Chapter Twenty-Six - Allies
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Allies
ROSAMUND SPLASHED HER face and dragged a hairbrush through her hair.
If she was to face them all, then she would need her armour.
Tossing aside the drab clothes she had donned the past few days she reached into her wardrobe for something more appropriate.
There had been a variety of dresses to choose from, all untouched, unworn, waiting.
However, she selected the one she could slip on easily herself, and with the fewest fastenings.
Before she left the room, she caught her reflection in the mirror and smiled.
Gone was the ghost of Blackthorn Hall. Gone was the frightened girl that had first arrived in this house.
She felt a surge of confidence as she looked at the way the black and emerald silk flowed out behind her. She could do this.
She headed to the conservatory and was surprised to see that the room looked fuller than expected.
Gnash had done as she asked and invited the whole household.
Mrs Hawthorn’s concerned expression melted away to joy when she saw Rosamund standing in the doorway, dressed in Dorian’s colours.
Relief was awash on Rowan and Elira’s faces as they regarded her, and Corvin maintained his typical stoic expression, though with the barest hint of a smile.
Wulf and Dorian’s wolfhounds launched themselves up the stairs towards her.
“Rosamund!” Wulf had cried, stopping himself just in time before enveloping her in a crushing embrace, instead bowing low to her, “it is good to see you, my lady. We have been worried.”
Acher, Styx and Leth had no such restraint. The wolfhounds jumped at her, nuzzling into her, their worried whines another stab in her heart.
We will get him back.
She gave each of them a scratch behind the ears, and whilst they did not move away from her, they began to settle into their familiar formation. The same triangle they would make behind Dorian.
“Glad to see you back to your senses lady,” said a brusque voice from behind Wulf.
She looked over the knight’s shoulder to see Margot, Hugo and Anders; the latter still in his mining leathers.
There were a few other faces amongst them that were familiar, people that Dorian had introduced on their many trips into The Veil.
All of them had come. With a stab of guilt she struggled to remember their names.
He had known them all by name. I will too.
“I’m sorry it took me so long,” said Rosamund as she looked at each of them, “I…I am sorry for my absence. I have been neglectful, of all of you, and I look to remedy this.”
There was a murmuring of approval from the people of the Veil, Hugo gave her an encouraging smile as he bounced Meredith on his hip. She had expected hostility, wariness even. What reason did they have to trust her after what she had done?
No more secrets.
“I have made mistakes,” she admitted, and whilst there was a chorus of denial from those gathered she held up a hand, “you welcomed me into your home, and I put that all at risk to save my brothers.”
There was no murmur this time, no nods or encouraging looks.
She pressed on, “When I first came here, I thought I had lost everything. But here in Blackthorn Hall, in the Veil, I found something beautiful, something worth protecting, worth fighting for. Dorian shared that with me, placing it into my hands to care for the same way I did these plants,” she gestured to the conservatory, “and…I didn’t honour that the way I should have.
I asked him - you - to trust me, whilst I went behind your backs to save a family that is already lost to me.
Dorian tried to give me a new family, and I risked that for brothers who are likely as good as dead.
I am the reason Prince Dorian was arrested, but I give you my word,” she raised her father’s ring, “as a Valehart and as the betrothed of Prince Dorian Mordane, I will do everything within my power to bring him back to you.”
To me.
The silence stretched on and through her panic she could not tell which way the room was feeling.
Wulf, normally an open book of emotions was unusually unreadable except for the pained expression on his face as he considered her words.
In the end it was Elira that stepped forward, the soft taps of her shoes echoing around the room as she came to stand before Rosamund.
The girl looked up at her and taking a deep breath said, “I…am…ready…to help.”
Elira smiled at her, relieved and pleased to have made it through her sentence without a stutter.
This girl who could barely speak to her, standing in front of a crowd to declare her loyalty.
Rosamund could have burst into tears again, and nearly did when Mrs Hawthorn stepped forward to take her hands in her own, “of course we are dear,” she beamed up at Rosamund, “they were your brothers, what were you supposed to do?”
“Dorian would understand,” said Tomas gruffly, and Rowan nodded enthusiastically.
The image of Dorian’s horrified face rose up in her mind.
Even if he doesn’t, I will save him.
Before she could lose herself in that image Sir Wulf had stepped forward and removed his sword from its sheath.
Rosamund forced herself not to take a step back, though as he approached her body tensed.
He knelt before her, holding the sword outstretched in his hands, “by my sword and claw Lady Valehart, I await your command.”
She heaved a sigh of relief, and he looked up at her with a grin and a wink, “Thank you, Sir Wulf.”
One by one, the voices began to rise in agreement. She sought out Margot and Anders in particular and saw the two grinning back at her as Hugo approached her, “As I tell Meredith, everyone makes mistakes Rosie. It’s what we do afterwards that matters.”
Her mother would have been appalled at the way she flung her arms around the man and the young girl, holding them tightly in a most undignified manner, “Thank you,” she mumbled into his shoulder as he patted her back with his free hand and Meredith patted her head.
“Alright, alright,” said Margot as she folded her arms, “the question still remains. How, are we going to get him back?”
“Easy. I storm the Onyx tower, kill everyone, carry him out,” said Sir Wulf as if this was the simplest solution.
“No,” said Corvin and Margot at the same time, Sir Wulf let out a ‘hrrumph’.
Rosamund crossed to the large table that had been brought into the room, weighed down with maps of the city and legal papers.
Corvin cleared his throat and gestured for Rosamund to take a seat.
She hesitated, looking at Dorian’s chair, but moved towards it and sat down.
Most of the others followed suit whilst others hovered at the sides, peering over her shoulder where they could.
Dorian’s wolfhounds remained by the door, sitting back on their haunches.
As she looked around the room, she spotted that someone was missing, “where is Marianne?”
Before anyone could respond a voice called out along the corridor, “I’m here. There was someone else I needed to collect.”
The crowd parted and Rosamund saw a figure walking alongside the Princess, the white hood of their cloak raised up and over their head as Marianne guided them along by their arm. Foolishly she hoped that she would see long chestnut coloured hair tumbling from that hood.
Elswyth, she thought with a pain in her chest.
What happened to her? Where was she? Thoughts of what Bastian might have done to her plagued her, but she knew it would help neither of them to dwell on it now. She had to focus on the task at hand. She had to get Dorian back.
Though it was not the older woman, Rosamund was not disappointed when instead she saw a pair amber eyes instead.
“I have to say, I do not enjoy your husband’s method of transport,” said Emrys to the Princess as he removed the silk from his eyes and took off his cloak with a flourish, “especially not blindfolded.”
Dorian’s wolfhounds sniffed curiously at their feet before returning to their previous positions.
“I wasn’t sure how much you are allowed to see,” said Marianne nervously as she looked out at the now suddenly tense room, “we uh…we can wait outside?”
Rosamund looked at the people around her, they’re eyes fixed on the Princess and the other knight with more hostility than she had seen from any of them before.
To them, Marianne and Emrys were the enemy.
The very people that Dorian sought to keep out of The Veil.
A dangerous, corrupting influence who had now invaded their master’s home.
Marianne’s eyes darted around as she drew in on herself, stepping a little behind Emrys.
The dark-haired man regarded each of the people there with great interest, his eyes lingering on an unusually enraged Wulf, but made no move to draw closer to the table.
To Rosamund, they were one of the few people that had been kind to her since her arrival.
She was painfully aware her judgement on such things had not been the best these past few months.
However, deep in her gut, when she looked at the two of them standing there, she knew she could trust them.
Marianne had come to wake her. Emrys had helped her at Lavinia’s, had known of the corruption that ran through House Mordane.
And she would need every ally at their disposal if they were to succeed.
“Let them through,” said Rosamund rising to her feet.
Margot and Wulf both shot her a respective frown and look of shock, but both stepped aside when Emrys gently pulled Marianne towards the table. With another ‘hrumph’ Wulf offered Marianne his chair at the table, and she let out a meek, “thank you.”
“Forgive our intrusion,” said Emrys where he stood on Marianne’s other side, “but when Marianne explained the situation, I thought it might be good to have some help on the inside, as it were,” he turned to Rosamund and addressed her directly, “Aurelian and Isolde would be here if they could.”