My heart is yours… ’til the end of time…
When you will be…my own true love…
The song was over, though no one dared move. Alixandrea stood there, horrified that they did not like her song. But then the hall erupted in riotous cheering, so loud that she nearly had to cover her ears. She looked around and spied Matthew back against the wall behind her. He simply gazed at her, his face expressionless, before finally moving forward to claim her. She looked at him for some indication of what he thought of her talent. He gave her none.
He took her all the way back to the table where Adam sat with tears in his eyes. Alixandrea was flattered and concerned all at the same time.
“My lord?” she asked hesitantly. “Was the song not to your liking?”
Adam sniffled and wiped his eyes. He was drunk, that was true, but the song would have brought tears to his eyes even if he had not been. He put a big warm hand over her fingers.
“I have heard that song many times, my lady,” he said. “I have never heard it sung quite so beautifully.”
She smiled her thanks, turning to Matthew to see if she could yet gain a reaction from him. Wine in hand, he was gazing into his chalice.
“My lord?” she said softly. “Did you not like the song?”
He swirled the dregs and took a long drink. Then he looked at her. “I was wrong.”
“About what?”
“You. Youareperfect.”
“I do not understand.”
He sighed and set the cup down. “My mother used to sing that song to me,” he said quietly. “I always thought it was the most beautiful thing in the world the way she sang it. But you… you sing it better than she ever could.”
She sensed sorrow from him and wasn’t sure why. “I am truly sorry if I have upset you,” she did not know what to say. “Your father asked me to sing the song and I did not know that…”
He looked at her, the warmth back in his eyes. “You did nothing but sing that song more sweetly than anything on this earth. It simply reminded me of my mother and how much I miss her. You will sing many more times for me in the years to come.”
“If you wish it.”
“I do.”
“Then I did not offend you?”
“Of course not.”
Adam could not seem to stop weeping. He put his hand on her arm. “Will you sing the song again, just for me?”
Alixandrea looked to Matthew for guidance. His father was shedding tears and she did not want to aggravate it. Matthew sighed heavily; there was still displeasure in his voice in spite of his words to the contrary. “Sing it. It has been a long time since he has heard it.”
She sang the song thirteen times that evening.
CHAPTER FOUR
“They are upto something; I can feel it,” Matthew said ominously. “The Earl of Wiltshire has moved his men north to Nottingham. And there’s word of more nobility moving their troops to the north, including the Earl of Pembroke, though that is no small surprise. Can you not see that all of this military movement signals a gathering, something great and powerful?”
It was dawn. The Wellesbourne brothers were gathered in the stale, smoky solar, huddled around a table covered with a massive, overly-used map. There were ink stains upon the vellum, which had also seen a dagger or two thrown into it for good measure. Pock marks littered the yellowed leather.
“Your instincts, as always, are without question,” Mark said. “With Jasper Tudor moving his troops from Pembroke Castle, there could only be larger things on the horizon.”
“Then you agree that something major is in the development.”
“It would seem so. Dorset’s activity against us for the past few weeks has indicated that something larger is on the horizon. Our spies have also indicated as much. But this sunrise has seen confirmation of that.”
Matthew looked up from the table. “What do you mean?”
