Dragonblade Trilogy - 02 - Island of Glass (34 page)

“How dare you say such awful
things to me, leading our vassals to think that I am a common, disgraceful
creature,” she seethed. “How dare you say all of this in front of them. You
will apologize to me and tell them that it is not true!”

Kenneth was having a good time at
her expense, but he could see she was truly outraged. He didn’t need a fist to
come flying in his direction, funny though his teasing might be. He backed
down.

“Very well, madam, I apologize,”
he said sincerely. “It must have been the dog that I heard.”

She was still scowling-mad.  “You
are evil. Pure evil, do you know that?”

“As you say, madam.”

“And another thing,” she leaned
forward on the table. “Why does your head not hurt after all of the drinking
you indulged in last night? My head is killing me.”

“I do not know. I have always
been able to drink and not feel any after-effects.”

She frowned, resting her head on
her propped-up hand. “There must be something wrong with you.”

“I have been told that.”

She made a face at him,
continuing to pick at her meal. Her stomach was lurching and her head hurt, and
she had no appetite, but Kenneth had insisted she try and eat something. He was
quite well and his appetite was fine. He handed her a piece of bread with honey
and butter on it but she refused.  Inwardly, he was laughing at her foul mood.

“Now that the wedding is over and
Kirk has regained a sense of normalcy, what does the future hold for Lord and
Lady St. Héver?” Reid wondered aloud. “Surely our new earl has a litany of
tasks ahead of him.”

Kenneth wasn’t accustomed to
hearing himself addressed as the earl. But since noon yesterday, he had indeed
acquired that title.  It would take some getting used to. He shrugged his
shoulders.

“It is my intention to go to
London immediately to reaffirm my fealty to the king and to track down Lucius,”
he said.

“And then?”

He glanced at Aubrielle. “And
then, I plan to have many healthy sons to carry on my name.”

Aubrielle slumped her aching head
against the cool table. “Perhaps when I am feeling better.”

From across the table, Grendel
watched her. “No more Glastonbury, my lady?”

She shook her head weakly. “There
is no need.”

“Not even to search out the
knights of Munsalvaesche to thank them for their protection?”

The past week had seen Aubrielle
divulge everything that happened while under de Gaul’s control, including the
tale of the knights of Munsalvaesche. She had, however, omitted the link to
Argus. She did not want to jeopardize the man’s position and she did not want
her husband to be suspicious of him. Though Kenneth was dubious about her
claims of the dwarf knights, Grendel was nonetheless convinced. Aubrielle was a
dreamer, and an intellect with high ideas, but she wasn’t a liar. If she said
the knights of Munsalvaesche were still a living order, he believed her.

“No,” Aubrielle’s gaze found
Argus, who met her eyes steadily. “I believe they know how grateful I am. There
is no need to seek them out.”

“Perhaps that is true,” Grendel
agreed. “But do you believe what they told you about the Grail? Being a living
vessel, I mean. Perhaps they simply told you that to keep you away from the
true prize. They are, after all, charged with its protection.”

Her head came up from the table.
“You have a skeptical mind, Grendel.”

“I am a teacher. It is my duty to
be skeptical and ask questions.”

She gave him a reproachful
expression, but it hurt her head to do so, and she winced. Kenneth tried to feed
her bread again.

“I do not want any.”

“Eat it. It will make you feel
better.”

“Do as he says, my lady,” Argus
said. “You need something in your stomach to settle it.”

She made the pouting face again.
“And do you think it would be too much trouble to give me something for my
head? You are the castle physic, after all. Here I am, suffering with pain, and
you’ve not even made the offer.”

Argus sniffled, wiping his nose
to disguise the smirk on his lips. “That aching head is a reminder to control
your drink the next time.”

“Maybe you can give her something
to brighten her mood as well,” Kenneth suggested.

“I fear nothing can help that, my
lord.”

“God help us.”

Aubrielle stood up, bracing a
hand against Kenneth’s shoulder to steady herself against her throbbing head.
“I think you are both horrible. If you’ve nothing better to do than harass me,
then I shall go and tend to packing for our trip.”

“We are not leaving this minute,
love,” Kenneth patted the hand on his shoulder; they had been giving her a
rough time and he was rightfully contrite. “Go back to bad and sleep off your
aching head.”

“If not today, then when?”

“Perhaps tomorrow or the next
day. I must make sure that Kirk is settled before I depart.”

“Kirk is fine,” she scolded
gently. “Reid has command. The Welsh are quiet. What better time to go?”

She had a point. He rose along
with her, motioning to his knights. “Very well, then. I suppose we should go
about the rounds and discuss what is to be done in my absence.”

Aubrielle snaked her hands around
his big forearm, laying her cheek against his bulging bicep as they walked from
the hall. Argus followed to give the lady something for her head.

It was a bitter willow bark brew
but she drank it. Kenneth returned to their chamber a few hours later to find her
sleeping. She had slept quite a lot lately. She hadn’t quite recovered from her
harrowing adventure with the Order of the Black Angel, but at least now, she
had some peace. She was the same Aubrielle he had first met, only now without
the pure antagonism in her manner. She was still feisty but with a sense of
humor. Not only was he madly in love with the woman, but he liked her, too.

“Do you think what Grendel said
was true?”

Kenneth had been preparing to
remove his ceremonial armor from the corner and take it back down to the
armory, but he stopped when he heard Aubrielle’s soft question. He went over to
the bed.

“What was that, love?”

“About the Grail and the knights
of Munsalvaesche. Do you suppose they really told me that story about the
living vessel to throw me off course?”

He pursed his lips in thought,
sitting down on the bed beside her. “I think that you would be the best person
to answer that question. I do not know much of the scroll, or of the legend, or
of these knights. You would be the expert on that. What do you think?”

She sat up in bed, her lovely
hair mussed.  After a moment, she simply shook her head. “Grendel is no fool.
He knows as much, if not more, about Grail lore than I do. I have a terrible
suspicion that he may be right.”

“So what do you want to do about
that?”

She paused briefly, thinking. “It
has always been their duty to protect the Grail. Knowing now that they are
indeed alive and still active, I can’t say that finding the Grail would be a
simple thing. They have been guarding it for a thousand years. Perhaps… perhaps
I should just allow them to continue doing their job and leave it at that. I do
not need the Grail any longer, as I once thought I did. I have you. My quest is
finished.  What more could I possibly need?”

He reached out and stroked her
soft cheek. “So you think you have finally found your happiness with me?”

Her features softened. “Oh,
Kenneth,” she wound her arms around his neck. “I know I have.”

He kissed her deeply.  “As I have
with you,” he murmured. “Nothing else in this world matters so long as I have
you.”

In the dim light of sunset,
Kenneth laid his wife back on the mattress and made love to her. It was a
sweet, stolen moment, ripe with exploration and ecstasy. He made discovery of
every inch of her ripe, full breasts and devoured the flesh on her trim torso.
She was still not completely comfortable with his mouth on her Venus mound, and
he took special attention to familiarize her with the intimacy of his tongue
against her pink flesh. He loved tasting every inch of her.  When he finally
penetrated her with his maleness, it was with more emotion than desire. Every
thrust was a word of love, every withdrawal a song of adoration. 

Aubrielle responded in kind,
whispering in his ear as he moved deep within her. She climaxed twice before he
allowed himself release. After that, his strong embrace told her more than
words or a touch ever could.

They stayed together, wrapped in
each other, until the dawn.

***

Somehow, the trip to London
became a production.  Instead of just Kenneth, Aubrielle and Everett, it had
turned into the three of them, plus Max, plus Argus and twenty men at arms.
Everett insisted that adequate protection was needed for the earl and his party
and, not surprisingly, the new captain of Kirk agreed. Reid had even
commandeered a wagon to carry the countess’ trunks. Aubrielle had packed two
large ones. When Kenneth had hoped to depart by dawn, he found himself building
up a slow burn as his small trip to London turned into a large one.

Kenneth the Fearsome made a
return. Reid could see it in his eyes but he would not back down with what he
felt was a properly armed escort. When Aubrielle came out of the keep with her
two large trunks, Reid had hoped to intercept her to tell her of her husband’s
foul mood, but he was too late. She walked right into it and he was unable to
save her.

It came as Aubrielle was having
her trunks lifted on to the wagon.  Kenneth approached her from behind, dressed
to the teeth in armor and weapons. His swift, silent appearance started her.

“Hello, my love,” she said
sweetly. “I believe I have everything I need, but I would like to ask a favor.”

It was the wrong time to ask.
Kenneth gazed down at her with an expression usually reserved for assessing the
enemy.

“What is that?”

“Can I bring the pup? I hate to
leave him behind. He is so attached to us and I have no idea how long we will
be gone.”

Kenneth’s jaw began to tick and
he did not immediately reply. Aubrielle looked more closely at him, noting his
expression.

“What is wrong? Why do you look
so?”

He reached out and took her
gently by the elbow. “Walk with me.”

“With pleasure. Where are we
going?”

He didn’t answer her until they
were well out of earshot. It was just the two of them, standing alone in the
kitchen yard. Wrapped in dark blue from head to toe, Aubrielle smiled up at
him, unaware of his trouble.

“What is it?”

“This trip.”

“What about it?”

The tick in his jaw worsened.
“This is nothing as I’d planned.  A trip for you and me and Everett to London
has turned into a circus. Since when did I give you permission to take two
trunks? Everett wants to take twenty armed men and Reid has insisted we take a
damnable wagon to slow us down. And then there is Argus; who invited that old
man? What do we need a physic for?”

His words weren’t particularly
angry, but there was hazard in his tone. Rather than argue, Aubrielle put her
soft hands on his arms to ease him.

“My apologies,” she said
soothingly. “I invited Argus and Max. Max is your squire, after all, and I
thought we might need Argus’ services.  You are, after all, going to London to
confront Lucius. Do you think the man will lie down without a fight? What if he
injures you? I need the very best physic for you should that be the case. I was
only thinking of you.”

He rolled his eyes at the
ridiculousness of her statement. “Aubrielle, I cannot go to London dragging
half of the Welsh Marches behind me. So in answer to your earlier question, no,
the pup cannot come. He will stay here, as will the rest of you. I am going
alone.”

He turned and walked away from
her. She ran after him, her attempt to be non-confrontational vanished.  She
ran fast enough and managed to plant herself in front of him to stop his
progression.

“Do not even jest about leaving
me behind,” she growled. “I swear that if you do, I will not be here when you
get back. I shall leave Kirk and you will never see me again.”

He crossed his thick arms. “Do
not threaten me.”

“Do not threaten
me
.”

She spun on her heal and made
haste back into the keep.  Kenneth stood there a moment, watching her until she
disappeared into the great stone structure. A heavy sigh of regret escaped him.
He walked into the keep after her.

By the time he reached their
chamber, Aubrielle was sobbing furiously on the bed.  He felt like an ogre and
a fool, all at the same time.

“Stop crying,” he ordered softly.
“I am not trying to be difficult, but you must understand the greater picture.
I cannot go parading into London like a returning prince. To announce my
presence is exactly what I do not want to do; if Lucius is there, it will put
him on his guard.  He may even make another attempt on my life before I can get
to him. I need the element of subtlety and surprise, Aubrielle.  I need for
this to be a quiet, well-planned operation.”