death of the king himself. ”
Aidric had to think on that. He held Gerard’s gaze for a few moments before turning away, going back to the table, and sitting heavily in his chair. Slowly, everyone resumed their seats, but their attention was on Aidric, including Edward.
He watched the captain of his guard carefully.
“Aidric,” he said after several long moments, “I have faith that you will not be swayed, not even by one of the Seven Jewels of London, but Gerard has a point. A man can only be tempted so far. After that, he is falling down a cliff and there is no way for him to stop himself.”
Aidric sighed, a sharp sound. “I barely know the woman, my lord,” he said, lifting his hand in a helpless gesture.
“Aye, I am attracted to her. I told de Velt that, and I can see that it was a mistake because he wants to think that the same thing that happened to him will happen to me. That makes him overly cautious when he should not be. You should know that I spoke with the lady after the conversation Gerard and Orion witnessed. She is not, in any way, asking me to help her with an assassination—and from the conversation Gerard and Orion heard, they can attest to that. At no time did she request any such thing.”
Edward looked at the other knights, who shook their heads. “She did not, my lord,” Gerard said. “The most she asked for was his help to escape Cambridge.”
Edward considered that. “So she only wants assistance in escaping the man?” he said. “We can provide that. She is a Jewel, after all, a valuable commodity. There are a half-dozen warlords I could gift her to. She does not need to be with Cambridge.”
Aidric didn’t address that particular statement.
If he didn’t like the fact that Cleodora was with Cambridge, he didn’t like it any more that another warlord might get his hands on her.
He’d just told the king he wasn’t in love with her, only attracted to her, but that attraction was very strong.
He certainly didn’t want to see her with another man.
“She does not want to be a Jewel at all, my lord,” he said. “She wants to escape to her father’s lands in France. She wants to live a normal life.”
Edward’s focus turned in his direction. “And do you want to live a normal life with her?”
Aidric looked away, uncomfortable. “As I said before,” he said, “I barely know the woman enough to make that kind of statement.”
“But if you could?”
Aidric looked at him. “In a world where all was right and fair, then I would be honored to live my life with a woman like that,” he said. “But it is not possible.”
All eyes were on Aidric now. It was clear that Gerard wanted to say more, but he waited a few moments before speaking. Somehow, that brief moment after Aidric declared a futile relationship didn’t seem the right time to say what he wanted to say. On the other hand, this was business.
The king needed to know everything.
“My lord, you should also know that Aidric had a very astute solution to the situation of Cambridge’s desire to eliminate you,” he said.
“The Guard of Six and the Executioner Knights are tasked with one primary goal—to ensure that the kings of England live long and healthy lives. So long as Cambridge is alive and well, he will always be a threat now that we know he intends to move against you. If the lady fails or refuses to do it, he will simply find someone else if he is truly determined to see his plan through. I think that is a fair statement.”
Aidric was simply looking at him, not agreeing, wondering what more he was going to say that might possibly be offensive to him yet again, while Edward and Orion nodded.
“It is,” Edward said. “It is my understanding that my return to England has ruined Cambridge’s hopes of ruling his own little empire, so his desire to eliminate me is not surprising. And it will not stop if he is truly determined.”
“Exactly,” Gerard said. “It was Aidric’s idea to turn the tables on the lady if she truly intended to use him to get to you.
Since Cambridge is a threat we cannot tolerate, especially if we know he will not stop until his objective is achieved, then it was Aidric’s thought that we use the lady to get to him instead. ”
Edward’s eyebrows lifted. “Brilliant,” he said. “She could be in the same room with him and he would never know she was there to harm him until it was too late. Aidric, that is a magnificent suggestion.”
Aidric didn’t feel so magnificent. After the conversation he’d had earlier with Cleodora, he felt like a fiend using her for his own purposes, for the dictum his duty required—protecting the king at all costs—but there was also a logic to that method of thinking.
She was the most logical choice if they truly wanted to do away with Cambridge’s threat.
Even he understood that.