Marcus took a step back. He remembered it. Arthur gently moved Selina to one side and came towards his brother. He lifted his white hair away from his left temple and then took Marcus’ hand, lifting it. Marcus felt the scar at his temple. But still, this was too fantastic for him to fully accept. He licked his lips, removing his hand, searching for a rational explanation.
“You tried to put me into the saddle but I fought you. I should like to say that I was not in my right mind. But, I knew what I was doing. I thought it would be an opportunity to get rid of my competition, leave myself as the only heir to Valebridge and father’s attention. Had you not run away, I think I would have killed you. I got back onto my horse and finished the race after knocking you down. Not long after that, father sent you away.”
“My god, Arthur,” Marcus whispered. The story was one he had never told to anyone, “You fought like a demon. I was afraid for my life. When I eventually found my way home, father told me that I had become dangerous. That my desire for the dukedom was such that I was prepared to kill my rival. He thought that your injuries had been sustained by me attacking you.”
“Yes, and he had decided I was to be his heir. And didn’t want to risk the jealousy of a son who had clearly become homicidal. Little did he know that I was the one who had become homicidal. For that, I am truly sorry. It is one reason I imposed this penance on myself.”
“What happened to you?” Selina asked.
Arthur chuckled. “Years of living off the land takes its toll. The wheels of time grind more fine. And there were the years of addiction to strong drink and the juice of the poppy before that, not to mention the scraps and brawls every night outside of White’s for a year straight. Another penance I imposed upon myself and a reason that I think father decided not to bestow the dukedom on me.”
“But you look so…” Marcus said.
“Old? I am inside,” Arthur replied sadly, “but happy at long last. Especially now that you know the truth. I won’t drop the role of Dai, he’s come to be who I am and I prefer him to the man I was. The man who as a boy was prepared to kill my brother. The man who as a boy was so desperate for the approval of a monster.”
Marcus embraced his brother impulsively and felt the hug returned. He found himself laughing. “I often wondered what I would do if ever I met you again. Strike you. Shoot you. I did not see myself embracing you.”
“I too have dreamed of this moment, and it always went this way,” Arthur said.
He stepped back from Marcus and turned to look at Selina. “And what about you, Selina? You came to Valebridge looking for me. Well, here I am. Do you still seek Arthur Roy?”
Selina rushed forward and threw her arms about Arthur, hugging him fiercely. But then she stepped back and took Marcus’ hand.
“I came here looking for you, but I found your brother and it is he that I wish to marry,” she said.
Arthur looked to the stone behind them. “Woden’s eye won’t be on us much longer tonight. Let’s be having you then?” he said, lapsing into the sing-song Welsh accent of his alter-ego.
The handfast had been broken, the grass lying on the ground forgotten in the revelations of the night. Arthur set about making another and binding their wrists together.
“Do you, Marcus, Duke of Valebridge, accept Selina Voss as your wife? Do you promise to protect and love her until such time as you choose to part?”
“I do,” Marcus whispered.
“And you do this not out of necessity to the conventions of your modern society but because this is the woman you love?” Arthur demanded.
“I do.”
“And if I were to demand my title as Duke be returned to me in return for you living as man and wife with Selina. You would give up lands and title. For her?”
Arthur had barely finished speaking before Marcus was answering in the affirmative.
“Selina Voss. Do you take this man as he is? Not for the memory of your first love, not in defiance of your father. Would you stand here with him knowing that a life of poverty and need faced you?”
“I would,” Selina replied.
Marcus did not once think how odd this ceremony was compared to the conventional Christian ritual. It simply felt right at that moment. It was being done in the oldest of traditions, in this place where men and women had pledged their love for countless centuries. And the questions Arthur was asking were pertinent, striking at the heart of the falsehoods that the modern world filled itself. He was seeking to make them question their love for each other and their reasons for being married. Had any of those questions been answered in the negative, then their motives would be shown to be wrong. But, Marcus had answered from the heart. He realized that had he been asked, by Arthur or anyone else, to sign over Valebridge in return for Selina’s hand, he would have accepted without a second thought.
I would live off the land with her and be content provided she was by my side.
In the pale moonlight, her beauty took on an additional dimension. She was radiant, her features picked out in the whitest of light and the blackest of shadow. Marcus had never loved her more, had never truly loved her until that moment. The ferocity of his feelings for her at that moment made all other feelings seem false by comparison. Her eyes were wide and unblinking, gazing into his, making him the center of her world. Even Arthur standing nearby and asking his questions seemed to recede into a far distance. They stood separate from him, illuminated by a pool of moonlight.
“Then you are man and wife. And let’s not give a fig what high society has to say on the matter. Duke and Duchess. Huzzah!” Arthur’s voice rang out across the vale, jubilant and mellifluous, “Well, what are you two waiting for? Get on and kiss each other, why don’t you?”
Marcus laughed, bending his head to Selina and kissing her. For a long moment, there was nothing else in the world but the feel of her lips upon his, her body pressed against his. The body of his wife. For, despite the illegitimacy of the ceremony based on everything he had been brought up to believe, it felt real and genuine to him. He felt that Selina was his wife, did not feel the need for any other confirmation of that. Selina’s arms went around him, clutching him to her. When the kiss ended, Arthur was nowhere to be seen.
CHAPTER31
It was as though Arthur had come to them as a spirit, a ghost of the past. There was no sign of him in the moonlit vale. Selina looked around, as did Marcus. Apart from them, there was no sign of movement, no sign of anyone but them. She looked back at him. All deceptions between them were now dropped. She knew the man she was marrying, the man she had married. For it did not matter if it was officiated by a priest in a church or in sight of the full moon in the embrace of nature. She felt that they were bonded. While it was not how she had once envisioned her wedding, it seemed perfect.
