“Assassinations,” he said without hesitation. “If there was a dirty job to do, then my colleagues and I would do it. There were three of us– Achilles, whom you have met, and another knight named Maxton of Loxbeare. In fact, the Muslims had a name for us.”
“What was it?”
“Faris aljalaad.”
“What does that mean?”
“The Executioner Knights.”
She blinked as his words sank in. “Truly?” she said, awed. “I find that fascinating. Did you do terrible, terrible things?”
Kress had hoped to scare her a little, perhaps take the dreamy glow from her eyes as she thought of him as a strong, noble knight, but it didn’t work. She appeared even more interested than she had before.
“Aye,” he said. “Terrible enough.”
“Like what?”
“Those are not things I will discuss with a lady,” he said. “Suffice it to say that I have committed enough sin that on the day of my death, Lucifer will know me on a first-name basis. The Christians used to call my colleagues and me the Unholy Trinity, in fact, so that should tell you what kind of reputations we earned for ourselves. If there was something terrible that needed to be done, we would do it.”
Cadelyn was fascinated by his past. “That simply means that you are devoted to your duty,” she said. “You did what you were ordered to do. That does not make you wicked.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “Nay, it does not, but you should not hold any illusions that I am a fine, pious knight. If William Marshal ordered me to snap a man’s neck, I would do it without hesitation. Even if that man was a priest. I do what I am told to do and I hold no personal feelings in the matter.”
“What if he told you to snap my neck?”
He looked at her, a smile spreading across his lips. Reaching up, he put his big hand around her throat, so big that it covered up her neck. He snorted softly.
“It is too pretty a neck,” he said.
Cadelyn was oddly serious. “But if I refuse to go through with this betrothal, he might tell you that. What then?”
Kress dropped his hand, the smile fading from his lips. “I would not worry about that if I were you,” he said, “because you are not going to refuse the betrothal.”
She opened her mouth in protest. “I told you that…”
He held up a hand, cutting her off. “Let me finish,” he said. “I want you to understand the importance of this mission and of this betrothal before you make your decision. You see, this entire mission was entrusted to me. I was told to take you to your betrothed. That ismypersonal mission; to ensure you make it. Now, if I fail to do so, that would damage my reputation and everything I have worked so hard for. Men would hear of this, men I respect, and they would doubt my abilities as a knight and as a man of my word. If you refuse this betrothal, my lady, then I have failed. It is as simple as that. It would ruin me.”
Doubt crossed her face as she thought on that. “I would not want to ruin you,” she said. “But I will not marry the earl.”
“If you do not marry him, I will have failed.”
She sat back and folded her arms over her chest, a defiant gesture that didn’t have much power to it. It was symbolic more than anything. She eyed him, brow furrowed, as she thought on the situation as he presented it.
“Well,” she said reluctantly, “if you were considered a failure, what would you do? Where would you go?”
He sat back, realizing his head, which had only been mildly aching until this point, was beginning to throb. He rubbed at his neck as he genuinely considered her question.
“It is difficult to say,” he said. “I am certain William Marshal would release me from his service. I suppose I could return to France as a mercenary, or head to Scotland. King William is always looking for English knights to help him manage his borders. But I could not inherit my father’s lands. It would go to one of my brothers. I would lose everything.”
At that point, they began to hear voices on the other side of the stone wall, men calling Kress’ name. The old woman was out in the garden with her dog, holding on to the beast as a knight with a big broadsword in his hand stepped through the shattered wooden gate. Kress and Cadelyn could see through the open hut door that it was Achilles, coming through the shattered gate, and Kress lurched to his feet, reaching down to pull Cadelyn up from the ground.
“I am here,” Kress said, hand still to the back of his head as he went to the door. “I found the lady. She is unharmed.”
Achilles was followed by Bric, a few soldiers, and eventually Susanna. Cadelyn, who was behind Kress, saw his helm lying over near a corner where it had landed when the old woman had smacked it right off of his head. She handed it to him just as Achilles and Bric reached him.
“What happened to you?” Achilles wanted to know. “Did you not hear us? We have been calling your name.”
Kress glanced at Cadelyn before he spoke. “I did not hear you,” he said. “I was chasing that stupid dog and ended up hitting my head somehow. But I found the lady and that is all that matters.”
