Lespada (24 page)

Lady Katharine digested his words carefully. In that short burst, she was coming to see something that Hugh was not.  It was not something she had expected but pleased to hear.

“He is focused on her?”

“Aye.”

“And he ordered the serving wenches away from Wintercroft? The whores that plague the place?”

“Aye!” Hugh stopped pacing and went to her. “I must go to France, Mother. I need money and safe passage.”

Lady Katharine regarded him, mulling the situation over in her mind, pondering, digesting. She was, of course, gravely concerned. She was concerned, as Hugh was, of what Davyss would do.  She did not want to see either one of her sons dead but she knew Davyss’ temper. More than that, there would be a matter of honor that would render the man a killing machine to the one who wronged him. Her calm demeanor wavered.

“What did you do to Lady Devereux, Hugh?” she demanded quietly. “How did you kill her?”

A pained expression crossed Hugh’s face. “We were arguing,” he said hesitantly. “I… I struck her and she fell down the stairs. She must have broken her neck.”

Lady Katharine struggled not to lash out at him. “You struck her?”

He couldn’t look her in the eye. “Aye.”

“I raised you better than that, Hugh. You do not strike women.”

He was growing agitated again. “I do not know why I did it,” he fell to his knees before her. “All I know is that we were arguing and it… it just happened. I do not even remember doing it. One moment, she was standing at the top of the stairs and in the next, she was lying lifeless at the bottom.”

“Do you know for a fact she is dead? Did you check her to make sure?”

He shook his head. “Nay… I saw her fall and I ran. I did not stop to see if she was dead or alive.”

“Then you assume she is dead.”

“She fell down the Tower stairs. If she survived the fall it ‘twould be a miracle.”

“I happen to believe in miracles,” Lady Katharine’s regarded her son carefully. “What did she say to you that made you strike her?”

He closed his eyes, collapsing in a miserable heap on his knees. “I do not know.”

“You are lying. You just killed a woman, your brother’s wife, and you cannot tell me what she said to make you snap?”

His head came up. “She provoked me!”

“Then you do remember. One more lie and I shall not help you at all.”

His expression grew painful again. “Oh, God,” he breathed, drawing a breath for strength. “We… Davyss and I fought earlier in the evening because I called his wife a bitch. I said it because I was angry; angry she had sent the serving women away from Wintercroft. Angry because Davyss had listened to her. Devereux came to me to try to explain how she had bewitched Davyss into doing it and I would not listen. She… she told me that devotion to one woman is better than bedding many, or something like it. She said I wasn’t man enough.”

Lady Katharine watched his lowered head, feeling anxiety such as she had never known. But she also felt great sorrow; if what Hugh said was true, then Lady Devereux had been attempting to teach her sons something that she had never been able to. If the lady was indeed dead, then she felt the loss deeply.  Slowly, she rose from her chair and moved away from her youngest.

“You will stay here,” she told him, her old voice hoarse with emotion. “You will stay here and seek atonement for what you have done. Davyss will come, of that I have no doubt. I will not help you to flee. You have shamed yourself enough. Now you must be a man and face your punishment.”

Hugh was on his feet, his eyes wide. “But Davyss will kill me!”

She turned to look at him, her dark eyes piercing. “It is less than you deserve,” she snarled. “You are a disgrace to the de Winter name, Hugh. Stay here and face your brother when he comes or leave and never return. I will not see you again if you leave. You have my vow.”

Hugh looked like a child who was about to face his greatest fear. “Please, Mother,” he begged.

She wouldn’t look at him. “Go to your chamber. Bolt the door and stay there. Do not leave until I call for you.”

Hugh was torn between extreme fear of his brother and his mother’s threat of disownment.  He couldn’t actually believe his mother would allow Davyss to kill him, so perhaps the best place for him to be was indeed here under his mother’s protection. She was the only person alive who could talk Davyss out of killing him.

When Hugh fled her solar, Lady Katharine sat for quite some time, pondering the situation. She wasn’t sure she could dissuade Davyss from killing his brother if, in fact, Lady Devereux was dead.  She knew that the relationship between the brothers would never be the same from this point forward and rather than see her youngest murdered by his own brother, she began to suspected there was only one answer.  She had to keep Hugh alive yet unreachable by Davyss.  Perhaps Hugh had been right; he needed safe passage to save his life. As a mother, her loyalty was to both her children.  She must keep Hugh alive.  And then she must see Davyss.

          Hugh went north within the hour, heading to the bosom of an old family friend.

***

“You will not kill him.”

Davyss stood with his hands on his hips, gazing down at his wife with great displeasure.  Lucy and Frances were tending her as she lay in their great bed after having taken a nasty fall down a flight of stairs which, Davyss learned, was Hugh’s doing. To say he was furious was not strong enough. The only thing keeping him from raging out of control was the anxious expression on his wife’s face. That alone was keeping him from ripping Wintercroft apart.

“You will not tell me how to handle my brother,” he told her sternly. “He did this to you.”

Devereux was actually quite well after having fallen down a flight of stone steps.  Fortunately, she hadn’t broken any bones although the spill had knocked her unconscious for a short time.  She had a bruised cheek, a lump on her forehead, and was generally battered, but she was alive and well for all intent and purposes.  And she was having a horrendous time keeping Davyss calm; she could see the rage in his eyes.

“As I told you,” she said patiently while Lucy held a cold compress over the lump on her forehead. “Since you would not speak with your brother, I felt strongly that I must speak with him in your place. Your argument was about me, was it not?”

The anger in his eyes flickered. “That is not your business.”

“It is if the quarrel was about me. Be truthful and tell me.”

He pursed his lips angrily. “Do not lecture me on being truthful. You would not even tell me what you were doing in the Tower. I heard it from a servant who happened to hear you and Hugh arguing.”

“If you did as I asked and resolved your quarrel before you retired, then I would not have felt the need to speak with him.”

He just rolled his eyes and huffed, posturing angrily, but he did not retort. Truth was, he had never felt more fear in his life as he had when Andrew had brought his wife’s unconscious body back into their bedchamber. He had been sound asleep, both ashamed that he hadn’t known she was missing from his bed and gravely concerned that she was injured. 

 When Devereux had regained consciousness, she wouldn’t tell him what had happened but Andrew had pressed a couple of male servants in the Tower who had told him what they had heard and seen; Sir Hugh and Lady de Winter arguing, Lady de Winter’s fall and Hugh fleeing in the dead of night.  It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened.

“You will not blame me for your actions,” he said, more quietly. “No one forced you to go to the Tower. It was your choice.”

Devereux thought on that a moment. “Aye, it was,” she winced as Lucy pressed too hard on the compress. “But I had to try and calm the situation between you and Hugh.”

Davyss didn’t say anything; he just stood there, watching the women fuss over his wife, his initial anger and terror fading into something odd and mixed. He was so angry with Hugh that he couldn’t think straight; all he wanted to do was murder the man. But the stronger emotion was worry for his wife and respect for what she had tried to accomplish.

She was a peacemaker, a peace lover – he knew that. He, on the other hand, was not. War was his vocation, his life, his behavior. This woman was so intriguing and honest on so many levels that he found it difficult to fathom. His mind didn’t work the way hers did.  The fact that she would try and help him by solving his problem with his brother went beyond comprehension. Did she truly think enough of him, after everything he’d put her through, to do that?

“I appreciate that,” he said, his manner softening somewhat. “But I will ask you a question and I want you to be perfectly truthful. Will you do this?”

She hesitated slightly. “Aye.”

“Did he strike you?”

She sighed faintly and lowered her gaze. “Aye.”

“The bruise on your face?”

“Aye.”

Davyss turned on his heel and began to walk from the room.  Devereux, realizing that he was more than likely going after his brother, leapt off the bed as much as her aching body would allow.  Lucy and Frances tried to grab her but she was swift, racing after her husband.  She grabbed him before he could leave the chamber.

“Wait,” she dug her heels in and he came to a halt. “Where are you going?”

He almost told her that it was not her business again but knew better. He was a fast learner. If she thought it was her business, then nothing he could say would deter her. He was quickly coming to learn that she was as stubborn as he was.

“I am going to find my brother,” he told her.

She shook her head and pulled hard, trying to pull him back into the room. “Nay, Davyss,” she said quietly, firmly. “Come back to bed. It is still a few hours until morning and I am exhausted. Please come and sleep.”

He patted her hand, trying to be calm with her through all of the rage he was feeling. “You return to bed and sleep. I am going to find Hugh.”

“I cannot sleep if you leave.”

He sighed heavily, glancing at Lucy and Frances, standing a few feet away with fear and anxiety in their expressions.  He looked at Andrew, Edmund and Philip, standing in the chamber door, waiting for orders. Nik was already in the stables having the chargers saddled.  Then he returned his focus on Devereux, holding his arm and gazing up at him with those bottomless gray eyes.  It occurred to him that the lure of staying with his wife was stronger than his sense of vengeance at the moment. As he gazed into her lovely face, his sense of thanks that she was well overwhelmed his anger at Hugh.

So he nodded, weakly, and Devereux pulled him back to the bed.  Lucy and Frances scampered from the chamber, taking the cluster of knights with them, as Devereux threw back the coverlet on the bed and climbed in, still holding on to Davyss.  He sat on the bed, pulling his boots off with some weariness, before allowing her to pull him back down on the mattress. She pulled the coverlet over him, tucking him in as one would a child, before snuffing out the taper and lying down beside him.

They were lying side by side like two nuns, with the coverlet pulled up properly around their necks. Davyss lay next to his wife, looking over at her and struggling not to grin. She looked uncomfortable lying next to him as if unsure what more she was supposed to do.