CHAPTER TWELVE
‡
A Price Too High
He met them on the road.
A frantic young man, a portion of a finger, and a message to Ghislaine from her brother was all it took to bring a two-thousand-man army to a standstill.
Setting out from Westerham, Ghislaine had been permitted to ride up near Gaetan, which was evidently quite rare. Aramis rode behind her and off to the left so every time she looked over her shoulder, he was there glaring at her. And then he would flash a smile and look away, letting her know that he really wasn’t glaring at her. Something about besting the man the night before had made him something of her watch dog, or worshipper – Ghislaine couldn’t really tell but she thought it all rather wonderful. These Norman knights were starting to warm to her and it was something of a comfort.
But that all ended when the frenzied rider heading down the road towards them very nearly crashed into Gaetan and would have had de Russe and Wellesbourne not rushed out to intercept him. The young man was hysterical, asking for Ghislaine of Mercia and she was brought forward, but Aramis made sure to stay between her and the young man, who proceeded to pull out a coin purse that he handed to Aramis, who in turn handed it to Ghislaine.
She recognized the purse.
There was a star carved into the leather, the same kind of star that Alary had on a seal that he used to sign missives. As the young man babbled and sobbed the message that Alary had given him to relay, Ghislaine’s stomach was in knots as she timidly opened the pouch to peer inside. She couldn’t see much, however, so she shook out the contents into her palm.
The bloody tip of a finger appeared.
Horrified, she shrieked as Gaetan, who was now standing next to her, plucked the finger chunk from her palm. As Ghislaine stood there with both hands over her mouth, utterly appalled with what she was seeing, the young man spat out the message a second time when Gaetan demanded it. The lad added the circumstances under which the finger had been taken and Gaetan’s face turned pale.
It was Kristoph’s finger.
Follow me and the next time I will send a bigger piece of the Norman back to you.
With her hands still over her mouth, Ghislaine watched Gaetan make his way to the side of the road, the finger still in his hand, before promptly doubling over and vomiting the contents of his stomach. The rest of the knights were beside themselves when the reason for Gaetan’s illness was relayed to them, the revolting fact muttered from one man to another.
Even the knights from the rear of the column – today it was de Reyne, de Lara, and St. Hèver – heard from their comrades what had happened and they stood, as the others did, in a tense group, watching Gaetan struggle with his composure.
It was a horrific turn of events.
It was Téo who finally went to stand next to Gaetan, putting a hand on the man’s shoulder in a comforting gesture before taking the finger from him and going in search of the original pouch it had been delivered in. Ghislaine still had it and she handed it to him, watching the man grimly seal up the finger in the leather pouch before glancing to de Russe and de Lara. Something had to be done; they all knew it. Téo finally muttered to Aramis.
“Get the men off the road and into the trees,” he said quietly. “I do not want the army standing vulnerable if that Saxon bastard knows we are following him. Do not have the men set up camp but tell them to sit and wait. It is clear that something new has been added to the situation that the commanders must discuss.”
Aramis nodded, gathering Wellesbourne, de Moray, St. Hèver, and de Reyne to him, all of them the great movers of men, and the five of them began moving the column off the road and into the trees to the west. Horses, wagons, and men plowed through the thick wet grass and into the trees beyond. Meanwhile, Jathan had come forward and when Téo whispered what had happened, the priest took the leather pouch and began to pray earnestly over it.
Everyone was clearly in shock but they were working through it as their training kicked in. Moving the men off the road until the situation could be discussed was how some of them dealt with it while others, Téo and Luc and Denis, stood near Gaetan, waiting for a command to come forth. The hysterical messenger stood near Ghislaine and she pushed her revulsion aside long enough to pull the man away from Gaetan, pulling him back down the road towards his exhausted mount. When they reached the frothing horse, she grabbed the man by the collar.
“By all that his holy – what has happened?” she hissed. “How did my brother know I was following him? And how did you know to find me here?”
The young man had fluid leaking from every part of his face; mucus, tears, saliva. “Lady Gunnora sent me to find Lord Alary,” he told her. “She sent me last night. She said your brother had gone ahead of you and she wanted me to tell him to wait for you to catch up.”
That wasn’t what Ghislaine had expected to hear. Witchcraft or the devil’s own work had been on her mind, but not Gunnora’s intervention. Not her friend. When Ghislaine realized what the woman had done, her eyes widened dramatically.
“She did what?” she shrieked. “She told you to find my brother and tell him I was coming?”
The young man could see that the message he had carried from Gunnora had evidently not been welcome and, given what had happened this morning, he wasn’t surprised.
“Aye, my lady,” he said, now fearful of Ghislaine and her bulging eyes. “She said he should know. But Lord Alary… he was angry when I told him. He… he cut that poor man’s finger off.”
Hearing those words was like a blow to her gut, a sickening roll of nausea washing over her. “You were there?” she hissed. “You saw it?”
The young man nodded, wiping at his face. “Lord Alary… he was calm at first,” he sniffled. “He wanted to know why you were following him. He asked the man but the man did not know.”
“You mean he asked the knight why I was following him?”
“Aye, my lady. But the man could not tell him.”
“So he… he cut off his finger?”
The messenger nodded unsteadily. “The man fought against Lord Alary but in the end, he was subdued. Alary cut the finger himself.”
Ghislaine wanted to vomit. Little by little, the situation was becoming clear and she was aghast beyond words. Gunnora’s well-meaning gesture had ended up in a man losing part of a finger. She could hardly believe what she was hearing, now terrified for Gunnora when Gaetan found out what she’d done.
But that wasn’t the worst of it. She hadn’t told Gaetan yet about Alary having been at Westerham two nights past. They’d moved out of Westerham in the darkness of pre-dawn and she’d not even seen Gaetan until they began traveling on the road and the sun was rising. But the most tragic part of all was that she’d briefly forgotten about telling him because she’s been so swept up in the fact that Gaetan and his knights were warming to her, making her feel as if they were not entirely opposed to her presence, that Alary’s visit to Westerham had completely slipped her mind.
She’d been a fool.
“God in heaven,” she breathed. “What has she done? What has she –?”
“Lady Ghislaine!”
It was Gaetan. He saw her speaking with the rider and was making his way over towards her with Téo and Luc in tow. When Ghislaine turned to him, startled, she could see the fury and desperation in his eyes. Selfishly, she wasn’t only worried for Gunnora now; she was worried for herself, fearful of what these knights would now think of her. She had no idea how this situation could possibly be salvageable.
“My lord,” she said, feeling incredibly nervous as she spoke. “This messenger is not from Alary. He is from Westerham.”
Pale and slightly wild-eyed, Gaetan looked between Ghislaine and the messenger. “Westerham?” he repeated. “I do not understand.”
Ghislaine took a deep breath, praying that Gaetan wouldn’t strike her down where she stood when he found out what had happened. She had no choice but to tell him everything.
“Last night at the feast, Lady Gunnora told me that Alary had visited Westerham the previous night,” she said, watching his eyebrows lift in surprise. “I… I was going to tell you, as I knew you would want to know, but you… you seemed to be enjoying yourself so much during the meal that I did not want to ruin your mood. Jathan said that it was very rare when you were able to relax and we thought it best to tell you this morning. You could not do anything about the information last night even if I had told you. I thought….”
Gaetan didn’t let her finish. He was on her in a flash, looming over her, those bronze eyes flashing with rage.
“You sought to withhold this information from me?” he snarled. “By what right do you make a decision like that?”
“It was my fault, my lord.”
Jathan, who had been praying over the severed finger, had heard Gaetan’s rage and came to Ghislaine’s rescue. He quickly came alongside Ghislaine as he saw his lord was close to breathing fire upon her. He knew Gaetan’s moods and what he was seeing wasn’t good; the man had been known to strike out for lesser things. But something like this, something involving one of his men, could set him off to new levels of anger.
Nay, this wasn’t a good thing in the least.
“She wanted to tell you but I told her to wait, my lord,” he said calmly, quickly. “It is not her fault. It is mine. Even now, she did not put the blame on me as she explained why she had not told you, but the truth was that it was my fault entirely. You must not blame her. You and your men were enjoying a rare evening of relaxation and I told her it would be acceptable to tell you on the morrow, as you could not do anything about it last night.”
Gaetan was still enraged, his focus completely on Ghislaine as a hunter would stalk prey. He wasn’t even blinking as he stared at her. Ghislaine stared back at him, trying desperately to remain strong, but the truth was that she was terrified. The was Warwolfe, the Duke of Normandy’s greatest knight, and he had not achieved such fame by being weak.
He achieved that fame by being deadly.
Truth was, Gaetan was struggling with shock and revulsion such as he’d never experienced. Kristoph’s partial finger was bad enough, but in hearing that Ghislaine had known something about her brother she’d not confided in him – even if she’d wanted to but was discouraged by Jathan – told him that she was still not to be trusted. He wasn’t sure he could forgive her for the oversight.
In truth, there was an odd measure of disappointment and hurt mixed up in his outrage. Disappointment in Ghislaine, in himself, and hurt because he was coming to like the woman, just in the slightest. Last night when she’d bested de Russe, he’d found himself drawn to her more than he’d even been drawn to any woman he’d ever known. He’d spent all night seeing her in his dreams and when he’d awoken, he’d even had her ride near him as the army moved northward simply because he wanted her nearby. He didn’t even want to speak with her, as conversation was not usual on a battle march. He had simply wanted her nearby for the comfort it had given him.
Now, that comfort had been damaged.
“My lord?” Jathan said when Gaetan didn’t reply to his explanation. “Did you hear me? It was not the lady’s fault. It was mine. Punish me if you will, but do not blame her.”
Gaetan was still staring at Ghislaine, unblinking, and she was doing the same. But as he watched, he could see tears filling her eyes. She suddenly blinked, quickly, to chase them away, but they returned, playing on his sympathies no matter how hard he tried to resist. He didn’t want to feel compassion for her. He didn’t want to feel anything for her.
But he was.
Damnation… he was.
“What did you tell Lady Gunnora that made her send a messenger to your brother,” he finally asked, his voice quiet and raspy. “Explain this to me so there is no misunderstanding in my mind as to what you have or have not done.”
Ghislaine was trembling with fear, with emotion. “I certainly did not tell her to send a missive to Alary if that is what you are thinking,” she said, her voice quivering. “She asked many questions about your army and she wanted to know if I was your prisoner. I told her that I was your guide and that we were heading north. She told me that Alary had stopped at Westerham the night before and she said he was returning home. I said that we were also heading home as well because she asked and I did not want to tell her the truth. She wondered why Alary did not wait for us but she said no more than that. I can only surmise she believed she was helping when she sent the rider northward to tell Alary that I was behind him. The messenger said that she told him to tell Alary to wait for us to catch up.”
Her words were quiet and she looked him in the eye with every one spoken, which told him that she wasn’t lying. He’d seen his share of liars and they did not stand against him, strongly, as she was doing. In truth, her explanation made a good deal of sense and his gut reaction told him that there was no mal intent involved on the part of either Ghislaine or Gunnora. It was just a miscommunication and a woman who took initiative when she should not have. He looked at Jathan.
“You were sitting with the women last night,” he said. “Did you hear this conversation she speaks of?”
Jathan nodded. “I heard it all,” he said. “Lady Ghislaine never told Lady Gunnora to send for Alary. In fact, she did her best to avoid the subject. Whatever Lady Gunnora did was completely on her own.”
Gaetan had no reason to disbelief his priest. Much like the rest of his knights, he trusted the man implicitly but it was a good thing the man had heard the conversation. Otherwise, Ghislaine would be cast into the shadows of mistrust quite easily. Gaetan had to admit that he was relieved, at least for Ghislaine’s role in all of this. But Lady Gunnora’s role was something else altogether.
The woman acted when she should not have and she had cost Kristoph.
Swiftly, Gaetan turned away from Ghislaine and made his way back to Aramis and Téo, who were standing on the road with the others. His jaw was ticking furiously as he faced them.
“It was Lady Gunnora who betrayed us,” he muttered. “Aramis, you will return to Westerham with five hundred men. Take Wellesbourne and St. Hèver with you.”
Aramis nodded grimly. “What would you have me do?”
Gaetan had no mercy in his eyes. “Burn Westerham and the surrounding village to the ground,” he muttered. “Have half the soldiers confiscate anything of value, including livestock and stores, but the rest of it… burn it. And you make sure Lady Gunnora understands that sending that message to Alary last night was the catalyst. I will tolerate no traitors towards me or my men. She will understand that. What she did cost Kristoph a finger.”
Aramis didn’t flinch at the harsh order. “And the lady? What will you have me do with her?”
Gaetan sighed sharply, turning to look at Ghislaine, who was still standing where he had left her. He could have quite easily have given a harsh order for Lady Gunnora but because Ghislaine had spoken kindly of her, and because she was a friend of Ghislaine, he backed off his usual command of execution.
“Leave her alive to watch what her foolish mouth has brought upon her people,” he said. “She can see the results of her loose tongue.”
Aramis nodded, whistling over Wellesbourne and St. Hèver so he could relay their orders. The other knights were gravitating in their direction also. Before Aramis could move away to complete fulfill his orders, Téo stopped him.
“Wait,” he said, looking to Gaetan. “Before they go, there is much to discuss, Gate, not the least of which is the fact that Alary of Mercia now knows we are following him. He told Lady Ghislaine through the messenger that he would send a bigger piece of Kristoph back to us if we continue to follow.”
Gaetan had to pull his thoughts away from vengeance against Lady Gunnora and focus on the situation at hand. He depended on Téo to be his rational self sometimes because the man was inherently wise in all situations. He mulled over the man’s words but in the same breath, he realized his men didn’t know the entire story as to why Alary of Mercia had sent back a piece of their colleague and a threat. Taking a deep breath, he struggled for calm.
“You are right, as usual,” he said to Téo, but his focus moved to his men, all of them now huddled in a circle around him. “You should know why this has happened. Last night, as we feasted at Westerham, Lady Gunnora told Lady Ghislaine that her brother, Alary, had stopped at Westerham the night before. It was Lady Gunnora who sent word to Alary that we were following him and that is why he sent back a piece of Kristoph. I have ordered Aramis and Bartholomew and Kye back to Westerham to burn it to the ground. Treachery will not go unpunished, especially now as we embark in a strange new country. We must be seen as the law and the lords of this country now, and that means we punish those who act against us. If we are perceived as weak, we may as well return home. We cannot hold a country with weakness.”
By the time he was finished, the rest of the knights were nodding in serious understanding. The situation now made more sense to them than simply a random act of brutality.
“What of Ghislaine of Mercia?” de Moray wanted to know. “Surely she knew what Gunnora was doing. They sat together during the meal, whispering between them. Surely Ghislaine has something to do with this.”
It was an accusation, but not an unexpected one. Gaetan fixed on de Moray, who could be a malcontent at times.
“Jathan was with them the entire time, as you all saw,” he said for the benefit of all of his men so there would be no doubt. “He heard their entire conversation and said that there was never, at any time, any hint of subversion or treason on the part of Lady Ghislaine. I want to make that clear. If I thought there was, I would be the first person to punish her and I think you know that.”
De Moray’s jaw ticked faintly as he simply lifted an eyebrow and looked away. That wasn’t good enough for Gaetan.
“Marc,” he said to the man. “Is this in any way unclear?”
“It is clear.”
Gaetan didn’t believe him but he didn’t dispute him, at least not at the moment. “We need Lady Ghislaine if we are to find her brother,” he said for de Moray’s benefit and for the benefit of the others. “Nothing is to happen to her. If I discover that any one of you have moved against her, I will consider that an intentional disruption against this mission and a direct threat to Kristoph’s life. She knows these lands and we do not. Right now, she serves a purpose.”
Before de Moray could reply, Aramis stepped towards the man menacingly. “I know you,” he growled at Marc. “I know that once you believe something is true, you will believe it until the end. If Jathan said that Lady Ghislaine had nothing to do with warning her brother that we were coming, then I believe him. If you make any attempt against her, you will have to deal with me personally.”
He reached out to grab de Moray by the shoulder when he finished, but it was not a friendly touch. It was one of threat. De Reyne was between them and, with a couple of the others, he sought to separate them before a brawl started. But Gaetan entered the fray and slugged de Moray so hard that the knight went stumbling backwards.
“Make a move against Lady Ghislaine and you will have to deal with me as well,” he said. “Whatever you think you suspect about her, forget it. That is my command. If you do not wish to follow that command, then you can ride back to Normandy and stay with him. I have no use for you.”
De Moray was a man of great pride but he was no fool. If his comrades, men he loved like brothers, were so convinced of the woman’s innocence, then there was no reason for him not to believe it. But he was a naturally suspicious character and it was difficult for him to move past that. Still, he wasn’t suspicious enough that he would walk away from his brothers. He sighed heavily and threw up his hands in a gesture of surrender.
“If you believe she did not instigate this treachery, then I will take you for your word,” he said, though it was difficult for him to back down. Then he pointed a finger at Gaetan. “But men who trust too easily are often made fools of.”
Gaetan was still glaring at him, as was Aramis, but they backed off, moving away to stand with the others. Téo, the peacemaker, went to de Moray and pulled the man back into the group.
“We need Marc to see things we may not,” Téo said evenly. “There have been times when his suspicious nature has been of great use. Let no one condemn him for it. But at this moment, we need everyone’s level head. Gate, Alary will be watching from now on to see if we are following him. We cannot be a day behind the man with a two-thousand-man army; he will know it is us and we will risk Kristoph greatly if we continue to follow him on this path.”
Gaetan raked his fingers through his dark dirty hair, laboring to collect his thoughts on the matter. “That has occurred to me,” he said. “It seems to me that we must leave the army behind while we continue onward. We cannot follow him with so many men because we would make a very big target. Alary would quickly know we have disregarded his threat, so we will have to leave the army behind.”
“Leave them where?” Téo asked. “Right here? Or do we send them back to Normandy?”
Gaetan shook his head. “Not back to Normandy,” he said. “Part of our mission heading north is to subdue Mercia. I cannot do that if I send the army back to Normandy. Therefore, we must leave them here.”
“What about leaving them at Westerham?” Aramis asked. “I realize you have ordered us to burn the place, but what if we simply confiscate it for our army? There are plenty of supplies and a village to sustain us. That would make more sense than burning it and leaving our army to fend for themselves in the wilderness of Mercia.”
Gaetan liked that idea. “An excellent suggestion,” he said. “That will be punishment enough to Lady Gunnora to have a Norman army confiscate her home.”
The others seemed to like that idea a good deal. “Westerham could become your first outpost in Mercia,” de Winter suggested. “But what of Lady Gunnora’s father, Lord Boltolph? Were we not told that he was soon to return? He may not like that the Normans have stolen his property.”
Gaetan lifted his eyebrows. “The man cannot compete with two thousand Normans, dug into his holding like a tick on a dog,” he said. “I am happy to allow him to return to Westerham so long as he lives alongside us in peace. I would rather have him as an ally and not an enemy, but I will let him choose what his relationship will be. It will be up to him.”
A plan was formulating, something that made the knights feel more in control of the situation. It wasn’t as if they would give up pursuing Kristoph, so leaving the army behind – and confiscating the property of Westerham in the process – seemed like a logical solution as the nine knights continued onward in the quest for their colleague.
No one was about to back away, no matter what Alary had threatened.
“So, it will be only the knights moving forward,” de Reyne said. “I think that is an excellent solution but I do not believe it is wise to continue on this road. Alary will have his spies watching his retreat and, if they see us, that would also jeopardize Kristoph.”
It was a true statement. Gaetan turned to Ghislaine, still standing over by the rider from Westerham, and emitted a whistle between his teeth. When she looked at him, startled by the sound, he motioned to both her and the messenger and then beckoned both with a crooked finger. Ghislaine understood, immediately grasping the messenger and pulling him with her over to the collection of enormous knights. The messenger was clearly dragging his feet but Ghislaine had a good grip on him. As they drew near, Gaetan spoke to the messenger.
“Where did you find Lord Alary last night?” he asked.
The messenger stumbled in the lady’s grip before answering. “In the village of Oxshott, my lord,” he said.
“How far from Westerham?”
The messenger shook his head. “Not far, my lord. Ten or twelve miles.”
Gaetan glanced at his men. “Then he moved quite slowly yesterday,” he said. “We have been making nearly twenty-five miles a day with an army and he has only traveled ten or twelve since Westerham? That seems odd.”
Téo addressed the messenger. “Has Lord Alary seen a battle or something that would slow his travel? Did you see wounded among his men?”
The messenger shook his head. “Nay, my lord. No battle, at least not from what I could see. But his men did seem weary from what I saw and, although Lord Alary ate well, I did not see his men eat while I was there.”
Next to him, Ghislaine sighed with disgust. “That is typical of my brother,” she said. “He would live in comfort while his men starve.”
Gaetan scratched his head. “That can only work to our advantage when we catch up to them. Starving men will not fight strongly, nor are they particularly loyal to the lord who starves them.” He paused a moment. “Still, it would only take one of them to get to Kristoph and do great damage to him if they discovered we were still following. Is this the only road north that will take us to Alary’s stronghold?”
Ghislaine shook her head. “There are others, but not nearly as well traveled.”
“Could we parallel Alary’s travel and intercept him at some point?”
Ghislaine cocked her head thoughtfully. Then, as the knights watched, she went in search of a stick, bringing it back to the group and then dropping to her knees in the center of the knight’s circle. She began to draw with the stick.
“I have been traveling Mercia my entire life,” she said, wanting to be helpful now that they had seemingly given her the chance to do so. Perhaps they would even forgive her for this incident at some point. “We are north of the sea right now and close to London. Alary is not far ahead of us and since he more than likely departed this morning, just as we did, he is probably somewhere west of London right now along the road we are currently traveling on. Just to the north of us, intersecting this road, is another road that leads west. If we take that road, we will travel about five miles before we come to another road that leads north. This is a small road, more of a path really, but it runs deep into Mercia and all the way to the village of Worcester, which is far to the north.”
Gaetan liked the idea. “How close is Worcester to Tenebris?”
Ghislaine made a mark on her crude map. “Not far at all,” she said. “Tenebris is northeast of it, mayhap two or three days. If we travel swiftly enough, we can be waiting for Alary before he reaches his stronghold.”
From a day that had suffered from a terrible moment of darkness, Gaetan was starting to see some hope. Perhaps nothing was lost, after all, in their quest to save Kristoph. He turned to Wellesbourne, who knew this area considering he was from the village whose name he bore, which was in the borderlands between Wales and Mercia.
“And you?” he asked. “What say you? Do you know the road she speaks of?”
Bartholomew nodded, eyeing the map in the mud. “It has been a long time since I have traveled that road, but it will take us north, as she says.”
That was good enough for Gaetan. His attention returned to Ghislaine. “And your brother will not know we are following him?”
Ghislaine shook her head as she drew the approximate location of the road Alary would be traveling upon. “My brother is intelligent but not experienced when it comes to warfare,” she said. “He will only think to look behind him to see if he is being followed. He will not think to look alongside him, on the road to the west.”
“Then that is how we shall travel.”
Ghislaine nodded but there was something in her expression that suggested she wasn’t entirely thrilled with the plans. “I must suggest caution, however,” she said, glancing at the knights as she spoke. “Although this is the most likely path to travel, this road moves through some of the most fearful places in Mercia. It is rife with danger. Even those of us who live here and know the road will not travel upon it.”
Gaetan didn’t see much threat in what she was saying. “We are heavily armed,” he said. “I do not think there will be anything upon that road that we cannot fight off.”
He was confident but Ghislaine was not. The road she suggested wasn’t safe in the least but it was the only solution. There were other roads but it would take time to reach them, which would see Alary possibly make it to Tenebris before they were able to reach him. Therefore, there was little choice. If they still wanted to follow Alary with the hope of rescuing the man, then this was the only way. As Ghislaine pondered the coming journey north on that road of many dangers, Gaetan turned to his men.
“Prepare the army to return to Westerham but abandon the order to burn it,” he said. “For now, we will use it. Aramis, make sure Ansel of Guise is in command. Tell him to return the army, settle in, and wait for us to return.”
Aramis nodded to the command. “And when Lord Boltolph returns?”
Gaetan was resolute. “As I said – the man may coexist with our army peacefully. If he does not, Ansel has permission to do what is necessary to maintain control of Westerham.”
With a plan set, the knights seemed far more composed than they had only moments earlier. Even de Russe and de Moray were moving off together, talking between them. Tempers would flare at times between the men but, like any close family, those things were quickly forgotten.
As they moved away, Ghislaine was left crouching down over her map in the mud, realizing that Gaetan hadn’t moved away with the others. He was still standing there, probably looking at her, his mind filled with doubts about her. His presence made her vastly nervous but she also viewed it as an opportunity to convey her sorrow in the situation. He was calmer now and would, perhaps, be more apt to accept her condolences. Dropping the stick, she brushed off her hands and stood up.
“Shall I send the messenger back to Westerham?” she asked.
Gaetan’s gaze had been on his men in the distance, now moving to her. He pondered her question for a moment.
“Nay,” he replied. “I will send him back with the army. I do not need him returning before them to warn Lady Gunnora that the Normans are returning to stay.”
“Very well.” Ghislaine paused a moment, summoning the courage to say what she felt was necessary given the circumstances. “I wish I had known what Gunnora was thinking last night in regard to my brother. If I had known, I would have most certainly stopped her. But on behalf of the children of Aelfgar, I must apologize for what Alary has done. He has always had an evil streak in him, something my father saw long ago when Alary was a child. That is one reason, among many, that Alary has no lands or titles. Everything he has, Edwin has given to him because he feels pity for the man who is a bastard from his father’s loins.”
Gaetan wasn’t feeling nearly the rage he had been earlier and, in truth, he appreciated Ghislaine’s attempts at an apology. She seemed sincere about it, but he was still feeling the hurt and disappointment from the fact that she’d been told not to tell him about Alary and she had obeyed. The more he thought on that, the more he supposed that his disappointment was in the fact that she had listened to Jathan and not to her loyalty to him.
She did have loyalty to him… didn’t she?
“I was not aware that Alary was a bastard,” he finally said.
Ghislaine nodded. “My father had concubines,” she said, thinking of Gaetan’s bedslaves and finding distress in the thought. She didn’t like to reminded that he had women that were close to him. “Alary is the son of a woman my father kept company with for years. I was told by some that he loved her. When Alary was born, he insisted my mother treat him as one of the family, which was a difficult thing for her to do. It seemed that my mother had trouble conceiving more children and in an attempt to give my father another son, I was born several years later. I was not a welcome child, by either parent. Therefore, Alary and I have always had a strange bond between us. I do not love him and he does not love me, but we understand one another. We are both forgotten children of a powerful House.”
Gaetan was listening to her, perhaps more closely than he wanted to. With every day, every hour, showing him more interested in her, he was naturally curious about her background. Yet, this was not the time nor the place. Perhaps at some later date, he would know about her birth and upbringing, but not now. Now, he had a knight to rescue.
And her brother to kill.
“Then if you understand your brother so well,” he said, “tell me if he will follow through on his threat to harm Kristoph even more if he discovers we are still following him.”
Ghislaine averted her gaze when he asked the question, mostly because she knew he wasn’t going to like the answer. Already, she didn’t like it. But she knew, in her heart, that it was the truth.
“The finger is only the beginning,” she said quietly. “Alary of Mercia never says anything he does not mean. That is why it is imperative for us to stay away from him unless you want de Lohr sent back to you in pieces.”
Gaetan believed her, word for word.