Authors: Tencia Winters,Serena Vale
Chapter 3
The days passed by slowly for Lena at first, but then faster and faster as she learned more about castle Acair and its magnetic lord. They had continued their ruse, Caelin insisting that it was the only way to keep her safe, and she going along with it because she was determined to find out what the Acair’s did with her father and, even though she only admitted it to herself, she liked the way it felt to have him doting on her, the attention he gave her. Just to keep up the act, he claimed.
But every now and then she would see a gleam in his bright blue eyes that belied his words. And as time began to pass, she found she didn’t care. What she did care about, however, was his stubborn insistence that he knew nothing about her father or his whereabouts. It was impossible. She had searched everywhere for him, and the only logical place left was that something had befallen him at the hands of his great enemy, Taerek Acair.
Of course, she didn’t realize that he had perished weeks ago, before her father had even disappear, and the title had fallen to his son, Caelin. It was hard for her to reconcile the monster her father had described with the man Caelin was. Kindhearted, intelligent, he ruled his often rough and tumble men with an iron fist, but fairly and justly for all. Not to mention he was by far the most striking man she’d ever met. There were moments where she would find herself just staring at him, completely breathless. But he was so much more than just his outward beauty. His inner beauty is what drew her, and others as well.
Even she had noticed the change in those who followed him, who had come because of his father’s greed for war that had fueled their own greed for loot and riches. They were becoming different, more mature, more gentlemanly somehow as they tried to emulate the traits of their new leader. Lena had seen respect grow in their eyes, even if Caelin did not.
But despite all that, she had still been unable glean any bit of information from him about her father. Desperate for answers, she decided to take things into her own hands. Lena waited until later that night to sneak downstairs, her intent to explore the dungeons she had been so briefly held in and find him down there. She wasn’t sure if she was hoping for or dreading finding him locked, wasting away in one of the Acair’s cells.
With a deep breath, she left the room, closing the door quietly so as not disturb Caelin, who she knew was sleeping just on the other side of the thin wall. Lena knew he would be able to hear her if she was too loud because she had heard him, knew of the nightmares he had almost every night that had him waking with a mighty shout. Many nights she had battled with herself, to go and comfort him, but every time she had stayed silent, wrapped in her bed sheets, afraid of what might happen after.
Not because Caelin would do anything to compromise her, but because of her own weak will when it came to the charismatic man.
Just as she reached the bottom of the stairs, a strange noise had her stopping. Her instincts told her to turn around and go back to her room, but it was too late. She took a single step backwards and straight into a hard chest that stopped her from going any further.
“An’ what do we have here, Jonathin.” The man’s wine soaked breath reached her just as another man spoke in front of her.
“It looks like the master’s sweet, out fer a little stroll. Are ye looking for some different company, dove?” His breath smelled even worse than the firsts and panic rolled through her at the look in their eyes, gleaming at her in the dark.
“No, uh. No, thank you, I was just…looking for Caelin. Your sworn lord and ruler,” She said, trying to remind them of their allegiance to him. Hoping that would save her, but she saw the moment they made up their minds. One reached for her and with a shriek she tried to jump past the man behind her to flee upstairs, but before she could move hands were on her, pulling her back.
“What the bloody hell is going on here?” Caelin’s rage filled voice cut through the men’s alcohol fuzzed brains, and he drove the point home as he grabbed the one who had tried to reach her first, slamming his back against the hard red quarry wall.
“Don’t you ever touch her again, do you understand me?”
“Yes! Yes, my lord, I do! I won’t…I won’t ever tough her again.” The man swallowed hard, his red face turning green under Caelin’s murderous glare. Without a single look at her, he reached out his hand and gratefully she took it, following him back up the stairs and away from danger.
“Now, stay here this time!” Caelin said softly before leaving the room, slamming it behind him. Hah! As if she would let him tell her what to do. She was here for a reason, and that reason was to find her father. She wouldn’t do that just sitting idly in the room, waiting for an answer to come.
Determinately, she began to pack her few things, a note from her father, the last message she received from him, a little food she had pilfered from the kitchens. She fingered the richly clothed dresses Caelin had given her, fighting the pang of regret that she would have to leave them behind. Not because of the fine fabric, but because they were gifts from him.
Hurriedly, she grabbed the small satchel, and the cloak she had arrived in, and moved silently to the window, just wide enough for her to fit through. Beneath was a wide thatch awning and from there she could climb down the wooden beams of the stall itself to reach the ground floor. The only problem then would be passing unseen through the great hall. She was hoping that this late at night, not many would be up. Lena also hoped she wouldn’t run into the same men from earlier but she had a feeling they wouldn’t be bothering her again, and hopefully they had spread the tale of their master’s wrath.
As she had predicted, it wasn’t too difficult for her to reach the lower level, making it with just a skinned knee and a small tear at the bottom of her dress, both of which she could live with.
She landed at the bottom and cast one last glance up at the window she knew was his, Caelin’s. She could feel him pulling at her, drawing her back. And then Lena realized, like a lightning striking in the dark. She didn’t want to leave him. She had come to care about him over the past short weeks and had come to crave him being in her life. But visions of her father hurt, or sick, or worse, drew up in her mind, and she knew what she had to do. She had to find him. No matter what.
Her heart started beating faster and faster as she crept into the great hall, trying to stay as small and unnoticeable as possible. She breathed a sigh of relive when she was that it was nearly empty, save for two men sharing conversation and drink at the last table, and started walking a little quicker. This was the most dangerous part of her plan.
Lena held her breath the entire time, and was almost past the last of the men sitting in the great hall when she heard a name that stopped her cold.
“…old Eonan. Yeah, I heard a rumor just came from up north.” Her father! They were talking about her father! “There’s been talk of Eonan being held by the Black Baron.”
“Castlereigh? What does he want with Eonan?”
“Castlereigh’s land borders his own. He wants it for himself.”
Lena didn’t hear any more of the conversation. A white noise had started in her ears as she turned around, and without a second thought, flew back up the stairs to Caelin’s bedroom.
Chapter 4
“Caelin! Caelin, are you awake?”
“I am now,” he muttered ill-temperedly as he threw off his bedcovers and shuffled to the rattling door. He opened it with a mighty yawn. “What are you doing, lass? Don’t you know I need my beauty sleep?” He asked with a grin, but instantly sobered as he noticed the tear filled look on her face. “Lena, what is it?”
“It’s my father. He has him, Caelin. We have to go get him. Will you help me, please Caelin? I need you.”
He almost closed his eyes at her words, words he had dreamed of hearing fall from her lips, although under very different circumstances.
“Wait a minute, sweetheart. Slow down. Who’s got your father?”
“The baron. Baron Castlereigh.”
Caelin hissed in dislike at the man’s name. He was notorious for being the worst sort of man, and an even worse leader. His men were little better than slaves, and the rumors of how he treated his women were enough to give even Caelin nightmares, not that he needed help in that department. He had been having nightmares about his own father ever since his death, and so understood what was driving Lena to desperate measures to save her own. It was one of the many things he had come to respect and admire about her.
He looked at her for the briefest moment, but a million thoughts ran through his head. He knew her now, had come to know her even more over the past few weeks, and he knew, without a doubt, that she would charge against the Black Baron all on her own if he didn’t agree to help her.
But there were other reasons, not as honorable reasons, for wanted to agree. Caelin felt an innate need to stay near her, more and more often when she wasn’t by his side he felt like something was missing, something important, something vital.
He thought again of all the terrible rumors he had heard about Castlereigh, the way he treated women, and thanked all the gods he knew that Lena hadn’t gone there first. That she had come crashing into his life instead. It was something he would always be grateful for, because the truth was, the idea of Lena being hurt turned his stomach into knots that he wasn’t sure he would ever be able to untie.
She was there, inside of him, a part of him now, somehow, without either even meaning for it to happen.
With a deep sigh, he finally answered. “Yes. Yes, Lena, I’ll help you.”
She squealed in delight, catching him completely off guard as she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him. Or as far as they would go around him, anyways.
“Thank you, Caelin. I’ll never be able to repay you. Thank you.”
Warmth settled through him and for a second he was grateful that her father had gone missing, throwing her into his world and leading inexorably to this moment. Guilt flashed through him, quickly following the thought but he couldn’t deny how good, how right, she felt in his arms.
He looked down at her, a hairsbreadth from laying his lips against hers, pausing as he looked into her entrancing emerald green eyes, and almost groaned at what he saw there. Acquiescence, acceptance, desire, and heat that nearly matched his own.
For one brief moment, he gave in. Slanting his mouth against hers, he kissed her. All of the pent up want and unmet frustration funneled through him into that kiss and it rocked him back on his heels.
Finally, he pulled back, staring at her as he breathed heavily. Caelin noticed her flushed cheeks and kiss swollen lips with a surge of satisfaction but then the task they had set themselves flooded back, stealing some of his happiness.
“Get some rest, Lena, what little you can. We’ll ride for Castlereigh in the morning.”
Chapter 5
The morning dawned bright and early and Caelin drew himself out of bed with a pounding head and a weary heart. He knew it was the right thing to do, but he had wrestled with what to do about his men all night. Because he also knew that this wasn’t their fight. This wasn’t their quarrel. It was his.
He quickly dressed and headed down to the great hall, stopping for a long moment at the entrance at the commotion that he had walked into. Everywhere he looked, men were getting ready, most were men that he would trust with his life now. Men that he had come to know and respect.
Some were not quite so trustworthy, but all types of men were there, the hall crowed to bursting looking over swords or crossbows, fixing armor or eating a hearty breakfast before a long march.
It was then that he spied Lena, bustling here and there, rushing from table to table with plates of food or offering to lend her deft skills at sewing to fix a tear or mend a seam. As if she could sense the weight of his stare, she looked up at him, and he was struck once again by her beauty. Inside and out, she was radiant to him.
Quickly, she moved to join him where he still stood in the same place since he’d entered the large hall.
“Caelin, we are almost ready to go!” She said excitedly, and he cast his gaze once more over the men.
“I can see that. Lena, I…I don’t know what to say.”
“No, please, I’m sorry. I know I overstepped. It wasn’t my place to ask them, but…” She shrugged, cringing a little as she misunderstood his silence for censure when in truth, he was struck speechless with gratitude. He tried to open his mouth to say so, but she continued.
“When I told them that you were readying to head into battle for me, they all volunteered. Well, almost all. It came out that we were marching to rescue my father and some couldn’t get past their old feud, but everyone is willing to join us to march on the Black Baron!” He was silent for another long moment before reaching forward and giving her a resounding kiss, simply because he couldn’t help himself. She blushed a bright red at the cheers of his men around them but he could only grin as he stepped forward, pride and wonder and something else, something so much sweeter, burning in his chest as he looked out at his men.
“Thank you,” Caelin said, and he had to stop and clear his throat before he could continue. The men quieted as they saw him step up onto the raised dais.
“I can’t tell you how grateful I am for your respect, your loyalty, your…” He paused again, shaking his head. “You all know now why we ride to battle.” There were several murmurs in the crowd, “But it is not the only reason. The Black Baron stands for everything I do not, that we do not! He is vile, and contemptible, and you are not! You are great men, and all who ride with me today will always be remembered as such!” Caelin had to stop again as a loud cheer rang out before he could speak again. He glanced over at Lena, his blue gaze trapped on her green.
“It is time we forget the past, forget the old feuds and let those quarrels die today. Let us forge a new path! A path of honor, a path of hope. A future that we can look towards with a smile instead of a snarl. A future that we can fight for!” He looked at her the whole time he spoke, and it was as if the words were meant for her alone.
The great hall shook with the weight of the men’s howling cheers as he shouted the last. It was what they needed to here. To put behind them the ways of needless bloodshed and greed and a future bright with optimism and hope. Lena had to wipe a tear from her eye as he stepped down, getting ready with his men to ride to battle.
It was half a days ride to the baron’s land and Lena was filled with trepidation as they neared. Caelin had tried to make her stay at castle Acair, but she had refused. Eventually, he had given up, long since learned just how stubborn she could be when she put her mind to it. And nothing in the world could make her stay away if there was even the possibility that he might be hurt. And unfortunately, there was more than that.
Finally, they reached the keep itself. A large, stone and mortar building that jutted into the sky, but Lena was immediately struck by how empty it was. No men out practice sparring or women hanging wash out on lines strung from window to window. None of the hustle and bustle that marked any other such building.
“Caelin…”
“I know.” He replied softly, staring at the empty spaces just as she was. The men behind them must have picked up on their leader’s unease as they slowed, quieting their horses that nickered unsteadily, dancing from foot to foot in impatience.
He looked back once, settling them with a single glance and Lena was struck again by how strong he was, an inner strength that men naturally followed.
“We are ready.” Caelin said, a statement rather than a question as he turned to face the huge double doors and jostled the reigns to get his horse moving. Lena sat directly behind him, her arms wrapped tight around him more for comfort than necessity. She wasn’t sure she ever wanted to let go.
They stopped directly in front of the main doors, unnerved again by the ghostly silence, the empty feel of the place. She watched, her heart in her mouth as Caelin dismounted and strode to the doors, his look of surprise evident as it opened easily.
“Baron Castlereigh,” He shouted loudly, his voice echoing through the nearly empty chamber. “Baron, show yourself!”
There was a long, tense moment of silence before they heard the sound of scurrying footsteps. Shortly after, a young boy appeared, who looked no more than fourteen at most. His voice trembled as he spoke.
“The…the b-b-baron is away, m’lord. He took everyone of fighting age to go attack another lord, and we just got back from a battle!” The boy said, still looking terrified.
“So Castlereigh is gone, as is his entire army, and any one of fighting age, is that right?” Caelin said, the beginnings of a smile replaced the scowl he’d been wearing.
“Yes, sir. That’s right.”
“Fantastic.”
“I’m sorry sir?”
“There’s a man in your dungeons. I need him brought here immedeatly.”
“Oh no, sire. We can’t! the baron…” He shook again just at the thought of displeasing his cruel master.
“Also, let it be known,” Caelin spoke louder now, so that his voice carried, aware of all the eyes on him, even if he couldn’t see yet who they belonged to. “Let it be known that any who wish will find a good, fair home at Castle Acair.”
Caelin thought of all they had lost over the past decades under his father’s rule, driven mad by bloodlust and greed. It was time to start a new legacy.
“Everyone will have a home, and food to eat. All I ask is that the peace is kept, and every soul treated with respect and fairness.”
The boy looked at him in utter shock at his words, but finally, after he had a piece of gold in his hands, the last piece that Caelin possessed, he fled back inside. Moments later, the young boy returned with Lena’s father.
She cried out at the sight of him, jumping off from the back of his horse and running to him, wrapping him in her embrace. He was ragged, looking as if he hadn’t eaten in days and had a massive bruise on the side of his face, but as he stared up at Caelin his gaze was sharp, and disapproving at first.
He would never know what Lena whispered to him that day to turn his gaze from hateful to wondering, but he was struck as the older man limped toward him. Old Eonan looked at him, his gaze piercing his for a long, tense moment, until finally, he did the last thing Caelin expected. He held out his hand.
In a move that would shape generations Caelin extended his own, grasping the other man’s and beginning the peace that would last for hundreds of years to come. Still holding Eonan’s hand, he glanced over at Lena, who was standing with tears in her eyes. Tears of happiness, joy. Tears of hope for the future. For their future.
The thought struck him like a lightning bolt and before he really even knew what he was doing he leaned closer to the older man.
“Sire, I would request…” He paused, swallowing past the sudden dryness in his mouth. He hadn’t been this nervous charging into battle against one of the most notorious men in this part of the country. “Sire, I would request your daughter’s hand.”
“Well, what do you want her hand for?” the other man said, his voice serious but his eyes twinkling in a merriment that Caelin did not enjoy.
“Her hand in marriage, Eonan.” Caelin said, this time his voice was gruffer as he tried to stem the sudden nerves. The old Eonan stared at him for a long moment in silence before finally answering.
“There has been feud in our families for more than a hundred years. Generations upon generations have shed each other blood. And you think you can end all of that?”
Caelin just nodded, not needing to answer.
“Lena is my only child. She is headstrong, and stubborn, and the kindest person you will find on this green earth. Will you love her, Acair?”
Caelin glanced once at Lena, seeing her dark eyes shine in confusion, curious to know what they were talking about for so long, and then finally, he glanced back at the old man, his sincerity shining in his deep blue eyes.
“That, more than any other thing, I swear.”
The old man stared for another minute more before nodding his head, once, swiftly. Afterward he looked as surprised as Caelin felt that he had agreed to the match. Although Caelin had a sneaking suspicion that it was due more to the fact that he had just rescued Eonan from the clutches of the Black Baron than any real wish for an end to the blood feud that had shaped their lives for over a century, and had stolen his father’s.
Now, his heart racing even harder, he turned to Lena, walking towards her slowly because he could barley get his legs to work at all. He hadn’t been that nervous since a lad and he had to clench his hands into fists at his side to keep them from trembling.
“Lena, will you…” Caelin stopped, unable to continue for a moment as he stared into her gorgeous green eyes. And then he remembered all of her sweetness, all of the light she had brought into his life. When he spoke next, his voice was strong, all trembling ceased. Because he knew this was what was meant to be. This was the beginning of their legacy, and it started now.
“Lena, will you do me the honor of becoming my bride? My wife?” He held his breath as her eyes widened, and then widened even further until they were all he could see. And still she didn’t answer.
“Please, Lena. Say something. Say anything.” He whispered, his nerves suddenly back in full force. They fled for good as her beautiful face broke into a radiant smile and she threw her arms around him with a happy laugh.
“Yes! Yes, of course!” She was laughing and crying at the same time, and he swung her around as his men cheered around them, news of their pending nuptials spreading like wildfire through the crowd. Unable to stop the silly grin on his face, he leaned down and kissed her, and finally, everything was right in his world.