The others laugh.
“He believed me when I told him you drank the blood of your enemies for strength,” Thomas adds. “So aye, he would . . . ow.” Thomas rubs his arm, looking at Christopher as if he’d dearly love to strike him back. But I gesture for them to quiet their talk.
“He disembarks.”
Leaving the others behind with a shouted order that I cannot hear, Aldwine makes his way through the crowd. Slaps on the back and words of welcome tell me that he is well-liked.
By Aedre too.
The twinge of jealousy is not new. She speaks of him as a god. No ill words ever leave her mouth where Aldwine is concerned. And though she’s told me more than once that he is as a brother to her, now, seeing the man, I wonder how such a thing is possible. Even I can see another rumor of him is indeed true.
Though his father is also a good-looking man, Aldwine is more handsome by far. I’ve heard many stories of Aldwine’s mother, even from the king himself. If he did love her, as he claimed, perhaps her beauty played a role?
As he approaches our spot, I imagine Aldwine and Aedre together and then immediately push the vile thought away, replacing it with another more pleasant one. Of Aedre in my arms, kissing me with abandon, responding to each stroke of my tongue with one of her own.
“Glaring at the man will not bring him around to our cause,” Thomas says beside me.
I turn my head toward him, away from the king’s son.
“I was not glaring.”
My voice is thick with jealousy.
Thomas clears his throat.
“I may have been glaring,” I admit. And Thomas knows why. I’ve told him about Aedre’s promise to set up a meeting with Aldwine. He is intelligent enough to surmise the rest.
“God willing, he will be the next king of Meria.” He lowers his voice. “Remember your purpose here, Vanni.”
I look back at Aldwine as he makes his way through the crowd.
Never in all the years I’ve served Galfrid have I given a reason for my loyalty, my motives, to be questioned. And as much as I wish to lash out at Thomas, to refute his words, it would be foolish to do so.
I had forgotten our purpose, if only momentarily. I’m not here to steal kisses from Aedre, however pleasing it would be. My purpose is to speak with that man, the one being feted by his people. The one Aedre and her family do not believe will return with us.
My duty is to convince him otherwise.
Chapter Nineteen Aedre
Though just on the edge of the village, the walk to Nord Manor takes a bit of time and effort. Built on a massive rock island, the base of which becomes submerged at high tide, it is an impregnable and impressive structure. As I walk the long path leading to it, the low tide allowing me to pass, my mind turns over and over again, as it has since yesterday. So many questions invade my thoughts. I have a clear answer to only one.
Should I have kissed Lord Vanni d’Abella, Curia Commander to the King of Meria?
The answer is a resounding yes.
Had I gone a lifetime without such a kiss, I would never have understood the power of love, of desire—why people are willing to drink any concoction, recite any spell, for such a feeling.
Of course, I am not in love with Vanni. But he does invoke something in me I’d never experienced or understood before. Not really.
While some imagine themselves at court, surrounded by elaborate gowns and glorious luxuries, I’ve not once wished for such things. My grandmother has ensured I wish only to be surrounded by love. By my family. Someday, perhaps, that family will grow and I will take a husband.
Unfortunately, Vanni could never be that man. He is King Galfrid’s man through and through.
I come to the gatehouse after an uphill climb. A small tower with its circled stone wall encompassing the keep within its courtyard greets me, and I wave up at the guard. Though I can’t see his face from here, the portcullis is opened. Surrounded by water, this small island accessible only during low tide took years to build but is considered the crowning glory of Murwood End, much to the consternation of Lord Bailor, the highest ranking noble here. Kipp’s father, Sir Nicholas, was knighted on the battlefield but held no other title. A mercenary, he’d saved a lifetime’s worth of gold to make Nord Manor possible.
A good man, Nicholas Aldwine had left this manor, which would be considered a castle by some, as well as his legacy, to Kipp, whom he’d accepted as his son.
Kipp would never leave it, most especially not to return to a man he despises. But I made a promise to Vanni and intend to keep it. Even if it hastens Vanni’s departure from Murwood End.
I refuse to regret that kiss.
“Good day, Lady Aedre,” Kipp’s steward, one of just a handful of servants at Nord, greets me as he opens the door.
“Good day.” I walk inside and spot him immediately.
Kipp is a difficult man to miss. As always, he is dressed simply. Braies and a linen tunic, given the warm temperature. And yet, he’s a tall, broad man, and there’s a regal quality to him that must have been passed to him in Galfrid’s blood. It is a silly thought, but difficult to dismiss.
I could very much imagine him on the throne.
“Aedre? I’d have come to see you,” he says, leaping up from his chair. Unlike at Lord Bailor’s home, Anbarth Castle, there is no dais or special seat for Kipp. As he says often, he is neither a great lord or even a knight but a Voyager and the son of a mercenary.
“Today? Tomorrow? A sennight from now?”
He wraps his arms around me and I squeeze back, grateful for his
