“Earl?” he repeated.
“Of Bristol,” Tate said with a grin. “Good God, man, you nearly have as many titles as I have. How does it feel?”
Mathias had to shake himself. “I am not entirely sure,” he said. “I do not know what to say except… thank you. I am sure you had a hand in all of this.”
Tate grinned and slapped him on the shoulder. “I simply told Edward the truth,” he said. “That you are the kind of knight all men aspire to be but seldom are. Everything you have been granted is well deserved.”
As the news began to sink deeper, Mathias loosened up. He smiled at Tate. “I can hardly believe it,” he said. “Is there anything in the missive about Sebastian? Is he restored as well?”
Tate nodded. “Baron Beckington,” he said. “His lands border yours.”
Mathias’ eyebrows lifted in surprise. “A baron?” he repeated. “God’s Bones, I will never hear the end of how great he thinks he is. I sincerely wish my father was alive to see his sons restored to a greater glory.”
Tate’s humor faded somewhat and he again slapped him on the shoulder. “He knows,” he said quietly. “Wherever Justus is, he surely knows.”
“I hope so.”
Mathias sat back down next to Cathlina and laid the missive out on the table, reading over the details. Kenneth and Stephen joined him, both of them very happy for their friend. They spoke of their past, their present, and their plans for the future. It seemed that Kenneth was headed for the Welsh Marches and Stephen was headed back to Berwick to battle the Scots. Mathias knew that wherever they all went, or how long they were separated, it would never dampen or weaken the bonds of their friendship. Men who had stood behind him through his darkest hour and who were as close to him as brothers.
The group remained in the hall well into the evening hours, enjoying de Lara’s fine wine and speaking of things both important and trivial. Eventually, Saer took Rosalund to bed, for she needed a great deal of rest these days, and Cathlina sat in a chair near the hearth and gently rocked her son, who had slept most of the afternoon away. Roxane sat with her. Toby took her brood up to bed and they could hear the twins screaming two floors above them.
As Mathias, Kenneth and Stephen sat around the end of the feasting table and relived old times, the entry door to the keep swung open. Cathlina had her back turned to the door and couldn’t see who it was, but she didn’t have to. Mathias let loose with one word.
“Sebastian!”
Sebastian the Red looked weary and dirty as he walked into the hall bearing an enormous box. He eyed his brother as he approached the feasting table and set the box upon it. Mathias looked at the box with great anticipation.
“Did you get it?” he demanded.
Sebastian was tired and irritated. “I did.”
“Are you sure?”
“See for yourself,” he said. “You know how much I hated that beast. He came right up to me and kissed me, so I knew it was him.”
Mathias grinned as he collected the box and went over to his wife. Carefully, he set the box down at her feet. She looked at him curiously.
“What do you have?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder at Sebastian. “What did you bring, Sebastian?”
Mathias’ smile broadened. “I made you a promise last year that I was unable to keep until now,” he said. “With the battles, the rebuild of Kirklinton, and Magnus’ birth, it completely slipped my mind. Therefore, in honor of Magnus’ baptism, as my gift to you, I sent Sebastian back to Scotland to fulfill my promise.”
Cathlina genuinely had no idea what he was talking about. “What is it?”
Mathias pulled off the top of the wooden box and immediately, a dark furry head popped up. Beady brown eyes looked at Cathlina and, for a moment, she was speechless. But in the next instance, she was gasping with delight.
Midgy the otter gazed at his former mistress with as much happiness as an otter could muster. When Midgy slithered out of the box, he wasn’t alone; three little baby Midgys slithered out after him. It would seem that Midgy had returned home to breed and now, in late spring, had three little ones in tow. Midgy, as it turned out, was a girl.
“Midgy!” Cathlina squealed.
Magnus awoke to his mother’s happy voice, raising the roof of Carlisle’s keep with his lusty and loud cry, and Mathias couldn’t have been more thrilled… with all of it.
The Fallen One had had been reborn, richer than before.
*THE END*
