CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The wounded neededher.
After her breakdown, Corisande was back with the sick and injured, tending men because that’s what she was good at. It gave her something to focus on other than Cole, someone she would now have to forget.
But she wasn’t sure she could.
Still, she would have to. She would have to force herself. After what had happened between them, there was no going back. Cole would move on with his life and she would move on with hers, but it would not be as one.
Somehow, she’d have to find the will to go on.
She wasn’t sure she could.
Corisande was coming to think that God simply didn’t want her to wed. He didn’t want to see her happy. Spinsters or widows or unmarried women often devoted themselves to the cloister by way of a livelihood, but Corisande wouldn’t consider it. Why would she serve a God who didn’t want to see her happy?
But she also knew she couldn’t stay at The Keld.
Odd how it had been her home since birth but, somehow, returning to such a place would remind her of Cole. In the grand scheme of things, he’d hardly spent any time there, yet his markwas upon it, indelibly. She couldn’t go back there and remember those wonderful memories.
Corisande didn’t know what she was going to do, but she did know one thing– she would never recover from this.
She would never be the same again.
But her focus, for now, had to be on the sick and wounded. She couldn’t let her personal issues get in the way of making sure men lived. It was easier to function if she had something to focus on, something to chase away the crippling thoughts of Cole. But try as she might, she couldn’t keep him from her mind. She couldn’t get his accusing eyes out of her head. That he would not even give her the opportunity to explain cut her to shreds but, in hindsight, she would have only told him what he suspected.
Perhaps it was better this way.
Evening was starting to fall and the torches around the hospital area were lit, weak light to stave off the mist that was now starting to roll in from the sea. It smelled strongly of salt. Corisande moved among the men, making sure those not in the tent were well-covered against the dampness.
The cooks of de Bourne’s army had prepared a meal, including a big pot of beef broth from the bones of the beef they’d been cooking for the regular army. It was a rich broth, salty, and some of Corisande’s helpers began giving it to the wounded. The hospital area, in fact, was surrounded by the regular army, with Teviot’s army immediately adjacent, so they could smell food from all sides as the evening meal commenced for the weary men. Corisande was kneeling beside a man who had taken an ax to the shoulder, helping him lift his head to drink the beef broth, when she heard someone lifting his voice behind her.
“It has come to my attention that there have been some rumors spreading amongst the armies.” It was Cole, standing right in the middle of the hospital area. “I have heard of theserumors myself, cruel and vicious rumors regarding the release of captives from the Scots several days ago. You know who you are, men spreading these rumors, and when I find you, I will make you pay.”
He had the loudest, most terrifying voice possible and with the fog, it carried. Hundreds of men were hearing him. Corisande sat there, frozen, having no idea what he was going to do. He’d run off earlier and now he was back, perhaps to do greater harm to her and her reputation.
Or perhaps he was having some kind of tantrum.
Frantically, she looked around for her brothers, but the mist made it difficult to see if they were around. She didn’t want them to charge Cole because a spectacular fight would result that she didn’t want to witness. No matter what she was feeling, or what he’d done, she didn’t want Cole injured by her angry brothers. But she couldn’t seem to make herself move, frightened into inactivity, as Cole began to pace around near the enormous iron pot that was boiling soiled bandages.
He looked as angry and terrifying as she had ever seen him.
“I want all of you who can hear my voice to listen to me and listen well,” he said. “These rumors that Alastor de Bourne’s daughter has traded her innocence in exchange for the release of the English captives is false. It is a lie perpetuated by small and feeble minds. I want to be perfectly clear about this, so any rumors you now spread will be countered with the truth. Nothing lascivious or untoward happened. But a great sacrifice did. It had to be explained to me before I understood it, so I tell you now that any man I find speaking against the daughters of Alastor de Bourne will meet my wrath. I do not care who you are or where you are– I will find you and I will cut out your offensive tongue.”
Shocked, Corisande began to tremble. She set the broth down on the ground and stood up, having no idea what to makeof any of this. Cole was shouting loud enough for the Scots in Edinburgh to hear him, laying open a situation that had, since it happened, been whispered and sneered about.
But he was bringing it all to the forefront.
Corisande made her way out of the shelter, looking at Cole with surprise and apprehension. When he caught sight of her, he turned in her direction, his eyes locking with hers. A thousand unspoken words passed between them, words of sorrow and longing, fear and love, but he didn’t move for her.
Not yet.
He wasn’t finished.
“I have fought in many battles in my lifetime,” he said. “I come from a family of warriors and you all know that. The name de Velt is synonymous with battle. I have seen bravery that has impressed me and I have seen men sacrifice themselves for a cause, but I have never in my life seen more courage than I have seen from Corisande de Bourne. She is a lady of great character and bravery I could only hope to have, and I shamed her greatly by allowing myself to be sucked up into the filth that was being spread about her. But no more. She does not deserve what your dirty minds have cast upon her.”
His voice was echoing off the tents. Men were coming into view now, from all armies, listening to Cole as he bared his soul for all to hear. Corisande would have seen her brothers and father come into view had she not been so focused on Cole.
Here he was, making sure everyone heard him.
