Fragments of Grace (Prequel to the Dragonblade Trilogy) (26 page)

She pulled her face from his
shoulder, gazing up at him with big, wet eyes. “You are going to return to me,”
she insisted. “You are going to return and we shall be married and have a dozen
children.”

He smiled faintly. “Six girls
just like you and six boys just like me?”

She grinned when she thought on
their previous conversation about such things. “Exactly,” she agreed, her tears
fading. “I cannot wait to see your expression when presented with our first
son.”

His expression grew intense. “It
will be the best day of my life.”

She smiled at his vow but as he
watched, her smile faded and her expression grew cloudy again.  He could see
the tears returning.

“I will wait for you at Pendragon
for as long as it takes for you to return to me,” she murmured, her lip
beginning to quiver again. “But… but if God is not merciful and all turns
against us, what… what should I do if you do not come back?”

He sighed heavily and pulled her
over to the bed, sitting her gently on to the mattress. He sat beside her,
taking both of her hands in his.  He kissed her fingers thoughtfully, gently,
formulating his reply. He took her question very seriously and was impressed
that she had the fortitude to ask it. He was, in fact, trying to figure out how
to bring up the subject and she had saved him the trouble.

“I want you to do what makes you
happy,” he murmured. “What do you want to do?”

Tears were streaming down her
face and she pulled one hand from his grip to wipe at her cheeks. “I do not
know,” she whispered. “I only want to be with you. I want to be where your
memory is strongest, where I can feel your presence. If I leave Pendragon, I am
afraid I would lose that forever.”

He sighed, stroking the side of
her head with a big hand. “I do not like the idea of you wasting away in an old
castle, pining over a lost love. I do not think you would be happy there. It
would only bring you sadness.”

She appeared genuinely torn.
“Then what would you have me do?”

He leaned forward and kissed her
forehead. “You may stay at Pendragon as long as you wish,” he told her softly.
“But when the time is right, it would make me happy if you went to live with
Kurtis and Cassandra. My brother would take good care of you and would make
sure you married a man worthy of you.”

Chloë wiped at her nose, nodding
as she digested his instructions. “Do you think he will mind?”

“Of course not. You are family
and he will be ferociously protective over you. I trust my brother as much as I
trust myself when it comes to you, Chloë. Kurtis’ word is as good as mine.”

She nodded reluctantly. “Very
well,” she agreed. “If that is what you want.”

“It is.”

She just sat there, staring at
her hands as they were encased in his enormous ones.  Keir could see the fog of
gloom hovering around her like a cloak and he pulled her into his embrace to
comfort her. They had so little time left together and he didn’t want to spend
it in tears and doom. Rocking her gently as she clung to him, he eventually lay
back on the bed and took her down with him.

In the bright mid morning of the
new day, Keir kissed her tenderly, tasting her sweet lips, memorizing them for
the lonely times to come.  Chloë wrapped her arms around his neck, responding
to his kisses, and Keir’s arousal took flight. 

All of the emotion, anxiety and
grief they were feeling came spilling out as Keir began to undress her, kissing
exposed flesh as he peeled off layers of her surcoat and shift.  Chloë couldn’t
stop the tears, thinking this might be the very last time she touched the man,
and she wept silently as he nursed at her breasts and rained heated kisses
along her belly.

Her hands were in his hair as he
again put his face between her legs, his tongue on his favorite target, and
Chloë moved beyond the initial embarrassment and gave in to his wicked mouth.
The man’s touch was magic, and although lovemaking was still extremely new to
her, something about Keir washed away her inhibitions. She gave herself over to
him willingly.

Keir took a very long time with
her, gently, tasting every inch of her body, flipping her over onto her stomach
and feasting on the back of her thighs and her rounded buttocks. His mouth
moved to her shoulder, her neck, while his hands snaked underneath her and
fondled her soft breasts. Her thick mane of hair was long down her back and he
gathered it up, holding it like a rope, pulling on it and biting her neck until
she groaned. He covered her with his big body, memorizing the feel of her soft
flesh against his, tucking it away deep so he could think of it on nights when
his longing for her threatened to consume him. He knew that time would come. He
wanted to remember this moment for the rest of his life.

Rolling her on to her back, he
pinned her arms above her head as he mounted her, his stiff arousal pushing
into her slick body, savoring ever thrust, every withdrawal. He found himself
wishing for a son, a lad that was a part of him and a part of her, with his
strength and her magnificent looks. Chloë was his wife regardless of her
father’s actions and he felt more married to her, more a part of her, than he
had ever felt with Madeleine. It was no insult against Madeleine, of course; he
simply felt deeper and more for Chloë than he ever imagined he could feel for
anyone.

As his thrusts deepened, he could
feel Chloë climax around him, her soft cries of pleasure filling his ear. 
Before he released himself deep within her, she had climaxed at least twice
more and then a fourth time when he spilled himself.  She was exhausted and
panting by the time he finished and he lay on top of her, his mouth on her
neck, his body still embedded in her.  In little time, he was aroused again and
he took her twice more before noon, never wanting the day to end but knowing
that it must.  

As he lay against her towards
noon, still buried deep in her sweet body, it was Keir who shed silent tears
into her dark red hair, deeply pained at the thought of leaving her.  When
Chloë fell into an exhausted sleep, he lay there with his hand on her breast,
watching her sleep, allowing his tears to fall freely. He couldn’t help it.

He prayed this would not be the
last moment they would spend together. He very nearly couldn’t live with the
thought.  Already, it was killing him.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Two hours before dawn on the next
day, Michael of Pembury arrived from Pendragon.  When he rode into Aysgarth’s
bailey, it was already full of men mobilizing for the march into Wales,
including Keir. Kurtis was also with his brother, helping him organize the man
and provisions, and Lucan was suited up and prepared to go with Keir into
Wales.

It made for a busy scene, the
ward of the castle filled nearly to the brim with men, horses and wagons.
Michael knew, from the missive he had received from Coverdale, what was
happening.  As soon as he arrived, he went straight to Keir.

Keir saw the big knight coming
through the sea of torches and men.   He was speaking to Kurtis, seeing Michael
approach and wondering how Kurtis was going to react to the appearance of his
arch rival for Cassandra’s attentions.  Even though the competition was over,
still, Keir wondered if there would be bad blood. He watched Michael’s body
language as the man came upon them.

“Keir,” Michael greeted. His
bright blue gaze moved to Kurtis and, after a tense moment, he bobbed his head
at the man. “Kurt.”

“You are just in time,” Keir said
to him, diverting Michael’s attention before he and Kurtis could glare daggers
at each other. “I am to depart at dawn and I wanted to make sure I spoke to you
before I left.”

Michael nodded. “As I wanted to
speak with you,” he replied. “I would ask to go with you, Keir.  If Kurtis is
not accompanying you, then I would ask to.”

Keir shook his head. “Although I
will sorely miss you, you have a more important task.”

“What?”

“Escorting Chloë back to
Pendragon and guarding her until I return.”

Michael wasn’t particularly happy
with that order. “De Velt can return with her,” he said. “I am more valuable at
your right hand, Keir. You need me in battle.”

Keir could see this wasn’t an
argument he was going to win in just a few sentences.  Leaving his brother with
a few softly muttered orders, he pulled Michael along with him as he moved to
an area with more privacy.

“Michael, I appreciate your
request,” he said steadily, “and I would be lying if I said I will not miss
your strength. But I have spent the past day and night arguing, at odds with,
or in just plain contention with everyone at Aysgarth and I would sincerely
appreciate it if you could simply abide by my wishes without an argument.  I do
not know how long I will be in Wales and it would ease my mind considerably
knowing that Chloë was under your protection. She is the most important thing
in the world to me and if I cannot be there to protect her, then I would only
trust you.”

Michael still wasn’t happy but he
understood somewhat.  He pursed his lips angrily but refrained from arguing as
Keir had requested. Still, he couldn’t help getting the last few licks into the
losing end of the battle.

“What do you mean you have been
at odds with everyone?” he wanted to know.

They reached the steps leading in
to the keep and Keir paused, looking over the mass of men and animals in the
bailey.  A faint haze of smoke hung over the grounds from the heavily burning
torches being used to illuminate the area.

“Chloë and I are betrothed,” he
finally said. “However, when her father found out about my orders from the
king, he refused to allow us to be wed before I leave for Wales.  In his
opinion, an unmarried daughter is worth more to a prospective groom than the
widow of a knight.  If I return from Wales, all well and good, and we shall be
married, but if I do not, then he feels she has a better chance of attracting a
prestigious husband if she has never been wed. When I have not been arguing
with the man, I have been comforting Chloë.  It has been chaotic and painful to
say the least.”

Michael was beginning to feel bad
about badgering Keir when the man had apparently suffered through a turbulent
time.

“Where is Lady Chloë now?” he asked,
with less force.

Keir looked to the keep. “Asleep,
I hope,” he said. “She has been nearly hysterical since yesterday morning. She
needs to rest.”

Michael’s gaze moved to the
bailey, seeing Kurtis in the distance.  “And Cassandra?”

Keir looked pointedly at him.
“She and my brother were married at Vespers yesterday,” he replied. “Remove her
from your mind, Michael. She and Kurtis are husband and wife, and very shortly
leaving for Northumberland.  Is that clear?”

Michael wasn’t particularly
shocked but he was disappointed. “It is, my lord.”

“I do not want to hear of any
more trouble between you and my brother.  If that happens, my wrath will be
swift.”

“There will be no trouble, my
lord.”

“Do you swear on your oath?”

“I do.”

Keir eyed him as if he didn’t
believe him but he accepted his vow.  He didn’t want to out-right insult the
man. 

“Chloë has asked to stay at
Pendragon while I am away and Coverdale has agreed,” he thought it best to
focus on the subject at hand. “I do not have to tell you to treat her with all
due respect until I return.  Guard her with your life.”

Michael regarded him for a
moment. “And what if you do not return?”

Keir drew in a long, pensive
breath. “My instructions to her are to do what makes her happy,” he said
quietly. “If she wants to stay at Pendragon forever, so be it. But I do not
want her wasting her life. I have told her that if I do not return from Wales,
it will make me happy if she would go and live with Kurtis and Cassandra at
Alnwick.   If it comes to that, I would ask that you escort her to
Northumberland.”

Michael nodded. “Of course, my
lord.”

“She means everything in the
world to me and I love her deeply. Take care of her, Michael. I am depending on
you.”

“I will protect her with my life,
Keir. You need not worry about her in the least.”

Keir didn’t reply to that. It
seemed like such a final thing to say, as if he was already gone.  But the fact
remained that he wasn’t gone yet and he wanted to see Chloë before he left. 
Leaving Michael standing on the steps to the keep, he entered the cool, quiet
keep and made his way up to the third level. 

Chloë’s chamber was unlocked
because he had already been in and out of it a few times that night simply to
check on her.  Keir was a master of multi-tasking,  preparing an army for
departure and all of the details related to that while at the same time, making
sure to check on his betrothed to ensure she was comfortable and sleeping.
Truth was, he just wanted to see her, greedily sneaking in a glimpse or a touch
here and there when he could.  The memories would have to last for the
separation to come.