The Apprehension: Unexpected Circumstances Book 6 (6 page)

“What do you mean?” he asked, and I felt his finger underneath my chin, trying to tilt my head up to face him.  “Promised what?”

“That you would not leave my side again,” I said.  “You said you would not leave me to the protection of others, but you will now leave me with Michael?”

“You are only going from the field to the castle,” Branford said.  “I will be there as soon as I am…finished.”

“What if…what if I need protection?” I heard myself ask.  “How can I be without you when I remember how close she was to me all that time?  You said you would not leave me, Branford.”

I could no longer look into his eyes and, instead, pressed my forehead to his chest.  I knew exactly what I was doing—using Branford’s fears to my own advantage.  But I was not afraid to watch what they would do to her.  I wanted to know exactly how she would suffer for what she had done to us.  I did not want to be stuck in our rooms alone while Branford exacted revenge that should be mine as well.

I felt the rise of Branford’s chest as he breathed deeply, and I felt his breath escape over the top of my head.

“Michael!  Parnell!” he called out as he turned from me.  The two men walked over to us.  “I am taking my queen away from this.  Prepare Lady Kimberly for public execution, and let me know when it is complete.  I want it slow, and I want it painful, and I want her to suffer.  In the end, I want to see her head displayed as a reminder to all how I feel about disloyalty.”

“Yes, my king,” Parnell replied with a nod.

While I tried to understand what had just been said, Branford walked with me a few steps and then stopped.  He turned me toward him and placed his hands on my shoulders.

“Stand right here,” he instructed before he spun on his heel and walked back to the cart.  He spoke quickly into Parnell’s ear before approaching the cart.  From where I was, I could see him lean over the bound Lady Kimberly and grab her by her hair.  He painfully pulled her head back and spoke, but I could not hear his words to her.  As Branford placed his head close to her ear and growled low, Lady Kimberly’s eyes went wide, then squeezed tightly shut as she began to twist her body and fight against her bindings.

“Come, Alexandra,” Branford said as he released the doomed woman and walked back to my side.  “I will escort you to our rooms.”

“What?”  I stopped and took a step back toward the field.  “What are you doing?”

“We are both going back to the castle,” Branford said simply.

“But what of Lady Kimberly?”

“You heard what I instructed.”

“But I want to be there!”

“You are not going to be there,” Branford told me.  “I will not have you upset and unable to sleep while you carry my son.  You were right—I did promise to stay at your side, and I will abide by that promise.  You reminded me of my duty and gave me the options that were acceptable to you.  I chose the option acceptable to me.  We will both be inside when she is killed.”

With that, he took my hand and wrapped it around his arm before he began to lead me away from the field.  He snapped at Dunstan to have someone bring my sewing up to me and then proceeded to the gates.  As we approached the entrance to the castle, Branford leaned close to my ear and spoke in low tones so no one else would hear.

“But I will have you know, wife,” he murmured, “that my body is tense because of what I would have done.  I will need some distraction for the rest of the afternoon.  By calling me from this, I will be sure to take my excess energies out on
your
body instead.  Do we understand each other?”

I glanced up at him, momentarily concerned about the implication of his words, but when I saw the mirth and lust in his eyes, I knew very well his meaning.

“If that is what it takes to keep you at my side,” I replied.  I tried to shrug nonchalantly, but my blush and shiver gave me away as he touched the side of my face.

*****

I slept late again the next day, waking to the sound of voices in the morning room.  Branford was speaking to Parnell and Rylan though when I spied through the bed curtains, I could see Branford’s chair was still angled so he could look to where I was at the same time.

“It makes no sense,” Parnell was saying.  “They aren’t destroying the whole thing; they are taking bits of it apart and putting it back together again.”

“They have to be searching for something,” Rylan replied in his characteristic deep voice.  “At least, that was the speculation from my source.”

“Do we not have spies there to give you information?” Parnell asked.

“There is a trusted man there,” Branford said softly, “but I cannot reach out to him.  He would be jeopardized, and I need him where he is.”

For a moment, the men were silent.  Then Parnell’s voice rang out again.

“There is still danger here, my king.”

“My men will patrol the borders as much as they can,” Rylan said, “but we cannot surround the entire Kingdom of Silverhelm.  There will always be the possibility of a breach.”

“Parnell, are there new recruits available if I wish to take some of the more seasoned men for duty in the castle?”

“Yes, what do you need?”

“I want additional guards—men you trust implicitly—around Alexandra at all times.  She and my unborn son must be protected.  I will remain at her side, but I may not always be enough.

“There is something else,” Parnell said, his tone hesitant.

“What is it?”

“Rylan found more information on Janet and her family.”

“Tell me!”

“Though her parents are long dead, there is a living sibling,” Rylan said.

“Where?”

“Unknown,” Parnell said, “but I do know his name.”

“And it is?”

“His name is Kolby, my king”

There was a long pause.

“Kolby?” Branford’s voice was just a whisper.

“We believe him to be the same, yes.”

“First Dalton surfaces within my borders, and now we find my wife’s handmaid was the sister to one of the men that murdered my parents?”

“Yes.”

“How was this not discovered before?” Branford bellowed.

“I went back to a previous source,” Parnell said.  “At the time, he claimed to know nothing, but when the deaths of Janet and Nelle were publicized, he decided to come clean with his knowledge.”

“He withheld this from us before?”

“Yes, sire.”

“Where is he now?” Branford growled.

“Quite dead, sire.”

“Good.  Repost the bounty on Yagmur and Salik.  If Dalton has reappeared, those other two are certainly close by.  Let it be known they may be in nearby territory, probably in Hadebrand.”

“Already done, sire,” Parnell replied.

“Good man.”

“If those two are both shown to be loyal to Hadebrand,” Branford said, “there could be proof of Edgar’s involvement in my parents’ murders.”

“My king”—I heard Parnell take a deep breath before he continued—“if there were such proof, we would have found it by now.”

“If only I had the strength of men to openly go against him.”

“Seacrest has only agreed to protection, not to go to war.”  Sir Rylan’s deep voice reminded my husband.

“I know,” Branford said with a sigh.  “Rylan, if you would just give me a hundred and fifty men—”

“
Just
a hundred and fifty, King Branford?” Rylan scoffed.  “How large an army do you think I command?  I have to protect my own lands as well, you know.  Considering our alliance with Silverhelm, we are now also potentially a target for Hadebrand.”

“They would not make a move against you,” Branford said.

“Agreed,” said Parnell.  “Your presence will keep them from our borders indefinitely.”

“How long do you think we will be needed?” Rylan asked.

“Until my heir is born,” Branford replied.  “Alexandra will not be safe until then.”

“It is amazing what the love of a woman will do to you, is it not?” Rylan said quietly.  Both Branford and Parnell chuckled in response.

“I would go to war for her in a heartbeat,” Branford finally said, “irrespective of the odds.  I would take on all of Hadebrand’s army myself if they stood between Alexandra and me.”

“I would do the same for Suzette,” Rylan replied.

“And I for Ida.”

All three of them chuckled again, and I decided to make my wakefulness known.  Branford ushered the men out of the morning room so he could help me dress.

“You could have gone to the great hall to meet,” I said as Branford tied the last of my laces.

“I did not want to wake you.”

“I could have stayed here.

“Not alone.”  I could feel him shake his head behind me.  “Not without me at your side.”

His lips pressed against the side of my neck.

“There are all these preparations we must make for the child,” he said, reminding me.  He gestured to the area not far from our bed where we had planned to make room for the baby.  “I would not leave you to do those alone.”

“Samantha and Sunniva are both planning to come here to assist,” I said.

“Nevertheless”—he breathed into my ear—“I will not leave your presence.  Before we begin such things, do you…do you wish to go to the castle wall?”

His hesitancy clued me in to the meaning of his words.  The castle wall was, without a doubt, where the head of Lady Kimberly was now on display, and he wished to go validate the deed had been done.  Not that he would question that his orders had been carried out, but he would still wish to see the outcome for himself.

“You do not have to look,” Branford said quietly as he turned me around to face him.  “Just keep your eyes to the ground.”

“I wish to see her,” I replied.

Branford inhaled deeply before exhaling in a huff through his nose.

“As you wish,” he said.

Branford led me slowly into the courtyard of the castle and past the nearly empty marketplace.  As we left through the gates, I could see why the shops were so empty, for everyone seemed to be in the field just outside the castle walls.

All eyes peered upwards.

Jutting out from the castle wall, stuck onto the end of a long pike, was the head of Lady Kimberly of Sterling, her long, golden-blonde hair cascading out and around her ashen cheeks.

I felt myself stumble slightly, and Branford’s arms pulled me up against his chest.  I pushed his hands from me and stared up into her lifeless eyes.

“Good,” I heard myself say.  “I hate her.  How could she do that to—”

Branford pulled me back against his body and gently silenced me.

“She cannot hurt you again,” he whispered into my ear.  “Never, ever again, my wife.”

*****

As Branford’s child grew in my womb, he kept his promise.

He was never far enough away to not have me within his sight and was usually within just a few feet of me.  He still trained his men in the field and had Michael and the other pages build a small structure next to the stables where I could sit within his view but without a draft.  There was even a place where a fire could be kept banked.  I was never turned away from meetings with the court, and even when Branford spoke with Father Tucker, he bade me stay inside the chapel where he could still see me while he and the Father spoke quietly near the altar.

It should have driven me insane to be so close to Branford at all times, but it did not.

This surprised me.

Sunniva chastised him for hovering around me constantly, and though Branford still respected his adoptive mother, he took his role as king quite seriously and eventually told her not to mention it again, for he was not going to change his position.  Later, when Branford was speaking to Parnell and Ida, I whispered into Sunniva’s ear that she did not have to worry, for I did not mind Branford’s closeness.

He was close to me in the nights as well.

This also surprised me.

I would have thought his desire for my body would have decreased since he had already started a child inside me.  At the very least, as my body changed, I would have expected him not to find me as pleasing to look upon, but he continued to insist I was more beautiful as time went by.  Indeed, he did spend inordinate amounts of time touching my growing stomach, backside, and breasts.

My breasts were certainly the most pleasing to him, and he used any and every excuse to touch them.  Before I was with child, Branford would sneak me away to seduce me, claiming the need for a child as the reason.  Now that he did not have such a compelling reason, he would sometimes resort to whining and moaning his way underneath the bodice of my dress so he could touch and kiss my breasts.

It was maddening.

And wonderful.

I set down the blanket Sunniva had taught me to crochet, the edges finally completed.  It did not look as good as the one she had made, but I was still proud of it.  I stood and stretched, stepping lightly from one foot to the other.  It amazed me how much my feet would stiffen up just from sitting!  I glanced over at the fire and saw it had turned to coals, so I moved to the stack of wood.  As I started to pick up a piece, I felt Branford’s hand on my arm.