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  “I see, dear sister that you could not even wait for word to come if I lived or not before you took to my bed with your filthy cock.”

  The derision in his tone did naught. Rose stared Thomas in the eye as Hilda laced up the back of her gown. “Nice to see you, too brother dear. ‘Twould be polite of me to say that I am glad to see you have crawled out from under your black rock and decided to join us again. But, then I would be lying.”

  He ignored her and Rose bristled. He was dirty from head to toe and the ripe scent, stronger than usual, which clung to his frame, confirmed it. He quickly ordered Hilda to see to his bath.

  Rose’s head shot in his direction in disbelief and she exclaimed, “She is my maid, Thomas.”

  “She eats my food and rests her head here. She is whatever I say that she is.”

  The animosity between them had thickened to almost intolerable since they’d been banished from Gravane manor. Rose blamed him for all of it. His greed and violence toward their cousin had driven him to think recklessly. How he’d thought for one moment he’d be able to continue his plight under the nose of a man as intelligent as Claydon, Rose could not fathom. She would never forgive him and hated him for what they’d lost and for bringing her back to this filthy hellhole.

  His murmurs to the two men that stood at his side drew her back and she said, “When will you give up these foolish ideas and just move on, Thomas? ‘Tis time to put all this behind you. Aric Claydon is too powerful of a man for you to fight.”

  His face twisted with rage as he turned a slow gaze upon her. “You know nothing. Still your tongue, dear sister.”

  Rose shook her tresses in response to his warning and stepped down from the raised dais near him. “Haven’t your fruitless actions cost us enough already? Always the one with high aspirations you were, no matter the idiocy of them. What more needs to be done or happen for you to stop this foolishness? We have lost-“

  His hand wrapping around her throat stopped her words. Spittle flew into her face as he yelled while he throttled her. “We? What have I cost you? The opportunity you never had of that bastard Norman riding between your thighs? Hmm?” He choked her until her eyes bulged. Yet he did not release her as he concluded, “Never speak of my plans or ideas ever again, lest I forget that you are my sister.”

  He thrust her away from him hard in that familiar way he used to do with Danielle and Rose stumbled, falling into one of his men. “You despicable beast! I am ashamed to call you brother. How dare you lay a hand upon me?” She spat at him.

  Thomas gave a nod and the man next to her grabbed her elbows in a tight vise. Rose yelled at the man, “Release me at once!”

  The man did not. She struggled and then her maid moved to come to her aid, but Harvey grabbed Hilda roughly and threw her to the ground.

  Rose’s wide eyes shot to Thomas. “Have you gone mad? What are you thinking? Harvey, I will have you horse whipped for this!”

  “I don’t think so, dear sister.” Thomas told her as he came to stand in front of her. One of his bony fingers slid along her jaw and she twisted away, but he grasped her chin. “A whore for a sister. You make me sick! You have been more of a burden to me all these years than our dear cousin Danielle I’ve come to believe. Sour goods that no man of stature wished to take for a wife. You are supposed to wait until you marry, Rose, before you spread your thighs for any cock that waves in front of you. You stupid bitch! Now, what am I to do to be still your tongue?”

  Rose stared at him in horror. She saw the madness in his eyes. What had happened to him?

  She said, her voice cracking from the strain on her throat. “You are as much a whore as I, Thomas. I was not alone in my wish to get that Norman into my bed. Am I correct? At least I lay with the opposite sex.”

  His expected blow was not long in coming. The men that held her pulled her back upright. Tasting the blood that filled her mouth, Rose spat a mouthful into her brother’s face. Thomas’s shriek of rage filled the room.

  Still, Rose went on, fear and hatred in her tone. “You will bring not only the wrath of Claydon down upon our heads, but the wrath of our King. Do you not care? Do not be a fool, Thomas!”

  As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew she had said the wrong thing, for when he turned his beady eyes upon hers; she saw his dark intent within and knew true horror. The scream that bubbled within her chest did not surface as her brother’s hands circled her throat.

  Chapter 23

  Dawn came too soon for Danielle with the rain threatening the skies yet again. Then her mood changed when she found out that Aric was going to allow Edie to travel with them. She was ecstatic. Now, she was running late and soon she knew Aric’s booming voice would be calling her name. But she could not leave just yet without a peek at her garden to make sure last night’s storm did not wreak too much havoc on her cultivation.

  She was almost done when she felt someone at her back.

  Turning she saw Balwain standing there with an uncomfortable expression upon his face. Aric had probably sent him.

  Straightening, she stood, holding a rose in her hand. “I am ready.”

  Balwain returned her smile and stepped into the garden. “Milady, a word, if you would please.”

  Danielle tilted her head to look at him. Her eyes widened. “My husband?”

  Balwain gave her a bright smile of reassurance. “He is fine, milady. His bellow will soon fill the courtyard and manor with both of our names.” Balwain was thoroughly pleased when his lady held a hand to her breast with relief. He was doing the right thing, even if his lord and friend would have his head if he ever found out. “Your husband is well known for his fierceness in dispatching men without hesitation, milady. His prowess on the battle field has men fearing him. Aye, we’ve fought many a battle together over the years. But know that he is a man of honor and his word. He is honorable.” Turning to take his leave, Balwain moved back toward the manor.

  “Are you trying to tell me something, Balwain?”

  He turned, with his large frame half facing her and said, “He is a man of few words. When it comes to you, I say proudly 'tis he that fears you.” There, he’d said it. “You are a gem, milady. I know you are good for him. Now come, I hear his call already.”

  Balwain disappeared as quickly as he’d appeared. His last words had Danielle standing there with her mouth agape until she heard the man in question indeed bellowing her name through the manor.

  Danielle didn’t want to look at Aric. He stood near Thunder with Balwain at his back as they chatted away, although she could feel his heated gaze on her every movement. She had hurried and still he was looking at her with that irritated glance of his. The rain had not yet started, even though the black clouds filled the skies. She turned her back to him and walked around to the other side of her mare to check her things once again before moving to the cart that carried Edie.

  Aric watched Danielle as she chatted at the back of the cart with her maid. He caught her eye every time she glanced furtively in his direction and he had to force himself not to smile. She had delayed their departure in her quest to make sure everything was just right before they left.

  He’d known it was not just that, it was because she was nervous about leaving Gravane.

  As with the villagers here that had been under Thomas’s thumb and had turned their backs on her, he knew she was afraid that she would face the same on her other lands.

  She did not know that word had come from Roger and Hunter that those that followed Thomas were no longer within. She had to trust in him to protect her and he knew for the most part that she did, but the many years of being trodden on by her own family was going to be hard to get her to surface again.

  A smile did come to Aric’s mouth then with that thought. She had already begun to do so. The change in her was dramatic with most things thus far. Especially during their intimate moments. Aric straightened and was headed in her direction just as he saw her turn back and head toward the manor from the c
ourtyard. His pursuit of her stopped when the sound of hooves reached his ears. Turning, he froze and the smile left his face.

  Danielle turned at the sound and stopped in her tracks a few feet from the manor. Two of Aric’s men were riding hard and fast into the courtyard. They were wearing their armor and rode without their helms. She did not know that her feet brought her back to the cart near Edie as the men stopped near her husband in the middle of the yard.

  The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and Aric felt Balwain at his back. He waited for his two sentries to dismount. They were dirty with dust of the road and blood covered their armor.

  After speaking with the men, he called over the ones he had gathered for the ride to Egway and Gent.

  Danielle watched as that large group dispersed and Aric motioned for the remainder of the men that were to remain at Gravane to meet him in the hall. Something churned in her gut as a feeling of dread crept up her spine. The two sentries made a wide berth as they neared the manor and went in a different direction away from her. But not before she saw the blood that marked their armor.

  Aric’s iron voice made her jump as he spoke at her side. “Come, Danielle. You and your maid must return to the manor, immediately.”

  Danielle didn’t find her voice until they had reached the inside of the manor and stood outside the hall. She watched the procession of her husband’s men walk into the hall.

  Looking up at Aric, she finally saw the look on his face and the fear ballooned in her gut. She asked, “What goes on here?”

  His dark visage was like the one she had seen the day he’d held his sword to Thomas’s throat.

  “My men were ambushed on their way here from Egway by some rebels and they are headed this way.” Aric hated to lie to her, even if it was a partial lie, but he had to and would tell her the truth of it later. “Gravane has to be secured and neither you nor any of the women within are allowed to leave.”

  “I do know what needs to be done if we are attacked, Aric.’

  ‘I am sure you do, Danielle. But I will not have it. Not now when someone is out to do you harm. I will know now before I leave, that you are safe and secure within our chamber.”

  He was surprised to see that she did not argue and almost sighed with relief until he felt her tremble against his hand at her elbow.

  “You will be careful, won’t you?”

  Her worried gaze almost undid him and Aric pulled her into his arms in a quick and tight embrace before setting her away from him. The emotion he saw storming in her eyes made his chest hurt. “I will see you soon, Danielle. Now please, do as I ask and stay within these walls until I return.”

  She nodded and shocked him when she leaned up and planted a hard kiss against his mouth, before she turned away. But not before he saw the sheen of tears fill her eyes.

  Danielle stood looking out their chamber window as Aric and his men prepared to ride out. Her heart beat wildly in her chest. She had wanted to wait for him down in the courtyard and see him once again closely, but he had four men outside their chamber door and she was not allowed to leave. She had wanted to help prepare the manor for battle, but Aric would have none of it. She had wanted to argue with him but did not wish that to be the last of the time they had together if he did not return.

  Tears slid from her eyes as she watched him belt out more orders as he stood in front of his men. Dressed now in hauberk and articulated shoulder plates, his helm at his side on his hip, with his legs parted in that war stance, he was ready to do battle.

  If she thought he was large before, now he truly looked like a giant. His dark cloak crossed at his neck hung behind his shoulders. Thunder was covered in his plates. Horse and rider a formidable sight. Balwain’s words earlier came back to her. She could see now why Aric was feared. Just looking at him alone was enough to stop one’s breath and heart for a moment. A moment in which he could kill.

  Danielle pressed her hand to her breast, feeling the dread that filled her chest. Her heart beating roared loudly in her ears. She’d known he’d not told her the whole truth of it for she’d seen it in his dark eyes. He was holding something back. Danielle was coming to know him quite well.

  Whatever it was, she knew he thought he was protecting her and she would not let him know any different. He needed his wits about him going into battle and she did not want to add to his burden with the hysterics that she had swallowed when she’d seen his face. She would pray he returned. He had to. She had to tell him her little secret.

  She did not know if he could see her from this distance as her tears shook her, but she raised her hand nonetheless and waved.

  When he returned her wave, Danielle gave into her hysterics as she watched him turn and ride away.

  ****

  The small manor was a disaster. Aric and Balwain stepped carefully over the carnage of stiff, lifeless bodies and furniture that lay strewn across the stone floors of Thomas’s home. Of the few servants that were within, they too lay dead among the filthy rushes, with throats slit, bellies gutted. As Aric’s men came back with the counts, his gut churned with sickness over the senseless butchering.

  One of his soldiers came and waited his turn to speak. Aric nodded as he stood under the archway leading to the main dining hall of the manor.

  “Milord, the woman is there behind yon screen.” The young soldier waved in the direction of the gilded silk covered screen.

  Balwain and a few men-at-arms followed behind Aric into the hall. The tall screen stood off to one side, acting as a partition to Thomas’s private quarters. Aric walked around to the other side and came to a halt at the sight before him.

  Rose lay naked at the bottom of the bed, with her maid, Hilda, dead beside her on the floor. A double-edged dirk protruded from the valley between Rose’s breasts. Her eyes wide open stared a sightless gaze at the ceiling.

  “Think you he would go as far to murder his own sister?” Balwain asked.

  Aric did not think, he knew. “Aye. And ‘twas he himself that held the blade, I am sure of it.” He couldn’t keep the disgust out of his tone as he stared down at Rose. Thomas was a man obsessed and crazed over his futile plight.

  When the garrison he’d sent forth weeks ago to keep watch over Thomas’s estate from the woods returned with their report this morn, it was to announce they’d been set upon by Thomas and his rebels. There had been no other course of action to take except engage in battle. Yet, Thomas had managed to slip away during the bloody melee. When they’d reached indoors, the manor had been rank with the deaths by another. Aric knew it was done by Thomas’s own hand and whatever fools that stood loyal beside him.

  “He is a fool to think he can put the blame at your door.” Balwain made a sound of disgust.

  “A fool indeed. He will be found easily enough for he is too stupid to go very far from what he has lost, Balwain.” Aric reached down and pulled one of the coverlets over Rose’s face and walked away.

  His hard gaze swept the room. The manor could have been grand had it been run by another. Thomas’s gluttony and sloth marked every corner. The rancid stench had been here long before death had come to this place.

  Balwain came to stand near his side when they stood out in the small courtyard. Aric’s men had gathered there awaiting further orders. Only a few of his soldiers had been cut down. From the bodies that littered the grounds and the blood soaking into the earth, many of Thomas’s men had met their end at the hands of Aric’s men.

  "Harvey was not among the dead." Balwain remarked.

  "Nay, for now he is still no doubt at Thomas's side until he too is no longer needed."

  “Milady?”

  Balwain’s words caused the tick in Aric’s cheek to jump. His friend was asking what he already knew and was thinking. “He is out of his skull and will come for her again. This time, I will kill him.”

  Balwain grunted in agreement as they moved toward the troops.

  After having scouted the perimeters of Gravane with his troops, Ari
c and his men only came across a handful of lingering rebels in the forest.

  A few had given up their cause in favor of their lives, but two had not and attacked, their bloodthirsty cries filling the skies. Aric made short and quick work of the two with a heavy blow from his long blade across their throats. The rest were now secured below as prisoners until final judgment. Night had fallen and there was not much to do other than return and make sure Danielle and Gravane were secure. A herald had been sent earlier to Egway and Gent.

  Aric waved a hand to his squire to leave him and the young fellow did with his lord’s body armor clutched in his arms. Aric had decided to remove his blood spattered armor in a room off the knight’s quarters for he was still not ready to face Danielle. Telling her of Rose’s demise would still bother her, despite the feelings of angst between them. Danielle had come a long way, but she still possessed a gentle and too forgiving soul.

  After all Thomas had done to her, she’d still wanted his life spared. Aric grunted at the memory. He wished now that he’d done more than beat that peacock within an inch of his life that day he had dared raise a hand to her. Then all this could have been avoided.

  Now, Thomas could not be found. But he was not going to tell her that for he knew Danielle would blame herself for some of it.

  He would simply increase the guard as he had already ordered around her, even though she did not like it. He smiled at that. She had been brave this morn, but her eyes and trembling had told him different. He was finding that he was starting to take pleasure in the feelings she stirred in him.

  He stood, naked and stretched as the last of the servants brought in the buckets of water to fill the tub for his quick bath before he went and greeted her.

  She lay on her side with a hand curled under her chin. Aric stood naked next to the bed. He was glad that she slept. Glad for the reprieve of not having to tell her the news this night. Pulling back the covers, he climbed in the bed beside her. Immediately she turned and snuggled against his chest.