Chapter Seven #3
Kirk nodded faintly, thoughts still on Mara as he ran his fingers through his dark hair.
He’d hardly slept all night thinking of her.
“Better still, I plan to solicit our allies for support. Prepare a small party to accompany me to Quernmore Castle. After Edmund’s marriage, I shall ride north and ask Lord le Vay for military commitment.
The man owes us after we aided him in ridding his territory of gypsies last year. ”
Niles opened the door. “Ah, yes, Edmund’s marriage,” he shook his head. “I heard yesterday that Johanne sent for the priest. Going through with this rather quickly and unobtrusively, are they not?”
“Edmund simply wants to be done with it, I think.”
“What is going to happen when Lady Micheline realizes her husband is sharing his bed with his sister?”
Kirk shook his head with disgust. “God only knows. For Edmund’s sake, he had better be kind to the woman. She’s an extremely decent woman, far too decent for Edmund.”
The corridor was heavy with smoke as they stepped into it, the result of low-burning torches. “So you are Lady Micheline’s protector as well, are you?” Niles smiled knowingly. “How chivalrous. The little hellion certainly has you wrapped around her finger.”
Kirk couldn’t deny the truth. No matter how much he wanted to.
*
The priest from Crosby was a tall, thin man with a hooked nose.
He looked rather unassuming standing before Micheline and Edmund, wedding the two as if he were simply carrying on a conversation rather than a wedding mass.
Clad in pale yellow brocade that had been her mother’s finest dress, Micheline stood regally as the dreaded union took place.
Edmund yawned, sighed, and picked his nose as the mass was intoned. Johanne was amazingly attentive on her brother’s right, while Mara, Lady Valdine and Lady Wanda stood silent just behind Micheline. Niles, Corwin and Kirk brought up the rear.
Mara could feel Kirk standing behind her, her stomach twisting painfully as the priest conducted the mass.
Niles had escorted Micheline to the grand hall for the ceremony while Mara had been left in the company of Lady Valdine and Lady Wanda.
Kirk was nowhere to be found and nearly missed the ceremony altogether, rushing in from the bailey at the last moment clad in worn battle armor.
Mara had been aching since last night to catch a glimpse of him.
But the moment she heard his voice, she turned her attention to the priest and refused to look in his direction.
Miserably, she listened as her sister wed a man the entire castle thought to be a murderer while Kirk’s presence seemed to creep all over her, invading her senses and mind.
She should have been focused on Micheline but found she could not concentrate.
Even this morning, helping her sister dress, her attention had been obviously diverted.
Micheline never did find out what had happened, what had made Mara cry all night, but she suspected the reason.
When Kirk did not appear first thing in the morning to greet them, her suspicions were confirmed.
The ceremony was over as quickly as it began.
Edmund turned away from the priest, asking Kirk to pay the man as he cast a reluctant glance to his pink-cheeked bride.
With a weak wave of his hand, he summoned the woman to follow and quit the hall with Johanne on his heels.
Chagrinned and miserable, Micheline struggled to remain composed as the knights and ladies congratulated her.
Kirk finished paying the priest, watching as Mara and Micheline lost themselves in private conversation. They held hands tightly, Mara whispering something he couldn’t hear. But the compassion on her face, the ache for her sister, spoke volumes and Kirk felt himself weakening.
Even if she was a hellion, a willful wench with an uncontrollable mouth, she was still the most beautiful, sensitive woman he had ever met.
Her untamed words had always been in defense of her sister, or another worthy cause, never selfish or trite.
If there was one thing Mara le Bec was not, it was self-centered. The woman had a heart of gold.
Aye, he had been angry at her last night.
Angry that she had proven her control over him, control he had freely given.
If he should be angry at anyone, it should be himself; he was the one who allowed himself to become smitten with her.
Smitten enough to the point of falling in love with the bright-eyed beauty.
The grand hall cleared, Niles and Corwin escorting Lady Valdine and Lady Wanda into the solar.
The wedding had taken place after the morning meal and the servants were eager to prepare the hall for the nooning feast, but Mara and Micheline remained huddled together, ignoring all else around them, as Kirk hovered several feet away.
When the wait became excessive, Kirk gently cleared his throat.
“Lady de Cleveley,” he addressed Micheline softly. “Your husband awaits, madam.”
Micheline was crying. As Kirk approached, she wiped her face quickly and struggled to regain her composure. “I… I know,” she whispered. Then, her pale eyes turned to him. “Will you be escorting me to him?”
Kirk nodded faintly. “It would be an honor.”
Mara was still clutching Micheline, her lovely face dark. “I shall go with you and help you prepare.”
Kirk shook his head, reaching down to dislodge the sisters’ grip. He did not want Mara near Edmund or Johanne, irritating an already strained situation. “That will not be necessary, lady.”
Mara flared as he took Micheline away from her. “Of course it is necessary,” she snapped. “She needs me.”
He refused to look at her, focused on Micheline. “Are you ready, my lady? We shall take the long route if it pleases you.”
Micheline managed to smile weakly. “How long? Hours?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “By way of Paris if you like.”
Micheline laughed softly, eased by Kirk’s gentle manner. “Paris will not be necessary, I think. Mayhap it is best if I simply get this over with.”
Mara couldn’t stand it; she turned away, closing her eyes against the injustice about to happen. “Connaught, if you have any sympathy at all, you will take her back to our chamber and bolt the door,” she hissed.
Kirk gazed at her dark head. “Lord Edmund is her husband, Lady Mara. He has every right to his bride.” Putting Micheline’s hand on his elbow, he smiled encouragingly as he led her away. “Have you ever been to Paris, my lady?”
Mara listened to their conversation as they neared the stairs, her heart shattering for her sister’s plight.
She could only imagine the horrors Micheline would be going through in the next few hours.
And Kirk was speaking so gently to her, as if nothing in the world was awry.
She adored and hated him all the more for it.
She heard the conversation fade as they mounted the stairs.
She sat in the vacant hall for some time after that, pondering the misery the future had brought.
For both of them. When Kirk did not return after a nominal amount of time, she rose and went into the kitchens in search of her four little friends.
Wondering, and hoping, if they could distract her from her sorrows.