“Will you at least stay here awhile?” she asked. “It would do me good to see at least one person from home. This is a very big place and although everyone has been kind, it is still daunting to me. I would like it if you could stay awhile. Mayhap you would even meet a young woman to marry. I am not sure how I ever became betrothed before you, but imagine if you were to meet a de Wolfe bride. Then you would be part of the family, too!”
She said it with some excitement, but Maksim didn’t rise to that level. He finally found what he was looking for and pulled forth a heavier tunic, something warmer against the cooler temperatures of the night.
“Family,” he muttered, shaking out the tunic. “You do realize that we have no family at all. No cousins, no uncles. We live in a castle that has not seen a battle in decades. Father has grown soft, our soldiers are bored, and I… I am a well-trained knight, Matilda. I have had the finest education, yet I sit and rot at Hensingham.”
Mattie’s brow furrowed with concern. “I’ve never heard you talk this way,” she said. “Are you unhappy, then?”
He had to think seriously on his answer. “Unhappy?” he said. “Not exactly unhappy. But seeing Gar with his cousins and brothers and family, how much they adore each other, how seasoned and experienced they all are, has made me realize just what I have missed. Do you know I’ve only seen one skirmish in my entire life? Papa sent me to Berkhamstead Castle and all it ever was during my tenure there was a royal prison. The only skirmish I’ve ever seen was there, when some unruly warlord tried to break his son out of prison. The skirmish was easily put down. But I trained, I learned, I went through the motions of being an excellent knight, but the truth is I’m not.”
“You are!”
He shook his head firmly. “I am not,” he said, throwing a finger in the direction of the great hall. “Thosemen are excellent knights. They have seen death in battle. They’ve suffered. They have a camaraderie that I can only dream of because I’ve not fought with them. I’ve not fought with anyone. I do not know why I am even telling you this. You cannot possibly understand.”
Mattie was listening to him seriously. “I know what it means to belong to something,” she said. “You and I, Mama and Papa… We belong to each other. We belong to the legacy of Hensingham. Is that not something, small as it is?”
Maksim shrugged. “I suppose so,” he said. He finally sat down on the bed next to her, his shoulders slumped. “But I want more, Mattie. I did not even realize that until we arrived and I saw all of the knights and the way they were with each other. You asked me if I was going to remain here for a while—the truth is that I will stay permanently if Gar will allow it and I am not sure how Papa will take the news. I want to live the life I was trained for. I do not want to return to a castle of boredom.”
Mattie could understand that, somewhat. Everyone wanted to feel as if they had a purpose. She put her hand on her brother’s shoulder.
“I think Gar would love for you to stay,” she said quietly. “Remember that he said he’s been having trouble with the Scots. I’m sure he can use every good knight he can find.”
Maksim nodded, pondering what the future at Gleann na Fola might hold for him. “I think Mama will be worried for me,” he said. “I do believe she is content for me to remain at Hensingham, safe and under her care. I think this is what she envisioned for me.”
“But you do not,” Mattie said softly.
Maksim shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “I donot. If I am to have a legacy, then I must build it. Your marriage to Gar has given me that chance.”
Mattie smiled at him. “I hope so,” she said. “I think my marriage to him has given us both a chance at a different life. A different legacy.”
On the bed beside Mattie, Winchester let out a sigh of contentment and they both looked over to see the dog lying on its back, limbs curled, snoring away.
Maksim shook his head reproachfully.
“That stupid beast has done nothing but bark since yesterday,” he said. “Since we do not want him attacking Gar and tearing his breeches again, I’ve been forced to keep him here and listen to him bark all night.”
Mattie cocked her head thoughtfully. “I’ve been trying to get those breeches off him since he first put them on.”
Maksim let out a snort of disgust. “God’s Bones, Matilda,” he said. “Do not say such things in front of me. I do not need to knowthat.”
Mattie realized what he meant and she laughed. “I simply meant that they are filthy and he will not remove them, not even for cleaning,” she said. “But if I let Winnie run free…”
Maksim could see where she was going with that line of thought. “Then he’ll find Gar and rip the breeches off for you,” he said. “You are a devious girl.”
Mattie laughed again. “Mayhap when the situation requires it,” she said, rubbing her dog’s belly affectionately. “In fact, I think I will take him up to the hall. Mayhap he can even tear those breeches to shreds tonight.”
That had Maksim grinning at the thought of Winchester tearing Gar’s breeches off in front of a hall full of men. Mattie stood up from the bed, pulling with her Winchester, who was more than happy to go with his mistress. Maksim stood up to follow because if there was going to be a spectacle in the hall, he wanted to be present for it. Just as the two of them, plus the dog, reached the tent opening, they could see a good deal of commotion going on at the gatehouse. There was yelling, and people calling for Gar, as an exhausted man in tatters came through the gatehouse. Several soldiers were pulling him toward the keep.
Mattie watched curiously as Maksim pushed past her, coming out of the tent. He stood there for a few moments, watching the scene, before tilting his head upward as if looking to the sky.
“I smell smoke,” he said.
Mattie looked at him. “There are a dozen fires in this bailey,” she said. “That is what you smell.”
But Maksim shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “It is blowing in from the south.”
“What does that mean?”
He snorted. “That there is a fire to the south of us,” he said, stating the obvious. “Get back up to the keep, Matilda. Take thedog with you. There’s something in the air and you should be safe inside.”
