Julianna hurried to the window. Her heart crashed within her when she didn’t see Agnes or Elias. She didn’t know any of the men with Rauf. The one to whom he stayed closest was cloaked with a fur-lined, hooded mantle.
She reached for her bracelet and slipped it on.
Had Rauf seen Agnes? Elias? Her heart pounded in her throat. She didn’t want to greet them and hear more terrible news, but when Margaret left and Berengaria stared at her as if she were waiting for Julianna to move, she did.
She met up with Margaret and the two found one of the guards to question.
“Who are the men we saw from our window?”
“Lord Rothbury’s brother and his first in command, I’m told,” said the guard.
Nicholas’ brother! Julianna wondered which brother it was. She walked a little faster, eager to hear any news of Agnes and Elias.
The men were still outside in the courtyard dismounting. There were nine in all. Julianna smiled when she saw Nicholas waiting for them.
She watched them dismount. The man in the fur-lined hood, whom Julianna assumed was Nicholas’ brother, pushed his hood back. Bronze streaked curls fell loose around his face. His handsome, familiar face.
Captain Gray.
He had been one of her father’s men. He’d rescued her from the…Scots. What? Was he Nicholas’ brother? No. He couldn’t be. Why would he have fought against the Scots if he was a Scot? One of the other men must be his brother.
She stepped outside to find out. Nicholas saw her first. His face went pale and Julianna’s blood went cold.
Captain Gray turned and saw her and was visibly vexed.
Julianna felt ill. Something was very off here. The captain had arrived at Berwick from Etal two months before the Scots had attacked. He came with high recommendations from the barons of Etal and Branxton.
He had found her hiding in her chamber after the attack and convinced her that her father wanted her sent to St. Peter’s Abbey should he fall to his enemies. His body would then be sent there and buried after she arrived. So she had gone with the captain, away from all the death to safety. He had been quiet, almost unresponsive at times while he rode his magnificent horse called Avalon onward toward her new home until her promised husband came for her.
“Captain Gray, welcome to Edlingham Castle, home of Louis Pratt, Viscount of Bamburgh.” She greeted him as if she were the lady of the castle. “The viscount was injured and cannot come to greet you personally. He sends his apologies.”
Margaret giggled and blushed when Julianna introduced her.
“Your visit is quite unexpected,” Julianna remarked to him. “Do you travel with the Scots now?” She didn’t understand how some could kill a man and then have a drink with that’s man’s cousin.
“Aye, Miss Feathers,” he told her. His voice was deep and wonderfully melodious—like Nicholas’. She didn’t remember it sounding this way before. Before, it sounded more English. “I do.”
“Good,” she smiled at him and looped her arms through Nicholas’. “So do I.”
Nicholas turned to her and shook his head. “Do not speak treasonous things while in England, Julianna.
He was correct. She didn’t know the captain enough to trust that he or his men wouldn’t turn her in.
She’d caught the captain’s slight smile when he saw her take hold of Lord Rothbury’s arm.
“Come in out of the cold, please,” she offered when no one else did. She stared at Nicholas. Was he going to leave all the conversation to her?
They all followed her into the keep’s great hall where warm mead and ale were shared.
“My lord,” she asked Nicholas softly when they sat. “Any word on Elias?”
“Aye! Forgive me for not telling you right away.” He lifted his hand to his head and tugged on his curls. “Rauf found him and Agnes and took them to Carlisle. To my brother.”
She closed her eyes. “Thank God.” She opened them again and looked around at the men taking their seats around the tables. “Which one is he?”
Nicholas pointed. Her gaze followed his direction and looked past the captain. She saw the other men. “My lord, I—” Her gaze stopped on the captain. Nicholas was pointing to the captain.
“Captain Gray is your brother?” she asked Nicholas just to be certain. It would have been a good thing to have a man like Gray as a relative. But it meant too much that he was a Scot.
