Courtly stood up, her expression eager. “Will you?” she asked hopefully. “I know the weather is terrible, and I would not ask this of you under normal circumstances, but I am afraid of what Papa will do if Maximus comes for me. Papa might even try to kill him.”
Ellice was indeed thinking of riding to warn Maximus, but not for the reasons Courtly was concerned with. Ellice had her own plans.
“I will ride into town and speak to him,” Ellice said. “He must know not to come. He must know… what is happening.”
Courtly nodded her head, deeply thankful for her aunt’s selfless attitude. “Please, Auntie,” she begged softly, “Please go to him. I will be forever grateful.”
Ellice waited until Isadora returned with warmed wine before leaving the hall and heading to her chambers to don clothing that would be somewhat resistant to the terrible weather. She’d spent so much of her life feeling worthless and restless that to actually have a purpose fueled her with confidence and new hope.
She was going to ride to find Maximus de Shera, that was a fact. But it would not be to warn him not to come to Kennington. It would be to tell him that Kellen was sending his daughters back to Trelystan. Her suggestion would be that Maximus should intercept that escort and take back what rightfully belonged to him. Kellen, who had to remain in Oxford because of de Montfort’s gathering, might not know for weeks or even months that his daughters had been taken by Maximus de Shera. By the time he found out, Courtly would be Lady de Shera and Kellen would be too late to do anything about it. Aye, it was a brilliant plan.
For the marriage Kellen had denied his sister those years ago, Ellice would finally make her brother pay.
She would have the last laugh.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Maximus recognized thewoman the moment she walked into the inn, drenched and sputtering.
He had been standing at the usual de Shera table, the one near the barkeep, discussing Courtly’s disappearance and her subsequent note that they had discovered a few minutes earlier. Thinking the women were sleeping, they had left them alone until Stefan had returned to tell them that he could not find one hostel or inn that had room for all of them. Then, there was no point in waking the women at all and they’d found the note only by chance when Gallus had gone to look in on his wife again and found her very much alone in the chamber. Courtly’s note had been on the table nearby. They had been preparing to go after her when Lady Ellice walked through the tavern door.
Maximus crossed the room in seconds. Perhaps he even flew. He wasn’t entirely sure. All he knew was that, suddenly, he had his hands on Ellice as if she alone held all of the answers to Courtly’s disappearance.
“Where is she?” he demanded savagely. “Where is Courtly?”
Ellice was somewhat caught off-guard. Having charged blindly into the inn to get out of the rain, she suddenly found herself in the hands of a madman. She yelped with surprise, looking up into a very angry, very worried face.
“Sir Maximus!” she gasped.
Maximus’ grip on her arms tightened. “Where is she?” he repeated.
By this time, Gallus and Tiberius had joined Maximus and were attempting to pull his hands off the woman.
“Max,” Gallus said softly, urgently. “Let her go. Come, now, release her.”
Maximus managed to get one hand off of her but he still kept a grip on her arm, even as Gallus and Tiberius led them over, in some odd-looking group clutching at each other, to the table where all of the de Shera men were gathering. Someone extended a cup of warm wine to Ellice, which she gratefully accepted. She was soaked through. But Maximus had to let her go in order for her to lift the cup to her lips and he did so, though reluctantly. Ellice drank deeply before speaking.
“Courtly is at Kennington,” she said, licking her lips. “She came back because she was afraid my brother was going to launch an attack against you. She believed that if she went back to her father, then he would cease his hostilities.”
Maximus already knew that, more or less. “Is she well?” he demanded. “Did she make the journey safely?”
Ellice nodded and took another long drink of wine. “She is well,” she replied, hearing the great concern in Maximus’ voice. “You needn’t worry over her health. But I have come to tell you that my brother is sending her back to Trelystan this very night. There is no time to waste. If you want to reclaim her, do it when she is on the open road with only a few soldiers as protection.”
Gallus and Tiberius, as well as Maximus, were listening carefully. Maximus, who was usually the calm one in all situations, was having a difficult time keeping his bearings under these circumstances. When he had discovered Courtly missing, he had felt panic as he had never experienced in his life. All he could think of was the woman, alone, traveling back to Kennington in such terrible weather. Moreover, she was heading straight for her abusive, crazed father. But hearing that she was safe, at least for the time being, soothed him like nothing elsecould have. She was safe and whole. That was truly all that mattered to him. The rest, he could deal with as long as she was healthy.
“De Lara is sending her backtonight?” Gallus repeated what he’d just been told. “How is that even possible? He would do such a thing in this weather?”
Ellice looked around the table at the host of powerful knights, de Shera knights. These were the heart of the de Shera war machine, but the truth was that she’d hardly been out of Kennington in years and certainly not enough to find company with men she did not know. Looking into the faces of the de Wolfe brothers, of Garran, and finally into Stefan’s very handsome, young face stirred her female blood somewhat. She had almost forgotten what it was like to be around attractive men.
“As I said earlier, when you were at Kennington,” she said, tearing her eyes away from young Stefan, “my brother believes he is protecting his children and will do what he feels necessary in order to do that. At this moment, he is only concerned with removing them from Oxford and, in particular, separating Courtly from Sir Maximus. The weather does not matter. All that matters is that they leave as soon as possible. He wants to put as much distance as he can between Sir Maximus and his daughter, and do it quickly.”
“Tonight?” Gallus clarified.
Ellice nodded. “Tonight,” she confirmed softly. “But be advised that my brother will not be part of the escort. He must remain here for de Montfort’s gathering, as I am sure you are all well aware, so he will not be returning with his daughters to Trelystan. He will send an escort of de Lara men to take them. It may be your one and only opportunity to reclaim her if you truly wish to do so.”
Maximus was much calmer now than he had been only moments earlier. “Do you know what road they are taking?”
Ellice lifted her shoulders. “I can only assume the north road that skirts the edge of Oxford and heads north towards Evesham,” she said. “It is the only one they could possibly take.”
