Gaston couldn’t speak for the moment, too overwrought. He felt Roald give him a slight nudge and he followed, into the familiar interior with the familiar musty smell. Inside, Roald directed him to go to the master chamber and promised he would have food sent up to him. Not realizing that his knight had just ordered him about, Gaston did as he was told.
The bed that greeted him was the same bed he and Remington had shared, the same bed where the twins were conceived. He simply stood and stared at it, the pain welling within him almost more than he could bear. Tears filled his weary eyes and dripped down his stubbled cheeks and he did not care; he felt as if he could cry rivers.
Armor and all, he fell forward onto the mattress, his entire body aching with fatigue and anguish. My god, if she wasn’t here, then where could she be?
Where could she be?
Roald came up not a quarter hour later, bearing food for the duke. The meal was set quietly on the table by the hearth and Roald closed the door softly, listening to Gaston’s snores rattle the furniture.
The rest did him wonders. When he awoke several hours later, it was with a clear mind and a determined heart. He bathed and shaved, donning clean clothes. An off-white tunic that Remington had made for him embraced his torso, resting next to his heart. Somehow he felt closer to her as he wore it, to be clad in something that she had made with her own hands. It eased his ache and intensified it at the same time.
Charles and Roald met him in the solar. Charles presented the two missives destined for Castle Crayke and Ripley Castle and Gaston nodded his approval.
“You will write one more missive for me, Charles,” he said.
“I would like you to send word to my cousin Nicolas and instruct him to bring four hundred of my men here to Mt. Holyoak. If I am going to reside here for the present, then I would be well supported. And instruct him to bring at least fifteen knights as well.”
Charles, eager to do the duke’s bidding, sat and drew out a length of parchment.
Unfortunately, it was late and the sun had set, rendering any searching out of the question for the time being. Even so, Gaston and Roald sat in the solar discussing the possibilities as Charles wrote a careful missive to Sir Nicolas, instructing him to bring the duke’s army to Yorkshire.
*
Near dawn, arider was sighted. In fact, two riders on one horse and the sentries on the wall sounded the alert loudly. Gaston and Roald, still in the solar, left Charles sleeping at the desk and made their way to the outer bailey.
As they reached the bailey, the portcullis was already going up. The closer Gaston drew to the opening, the more curioushe became. His soldiers seemed most eager to tell him that two young women were approaching and his curiosity was piqued.
Gaston stood just to the inside of the portcullis as a dirty, ratty-looking nag plodded over the drawbridge. There were indeed two figures slouched over the horse, two small figures, and he nearly turned away from the riders to leave them in the hands of his soldiers when something made him stop.
A familiar face with sea-crystal eyes was looking back at him.
“Sir Gaston!” Dane gasped.
Gaston was stunned. “Dane!” Another head came up behind Dane, even more familiar because it was Gaston’s mirror image.
“Trenton!”
“Hello, Father.”
Gaston rushed forward, taking both boys off the ancient animal. They clung to each other for several long moments until Gaston pulled back to look each boy severely in the eye.
“By God’s Bloody Rood, what in the hell are you two doing here?” he demanded.
“Where’s mother? Did you find her?” Dane countered swiftly, urgently.
Gaston felt as if he had been slapped. Now he knew why they were there and he felt his pain and anguish start anew. “Nay, Dane, I have not found her yet. Did the earl tell you what happened?”
The two young men looked at each other guiltily. “Nay, he did not. We overheard Antonius tell him that my father had abducted my mother,” Dane replied.
Gaston raised an eyebrow. “Then I would assume that the earl does not know you are here?”
Dane shook his head firmly. “Nay, he does not. But I had to come to protect my mother. Why have not you found her yet?”
Gaston’s heart was being squeezed as he gazed back at the young face. “Because I do not know where your father has takenher. But have no doubt that I will find them both, and I will kill….”
He stopped himself but Dane finished the sentence for him. “You will kill my father, isn’t that right? I should like to help you.”
A flicker of regret crossed Gaston’s face and he put a hand on each boy’s shoulder, leading them forth into the outer bailey. “No matter what your father has done, and no matter what your differences, ’tis not right that you should want to kill him, Dane. He is still your father, the man from whose loins you sprang.”
