That made Harald anxious. “Do you think he will agree?”
Christopher stood up, opening the solar door to send a servant to fetch Addax before he answered.
“I think he will,” he said quietly as he came back over to the table where the wine was located. “I think he will be very eager for a marriage such as this for his brother.”
He wiped out a nearby cup and poured a measure of wine into it as Harald stood up, staggering over to the table and collecting more wine for himself.
Christopher eyed him.
“If you have any more of that, the room will only continue to sparkle,” he warned him. “It might even go up in flame. God presented himself as a burning bush once. He may do it again.”
Harald took a long drink before answering. “I do not care,” he said. “If God burns down this room in a divine moment that convinces Addax al-Kort that his brother should wed my daughter, I will make the sacrifice.”
“It’ll burn down with you in it.”
“As I said, I’ll make the sacrifice.”
With that, he drained the cup and poured himself another. Christopher decided to put the wine out of his reach at that point, because they had to go through a rather serious conversation with Addax and the man was already drunk enough. In fact, by the time Addax arrived about a half-hour later, Harald was asleep in his chair, snoring loudly enough to rattle the walls. Christopher proceeded to tell Addax what had been proposed, pausing to awaken Harald, who was drunk and groggy but very agreeable. Not strangely, so was Addax.
Everyone was agreeable but the groom himself.
And that was a job for Christopher.
CHAPTER SIX
Due to thefact that Lord and Lady Hereford had yet to appear at their feast, there had been no formal meal yet even if there was plentiful food, but there was also plentiful drink, so, not wanting to be rude to their hosts by eating before the formal feast commenced, the knights stayed mostly to the drink. The result was that within a couple of hours of their arrival to the hall, many of them were fairly drunk. A few were even smashed.
Essien was one of those who was rightfully plastered.
He was trying not to be. He truly was. But he’d had five cups of the strong Spanish wine that the de Lohrs favored, and before he knew it, the room was rolling as if he were on the high seas and he was holding on to the tables to keep from going overboard. He was sitting at a table near the dais with Ashton, Cassian, Addax, Jonathan, William, Kieran, and Paris, and they were all drunk to varying degrees. Alexander, who had arrived late to the feast with his wife, came across the group, noted their state of inebriation and ordered some of the egg dishes, bread, and boiled fruit juice over to the table to counteract the effects of the alcohol.
As Alexander tried to help the group out because he really didn’t think Christopher would be pleased to arrive in the hall toa gang of drunken knights, sentries out in the bailey announced the arrival of more guests. There seemed to be a good deal of activity going on as horses and wagons arrived. Alexander dared to leave the table of drunkards long enough to see who it was, and he was informed that the Earl of Canterbury, David de Lohr, had arrived along with Peter de Lohr, Christopher’s eldest son and commander of the garrison at Ludlow Castle.
The last of the de Lohrs had finally appeared.
As Alexander went into the bailey to greet the newcomers, he saw David and Peter speaking to two men he didn’t recognize because their backs were to him. The horses were being taken away, as were the wagons, so there was a bit of commotion going on as Alexander approached. Then one of the men speaking to David turned around and Alexander recognized him immediately.
Surprise was in the air.
“Rhys?” Alexander said incredulously. “And Maddoc? My God, I’ve not seen the two of you in years. How remarkable!”
He went to embrace Rhys du Bois, a man who had served Christopher and David for many years. His son, Maddoc, was the captain of the guard for the Earl of Canterbury, a young knight with a lightning-fast sword and astonishing skill. Both men were black-haired, blue-eyed, and enormously powerful.
The common family traits were strong from father to son.
“Sherry.” Rhys returned the man’s embrace. “’Tis good to see you. It has been a long time.”
“Too long,” Alexander said as he hugged Maddoc. “Truthfully, I see your son fairly frequently in Kent, but you’re still in France. It has been years.”
“It has,” Rhys said. “Being the brother of the current Duke of Navarre means I have duties to my family there. My children were born in Navarre, you know. All but Maddoc. But my heart is here, in England. I was visiting Maddoc when David told me thathe was coming to Chris’ tournament. That was a coincidence, since I had something to speak with Chris about, so I came along.”
Alexander grinned. “And you brought Peter with you?”
Peter spoke up. “I happen to arrive at the same time,” he said. “We met on the road and came through the village together.”
Alexander nodded. “Quite fortuitous,” he said. But his focus soon returned to Rhys and Maddoc. “The mass competition is in two days. Would you and Maddoc consider entering? We would make an unbeatable team against William de Wolfe and his evil cohorts.”
“De Wolfe is here?” Maddoc asked, delight in his expression. “Where is he?”
