With the army assembled and the logistics of their campaign north ironed out, the trio of knights headed up to the keep and entered the enormous structure with the great hall on the first level. When they entered, it was already warm and fragrant with the scents of rushes and roasting meat. As Tate headed for the feasting table, his children caught sight of him and rushed him.
Tate laughed with delight as his aggressive twins tried to take him down by the legs. Roman, his eldest, challenged his fatherwith a wooden sword and Tate raised his arms in surrender. Meanwhile, Tate’s oldest daughter, five-year-old Cate, went to Kenneth because her father was being mobbed and she liked Kenneth, anyway. She didn’t know the tall, dark knight with him but eyed Mathias curiously as she took Kenneth’s hand.
“Hello,” she said.
Mathias smiled faintly at the beautiful little girl. “Good eve to you, my lady.”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Mathias.”
Cate inspected him a moment longer before deciding he was worthy of her attention. She took his hand, too, and led both Mathias and Kenneth to the feasting table. “Sit,” she said.
They did. Cate planted herself between them, feeling quite special to have two big knights on either side of her. Servants began appearing, placing plates of freshly baked bread on the table, and Cate was happy when Kenneth broke apart a loaf and presented her with the warm, soft, white middle. As she chewed happily, Toby entered the hall from the stairwell with her youngest daughter on her hip.
“Good men,” she greeted, watching her husband as he manhandled the wild twins into their seats. “How goes the troop movements in the bailey?”
Mathias and Kenneth had their wine in hand and were already drinking deeply as Tate replied.
“We are prepared and ready to depart before dawn,” he said. “I intend to march straight through to Edinburgh where we will then take the ferry crossing to Dumferline. From there, I will hold the army stationery until I find out where de Beaumont is and the status of the situation. I will send you a missive at that point to let you know what is happening.”
Toby wasn’t particularly thrilled by any of it but she forced a smile as she sat her youngest child on the bench. She had beenthrough this drill too many times not to have learned how to gracefully accept that which she could not change.
“I would appreciate that,” she said. “You will also let me know how Mathias is so that I may tell his wife.”
Mathias looked up from his cup. He could tell just by her tone that she must have had a long talk with Cathlina. It was, in fact, written all over her face as she met his gaze steadily.
“I did what I could, Mathias,” she murmured. “I hope that it is enough. She is not unreasonable. She is simply frightened.”
Feeling embarrassed and off-balance that someone else had to intervene in his personal problems, Mathias cleared his throat softly. “Where is my wife?” he asked.
Toby poured some boiled fruit juice for her younger children into small wooden cups. “I put her in a chamber on the top level,” she said. “She has said she does not wish to join our meal. I thought mayhap you could persuade her otherwise.”
Mathias averted his gaze, staring at his cup for a moment before silently rising from the table.
“Top floor, did you say?” he asked.
“First door on the left,” Toby replied.
Mathias quit the great hall without another word. The stairs of the keep were built into a corner turret, spiral madness that connected all four levels. Mathias mounted the steps all the way to the top floor of the keep where there were three oak and iron doors fitted into the stone walls. He went to the door immediately to his left and knocked softly.
“Aye?” It was Cathlina. “Toby, truly, I am very grateful for your concern, but I am exhausted and simply wish to sleep. I will see you on the morrow, I promise.”
“It is your husband,” Mathias said quietly.
There was a very long pause before someone threw the bolt on the opposite side of the door. Very slowly, it opened, and Cathlina’s face appeared in the dim light. Their eyes met and, fora moment, neither said a word. They just looked at each other. Finally, Cathlina spoke.
“I thought you had left,” she said softly.
For some reason, her quiet statement enraged him. He shoved the door open, pushing her back, as he came into the room and shut the door behind him. When he faced her, it was with his hands on his hips.
“Do you truly think I would leave without bidding you farewell?” he demanded.
Cathlina backed away from him because of the hazard in his tone. “I…,” she stammered. “I… I thought, well, that you were in a hurry so mayhap you had already rushed away.”
He was growing increasingly exasperated. He pointed at the bed with a big finger. “Sit down.”
It was a command and she knew it. Obediently, because she had never truly seen him enraged, she scooted over to the bed and planted herself. The mattress, a combination of straw and feathers, sank dramatically and pillows toppled off. Mathias picked up the pillows and threw them back on the bed angrily.
