The realization that Melusine was dead swept Christin, and tears of shock came. She slapped a hand over her mouth, looking at Asa as the man wept with grief. Bold, brilliant, aggressive Asa, whom she’d known since he had been a boy, was suffering through something unspeakable. She put her hand on the man’s head to comfort him, weeping with him, as Alexander burst though the yard gate. Half dressed, as he’d just been yanked from his bed by anxious soldiers, he began bellowing for his wife.
“Christin!” he shouted. “Christin!”
“I am here,” Christin said, standing up so that he could see her. “Here, Sherry. I am here.”
Catching sight of her, Alexander rushed in her direction, throwing his arms around her when they finally came together. For a brief moment, Christin gave in to his strength and warmth, because his arrival signified that she was safe. After the terror of the past few minutes, she was finally, and truly, safe. Alexander was here and nothing could hurt her, not ever.
“What in the hell happened?” Alexander said, finally releasing her long enough to clutch her head between his two big hands and look her in the eye. “What is going on?”
Now that the fight for her life was over, Christin was trying desperately not to weep. “It was Amaro,” she said. “When Melusine and I came into the yard, he was trying to drown Elle in the laundry basin. I stopped him from killing her, but he began producing daggers and throwing them. He struck Melusine and Elle, but Asa came before he could throw one at me. Asa killed him.”
Alexander still wasn’t over his terror. His heart was beating so fast he thought it might beat right out of his chest. “Amaro?” he said incredulously. “De Laraga?”
“Aye.”
“But he was at Lioncross,” Alexander said, baffled. “At least, he was supposed to be.”
Christin shook her head. “He was here,” she said, gesturing to Amaro’s body several feet away. “I do not know how he got here, but he was here and he was trying to kill Elle. Sherry, he killed Melusine. She’s dead.”
As she said that, Asa suddenly stood up. He was gasping like a madman, weeping and hysterical, and he staggered over to Amaro, pulled his sword out of the man’s chest, and began stabbing him again and again. As those in the kitchen yard watched, Asa cut Amaro’s body to pieces in his grief.
It was a heartbreaking sight.
“God,” Alexander muttered, watching a man’s agony play out. “My God, the poor man.”
Christin was watching as well, softly weeping. “What do we do?”
Alexander shook his head and turned away. “Leave him,” he said. “If there is any justice in this world, he is dispensing it. Let him do what he needs to do.”
Christin simply nodded, wiping at her eyes as she turned to look at Melusine. Other than the massive red stain on her chest and the dagger sticking out, she looked as if she were sleeping. It was tragic in so many ways. Silently, Christin knelt down beside the woman, gazing at her still face for a moment before smoothing back her hair and kissing her on the forehead.
“I am sorry, my love,” she whispered. “So very sorry. But you needn’t worry—we will take good care of Asa for you. And Elle. You may rest well, darling, I promise.”
With that, she took hold of the dagger and yanked it free of Melusine’s chest, handing it to Alexander when he knelt down beside her.
“She seemed like a sweet lass,” Christin whispered tightly. “I did not know her well, but I know that she spent the last few moments of her life trying to help someone who was in danger. That is a brave ending, Sherry. It is a warrior’s ending.”
Alexander nodded sadly. “It is, my love,” he agreed softly. “Very brave, indeed.”
“Make sure Asa knows that. I am not sure I can tell him.”
“I will.”
Christin’s gaze lingered sadly on Melusine for a moment longer before she turned away. “I must go to Elle now,” she said bravely, trying desperately to focus on the living and not the dead. “Curtis may need my help. Will you stay with Melusine and see she is taken care of? She must be well tended, Sherry. Please see to that. Be gentle with her.”
He nodded, kissing her temple and helping her to stand. As Christin headed from the kitchen yard, Alexander sent men to collect something soft to wrap Melusine in as Asa continued to carve up Amaro. If anyone understood that kind of raw and horrible grief, it was Alexander. He’d seen much of it in his lifetime. But when Asa had exhausted himself and Amaro was in several different pieces, he returned to Melusine, took her in his arms, and stayed there for the rest of the day.
For moral support, and to show respect to a woman who had died trying to save Lady Leominster, so did Alexander.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“What in thebloody hell happened?” Curtis exploded.
Having just been awoken from a deep sleep by pounding on his door, he’d slipped on his breeches from the night before and yanked the door open, only to find Hugo carrying a bloodied Elle in his arms. Suddenly, it was as if the entire world was bursting into his chamber as Hugo, followed by Dustin and Christopher and Peter, rushed to the bed and laid Elle upon it.
After that, it was chaos.
“Is she breathing?” Dustin demanded, sitting on the bed beside her while Christopher took up position on the other side. “Can you tell?”
