Giles mumbled through the gag and she tugged it free. He began to give her a furious order, but she stopped him with her kiss. Even knowing that danger surrounded them, she took that moment to taste him and to share her love with him. ‘I love you, Giles,’ she said, kissing him again. ‘No matter what happens, do not forget that.’
‘There is a dagger in my boot,’ he whispered to her, trying to bring his leg closer so she could reach it without stepping from the shelter of the tree he was tied to.
Their armour and weapons had been removed, but Edmund’s men had missed the small dagger he always carried there. He waited as she slid her hands down his leg and reached in his boot to take it. The feel of her hands even at the worst of times brought him joy, but for now other matters were more pressing than his ever-present desire for her.
She was sawing through the thick ropes with the dagger when he heard the sound of someone coming through the trees and brush behind them. Fayth gasped and stood away, but he was able to pull free from what she’d done already. Climbing quickly to his feet, he found his wife holding Brice at bay with only the dagger.
‘’Twould seem that my place at your back has been taken up by someone else,’ Brice said.
‘It would,’ he agreed and he pulled Fayth to him and kissed her while Brice and Lucien freed the other two.
‘Do you never obey me, wife? You were supposed to remain in your chambers,’ he teased. When her eyes filled with tears, he held her in his embrace for a moment. ‘We will settle this when we return to Taerford. I brought something to you.’
He reached inside the gambeson and took out the rings. ‘I found these on the floor and knew you would never have left them behind.’ She took them and pulled the ribbon loose.
‘I have much to answer for, Giles. Much. But know that I did not leave willingly with Edmund.’
Brice came over then, gave them a disgruntled order to move along and handed a mail shirt and sword to Giles. Fayth stood back and watched as he pulled the hauberk over his head and belted it around his waist. ‘Not yours, but we came across this on our travels.’
When he looked at Fayth to order her away to safety, she held out her hand to him. The two rings were in her palm.
‘Take this ring as a sign of my fealty to you, Lord Giles,’ she whispered. She offered him her father’s ring.
At first, he was stunned by her gesture, but then he realised what she was doing and what that ring meant to her. He nodded and held out his hand for her to place the ring on his finger. Knowing what he must do, he took the smaller ring from her and held it before her.
‘Take this ring as a sign of my fealty and love, lady,’ he said, sliding the ring on her hand as she offered it to him.
He took her by the shoulders and kissed her fiercely. The rest would have to wait. ‘Now seek cover near the cottage and do not follow me,’ he ordered.
He watched with Brice in stunned silence as she actually made her way to the cottage as he’d ordered her to do, without question or hesitation.
‘Mayhap she is learning, my lord?’ Brice asked, handing him another dagger.
‘Mayhap.’ Giles watched as more men poured from the woods behind them. ‘How many did you bring?’
‘These are not my men, Giles. These are your lady’s men.’
Overwhelmed by the sight of the Saxon knights lined up to fight for their lady, he could only nod. Finally, after acknowledging them, he said, ‘Let us go and find Edmund and end this now.’
Chapter Twenty-One
Fayth offered up an oath to the Almighty that if He allowed Giles to live, she would spend her life trying to be the wife he’d dreamed of having. She begged for His protection. And in the end, she just prayed. But from the place where Giles had ordered her, for she would obey him in this.
Fayth watched as her father’s men came out of the woods and lined up behind Giles and his men. Together they strode towards the encampment, not bothering to hide their approach. To her surprise, even more followed out of the woods, some nodding to her as they passed. She thought it not possible, but there were some of the peasants that had escaped Lord Huard and others she did not recognise, all following her Norman, Breton, husband into this battle.
Giles did not pause, sighting Edmund and charging forward at him, sword raised, battle cry on his lips.
‘Taerford!’ he yelled, engaging Edmund alone. To her amazement, the others stood back and waited—for orders or for the outcome, she knew not, but this became a private combat between the two lords.
She cringed at the sound of it, swords clashing, metal screaming as it slid against metal. Memories of their last fight struck her and she could not watch. Turning away, she closed her eyes against the reality that would find her oldest friend or dear husband dead.
The fighting went on and on until suddenly, there was silence. Afraid to discover the results, she waited to hear the screams of the victorious side. Instead she was forced to turn and look across to the camp.
Giles stood over Edmund with his sword pointed at his neck. One movement, one small, easy push, and it was over. Edmund’s life. England’s last hope. Her friend. Her father’s liege lord.
She waited, unable to take a breath or utter a word, for Giles to lean on his sword and bring all this to an end.
All he had to do was push. He panted now, exhausted by two days with little sleep, little food and only the terror that he had lost Fayth to fill his thoughts. A small thrust and Edmund’s threat would be over. Fayth and their lands would be safe from further machinations. William would be rid of another of Harold’s kin with a claim to England’s throne.
