The Beast of Renald (The Northern Knights) Read online

  ‘As you wish, my lady.’

  Caroline was confused by the total change in this woman, but she had no time to ponder it as Kelbie struggled to get down and went to the woman. He giggled at something the aged servant whispered in his ear before saying ‘Bye, Mama.’

  Before she could squawk her disapproval, Laur explained she was only taking him down to break his fast.

  Laur was almost out the door, before turning back to add, ‘Besides, the seamstresses will be here soon enough to keep most of your morning busy. My lord’s orders. Worry not, my lady, your little one will have plenty enough to keep him busy.’

  With that the servant and Kelbie were gone and Caroline was surprised she felt no deep worry as she’d expected. She felt the woman was not a source of harm to her son and he did seem to enjoy being with the servant. She’d not heard him laugh or giggle at anything since they had arrived here.

  The moment Caroline sank her body into the warm bath, her sore muscles screamed with relief and her mind went back to the passionate night she’d shared with her husband. How she’d managed to get back to her room, she did not remember. But she did remember the things he’d done to her last night.

  The things he’d done, she felt the flush burn her cheeks and her body tingled from the pleasures he’d awakened in her. Now she knew and understood what those cries were when Helen had escaped so many times to be with Cedric whilst she had been their look out.

  This brought a frown to her face. Helen had loved Cedric, but he’d not returned her love. That unconditional love had brought nightmares of horror to them all.

  She had told Darc some of the truth last night but not all of it. She had left out many important parts about Helen, but she’d little choice. She had to think of Kelbie. Darc said he would protect them, but she did not really know if she could trust him, even if she had more than enjoyed her wifely duty with the Norman.

  She had not told him that Halvard or Cedric had murdered Helen.

  With Halvard now dead, Caroline knew Cedric had designs to see the same fate come to her and Kelbie. Even with the king and Darc in the picture, he still planned it. She’d read it in his eyes in the hall. Aye, she knew the real reasons Cedric wanted to be here.

  He hoped to get what Halvard had failed to get from her in the years she’d been his reluctant captive. Aye, captive she had been that more than a wife.

  Cedric had been as evil as Halvard himself and had always made her extremely uncomfortable. But she’d tolerated him for Helen’s sake.

  Would she be able to bear it with him so close? So close and a chance to see Kelbie? She had to do what she must. She had to make sure, despite Darc’s declarations of protection and security that her son was safe.

  She swallowed the lump in her throat. Helen’s son was just as much hers. Her love for him no less than if he had been carried in her own womb. To protect him, she would forfeit her life. On that thought Caroline rushed to complete her bath.

  She had barely stepped free of the wooden tub when a knock came at her door. She gave permission to enter and quickly wrapped the long strip of thick cloth around her naked, dripping form.

  Four women, including the two buxom maids from the other day came bustling into the room all a twitter and smiles, their arms filled with material, a beautifully designed partition, baskets and all the other things they would need. Caroline’s mouth dropped open at all they held. Aye, her morning would be busy.

  She was taken aback at how pleasant these women were to her today. She said naught, smiled faintly back and let them get to work. She wanted this over as quickly as possible so she could go below for Kelbie.

  Later, dressed in a fresh gown and short mantle, Caroline quickly made her way down the curved staircase and through the castle to find him and Laur engaged in a game out of doors near a well-manicured maze sectioned off by the castle garden. Surprised to see such a beautiful sight within the walls, Caroline could not help but wonder who maintained it.

  She had to raise her hand to her brow to shade the sun’s glare off the bright patches of snow that still clung to and covered several nearby rose brambles and other shrubs.

  Dressed warmly in a cloak slightly too large for his frame, Kelbie had the white stuff balled in his covered hands. Upon seeing her Laur straightened and cleared her throat to call Kelbie forward. He rushed to Caroline’s skirts and slapped the melting chunk of snow into her hand. Caroline laughed and played with him. When she looked up, Laur had gone back inside.

  Kelbie shot off from her side to her left into the garden of mazes. She’d go after him in a moment. She just wanted to catch the warmth of the sun on her face before she gave chase and she needed to clear her head. Guards were at the other end and he would be safe.

  So much had happened in such a short span of time. A new husband. Cedric.

  Upon leaving the village, Darc found Caroline and Kelbie out in the gardens, near the maze. He’d paused in step with the memory of why he’d added this little treasure to his first wife’s garden. Swallowing the burning lump in his throat he pushed the painful memory aside and watched Caroline and Kelbie play.

  With her face turned up toward the sun, her eyes closed lost in thought, Darc wondered what thoughts ran through her mind. When he’d first met her he’d not thought how breathtaking she truly was.

  The woman disturbed him in ways he did not want to think about. Frustrated that it did, he turned and went back the way he had come. Although several of his men regularly guarded the maze, he would set more there as well as at his wife’s back.

  Now, he had more dire matters at hand, like returning to the village to find out more about the murders. Tracks had been found leading into the woods.

  By the noon day meal, Caroline found she was not truly hungry and wondered when Mildred would appear. She had not seen Laur since they’d come in from the garden to question her on it even if she had wanted to.

  But that was not the only thing keeping her stomach upset, Caroline knew. ‘Twas was her husband.

  Their passionate night had weighed heavily on her throughout the busy day along with his words that he would press her for more information. A part of her wanted to release everything she knew to the Norman. The other, she had chastised herself for giving in so easily into his caresses. But hadn’t she done so to lessen any conflict or pain? A new beginning?

  Oh, Caroline sighed heavily near her place by the hearth in a room off the hall. Kelbie played at her feet and she looked around the room.

  More guards than she noted before seemed to be about and nearby as the castle servants began to settle in for the eve. A cold shiver pricked her skin and Caroline shook her head, she was letting her strange feelings get to her. Still, the way the quiet servants moved about she knew it was more than that.

  Eeriness had settled over the place and hung thickly in the air, she could feel it.

  She would ask Laur about Mildred after she had put Kelbie to bed. Darc had given his word. She swallowed the laugh that bubbled up in her throat. The Norman’s word. A fool she’d been. Already he had broken it.

  Caroline could have easily enough sent Laur after a drink but she needed some space from the confines of the room and so she left Laur to see to a sleeping Kelbie as she quietly slipped out the chamber door.

  The dimly lit corridor was empty of a soul and she breathed a sigh of relief.

  She made it to the kitchens without incident. She had told Laur 'twas more food and drink she was after.

  But she had lied.

  She had need to investigate this strange and large keep on her own without a tether of hovering Norman guards.

  Her curiosity and anxious gut had her ready to burst with her need to know where Darc was holding Cedric a priority.

  Darc had been rather evasive on that part of the conversation and she had a feeling he would not be revealing the where anytime soon.

  So secretive.

  Plus her anger at his failed promise to send Mildred to her heated her
blood as well.

  Lies.

  She’d not seen him all day and now with night having fallen, she knew she would not. A part of her was glad in a way for she was still unsure if she’d survive his further inquiries regarding Cedric.

  When she reached the kitchen, she realized she had indeed told Laur a half-truth after all. She’d not eaten much at supper, her nerves too knotted and now hunger pains twisted her stomach at the aromas of the last day’s meal still lingering in the room. Caroline scanned the barely lit area. Just a little something to tide her over until morning, she thought. She quickly plucked a few treats from a half-filled platter that had not yet been put away.

  She wrapped them in a clean cloth she grabbed from a nearby cupboard, along with a small pitcher. She could hear someone, no doubt a cook still moving around and humming a light tune in the buttery.

  Caroline soon worked her way around a few castle guards standing at their posts and the sleeping bodies of others about the keep. Snores met her ears and the smell of wine and strong ale met her nose. It would not be easy to sneak about without being seen, she would have to wait and search another night.

  Besides, she found herself growing weary.

  Her feet and hands were feeling the chill of the drafty structure and the small pitcher she carried had grown heavy.

  She wearily made her path back the way she had come, back toward her chamber, but a few steps from her chamber door, she sighed. A group of guards were coming down the hall. Caroline took another passage.

  She found herself at the other end of the corridor by his rooms.

  The torches on this end were unlit and the darkness and its chill engulfed her bones. She shivered and bit her lip to stop her teeth from chattering.

  The darkness gave the long wide hallway an eerie feel. Discomfited, she tried to shrug it off.

  'Twas just her wild imagination knowing she was in a place she should not be. A shaky breath passed her lips when her eyes fell on his chamber door.

  Voices at the other end of the hall by her room gave her pause and moved her out of her frozen state and she took a step back into the darkness.

  Two guards strolled past and Caroline frowned. That feeling she had felt earlier washed back over her as she watched the pair disappear around the next corner. She started to move again to make a mad dash to her chamber when a muffled sound filled the corridor right next to her. She jumped and her heart filled her throat.

  She waited.

  Her badly shaking hands caused some of the water to spill from the small pitcher. The sounds were coming from her husband’s room.

  Caroline found herself pressed against the thick wooden oak door. She quickly set the pitcher down in the corner of the door.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Darc struggled. She was holding his face tight and try as he might, he could not twist away from her or the sharp blade. Her beautiful face split with an evil grin and she started slicing into his cheek, dragging the tip of the large blade up the side of his face. The taste of his warm blood filled his mouth and flowed down his cheek. Her lovely mouth opened and she laughed, even her laugh was beautiful. All he could do was scream as the burning in his cheek drove him mad with pain and plot his revenge as she continued, relentless, to saw deeper and deeper into his flesh as he began choking on his own blood.

  Darc bolted straight up in bed bathed in a cold sweat, his heart pounding wildly in his chest. He coughed, choking on a curse and his hand went to his left cheek.

  He fingered the throbbing scar and tried to orient himself to the shroud of darkness in his room. The dream was back and it had woken him.

  Something warm splashed onto the back of his wrist. He swiped at it just as he tasted blood in his mouth and the tenderness on the tip of his tongue. He’d bitten it.

  God’s teeth!

  Anger rose in him. He had tried to ignore the dreams, telling himself it was a one-time occurrence, a fluke and even had prayed it remained thus. But he knew now it was not to be for they were coming two or three times in a sennight.

  He lay back down against the many pillows with an arm thrown across his brow. Why was he reliving what his first wife, Adelay, had done to him? Why were the dreams back now? Had the murders in the village triggered them?

  Aye, that was part of it, he knew, just as he knew he could no longer continue to lie to himself. He knew what the murders signaled.

  The dreams had started before the death of the serfs. They had returned almost immediately after the Lord of Westlan had told him that Raven still lived.

  The feeling of helplessness and the dread that lingered afterwards from the nightmare angered him. Like it had the first time, upon wakening the memory of the dream quickly faded and was all but forgotten. Nothing was truly clear. But he knew it centered around Adelay and Raven.

  He felt sick in his gut. If he dreamed again, it wouldn’t be long before he'd fully remember it and that was something he did not want to relive. He’d worked too hard to bury it and had not suffered from them in five years. Darc wiped the sweat from his brow and tried to keep his eyes open, but sleep won out.

  The sounds had stopped and after a moment Caroline bent to retrieve the pitcher only to cry out when another shout came from inside her husband's room.

  Not wondering at the consequences of her actions, but only that his strangled cry sent a chill up her spine, she pushed open the door and entered his chamber.

  It took but seconds for her eyes to adjust to the room in which she had been so intimate with him. He thrashed violently upon the bed.

  His sculpted chest bare, his arms twisted in the pelts as he fought against them feverishly. Against some unknown demon force in the hellish nightmare that had him ensnared.

  Caroline, having suffered through many bouts of her own nightmares, and those of Kelbie’s night terrors, rushed to the bed. But as she watched his large muscular frame twist and turn, she hesitated. He was not a little boy.

  As she stood over him unsure, she caught snatches of his words more clearly.

  Traitor.

  Revenge.

  Hesitantly, she reached out a shaky hand and held it above him, not touching him as she pondered her next move. Then she moved to withdraw her hand when he moaned again.

  There was no mistaking the painful expression that crossed his scarred face. And his next words moved her into action.

  ‘I loved you. Damn you to hell.’

  Caroline made her decision and quickly mounted the bed and touched him.

  In the next moment she found herself flat on her back and beneath his hard, sweaty and naked body.

  His face inches from hers, his warm breath fanned her cheeks as he breathed out in a deadly whisper, ‘You evil bitch!’

  Caroline gasped and pushed against him. He was still lost in sleep. She gave up trying to shake him awake when her hands kept slipping on his broad and sweat covered shoulders and instead shoved as hard as she could against his chest. ‘My lord!’

  His hand circled her throat and squeezed. Caroline managed to free one hand from between their bodies and clawed at his death grip as it tightened. She barely managed to scream, in a strangled wheeze. ‘My lord! Darc! Please. You must wake up!’

  Panic seized her when he did not respond. ‘My lord!’ She repeated hoarsely. Finally, he released his hold on her throat.

  ‘Caroline?’

  ‘Aye.’ She choked out and felt him stiffen above her.

  ‘What are you doing here?’

  His husky tone held a hint of anger in it and she found it flamed her own temper even though it sent shivers all over her. ‘I heard-‘ she stopped unsure whether to go on or not.

  If she did he would know she’d not been in her room. Just what could she say? That she’d been out and about lurking the confines of his castle for in search of Cedric? Nay.

  His icy blue eyes looked black in the dark and suspicious, as he glared down at her, waiting.

  She started again. ‘I heard shouting and came
to see if you were well.’

  He was quiet for so long. All she heard was their breathing in the all too quiet room.

  ‘It was nothing,’ he finally said in a defensive tone.

  Caroline didn’t know why she said what she did next; her only objective was to soothe him as she'd always done Kelbie after a night terror. ‘Nightmares are naught to be ashamed of. Kelbie and I have suffered from them. 'Tis a common occurrence.’

  He cut her off and pressed his body down upon hers. ‘I said it was nothing. Furthermore, how is it you heard me from your chamber?’

  Heat suffused her cheeks, she was caught. ‘Did we not hear Kelbie’s cries the other eve?’ she replied with her lie. His cries had been that loud.

  ‘That is not what I meant, wife. Were you not abed? Why were you not asleep? And no guard followed you? The hour is well past late.’

  Caroline tried to squirm from beneath him. ‘If you would but let me up, I can explain.’

  ‘You can explain right where you are, demoiselle.’

  Why was he angry with her? She’d done nothing wrong. What had he been dreaming about? Caroline turned the subject back to him. ‘Are you not the least curious as to what it was you cried out in your dream, my lord?’

  ‘Stop calling me that!’ his warm breath fanned her face with his deep growl.

  Stunned, Caroline asked, ‘What am I to call you, then?’

  He made a sound of disgust and rolled off her. The draft in the room covered her damp and trembling flesh. Being close to him and his nakedness, though the fur covered his lower half, she had hard time breathing. Passion pooled in her stomach and she moved to scramble off the bed, but he caught the hem of her gown and held fast.

  ‘Darc. Always.’ he murmured huskily. After a long pause, he asked his voice quiet and the anger gone. ‘What was it I said?’

  Caroline lifted her head and met his gaze. The mighty beast looked vulnerable in that moment. She should have been glad. But for some reason she wasn’t. No one deserved amusement in a moment like this.