“Have them sent up now,” he said. “I will take one or two with me, for I am going to see her now.”
As he bent over to test the weight of the cases, finally selecting two that weren’t too heavy, Kenton reached down and collected the heaviest one.
“I will go with you,” he said. “It will give us a chance to discuss plans for the next few days.”
Atticus eyed Kenton, now holding the biggest and heaviest case. “Come on, then,” he said. “Since you must show off your Herculean strength, let us make sure your display does not to go waste.”
Kenton’s lips twitched with a smile. “Then you admit I am stronger than you.”
“I admit that youthinkyou are.”
Kenton fought off a bigger grin. “I am the one with the bigger case.”
“That is because I am smarter than you are. I took the lighter cases so I would not break my back,” Atticus pointed out. “Good Christ, how many cases does one woman need?”
Kenton, now following Atticus up the narrow stone steps, glanced over his shoulder to count the cases that had remained behind. “At least seven.”
Atticus pursed his lips irritably at the glib reply, stomping up the steps. “When we leave this place, I will make sure she travels much lighter,” he said. “I will not be lugging around seven capcases all over England.”
They had reached the second level and mounted the steps for the third. “Then we are not going after de la Londe and de Troiu?” Kenton asked.
Atticus nodded. “We are indeed,” he said. “But Lady de Wolfe is coming with us. It… it is her vengeance as much as it is mine, I suppose. Titus was her husband as well as my brother. Thetford seems to think it is important that I take her and allow her a measure of vengeance also.”
They had reached the third floor and it took Atticus a moment to realize that Kenton had not responded. He turned to look at the man only to notice that Kenton seemed lost in thought. When Kenton saw that Atticus was looking at him, he merely shrugged.
“If it is your wish that she accompany us, then she shall,” he said.
Atticus came to a halt, peering at the man strangely. “You do not think she should go with us, do you?”
Kenton averted his gaze. “It does not matter what I think,” he said. “You have deemed that she should go and she shall.”
Atticus still wasn’t moving forward, shifting the weight of the cases on his broad shoulders. “That is not an answer to my question,” he said. “Why do you think she should not go?”
Kenton grunted. He didn’t want to give his opinion because Atticus had enough opinions with Thetford criticizing his every move. At least, that’s what Kenton thought. He’d seen Warenne and how he’d given Atticus his opinion on the situation at everyturn. Kenton respected Thetford a great deal but he’d seen how the man had tried to order Atticus about even on personal decisions and Kenton didn’t like that in the least. He scratched his head.
“I am not entirely sure it is relevant,” he said. “Can we get moving? This case is getting heavy.”
Atticus blocked the corridor and wouldn’t move. “That is your misfortune for picking the heaviest case,” he said. “You will tell me what you think of all of this, Kenton. You and I have known each other a long time and you were particularly close with Titus. I cannot imagine any of this is easy on you, either.”
“It does not matter.”
“It matters a great deal to me. Speak.”
Up until that point, Kenton had kept his gaze averted but when Atticus commanded him to spill forth his opinion, he looked the man squarely in the face.
“Do you really want to know what I think about all of this?” he asked, his eyes alight with emotion. “I was with Titus right before de Troiu and de la Londe approached him. Titus and I had been discussing positioning the right flank and I remember seeing de Troiu and de la Londe in the distance, heading in our direction. But I moved on to carry out Titus’ orders. Had I stayed, then those two bastards would not have done what they did to him. I blame myself that I was not there to help Titus fend them off. Therefore, I have personal stake in all of this, too. You are entitled to vengeance for your brother’s sake because he was, in fact, your brother; mayhap Lady de Wolfe is entitled to vengeance, too, because he was her husband. But I am entitled also because I was the last one to see him whole and healthy. This guilt that I feel has been eating away at me since the day Titus died.”
Atticus sighed heavily. “Kenton, it was not your fault,” he said. “There was no way you could have known their intentions.”
Kenton was struggling to remain stoic and stone-faced. “I realize that,” he said. “But the fact remains that had I stayed, I could have prevented this. Therefore, when you face de Troiu and de la Londe, it will be with me by your side. Do not ask me to remain with Lady de Wolfe and protect her; I want revenge, too, Atticus. That is why I am here, why I did not remain behind at Alnwick to command the troops. I came for the same reason you came– to seek vengeance.”
Atticus gazed into the eyes of the man he felt a closeness to. If there was a third de Wolfe brother, then it was Kenton. Beastly big, handsome, intelligent, and loyal to a fault. Atticus understood the man’s position very well. He understood the guilt because he had that particular guilt, too.I should have been there to help Titus. Aye, he understood all too well.
Patting the man on the side of the head, Atticus shifted the weight of his cases once again and continued down the corridor with Kenton in tow. Now that things were finally spoken, there was an understanding between them. This vendetta Atticus harbored was not one of single-minded necessity; it would seem there was yet one more person determined to obtain justice for Titus. More people wanted a hand in punishing de la Londe and de Troiu and Atticus realized that he was pleased at Kenton’s attitude. One more person to share the bond of revenge with, in righting a terrible wrong done against Titus. Aye, Atticus wasn’t displeased in the least. He was coming to understand that Titus hadn’t only touched his life; the man had touched many lives. Many felt pain at his passing.
They neared the north side of the fortress where there were four chambers, including Solomon’s master chamber. The corridor was low-ceilinged and dark, and Atticus threw open the first door he came to only to be met with a dark and cold chamber. Continuing on, he came to the next door in succession and opened that one, too, but no Lady de Wolfe. Moving furtherdown the corridor, they came to the chamber that was next to his father’s chamber, a chamber that had once belonged to Atticus’ mother. Knocking softly on the door, he waited for a response.
There was no voice that bade him to enter but he did hear something fall over, perhaps furniture of some kind. It sounded like wood falling. He rapped again.
