Keeper of the Stone (35 page)

The sound of his sword whistled through the air even as Nathan’s battle cry split the night and he gave the order to attack.  The second abductor fell dead with Nathan’s sword buried in his back even as Rhiann turned to face him, brandishing the jeweled dagger she managed to pull from her abductor’s chest as he fell to the ground.

Rhiann lifted her glance from the dead man and met her husband’s eyes over the distance separating them.  Hers gleamed emerald fire.  His cool blue ice.  Around them the battle was swiftly over, her abductors dead.  Nathan approached his wife, who stood among the bloody bodies like some pagan warrior princess.  He didn’t think he was ever more aware of his good fortune in having her for his wife as he was in that moment. 

He stepped over the dead at her feet and reached out to gently remove the dagger from her hand, just in case.  Though there was no glaze of shock in her eyes, he was fairly certain this was her first encounter with violence and her reactions were always somewhat unpredictable, regardless of the circumstances.  He wiped her abductor’s blood from the blade and returned it to its proper place strapped to her arm.

“I killed him.” There was no regret in her voice, only a statement of fact. Nathan recognized it for the challenge it was. He also recognized there were levels to his wife he had yet to even catch a glimpse of, let alone explore as thoroughly and as intimately as he intended to. 

He was looking forward to probing his wife’s secrets, but for now Rhiann was obviously waiting for some sign on his part to reveal how shocked he was at her unladylike skill.  He couldn’t blame her.  Most ladies of his acquaintance would have been groveling at their abductor’s feet, begging for mercy.  Although he was not thrilled with the chances she took with her life, Nathan admired courage even in feminine form, and rather surprisingly found himself pleased at the thought his own daughters would likely take after their mother. 

He grinned at the thought of his future little warrior princesses running around his new estates, then recalled there was yet another mystery for him to unravel. The dead man called Rhiann princess…rather mockingly, but his wife did not appear particularly shocked by the man’s form of address. 

He met his wife’s defiant gaze and pushed this latest mystery aside for another day.  For now, he would confront his wife’s challenge, and he hoped convince her he did not find her unusual skill the least bit distasteful.  He met her glance fully and responded to her statement of fact with an equally bald statement of agreement.

“Yes.”

She eyed him closely, obviously unsure how he would react when he discovered his wife was capable of plunging a dagger into a man’s heart.

“Who taught you to wield a blade?”

She continued to regard him as defiantly as she had the man at her feet. “Michel.”

“I thought you were prevented from accompanying the Salusian warriors when Michel and Melissa were being trained.”

She shrugged. “I was, but Michel felt sorry for me, so he took me aside later and taught me things.”

“I am very glad he did.”

There was a flicker of surprise in her eyes, but apparently she was not done challenging him.  “I can throw a blade, too.  Michel said I was better than Melissa, maybe evenbetter than him.”

“Then you will be able to teach our children.”

“All of them?”

“Yes, particularly our daughters.”

Rhiann looked down at the corpse at her feet.  “I could not allow him to steal my life again.  I was not about to let him steal our child’s.”

“I am proud of you wife.”

She lifted surprised eyes to his face, and then surprisingly, grinned.  “Most men would be appalled.”

“Most men are fools.”

“Can we go home now?”

He reached out and lifted her in his arms and turned towards where the horses were being held for them.  She looped her arms around his neck and asked curiously, “How did you find me?”

“Arden”

She smiled, delighted.  “I told you it was his duty to protect me.”

“Yes.  He is apparently better at that particular duty than your husband.  I will not be so remiss in the future.”

“Is Thomas all right?”

“Yes.”

“And Daniel?”

“Yes.”

“I cannot believe Lady Regina could be so vindictive.”

Nathan started in surprise at his wife’s conclusion it was the Saxon woman who assisted her kidnappers.  He hesitated, then reluctantly admitted.  “It wasn’t Lady Regina.”

Surprised, she lifted her head away from his shoulder so she could see his face.  “It wasn’t? Then who was it?”

“Sara.”  He refused to place the title of lady before her name. In his mind, she was no longer worthy of it.

“Sara?  Are you certain?”

“Yes.”

At the certainty of his conclusion, Rhiann fell quiet for a moment, and then rested her head back on his shoulder.  “I suppose I owe Lady Regina an apology for blaming her in my mind.”

Nathan bit back a harsh laugh.  “No wife, you owe nothing to that vindictive bitch.”

Rhiann sighed and snuggled closer into the warmth of her husband’s strong arms. “We don’t have to tell your mother about this, do we?  She already thinks I’m strange.”  Her observation was made in such a forlorn tone of voice he couldn’t help but be amused.  Gone was the proud warrior princess from just moments ago.  In her place was his young bride, so eager to please and make a place for herself in his family’s affections.

His lips twitched. Then at the thought of his mother’s reaction to having been abducted, knocked nearly unconscious, questioned with a sword brandished beneath her nose, the threat of rape and a violent death hanging over her head, and his wife’s foolish concern over his mother’s reaction to the news her daughter-in-law managed to kill her assailant with the dagger she kept strapped to her arm, his lips stretched wider.  His shoulders started shaking, causing Rhiann to tighten her grip around his neck as if she feared he might drop her.  Soon the woods rang with his laughter, the bold sound bouncing off the trees and stones and echoing back towards them.

Rhiann regarded him with a doubtful expression mirrored on the faces of his men, who stood circling them, waiting for their lord’s order to regain their mounts and return to the city.  Nathan finally regained control of his laughter and gave the order to mount.  He looked down at his wife’s incredulous expression and asked just for the fun of seeing her reaction.  “Princess?”

Her face flooded with guilty color even as he could see her struggling to come up with some kind of reasonable pretext for her attacker’s form of address.

The excitement of the past several hours must have momentarily robbed her of the glib denials, excuses and outright lies she apparently kept a store of for whenever he asked her a question about her family or past she was disinclined to answer.  She finally resorted to an oft-repeated compromise. “It’s complicated.”

He wasn’t inclined to push her.  She’d already dipped her head back on his chest and burrowed closer into his encircling arms.  The action was telling.  He knew she trusted him.  In time she would share her secrets with him.  He decided they both endured enough excitement for one day.

He wrapped the folds of his cloak more closely around his drowsy wife.  With the threat behind them, she was already falling asleep in his arms.  He looked forward to the day when they would return to Heaven’s Crest and begin a new life together.  He thought the property aptly named and had no intention of changing it as others might feel inclined to do in his place in order to put their own stamp on their new home.  No, he thought Heaven’s Crest was the perfect name. 

After all, it was the home of an angel.

EPILOGUE

Nathan’s euphoria at finding his wife safe and uninjured from her ordeal soon wore off.  On the eve of the king’s coronation, Nathan turned his attention from where he was training his men and watched as his wife exited the church under the guard of two of his most experienced men and crossed the courtyard for her afternoon nap.  His men were glad of the reprieve from the day’s training and bent over their swords, their massive chests straining to draw enough air into them so their breathing could return to normal before the brutal session began again.

Gone was the new lord they seemed to acquire after the king’s generosity and their baron’s recent marriage to young Lady Rhiann. If these past weeks they were wont to mock in the silence of their thoughts their lord’s trials with his young wife and noted his distraction from his previous demanding training methods, they jeered no longer, even in silence.  Ever since his wife’s abduction, their lord reverted to his previous ruthless demeanor.  If possible, his soldiers found him even more remote and demanding than before the war, when he pushed them to the limits of their physical strength on what he hoped would be the final test to prove himself in the eyes of the duke, with the anticipation of finally being rewarded with lands of his own.

Now that he achieved his highest aspiration to be master of his own lands, Nathan’s training sessions, already legendary for their precision and brutality, took on a new level of seriousness.  It was as if the war lay ahead of them rather than safely behind them.  The men under his command took their lead from their lord.  Their baron did not demand of his soldiers any deed, deprivation, or challenge he had not already himself successfully overcome. 

But to his men’s eyes, it was as if a fresh demon drove him now. Ever since Lady Rhiann’s abduction, their lord’s previous delight in his young bride was tempered by a new sense of the potential threats surrounding her.  Not even the most experienced of his soldiers took exception to taking their turn at guard duty for their young mistress. None of them wanted to stand before their lord and confess their failure to protect his wife.  All feared in his present mood, such a confession would have immediate and likely fatal consequences.

As soon as Rhiann reached the safety of the keep, Nathan turned his attention back to his men.  He would not allow his thoughts to be distracted with worries of his wife and the child she carried within her.  He refused to allow his mind to dwell on the ugly but predictable scene with Lady Sara the morning following Rhiann’s abduction and safe return.  He deliberately held the necessary confrontation under his father’s watchful eyes, since he could hardly exact his revenge against a lady the way he would a man who betrayed him, by carving out his lying, cheating, jackal’s heart and feeding it to the dogs.  He wanted to believe Sara’s denials, her excuses as to how she was unaware the man meant Rhiann harm.  He said he was entrusted with a secret message from her family and he feared approaching Nathan about it to gain his permission to approach his wife. 

He wanted to believe her but he didn’t.  Despite her assurances to the contrary, Sara was unable to hide her disappointment that Rhiann was recovered safely.  Only then did Nathan glimpse the true depths of her evil.  She hoped Rhiann would be killed by her kidnappers, because only Rhiann’s death would serve her purpose.  She apparently clung to the crazy conviction with Rhiann out of the way, he would have wed her and restored her to what she perceived as her rightful place in his life.

Nathan felt a momentary regret at subjecting his father to the scene between himself and the woman he once assumed he would wed. His father made no effort to hide his shock as the truth of Sara’s betrayal sank in.  He witnessed the woman’s vile intent with his own eyes and heard her confession with his own ears.  It was one of the reasons Nathan insisted he be present during his questioning.  The other of course was to keep Nathan from killing the woman. 

The outcome of the interview was distinctly unsatisfying to Nathan’s harsh view of justice, but he accepted there was little else for him to do under the circumstances. He could even be relieved when his father, along with his entire entourage, except for Nathan’s three younger brothers who received his permission to remain behind in Saxony with Nathan, departed for Normandy the following morning. Nathan left to his father’s discretion what, if anything, he would reveal to his old friend, Sara’s father, as to the extent of his daughter’s treachery.  Nathan doubted Sara’s family would ever know the full truth of her misdeeds.  His father possessed a gentle heart.  One that had been rocked to the core by Sara’s treachery, but Nathan doubted his father would be able to bring himself to disillusion Sara’s father about his daughter’s true character.

While the dim winter sun still clung to the afternoon sky, Nathan called a halt to instructing his men earlier than was his usual practice.  He could see the surprise and relief on his men’s faces when he dismissed them.  Though Nathan was freshly convinced of the importance of his rigid training schedule in securing his new future, there was a more important task confronting him.  The extra time afforded him by calling an early halt to the training session meant there was still plenty of time before he would have to present himself, with his wife at his side, at the king’s table for the evening meal. 

He’d put off the coming discussion with his wife for what he felt was long enough.  He was considerate of her delicate condition and the very real ordeal she’d been through, but now it was time for him to secure some answers from his reticent wife.  Rhiann’s reluctance to trust him with her family’s secrets almost cost her and his heir their lives.  She needed to accept her family was dead.  Her primary loyalty was now his right to command as her lawful husband.

The soldiers guarding his door at the keep assured him their mistress was inside and resting as he commanded. Nathan dismissed them and opened the door to his room, expecting to find his wife asleep in his bed. He didn’t know why he was surprised to discover his wife was still capable of surprising him.

“Rhiann, why aren’t you resting?” He addressed her where she stood by the window looking out over the courtyard. From where she stood, she must have observed his early return to the keep.

She didn’t turn to face him when she replied quietly, “You’re angry with me.”