“You do not know that for certain,” he said. “You may like your husband a great deal.”
Cadelyn was watching him closely in the darkness. “I told you my secret,” she said. “Tell me what you know of Tatius de Shera.”
Kress couldn’t, in good conscience, hold back, although he was hesitant to tell her everything he’d heard. She was already reluctant enough about the situation. Still, she had told him the truth. It was his turn to do the same.
“It seems that you will have something in common with him,” he said. “I am told by William Marshal that Tatius is a poet and a man of gentle hobbies.”
It was clear that Cadelyn was surprised by that. “He is?” she said. “He is not a great war lord?”
Kress shook his head. “That role seems to fall to his younger brothers, who command the armies,” he said. Then, he continued hesitantly. “The Marshal seems to think he is a gentle man not particularly suited to the stress of being a great de Shera earl. But I was also told that he was a drunkard who is as reluctant to this betrothal as you are. My lady, I honestly do not know what you will be facing at The Paladin, but the sooner we find out, the better. At least you will know the situation and there will be no more guessing.”
He was right and Cadelyn knew it.I was also told that he was a drunkard. Cadelyn shut her eyes, briefly, at that piece of news. She had to give the man credit for not holding back on that. He’d told her, just as he had promised to, both the good and the bad of it.
“Thank you for being truthful,” she said, though she didn’t sound particularly grateful. “That is more than I can say for either Padraig or William Marshal. They only wanted to tell me what a great lineage de Shera has. As if I care about that kind of thing.”
“And you do not? You have a great lineage, too.”
She glanced at him. “You think so?” she said, a hint of bitterness in her voice. “Up until just a few years ago, I had always been told that my parents had died in an accident and that I had no other kin. That is why I go by the name of Cadelyn d’Aubigney. I am an orphan assimilated into the great Earls of Arundel. But just after my fourteenth birthday, William Marshal came to Castle Rising to tell me of my true heritage. I was told that my mother was Nesta ferch Madog, a direct descendent of the last king of Pengwern, and that my father was Owain Dant y Draig, a direct descendent of the last true King of Rhos. My father begged William Marshal to protect me when I was born, and then the man died in some nameless skirmish when I was very small.”
Kress had heard this all from William, but it had been in the context of his mission. Now, hearing the same information from Cadelyn gave a human factor to it. He had to make sure the human factor didn’t take precedence over the mission itself because once he ceased to view Cadelyn as simply a task, everything could be in jeopardy.
Everything.
“And your mother?” he asked quietly.
She shook her head. “I have no knowledge of my mother,” she said. “If William Marshal knew, he did not tell me. I will assume she is dead just like my father is.”
Somewhere overhead, an owl hooted, reminding Kress that the hour was growing late and he needed to return Cadelyn to Castle Rising. Oddly, he wasn’t in a hurry any longer. He rather liked talking to her, just the two of them. But in realizing that, he also knew how dangerous it was. He was already attracted to the woman, so intimate conversations like this weren’t a good idea.
It was a pity, too.
“I am sorry for the turn your life took, my lady,” he said. “As I said, we must all take orders at one time or another. This is yourtime. You must not look at your betrothal as the great unknown; try to look at it as a great adventure.”
He was taking her elbow again, turning her towards her horse. This time, she didn’t pull away.
“Is that how you would look at it?” she asked. “Are you betrothed?”
He eyed her in the darkness. “Do you think I would say I would return for you if I was?”
She shrugged. “Some men are betrothed and do not act like it. I have seen it.”
They had reached her horse. Kress reached out and grasped her around the waist, lifting her right up onto the saddle. She was light, but there was solidity there.Softness. He quickly removed his hands once she was settled.
“They have no honor,” he said quietly. “I do.”
With that, he turned for his own steed, who was tied up around the corner of the church yard. Cadelyn watched him go for a moment before directing her horse after him, plodding along on the dirt road, feeling no need to flee the man. It had been a conversation of confessions, of truths, and, somehow, she felt strangely closer to him for it.
Nay, she wasn’t going to try to run from him because he had been truthful and honorable. As reluctant as she was to marry de Shera, she knew that running or resisting wouldn’t solve the problem. Kress had been correct; it was her time to follow orders, and she would. But that didn’t mean giving up what she loved to do, unconventional as it was.
Heading out of town on the road that would take them straight to Castle Rising, Cadelyn wasn’t surprised to run headlong into Susanna, who had a somewhat panicked look on her face. Unfortunately, no amount of explanation could convince the woman that Cadelyn and Kress hadn’t stolen away from Castle Rising, together. Given the flirtation that had goneon between them earlier in the day, Susanna came to the only conclusion she could and Cadelyn didn’t blame her.
As Kress tried to convince Susanna that there had been nothing unseemly going on, Cadelyn confirmed that she had, indeed, run off alone and Kress had merely followed her for safety’s sake. It seemed that Susanna could believe that Cadelyn had run off, alone, but she still didn’t believe that Kress’ pursuit of her into Lynn had been all that altruistic.
Kress, sensing his honor was somehow at stake, continued to explain his case to Susanna that his actions had been completely in the line of duty. Given that the blame seemed to be more on him than on her, Cadelyn eventually shut her mouth and let the pair hash it out. But there was a part of her that wished his actions hadn’t been completely in the line of duty. It would have been rather romantic had it not been.
Another subject for one of Lady Dark’s poems was born.
The Knight and the Lady
