Ruby - Book 1 (Daughters of the Dagger Series) (23 page)

“You knew he ordered me to have a wife and
tried to keep the baby from me? You never cared a bit about that
baby,” Nyle shouted. “You never held it nor paid it any attention
at all. All you cared about was your looks and luring men to your
bed. Especially me. I curse the day I ever let you lure me into
your little trap. You had me so enamored that I fooled myself into
thinking I loved you. But I never loved you, Jocelyn. I know that
now, because I found out what love really is when I married my
wonderful wife, Ruby.”

“I made some mistakes,” she said, backing
away from him as he moved closer. “And I must admit, another reason
I killed your wives was because I could not bear to see you married
to anyone but me, and I had to stop it. I thought I was doing the
right thing paying off people to carry out the results I needed,
but now after talking with Ruby, I see that I was wrong.”

“I’ll say. And you will pay for those
mistakes with your life, as I cannot allow you to live after what
you’ve done.”

“No, Nyle, please,” Ruby begged him from the
bed.

“Ruby, stay out of this, I mean it. You have
no idea the life of hell this woman has put me through, as well as
the families of the people she’s murdered.”

“You said you loved me once,” said Jocelyn.
“Can’t you look past all this for what we had together?”

“I may have thought I loved you at one time,
Jocelyn, but that was my mistake. And we had nothing together, I
tell you. Nothing! I despise you more than you’ll ever know. And
now I want to hear the truth from your damned mouth. Is the baby
mine or is it the king’s or perhaps someone else’s?”

She just shook her head and backed up to the
wall next to the window. “Ruby is a wonderful woman,” she said. “I
know you love the baby and will take care of him better than the
king,” she said. “Ruby showed me that. She loves the baby as well,
and she also loves you more than I ever could have.”

“Whose baby is it, Jocelyn? I am losing my
patience.”

“Thank you, Ruby, for helping me find the
answers inside myself. I only wish I had known you years ago.
Goodbye.”

“Goodbye?” asked Ruby from next to him. Nyle
watched Jocelyn reach for the window and turn quickly, and he knew
what she’d intended to do.

“Nay!” he cried out, rushing forward and
reaching for her, but all he could see were her troubled blue eyes
disappearing over the edge of the window as she jumped out and
plunged to her death.

He got to the window, grabbing for her, but
his hand just came up empty. He looked over the edge and saw her
gown fluttering in the breeze as her body plummeted to the ground
and crashed against the rocks along the way.

“She’s gone,” he said, shaking his head,
still not able to comprehend any of this.

Ruby turned him away from the window and
wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Nyle clung to her and kissed
her atop the head, feeling relieved that Ruby would not be
threatened again. His past was gone now and his future was standing
before him. He felt sad as well as the happiest man in the world
all at the same time.

Ruby stood over the graves of Nyle’s father
and mother, with little Tibbar sleeping in her arms against her
chest. They had traveled for two full days to get to the church of
St. Agnes where Nyle’s family was buried. The traveling had been
slow coming from Sheffield, as they had the baby along as well as
Oralie with her injured leg and had to take a wagon. A half dozen
of Nyle’s guards traveled with them for protection but Ruby knew
that there would be no one else trying to kill her now that Jocelyn
was dead.

She felt sorry in a way for the girl even
though she had done horrible things. But she could see in her eyes
before she jumped from the ledge of the window that she had held
love for Nyle somewhere in her black heart.

Nyle had been quiet on the journey here and
she knew he needed time to himself to think things over. He’d been
through a lot lately, and now he worried what was going to happen
to Tibbar once he received his next missive from the king. He
believed that he’d receive it any day now.

Linette stood next to Nyle wiping tears from
her eyes as a priest from the church said a short prayer over the
gravestones of their parents and brother. The church was atop a
steep cliff that overlooked the sea. Ruby closed her eyes and held
her face up to the sun and delighted in the fresh breeze that
flowed past them. She was excited, as after this stop, Nyle had
promised her that they would be able to spend some time with her
sisters and her father. Since they were close to Blackpool, they
were going to stop for a visit.

“Well, this is where we part,” said Linette,
coming to Ruby’s side as soon as the priest had finished. “I am
going back to the Highlands now, and can only say that I am so glad
to have met my husband’s wonderful wife.” She ran a hand over the
baby’s back as he slept. “I only hope I’ll have the opportunity of
seeing Tibbar again some day as well.”

“I hope things work out and Nyle will be
able to keep him,” said Ruby. “He has grown so fond of him, and I
have too, that we already feel like a family.”

“I wish you the best,” Linette said, and
Ruby already missed her as she had become her best friend.

“Are you sure you won’t come with us to
Blackpool to meet my family?” she asked. “You know you are
welcome.”

“Mayhap next time,” said Linette with a sad
smile. “My husband is hopefully coming home soon, and I miss him
dearly.”

“I understand,” she said, smiling at her own
husband. “I never thought I’d feel this way about a man I once
despised.”

“I never despised my husband,” said Linette.
“Nor could I ever have married someone I didn’t love.”

“Well, things don’t always turn out the way
you expect them to,” said Ruby. “Just remember that, as some day it
may help you to get through a hard time.”

“I will, thank you.”

“Sister, I will miss you dearly,” said Nyle,
embracing Linette in a tight hug and kissing her upon the
cheek.

“Take good care of Ruby and the baby,” she
said. “I’ll expect to see you all again soon.”

“I only hope the king will decide not to
claim the baby,” said Nyle.

“Would you keep him even without knowing if
he was truly yours?” asked Linette.

“I was very upset when Jocelyn took her life
without revealing to me the truth about who sired the baby,” he
admitted. “But in reality, she’s had so many lovers in her bed she
probably didn’t even know. And I decided I don’t care one way or
another, as I will fight to keep Tibbar with me always, as I
already feel as if I am his father.”

“You’d fight the king?” asked Linette.
“Brother, you are addled.”

“Well, I didn’t actually mean that
literally,” he said with a smile.

“Well, hopefully it won’t come to that,”
Ruby broke in. “And as I said, sometimes things just end up working
themselves out and it is for the best.”

They said their goodbyes and Nyle put his
arm around Ruby as they watched Linette and her small entourage
head back for the Highlands.

“Can we go to Blackpool and see my family
now?” Ruby asked anxiously, feeling her excitement growing. “They
will be expecting us since we sent the messenger to tell them, two
days before we left.”

“And we will see them shortly,” he said,
ushering her toward the wagon. “But first we have a stop to make in
town on the way there, as there is something I’d like to buy for my
wife.”

“Let me guess - a new dagger?” she asked
with a smile.

“I need to know you will always have a way
of protecting yourself.” He took the baby from her and handed him
to Oralie inside the wagon. “I never want to go through the hell of
thinking my wife is going to be killed again. I know you can
protect yourself because I’ve seen you do it. So with a dagger at
your side I can rest easier at night.”

“You are right,” she said. “But if you don’t
mind, I will stay in the cart with Oralie and the baby instead of
helping you choose it. Because no dagger will ever suffice or be
able to compare to my ruby dagger I had when I was a child.

* * *

Nyle walked through the streets of Blackpool
with Locke at his side. He never thought it would be such a hard
chore choosing a dagger for Ruby. But after what she’d told him,
ever dagger he’d been shown seemed inadequate for such a wonderful
wife.

He adjusted his signet ring on his finger as
he walked, also feeling like the devil for not even getting her a
proper ring. But towns such as this would never have a ring
suitable for her and he would just wait til the next time he went
to London and hopefully have one of the finest quality rings
constructed for her then.

“Are you going to get a dagger or walk
around aimlessly until the sun sets?” asked Locke as they made
their way towards Grope Street. Nyle knew this was the street of
whores and thieves and beggars and not much more. He didn’t want
anything that they’d be selling down this alley.

“There’s no need to go down Grope,” he told
Locke. “Let’s just head back to the cart as I know Ruby is becoming
impatient and is anxious to get back to her father’s castle.”

“All right,” said Locke, looking toward the
back of the pub part way down the street. “But I need to piss, so
give me a minute. I see a dark corner. I’ll be right back.”

“Hurry,” he told him, wandering down the
street while he waited, looking at nothing in particular.

“Can ye spare a coin milord?” came the voice
of a little boy behind him.

Nyle turned to see a bedraggled young boy
with messed hair and dirt streaked across his face. His eyes were
sunken and his body thin and he had no shoes upon his feet. Nyle
reached into his pouch and gave him a shilling. Before he knew it,
he was surrounded by beggars and he felt a tug on his pouch and
knew they were trying to steal his money.

“Stop it, you thieves,” he told them, then
realized they were naught but children. He saw something in their
eyes that he saw every time he looked into Tibbar’s eyes as well.
He wondered if these children knew who their parents were, or if
their parents took care of them, because it didn’t seem like it.
“What the hell,” he said, reaching into his pouch and pulling out a
fistful of coins. “Help yourselves,” he said throwing the coins
down the street. They hit the cobbled stones with a light tinkling
noise and then started to roll as Grope Street was downhill. The
beggar children squealed and chased after the coins, trying to
catch them, but every time they reached down, the coins continued
to roll.

“That’ll keep them busy for awhile,” he
chuckled.

“That was kind of you, my lord,” said a
woman’s old crackly voice from behind him. He turned to see a woman
older than he’d ever seen in his life and with so many wrinkles she
looked like a prune. She tilted her cloudy eyes upward and as the
last sunrays of the day reflected within them, he realized she was
blind.

“I’m sorry I have no more coins in my
pouch,” he told her. “But if you come back to my wagon I’ll gladly
give you money as well.”

“I am not begging,” she said with a
sharpness to her tone that made Nyle feel as though he’d just been
reprimanded.

“I apologize. ’Tis my mistake.”

“I heard you say to your squire you were
looking for a dagger for your wife.”

“I am,” he said, “but I can’t find a
suitable one at all.”

“I have daggers,” she said, holding up a
pouch and shaking it so he could hear clanking from within.

“Oh, thank you, but I don’t think you have
what I am looking for.” He started to walk away, and heard her call
out behind him.

“Sometimes things don’t always turn out the
way you expect them to.”

He stopped in his tracks and turned around.
“That is odd you should say that,” he told her. “My wife Ruby just
told that to my sister not an hour ago.”

“Ruby?” she asked. “I have a dagger that
would be suitable for your wife named Ruby.”

“Oh, I don’t think so,” he said with a
laugh. “She has one dagger only on her mind and that disappeared
years ago. It had a jewel in the hilt and was very ornate and
expensive. “I don’t think I’ll find one of those in Grope
alley.”

She reached into her bag and felt around and
then held one up for him to see. “This is a ruby, so she may like
it.”

Nyle was surprised that she knew it was a
ruby though she was blind, or that she would even possess such a
thing. “Let me see that,” he said reaching out to take it, and when
he did, her hand covered his and her fingers ran across his
ring.

“That is a very expensive ring,” she said as
he flipped the dagger over inspecting it, his heart beating faster
as he realized this sounded similar to the one Ruby had lost years
ago. He wondered if it would please her.

“It was my father’s ring,” he said, still
inspecting the dagger.

“Silver?” she asked.

“Nay, gold. How much for this dagger?” he
asked. “This sounds like the one my wife lost as a child and I
think she would like it.”

“She lost it as a child?”

“Well, actually, her father discarded it
after the death of her mother, but ’tis a long story. I’ll take the
dagger, so how much do I owe you?”

“I thought you just said you had no coin on
you.”

“I don’t, but I have more back at the wagon,
if you’ll follow me.”

“Nay,” she said, reaching out and taking the
dagger from his hand. “This dagger is not for sale.”

“What do you mean?” he asked. “And why did
you show it to me if you weren’t going to let me have it?”

“Do you love this wife named Ruby?” the old
woman asked him.

“Aye,” he answered. “I do.”

“And have you told her?”