Chapter Twenty-Three #3
Spencer looked down at his liege. “I realize that,” he said.
Exhausted, ill, shocked at the turn of events, he clumsily sheathed his broadsword and slumped back against the wall.
“He did it to himself, Kirk. I have always known the man to be stubborn and willful, but never foolish. But… perhaps it is better this way.”
“What do you mean?” Kirk asked.
Spencer’s focus moved to Lionel, crumpled on the floor.
“He was not being entirely selfish,” he said softly.
“I know it looks that way, but he confided in me recently that he was dying. He saw this marriage to Mara as his last chance to have a son to replace Michael and preserve his legacy, but it seemed as if whatever desperation he felt turned to madness over the past few days. He simply wasn’t himself.
It was the despair of a dying man, if that is of any comfort.
So perhaps it is better that he meet his end quickly rather than looking forward to months of agony as his life slipped away. ”
Kirk’s expression was serious. “Is this true?” he asked. “He was dying?”
“Aye.”
“Of what?”
“A mass in his belly. Already, his legs were growing numb and he was in great pain. Ask the castle physic if you do not believe me.”
Kirk looked at Lionel’s crumpled form through new eyes. He sighed heavily. “Although I am not without sympathy, it still does not excuse what he surely must have put Mara through. If I had not returned when I did, she would be Lady le Vay.”
“That is true.”
“That selfish behavior is not the man I knew.”
“Nor I. Attribute it to his illness if you must.”
Kirk’s gaze moved to Mara. Still standing against the wall next to Spencer, her lower lip was trembling as she looked at the man she loved with all of her heart.
She dropped the fire poker and went to Kirk, collapsing into his embrace tearfully.
As they held one another, in exhaustion and in joy, far down the hall, Micheline poked her head out of the chamber with the twisted door.
The sudden silence in the corridor had prompted her to find out why.
“Kirk?” she called fearfully, seeing the collection of people at the end of the darkened corridor. “What has happened? Where is my sister?”
Mara let go of Kirk and ran down the hallway to her sister, sobbing as she threw herself into the woman’s embrace. The women hugged fiercely.
“Misha,” Mara wept. “I did not think I was going to ever see you again.”
Micheline smiled as she held her baby sister. “Of course you would see me again,” she said calmly, soothingly. “What has happened? Where is Lord le Vay?”
“Dead,” Kirk replied for Mara. “He is here, Misha, at my feet.”
Micheline could see a body in the dim hall. “Did… did you kill him because he married Mara?”
“He did not marry Mara. He did not have the chance.”
Micheline’s gaze lingered on Kirk before returning to her sister. Things were still confusing, but Kirk and Spencer were no longer fighting and she found that she was most grateful for that. In truth, she had been quite worried for Spencer.
“It would seem that there was a good deal of madness going on here at Quernmore,” she said to Mara. “Would you care to tell me all that has happened?”
Mara nodded, wiping at her eyes, but Kirk spoke from down the hall.
“She can tell you everything tonight at the wedding feast,” he said wearily, making his way down the hall and reaching out to collect Mara. “Right now, I understand there is a priest in the great hall. I intend he should marry Mara and I this very moment.”
Mara clutched his hand tightly, even tighter when he led her past Lionel as if afraid the man would rear up and grab her. Kirk took Mara and Micheline down to the great hall as Spencer, Wanda, and Valdine tended to Lord Lionel.
They found Lily tied to a chair near the mouth of the great hall, courtesy of her angry father.
Kirk untied her and tried to explain what had happened as gently as possible.
It wasn’t gentle enough; Lily burst into hysterical sobs and raced upstairs to find her father being cared for by Spencer and the twins.
Although she did not agree with what her father had done, she still loved him and wept bitterly over his accidental death. He was all the family she had left.
Lily stayed with her father’s body throughout the marriage ceremony between Mara and Kirk.
Mara, although joyful that she now had a new husband that she loved with all of her heart, was nonetheless distraught over her friend’s sadness and instead of a wedding night with her very exhausted husband, she sat with Lily all night, comforting her friend just as Lily had spent so much time comforting her. It was the right thing to do.
That night, the hellion finally grew up as her husband slept hard and dreamlessly in their marriage bed, snoring loud enough to rattle the doors. He missed his wife, of course, but he understood as well as encouraged her compassion towards the woman she had once hated jealously.
Now, there was no more jealousy or pain. The love that Kirk and Mara had for one another had come full circle and a bright future was on the horizon. No more horror, no more Darkland.
Kirk, as well as Mara, finally came to know peace.