“HowdidMarius de Wrenville become a favorite of the king?” he asked Hallam. “De Wrenville has no great political connections, so how did Marius end up at John’s side?”
Hallam sighed heavily. “How do you think?” he said. “Marius brought the king the prettiest maiden he could find. Gifted her to John, you might say.”
“And this is recent?”
Hallam nodded. “This past summer.”
Caius found himself looking at Covington as the man practically shouted something at Edward. “Why now?” he asked. “Why would Marius try to get close to the king now? Why not five years ago? Or ten years ago? Why now?”
Hallam was drinking more than he was eating, finishing off his warmed wine. “Because while the first Lady de Wrenville was alive, she would not allow her son to stray,” he said. “Lord de Wrenville was always the ambitious sort, but while his wife was alive, it was more that he needed the best horses or the best food or the best furnishings. His father left him a good deal of money from coal and sheep, and he liked to spend it. Marius learned the love of excess from his father, but Lady de Wrenville was the lid on the pot, so to speak. They both worshipped her and her death hit them both very hard. After that, the ambition de Wrenville had seemed to eat him up. Strangely enough, he wasn’t always like this. But Lady de Wrenville died, diamonds were discovered in the River Roden on Hawkstone property, and it was like the greatest evils of Covington and Marius were no longer restrained. In answer to your question, I believe that Marius endeared himself to the king for the same reason Covington married Lady Alice– to gain Hawkstone.”
Caius looked at the man. “But I do not understand why they want it so badly,” he said. “It is a property, like any other.”
Hallam shook his head. “Notlike any other,” he said quietly. “Lord de Wrenville told me once that he believed his wife and Rupert de Thorington had a love affair years ago. I believe there is some retribution there.”
Caius’ eyebrows lifted at the surprising information. “Do you believe that is true? Or just the delusions of a man trying to justify his actions?”
Hallam suddenly looked uncomfortable. His gaze moved to Covington, who was now so drunk that he was sitting on the table as he had a lively discussion with Edward and Maxton.
“I do not know,” he said after a moment. “But I should also tell you that in a fit of rage, Covington once said he thought Marius might be de Thorington’s son.”
Caius’ jaw dropped. “But he intends to marry Marius to Lady Emelisse.”
Hallam looked at him, a rather sickened expression on his face. “The ultimate degradation to the House of de Thorington, wouldn’t you say?”
Caius thought it was all quite disgusting. “That means his grandchildren would be the result of half-siblings marrying. That would be affecting his own bloodlines.”
Hallam waved him off. “When it comes to punishing Hawkstone, no humiliation is too great, not even the sacrifice of the House of de Wrenville.”
Caius was horrified at the thought. “Doyoubelieve Marius is de Thorington’s son?”
Hallam shook his head. “Nay, because he looks just like Covington,” he said. “He behaves like him, too, so I do not believe that at all. I do not know why Covington even entertained the thought. A man will think many things when his wife betrays him, I suppose.”
It was shocking news to say the least. Caius needed to speak to Edward about it but before he could say another word, Covington was suddenly heading in his direction. There was an empty chair between Caius and young William, and Covington plopped down into it. His round face was red with all of the drink he’d ingested.
“Viper,” he said to Caius. “As soon as the snow eases, we will take the army to Hawkstone and finally crush it in one final blow. The majority of my army is still there, you know. They have control of everything but the keep, but that will end soon. Did you convince Lady Emelisse that she must tell her brother to surrender?”
Caius met the man’s gaze, but he could feel the entire table looking at him. He was the one who had control over William Marshal’s troops, so his word was the only one the army would obey. But this wasn’t the time nor the place to tell Covington that he wasn’t going to support his push against Hawkstone, especially since Covington was drunk. Caius didn’t make a habit out of discussing military plans with a drunk man who could easily forget what was said.
But he did answer his question.
“Lady Emelisse and I did not discuss her brother’s situation,” he said. “And this is no weather to wage a battle. If I were you, I would recall my army from Hawkstone. It is not fair to expect the men to live in a broken-down fortress while snowstorms rage. Men have a right to be in their own warm beds during weather such as this.”
That wasn’t what Covington wanted to hear and he frowned greatly. “This is my battle,” he said. “I will say when we fight, and as soon as this snow eases, we will take The Marshal’s army to Hawkstone and finish this once and for all.”
Caius was fully prepared to deny him. He wasn’t a man for negotiations or foolery, and over the course of the day, he’d truly come to dislike Covington. More so after what Hallam had just told him. It was that dislike that had him leaning towards telling Covington everything he and Edward had discussed, with the de Lohr and de Wolfe armies departing. He was rather looking forward to Covington’s temper tantrum as a result. Before he could speak, however, Edward was beside him, hand on his shoulder.
“Mayhap you should see to Lady Emelisse again,” he said. “Mayhap explain to her the situation? I will entertain our host while you are away.”
Caius looked at him in confusion before realizing it was Edward’s attempt to defuse the situation. In fact, Hallam wasalready up, departing the table and heading out into the snowy night, which told Caius that he was going into the keep to let Lady de Wrenville know that Caius was to have access to Lady Emelisse again. In any case, it was clearly a ploy to get Caius away from de Wrenville and more demands for the use of the army.
Caius chose to go along with it.
Silently, he stood up and walked away from Covington even as the man was speaking to him. He could hear Covington calling after him, angrily, and Edward calling for more drink. As Caius retrieved his fur cloak and prepared to face the swirling snows outside, a figure appeared beside him.
It was William.
“May I assist you, my lord?” he asked. “My father told me to come with you.”
