Archangel (29 page)

But as he approached Julian, another thought occurred to him. He wasn’t sure how he could explain to Romney, Orin and Brendt that he had killed their father.   He began to wonder if that kind of cloud hanging over his head would somehow scar his relationship with the children, boys he had come to love as his own. Perhaps not now, while they were young, but as the boys grew into men, he wondered how they would view the man who had killed their father, even under the pretense of self defense. He didn’t think he could take it if they grew up to mistrust or even hate him.

Not that they had any love for their father, but still, the death of Julian at Gart’s hands would speak volumes of what Gart was capable of. He was a knight, sworn to chivalry and a moral code. Killing the husband of his lover, no matter how vile the man was, would tarnish that reputation. It would be viewed as dishonorable.

So he forced himself to take a deep breath and rethink his plans, trying to remove the emotion and passion from his view of the situation. He approached Julian, lowering his broadsword. Julian spied him on the approach, however, and backed off, holding his sword defensively as Gart closed in. There was great fear in his expression.

Gart’s eyes were intense as he focused in on Julian yet he made no provocative action against the man.  The terror in the air was palpable.

“Gart!” David saw what was happening and he made haste out of the mêlée, heading for Gart. “Stop! Go no further!”

Gart held up a hand to his liege, a calming gesture. “I am not going to kill him,” he said. “I am going to ask him a question.”

David reached Gart by this time, putting himself between Julian and Gart.  David put a hand on Gart’s chest to prevent him from advancing.

“Go inside,” he jerked his head in the direction of the manse. “Get your horse and go inside. I will take care of Buckland.”

Gart was quite a bit larger than his liege, towering over David as the man tried to stop Gart’s onslaught. But in truth there was no onslaught. Gart was oddly calm for a man facing his lover’s vile husband – still, David didn’t trust him.  He knew only too well what the man was capable of.

“I simply want to ask Buckland a question,” Gart said calmly.

David shoved him back by the chest. “You are not going to ask him anything,” he told him. “Get out of here. That is not a request.”

“You - Forbes!” Julian came alive, feeling safe now that David was between him and Gart. “What have you done with my wife? Where is she?”

David interrupted.  “Do not say a word,” he told Gart. “If you value your life, you will keep your mouth shut.”

“Let him speak,” Julian was feeling braver. “I asked him a question and I expect an answer.”

David opened his mouth but Gart spoke first. “Clearly, I do not have her,” he said. “I am quite alone.”

Julian was quickly approaching a shrill tone again. “You took her from Dunster!”

“How would you know that?”

“Because she is not there!”

“And what proof do you have that I am responsible for her disappearance?”

Julian began gnashing around, swinging his sword. “You tried to seduce her, you bastard!” he screamed. “I know you have her. Where is she?”

Gart’s gaze held steadily on the man, someone he hated more than he could comprehend, and eventually he broke out in a smirk. Julian was just too ridiculous to believe.

“If it is true that she is gone from Dunster, why would you seek to blame someone other than yourself?” he asked. “Perhaps she could no longer take your abuse and fled of her own accord.”

Julian screamed and charged him, only to be shoved to the ground by David. David and Gart stood over Julian, quite calmly, while Julian writhed on the ground.

“I told you to get off my property,” David growled. “If you and your men do not clear out of here immediately, I will call out my entire army to escort you off and their orders will be to do it by any means necessary, including deadly force. Is that clear?”

Julian was far gone with madness, rolling around in the dirt until he managed to get to his knees.

“You will regret this, de Lohr,” he howled. “I have the ear of the queen and she will punish you. Do you hear me?
She will punish you
!”

David merely lifted an eyebrow at the threat, watching as Julian spat and cursed, gathering his men and collecting their horses.  De Lohr’s soldiers began to break off, allowing Buckland to pull out his men and retreat. 

The dust of the road flared up, filling nostrils and coating skin as the two sides settled apart. Gart and David watched the man race off, screaming at the top of his lungs in an embarrassing display of anger.  As they faded off into the distance, David turned to Gart.

“Get inside,” he rumbled. “If you are not in my solar in a half hour with all manner of explanation as to the heart of this situation, I will have you thrown in the vault.  Is this in any way unclear, Forbes?”

Gart simply nodded. David gave him a lingering glare, one of fury and disbelief and understanding, before moving off to assist in collecting the wounded.  Gart’s gaze lingered on his liege a moment before he went in search of his charger.

He knew he was in trouble. He just wasn’t sure how much.

Chapter Sixteen

  The blow from David had broken two teeth off at the gum line and the surgeon had to struggle to get the roots out else they would fester.  Julian screamed throughout the entire procedure, howling threats at Gart and David when his mouth wasn’t full with pliers and other mental implements that were dirty and used.

  In the newly built apartments that lined the east wall of the Tower of London, Julian had been issued three luxurious rooms as a guest of the queen.  The king had his own women, in some cases the wives of his allies, and didn’t give much notice to the company his wife kept. As long as she was available for him when he wanted her, he was mostly unconcerned with her associations.

Therefore, Julian stayed at the castle, living in royal luxury as the lover of the queen. But she had been disinterested in him as of late, ever since a big French mercenary arrived from Bordeaux and caught her eye.  Julian could see her attraction to the man and he had worked harder than ever to please her, spending lavishly on her and treating her kindly.  He heaped attention on her, telling her how beautiful she was as many times as he could get it out of his mouth.  He had a good thing going and he didn’t want to lose it.

Which was why the situation with his wife had him brittle and edgy.  He had hoped that Emberley’s presence at his side would cause Isabella jealousy.  Now his wife was vanished and his plans were going awry, the loss of control completely infuriating him. He wasn’t worried for Emberley’s safety – the thought had never crossed his mind, nor did concern for the children. It was the mere fact she had left him.  He knew that Forbes was responsible for Emberley’s disappearance no matter what de Lohr said. He didn’t trust de Lohr, anyway. Anyone who had been so closely allied with King Richard deserved a measure of distrust.

As the surgeon yanked pieces of broken tooth from his mouth, Julian screamed and slapped at the man.  The big, burly surgeon motioned to a couple of Julian’s men to hold him while he went to dig for a last portion of broken tooth and Julian tried to fight them off but was unsuccessful.  They held him fast as the surgeon probed and Julian yelled.

“Bastards!” Julian yelled, garbled. “I will make them pay, every last one of them. They will all pay!”

The soldier holding Julian’s left arm was the same soldier who had led the contingent to Dunster to escort Lady Emberley to London and the same man who had recognized Kevin de Lara.  His name was Donnell and he had served Baron Buckland for six years. He was used to the man’s moods and rages but he had no particular feelings about the man one way or the other.  He was paid for his loyalties and nothing more.

Julian grabbed the man’s arm, digging his fingers in to his flesh. “We will punish them, will we not?” he asked him. “We will burn Bellham to the ground!”

Donnell was used to his liege’s bouts with madness, as predictable as the rising of the sun. “As you say, m’lord.”

Julian spit blood out onto his lap, the floor. “I want Forbes,” he hissed through swollen lips. “I want you to go and get Forbes.”

“He is well protected behind the gates of Bellham, m’lord,” Donnell said patiently.

“He cannot stay there forever!”

Donnell sighed faintly. “We can lay in wait for him if you wish, m’lord,” he said. “But I am sure he will be on his guard. It could be a long wait.”

“I do not care!” Julian spat, spraying blood onto Donnell. “Wait for him! Kill him!”

“If we kill him, then we will never know where your wife went if our only source of information is dead.”

Julian growled and grumbled, cursing Gart and de Lohr yet again.  The surgeon had him open his mouth one last time to pack in some rags to stop the bleeding but Julian didn’t care.  He yanked himself away from the surgeon and his soldiers, exhausted and bleeding as he paced the wood floor of his lavish apartment.  He was imbalanced even on a good day, now made worse with the beating he had received at the hands of de Lohr.  The madness was growing.

“He has her,” he grumbled. “He must. He is the only one who would take her. Emberley would not simply run away and take the children with her.”

“Are you so sure, m’lord?”

Julian took the question as a challenge and puffed himself up. “You were at Dunster,” he hissed. “You saw what Forbes did.”

Donnell thought back to that night when there had been a scuffle on the walls of Dunster between Julian and Gart Forbes.  He had come in on the tail end of it when men were trying to pull Forbes off of Julian. It had been a chaotic and loud scene with Lady de Moyons weeping in the middle of it. That was all he had witnessed but he had heard several versions of the story well into the night.

“I did not see it, m’lord,” he said honestly. “I heard tale.”

That didn’t seem to deter Julian. “Then if you heard tale, you know that Gart could be the only one responsible for her disappearance.  He seduced her and took her away from me.”

“But I did not see Gart Forbes at Dunster when I arrived, m’lord,” Donnell said. “He was not there but de Lohr’s other knight was. I recognized him.”

Julian was preparing to rant again but he suddenly stopped and an odd gleam came to his eye.  He held up a finger as if a brilliant thought had just occurred to him.

“Perhaps…,” he appeared oddly calm, thoughtful. “Perhaps I have accused the wrong knight.  You said that you saw my wife at Dunster when you arrived but the next morning, she was missing.”

“Aye, m’lord.”

“And that knight you recognized was missing also.”

“Aye, m’lord.  They were all gone, including your children.”

Julian threw up his hands. “Then we have focused on the wrong man. That knight took my wife! We want that man!”

“
Want
him, m’lord?”

“Aye!” Julian was nodding vehemently. “We must capture him and force him to tell us my wife is.”

Donnell could see the logic but cornering the knight would not be a simple thing. They had already tried to commandeer Gart Forbes and the situation had gone against them.

“M’lord, if I can make a suggestion,” he said. “We failed to capture Forbes and I do not believe it would be wise to try and capture another of de Lohr’s men. They are already on their guard.  It will be another vicious battle and one we very well may lose. You know how powerful de Lohr is.”