He’d married an angel.
From their wedding to the celebration afterward, the games that ended up going for two days that saw the de Lohr men, one by one, become injured or otherwise incapacitated, she had been a dream. He would have been fully enamored with the dream had his brothers not turned the wedding celebration into two days of beatings that somewhat took his attention away from her. They worked so hard to triumph over each other that they ended up injuring one another.
Curtis was the first one out with a twisted ankle, followed by Douglas, who was hit on the head when they played the game with a pig’s bladder and sticks. The object was to hit the ball from one end of the field to the other while those on the opposition tried to prevent it, but those sticks they used did some damage. After Curtis and Douglas fell out, two of Curtis’ sons received blows that took them out as well.
That upset Diara somewhat, and at her request, Dustin got involved. She didn’t like seeing her sons and grandsons whipped and bleeding, either, but Christopher told her to stay out of it. That fueled her anger to the point of taking all the women inside with her so they would not watch the games except for Diara, who wouldn’t leave Roi. She watched Westley go after her husband, presumably going after the ball that Roi was controlling, but he ended up hitting Roi in the neck. That brought Roi’s anger, and he hit Westley so hard with his stick that it briefly knocked him unconscious.
With Westley dragged off the field, the de Shera brothers filled the holes left by Douglas and Westley, but Roi filled his holes with Magnus, Aeron, and Tiegh, which wasn’t quite a fair match-up because they were unrelenting against the younger men. Tiberius was the first one to fall with a smashed foot, while Maximus, the biggest brother, was more of a challenge. Gallus remained in the game simply because he was intelligent and knew how to avoid trouble, but Maximus and Roi ended up in a stick fight that saw both sticks demolished. Fists and hands were used after that, and Christopher and David ended up breaking up a fight between them.
All the while, Diara watched anxiously from the edge of the field.
It was encounters like the one between Roi and Maximus that had driven the games for two straight days until nearly everyone was battered, bloodied, and beaten. But they werealso grinning and congratulating one another, which completely baffled Diara. Roi still chuckled when he remembered the scolding he received from her on the second night as she cleaned his wounds with witch hazel. The solution stung his cuts, but her words, though harsh, did his heart good because they told him how much she cared.
But she swore there would be no more games, and Dustin agreed with her.
The celebration of Roi and Diara’s wedding was officially over.
Robin and Ananda were the first ones to leave and head home, taking Mathis and Pryce with them. On the very morning after the games, just before sunrise, their entire escort was prepared and ready to depart. Robin said his brief goodbyes to his daughter but seemed rather eager to leave. Ananda wept over leaving her only child, so very joyful that she was married. Ananda had mentioned grandchildren once or twice already, so Diara knew what was expected of her.
So did Roi.
He wasn’t at all opposed to more children. In fact, he was quite eager to have children with his new wife. He had always viewed this marriage as being the opportunity to replace the son he lost, but it had become more than that. It was being proud of Diara bearing his children, children that were part of him and part of her. It was in knowing that this wonderful woman would be the mother of those children, and he knew that they would be extremely fortunate.
He knew that he was the most fortunate man in the entire world.
Therefore, the week back at Pembridge had been an astonishing one. When he wasn’t thinking about Diara, he was talking about her. He could see in his knights’ faces that he was becoming boring and repetitive talking about his wife all thetime. But it had been difficult for him to contain himself, and, in fact, he’d been speaking to them about his desire to take Diara to France and beyond when they’d heard the screaming that was currently going on.
They went on the run.
As they closed in on the area behind the kitchen yard, an area next to the wall that had the fishpond, they started to hear laughter, too. More screams, more laughter, and they burst through the small gate that separated the pond from the rest of the yard only to see Dorian and Adalia pushing each other into the pond. Just as Adalia climbed out, Dorian would push her back in. They were both soaking wet. Standing a few feet away stood Diara, grinning at the antics.
“We heard the screaming,” Roi said as he rushed in with Kyne and Adrius behind him. “What’s amiss?”
“Papa!” Dorian cried. “The fish bite!”
With that, Adalia started screaming and leaping, trying desperately to get out of the pond of biting fish. She was also laughing in between screams, and it sounded like utter hysteria. But Diara went to her panicked husband, shaking her head.
“The fish do not bite,” she said. “But they do nibble. Dorian found that out yesterday when she stepped in to pull some of the overgrowth out of the pond. She thought it would be fun to lure her sister in today.”
Roi was breathing heavily from his run across the bailey, putting his hands on his hips in a frustrated gesture as he watched Adalia pull Dorian in again and then push her down. Dorian started howling when fish lips began nibbling at her, and he was starting to see what was so funny about it. He watched his daughters play in a way he’d never seen them play before.
It was part of that newlywed happiness they were all starting to feel.
Happiness that Diara had brought to them.
“Now that I know what the screams are for, I shall ignore them,” he told his wife. Then he eyed her. “Haveyougone in there?”
She shook her head. “Nay,” she said. “I am not so foolish as to—”
He cut her off by swinging her into his arms and carrying her to the edge of the pond as she shrieked and clung to his neck.
“Don’t you dare, Richard de Lohr!” she cried. “Throw me in this pond at your own peril! You will have to sleep with one eye open for the rest of your life because I will not rest until you suffer such humiliation as you cannot imagine!”
He was nearly crying with laughter as he extended her out over the pond and she held fast to him. He really didn’t intend to dump her into the pond, but it was quite humorous to tease her. The threats she was issuing at him were hilarious. Unfortunately, Adalia and Dorian didn’t have the same restraint, and they yanked on his arms, causing him to go off balance. Diara went, bottom-first, into the pond as Roi toppled sideways. With a giant splash, the entire family was in the murky pond as Kyne and Adrius shook their heads at the antics.
Fortunately, the pond wasn’t very deep, but Diara had gone in over her head. She came up, sputtering, with leaves on her head, as the girls danced around her, splashing water. Roi was still laughing, trying to get up and help her up at the same time, but she shoved him away by the face and he fell on his backside. It was Kyne who extended a hand to her to pull her out of the pond while Roi sat there, up to his chest in the water, while his daughters splashed murky water on him.
“I am sorry, my love,” he called after Diara as he wiped his eyes. “My dearest? I’m terribly sorry. I did not mean to toss you like that. Blame Adalia and Dorian. They are the enemy!”
