While Angels Slept (37 page)

     “Mount the men,” he told
them. “We ride within the hour.”

     As the men broke up to do
the earl’s bidding, Tevin quickly escorted Cantia back towards the keep. He
turned to say something to her at the base of the stairs but the words caught
in his throat when he saw that she was silently weeping.  He put his arms
around her.

     “Why do you weep?” he asked
gently, kissing her forehead.

     Cantia drew in a deep,
steadying breath. “Because I am a foolish woman,” she tried to smile off her
behavior. “You must hurry now. Your men are assembling.”

     Tevin opened his mouth to
reply but stopped short when Myles came flying down the exterior stairs and Tevin
informed the man of the situation.  As Myles raced off to do Tevin’s bidding,
Tevin returned his attention to Cantia.

     “Please tell me why you
weep,” he whispered.

     Cantia was wiping at her
cheeks, struggling to compose herself. “Please,” she shook her head, not
wanting to speak on her feelings. “You must go. I will see you when you return.”

     “I am not leaving until you
tell me why you are crying.”

     Her brave façade wavered,
clearly reluctant to speak. But she relented after a few moments of struggle.

     “Because the last time there
was a call to retake the bridge, Brac was killed,” she whispered. Her gaze grew
intense. “I cannot help but remember that moment he was brought to me with
arrows sticking out of him. Tevin, if they were to return you to me in that
condition, I swear I would be buried with you. I could not go on.”

     Tevin suspected the reason
behind her tears and was prepared. He pulled her into a tight embrace, his face
buried in the side of her head.

     “That will not happen to me,
not today,” he assured her softly. “I have much to live for. I swear to you
that I will return in good health.”

     She squeezed him tightly. “I
believe you.”

     “Do you truly?”

     “Aye.”

     Tevin pulled back to look
her in the eye, just to make sure she wasn’t lying to him. Seeing the luscious
features gazing steadily back at him, he kissed her sweetly, twice, and gently
directed her towards the stairs that led to the keep.

     “Then go inside,” he told
her. “Make sure the keep is locked down.  Admit no one until Myles and I
return. Is that clear?”

     “It is.”

     He blew a kiss at her. “I
love you,” he whispered as he turned to walk away. “Go inside now.”

     Cantia blew a kiss in
return, mounting the steps to the keep as she watched Tevin head back towards
the gatehouse.  When he turned to look at her, she waved and took the steps
quickly so he would not grow agitated with her.  Once inside the keep, she and
a male servant threw the heavy bolt across the door as ordered.  Then, she went
into the solar to wait out the men’s return with Val.

     It was a very long night,
but Tevin returned whole and sound as he had promised.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

May, 1140 A.D.

Cantia could
feel Tevin’s hand on her belly. Asleep or awake, his hands seemed to gravitate
there, feeling the round firmness of her stomach and being rewarded on occasion
with strong kicks.  Even now, before dawn, they lay naked in each other’s arms,
burrowed beneath the covers on an icy March morning with his arms around her
and his hand on her belly. Half-asleep, Cantia could feel the strong movements
of the baby.

“He is very busy
this morning,” Tevin mumbled, his face against the side of her head. “How can
you sleep through that?”

Cantia giggled.
“I can sleep through it fine,” she pretended to be irritated and rolled away
from him. “It is your talking that keeps me awake.”

Tevin’s arms
tightened when he realized she was trying to move away from him.

“Nay, lady,”
he muttered. “You’ll not escape me.”

Her laughter
grew as he pulled her back against him, wedging himself between her legs as his
hands stroked her belly and his lips nibbled sleepily on her ear.  Eventually,
he lifted her leg so that it was over his hip, his fingers seeking intimate
places and listening to her groan softly with pleasure. When he withdrew his
fingers and entered her from behind, very carefully, Cantia turned herself over
to him completely.

This was a normal
morning for them. Cantia would usually awake to Tevin making love to her. His
powerful seed had taken root sometime back in the fall, during that time when
she was worried if she’d ever be able to conceive again. Their child was due in
the summer and it was all Tevin could speak of.  In his world, it was the most
important thing that blinded his thoughts to all else.

The man had
always been inordinately attentive and passionate, but with the event of the
pregnancy, his attentiveness, concern and understand knew no bounds. He made it
well known that there was no child ever born that had been more welcome, and
Cantia was always made to feel that surely there was no woman more loved.  He
clearly adored her, and she clearly adored him.

Even now as he
filled her with proof of his desire, all Cantia could feel from him was his
deep love and devotion to her. The fact that she was to give birth to his
bastard didn’t matter; to her, she was simply giving birth to the child of the
man she loved and there was nothing more to it. No shame, no stigma. She had
told Gillywiss once that she and Tevin were married in their hearts as much as
any man and woman ever was, and it was the truth. She would give birth to this
son, and then she would give birth to a dozen more just like him. The mighty
Earl of East Anglia must have his legacy.

The physical
changes had come over her fairly rapidly as her belly grew quickly. She felt
fine most of the time except for occasional exhaustion, but her sexual appetite
was enormous. Because of the way the child would sit in her belly, she
experienced climaxes so powerful that Tevin had to put his hand over her mouth
to keep her screams down and this morning was no exception.  Cantia experienced
a strong released that had her crying out in ecstasy. Tevin simply put his
mouth over hers, kissing her passionately and trying to keep the noise down as
he spent himself inside her. Never in his life had he known such desire or
lust. It was beyond his wildest dreams.

“You,” he
murmured, his mouth still on hers, “must contain yourself, madam. One of these
days your cries are going to raise the roof and I will have a good deal of
explaining to do.”

She grinned
sleepily, satisfied, and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Are you
complaining, my lord?”

He grinned
devilishly. “Never,” he kissed her again. “But I fear you are drawing the
concern of Arabel. Her chamber is right below ours, you know. I think she heard
you once because she asked me what you were screaming about. You know how I am
when she asks me questions like that.”

Cantia laughed
softly. “You become tongue-tied and embarrassed,” she teased. “The only things
that can stump the mighty Earl of East Anglia are personal questions from his
fifteen-year-old daughter.”

He made a face
at her, kissed her one last time, and climbed out of bed.  It was still dark in
the room, as it was just before sunrise, so he lit a fat taper with a flint and
stone purely so he could see where he was walking. The massive wardrobe over by
the wall was his destination and he opened the doors to a neat and tidy network
of possessions, long cleared of Brac Penden’s remnants.

“I have a
conference in Thurrock this evening with Lord Chafford,” he said, turning to
glance at her. “You remember him, do you not?”

Cantia was
sitting up in bed.  She made a face. “Of course,” she said, reaching for her
dressing robe on the end of the bed. “A fat man with foul breath.”

Tevin grinned as
he pulled forth leather breeches. “That may be,” he said, pulling on his
breeches, “but the man commands a strong force that has held Dartford Crossing
for months. It would seem that Stephen has been in touch with the man and wants
to meet with us both, evidently. Lord Chafford and I need to discuss strategy
for that meeting.”

“Am I coming
with you?”

“I would prefer that
you did not. His stronghold is north of the Dartford Bridge and I must cross it
in order to reach him. I do not want you on that bridge right now, not with all
of the fighting that has gone on around it over the past several months.”

She didn’t like
that answer. “Why cannot Lord Chafford come to Rochester? Why must you go to
him?”

“Because he
invited me.”

“You are the
earl, Tevin. You do not bow to another’s summons. Tell him you will meet him at
Rochester.”

It was not a
request or suggestion. It was a command. He fought off a grin; Cantia had been
quite the tyrant as of late, unusual for the normally sweet and accommodating
lady.  He found the fire of pregnancy quite humorous at times, but he also had
a healthy respect for it.  If he didn’t defer to her wishes in all things,
there was often hell to pay.  The powerful Earl of East Anglia was controlled
by a lovely slip of a woman and he didn’t give a lick about it. He loved it.

“If that is your
wish, sweetheart, then I will send him word and tell him to come here tonight.”

“Good,” she
nodded her head decisively. “Let that be the end of it.”

“You will have
to entertain him and be a party to his foul breath all evening, then.”

She made a face
at him. “I would rather suffer through it than have you away from me, even for
a night.”

He just smiled
at her as he pulled a heavy linen tunic from the wardrobe. Cantia was on her
feet, pulling the robe over her head as she moved for a second robe that was
heavy brocade lined with lamb’s wool.

“Why would Stephen
want to meet with you both?” she wanted to know.

Tevin pulled a
tunic over his head followed by another one of heavier wool. “Because I control
the south side of the Dartford Bridge along with all of the roads from
Gillingham to Wellhall. Moreover, East Anglia is my stronghold and I have ten
thousand men at my disposal.  I am more important to Stephen than most.”

She fell silent
as she sat down on the bed to pull on her doeskin boots, very warm in the icy
morning. 

“Rochester is
far from East Anglia,” she said softly. “When do you plan to return to
Thunderbey Castle?”

He glanced over
his shoulder to reply, noticing she was having difficulty pulling on her shoes.
Her belly was already quite large and got in the way of normal activities.  He
went over to her, taking the boot and gently slipping it on her foot.

“Not until this
baby is born,” he said. “Many things have been put on hold because of him.”

Cantia watched
him pull on her shoe. “Like our trip to Saxony to seek Louisa’s father?”

“Like that.”

“I told you that
I was fine to travel in the beginning. We could have been there and back again
in these past several months.”

He looked her in
the eye, somewhat sternly. “I am not going to travel with my pregnant lady. I
told
you
that.”

“So we must wait
until your son is born before we do anything to that regard?” she asked, growing
pouty. “Then you will not travel with an infant, and neither will I. He will be
several years old before we will be able to travel to Saxony, but what if we
have more children? We will never go and we will never receive our annulment
because I will never be able to travel.”

“I could always
send a missive, as I have suggested.”

“And chance that
it would not be received? A thousand things could happen to a lone messenger.
Nay, we must all go together to ensure our request is received and approved.”

Tevin wasn’t
about to suggest he could go alone; it would not be well met, at least not at
this time, so he did what he usually did when she grew upset - he shifted the
subject in an effort to both distract and comfort her.

“I am sure there
are many different possibilities we can speak of at another time,” he said
quietly. “But in speaking of Thunderbey, to reiterate my position on the
subject, I do not want to force you to travel over miles of open road in your
condition, so we will wait until the child is born before I will as much as
entertain the thought of returning home. Why would you ask such a question?”

Attention
successfully diverted for the moment, she shrugged as she handed him the other
boot and he slipped that one on as well.

 “Rochester is
my home,” she said simply. “Hunt was born here and this child shall be born
here. Do you not like it here?”

He nodded. “I
like it very much,” he reached down and carefully pulled her to her feet. “But,
as you said, it is far from East Anglia. At some point, I must return home to
my castle and to my people. I do not want to be gone overlong from my lands.”

Her brow
furrowed and he could see the pout coming.  “I suppose,” she said, doing a bad
job of hiding her unhappiness. “But I do not want to travel with a new baby and
if you must return to Thunderbey at some point soon, I am afraid you will go
without us. I do not want you to go without us.”

He kissed her
forehead, hugging her gently. “I will never go anywhere without you,” he
assured her softly. “I have told you that before. I will never leave your side,
Cantia, not ever.”

“Promise?”

“Of course I
do.”

He appeased her
somewhat and was in the process of kissing her again when he heard sentry shouts
coming from the bailey. Going to the window, he pulled back the oil cloth to
reveal and enormous bailey below, alive with the glow of dozens of torches.  As
Tevin watched the activity, Cantia came up behind him.  Together, they watched
the commotion on the walls.