Both girls turned to Addax. “Thank you!” they said in unison.
Addax smiled. “My pleasure, ladies,” he said. Then he spoke mostly to Catalina. “I was telling them about the first pony I ever had. My grandfather, Bodhi, gave him to me. It was a beautiful pony the color of sand and I named him Makara, after a sea serpent.”
“Makara!” Ines said happily, patting the horse’s neck. “His name is Makara.”
“A fine name,” Addax said. Then he handed Essien the lead rope that was still in his hand. “I have entertained them, but I must gather my things and head to the competition field. And so should you.”
Essien finally found his tongue. “Something has happened, Ad,” he said in a low voice. “I have need of you.”
Addax didn’t like that tone. He was puzzled for a brief moment, but he didn’t question his brother. “I am yours,” he said. “What do you need?”
Essien held up a discreet hand, asking for patience, as he turned to Catalina. “My sweet, please take the girls into Lioncross’s bailey,” he said. “Find a servant and send him for Lady Hereford. When she comes, tell her what has happened.”
Catalina looked at him seriously. “Everything?”
“Everything.”
She nodded reluctantly. “Very well,” she said. “But you are not coming with me?”
Essien shook his head, handing her the lead rope. “Nay,” he said. “I have a good deal to do, but I want you to ask Lady Hereford if you may remain in the chamber she loaned us for the time being, since you have no tent or shelter to return to. Ride the girls around the bailey until they are tired of it and thenretreat to the chamber. Stay where I can find you. Will you do this for me?”
“I will do anything for you,” Catalina said, great sincerity in her expression. “I will go now.”
“Good,” Essien said. “Go straight through the gatehouse and summon Lady Hereford. I will come to you later.”
Catalina simply nodded. Blowing Essien a kiss, she turned the pony around and headed in the direction of Lioncross’s bailey. Essien and Addax followed along behind her at a distance until they saw her pass through the gatehouse and into the bailey. Once she was safely inside, Addax turned to his brother.
“Now,” he said quietly, “what is going on?”
Essien wasn’t even sure where to start. “It has all happened so fast,” he said. “When I left you with the girls and returned to Catalina, before I even reached the tent, I heard her screaming. When I ran inside, I found her father dead on the floor and her father’s former knight, Lance le Kerque, bending over the man. Naturally, I thought the worst, so I thrashed le Kerque.”
Addax’s mouth was hanging open. “My God,” he said. “Le Kerque killed de Efford?”
Essien shook his head. “Not intentionally, I’ve discovered,” he said. “It seems that de Efford returned to the tent and found le Kerque with my wife, alone, and he must have thought that the man was trying to assault her, so he attacked him—only le Kerque dodged out of the way and de Efford impaled himself on some weapons in a stand. The action killed him.”
Addax was shocked. “Oh, Es,” he said, hand over his heart in a gesture of sincerity. “I am so sorry. This is a terrible way to start off a marriage.”
Essien snorted ironically. “More than you know,” he said. “According to Catalina, Lance was there because he wanted to show her something.”
“What?”
“A relic she gave her first husband, Alfred, before he went to France.”
Addax’s brow furrowed in bewilderment. “A relic?” he repeated. “But… but how did le Kerque have it?”
“Because there is a man here, at the tournament, who brought it,” Essien said. “Le Kerque saw the man yesterday and thought he was a thief because he was lurking around, but he was evidently looking for Catalina. He gave le Kerque the cross and asked him to have her identify it. Ad… she thinks the man is her first husband. She thinks he has returned.”
That statement brought a universe of horrific implications with it, and not one of them was lost on Addax. He watched the face of his brother, a man who was usually passionate about life and almost always happy, but in this case, he was pale and full of sorrow. The man’s eyes were virtually dead at the potential of losing the woman he’d just married. A woman he was clearly mad about.
It wasn’t as if his brother had a different woman every night. Not in the least. Essien wasn’t like that. It was true that he liked the company of women, and there had been a couple throughout his life that had been somewhat special to him, but nothing like Addax had witnessed over the past day. Essien had gone from being staunchly resistant to marriage to extraordinarily grateful that he had been pushed into it.
At the marriage mass the day before, Addax could never recall seeing his brother so happy. He’d had a glow about him that was very unusual and certainly not indicative of someone who was unhappy with the situation. For her part, Catalina had been gracious and kind and lovely, and Addax remembered thinking that he was sorry his own wife was missing the ceremony. Emmeline would have loved it. It did Addax’s heart good to see his younger brother so happy. Now, that happiness was being threatened.
Addax did what any good brother would do.
He wanted to make it right.
“Where is this man?” Addax asked quietly. “The one who brought the cross. Where is he?”
