The chamber echoed with renewed murmuring. Only King Henry seemed rendered completely speechless. Catherine, however, wanted to cry aloud with happiness, feeling that her heart must burst from the surge of love and pride that swept through her at that moment.
She gazed at Gray, at this magnificent man who was her destiny and her life, and she knew without a doubt that there was nothing more on earth that could ever again come between them. He had faced down the entire English Court and its king for her, pledging to forsake his vows as a knight in order to beherwarrior,herchampion alone. He was willing to renounce all that had ever mattered to him. To give up prestige, wealth, the positions of power that he craved—even his own body and blood, if need be—all in order to save her.
But oh, if only he knew…
If he only knew that he’d saved her long ago. From the very first day he’d taken her into his arms, he’d been saving her, one tender step at a time. Aye, he’d pulled her back from the brink of destruction, freeing her soul with the awesome gift of his love.
Straightening, Catherine shook off the hold of her guards. They released her without argument, almost as if they too felt the magic, the power, in this moment. She crossed the chamber to Gray, walking with slow, measured steps, until she stood tall and proud before him. Then she took his hands in hers, raised his palms to her lips and kissed each in turn before sliding her arms up around his neck and throwing herself against him with a happy cry.
He held her tight, and she reveled in the feel of him as he cradled her close, in his murmured endearments as he buried his face in her hair. When he finally pulled away, it was to let Ian and Isabel join in their embrace. But he didn’t fully release her yet, keeping his arm linked round her waist as the twins nestled in.
Catherine held onto her children and to the man she loved, overflowing with emotion as they faced their king once more. Faced him together, as they were meant to be.
Gray’s face shone with a supremely happy expression, she thought, considering that he’d just forsaken all of his earthly possessions for her. But in the next instant she realized that she’d underestimated him yet again. Her heart flopped in her chest and her breath caught when he arched his brow in that infernally devilish way of his, matching it to the tilt of his smile.
“Have we your leave to go now, Sire?” he murmured.
Still holding her breath, Catherine waited for the king’s answer, relieved to see that his incredulous look seemed to have faded. More encouraging, even, was the warmth lighting his gaze as he looked at them now. His mouth looked softer, his face relaxed. He seemed almost…well, almosthappy.
But then he surprised her by shaking his head and answering sternly, “Nay, Camville, you may not leave. Not until We have put to rest this messy business ofwergildthat you foisted upon Us today.”
Gray stiffened. “What else needs be done?” he asked calmly, though she recognized the tone of steel in his voice, saw the gathering storm clouds that turned his eyes to green ice. “I have already surrendered all that I possess into your keeping. What more do you seek from me?”
In a magnificent swirl of capes, the king stepped down from the dais again to stand before them, this time unable to mask his repressed glee, like a child who thinks that he alone knows the answer to some great and wonderful secret.
“You seem to forget, Camville,” Henry added, “that We have not settled the details of your property’s disbursement. The ancient code ofwergildthat you invoked today requires the man-money be paid to the victim’s family. ’Tis only if there are no living relatives that the funds go to theCynghimself.
“In this case, two heirs—heirs who already gained possession of Lord Montford’s primary estates at the time of his death—survive him. Underwergild, it is they who shall also inherit the sum of your wealth, not Us. Therefore, before you go, We must needs publicly pledge your fortunes to them, so that all of England will recognize and respect their claim.”
Eduard’s heirs? Catherine’s heart contracted with disbelief as the king spoke. Her breath stilled, and Gray went rigid beside her as he too realized the full import of the king’s statement.
“Aye, that’s right, Camville,” Henry said, breaking into a grin now at his own cleverness. “Montford died unmarried and childless. Not for any lack of effort on Our part, We must say, but unmarried he was, and with no living siblings. His only remaining heirs exist in the persons of his niece and nephew, young Ian and Isabel here.” Henry ruffled Ian’s hair and patted Isabel on the shoulder, before crouching down to look them both in the eye.
“Someday the two of you will possess a very large fortune, the sum total of both your uncle’s and Lord Camville’s estates combined,” the king said gently. He lifted his brows. “We trust that you will choose to wield your power most wisely when the time comes to use it.”
The twins nodded in unison, speechless again before the majesty of their king. But Henry just smiled and chucked them on their chins before standing to look at Gray, seeming even more pleased with himself than before.
“Of course until they reach their majority, We will entrust the care of their inheritance to your capable hands, Camville.”
Shifting his smiling gaze to Catherine, Henry added, “And to you, as well, of course, lady—though perhaps before anything else transpires, the two of you should seek out a holy father to make your marriage an official one.”
“Aye, my lord,” Catherine murmured, ducking her head under a flush of warmth.
“Indeed, Sire,” Gray added, smiling. “Before the sun sets this eve, I hope to make Catherine my wife in truth, so that no man, woman, or child in England will have reason again to deny our union.”
Feeling the sweet pressure of Gray’s hand on her own, Catherine squeezed back, basking in this new and unaccustomed sense of happiness. There were no more secrets, no more lies between them. Nothing more could harm them or keep them apart.
And so as she prepared to leave with the man she cherished and the children she adored, Catherine felt that their good fortune couldn’t possibly get any better. She thought it couldn’t, that was, until King Henry reached down and picked up Gray’s baronial seal from where it rested on the dais.
The monarch weighed the solid gold disk in his palm, balancing it carefully. After a pause he held it out to Gray and said, “It is Our belief, Camville, that you should resume possession of this seal, posthaste. After all, only nobles of the realm may serve Us as Sheriff, and it is Our understanding that the region near Cheltenham is in sore and immediate need of someone to assume the prosperous estate there and administer justice to the people. You are Our choice for the post, if you will take it.”
Gray just stared at King Henry for an instant, his face unreadable, his jaw clenched under the force of some strong emotion. Finally he bowed his head, fisting his hand as he crossed his arm over his chest. “I thank you, Sire,” he murmured, his voice rough with feeling, “and would be most honored to accept this gift and duty from your hand.”
Eyes twinkling, Henry looped the chain over Gray’s head, by the act restoring him once more to his position as a powerful nobleman of England.
“Go forward, then, Lord Camville,” the king said quietly, “and continue Our work in this kingdom.” Then he waved his arm in a flourish. “And now, Godspeed to you both!”
They turned to go, Catherine’s heart singing with joy. But as Gray grasped her hand to take her and the children down the long aisle that led out of the palace, she heard the first tiny rumblings. It was a rhythmic sound, a repeated thumping that bloomed all around them, reverberating off the chamber’s thick wooden floor.
