“I love that you trust me with all this body,” she whispered against his belly.
He groaned. “Do what you wish to me, Wife.”
And she did. All through the night, proving that her stamina could match his own.
*
The loud rapping on the door at around noon the next day finally woke them up.
It was Elia. She rushed into the room covering her eyes from the blanket Nicholas had wrapped around his waist.
“Oh, Nicky! ’Tis happened!” She hurried to the bed and reached for Kestrel’s hand. “We must hide you, Kes!”
“What? Hide her? Why? What has happened?” Nicholas demanded, taking hold of one of Elia’s arms.
“Oh, Nicky. There has been an accusation against our Kes.”
“What is it?” he demanded, but he already knew.
“’Tis being said she is a witch. That she appeared out of thin air on the battlefield and has come to Scarborough to enrapture you!”
Kestrel gasped and covered her face in her hands.
“Being said by who?” he growled. He’d find out who started this rumor and then he would kill them.
“I do not know. ’Tis still unclear.”
“Find out,” he charged the head maid. She nodded and patted Kestrel’s shoulder. “We will take care of this, Kes.”
“I will be down shortly,” he promised Elia and then shut the door behind her.
“Get dressed, my lovely. We shall go to Walter’s. He has crypts below the cellars no one knows about.”
“Crypts?” she asked, frozen in her spot in bed.
“They are filled with his most precious possessions. You will likely enjoy yourself,” he told her, pulling on his pants and then his léine, “and I will come when I can. I must find Richard and speak with him about this.”
“Ok,” she agreed, “but I don’t like it. I know how folks feel about witches these days.”
He noticed her hands were shaking while she dressed in her chemise and kirtle. His anger burned hot against whoever ruined the morning of such a glorious night. Whoever made her afraid and tremble.
He wanted to go to her and sit beside her, but there was no time. Her accusers could be here at any moment, and though he wanted to kill them, he wanted to keep her safe first.
“Come, love,” he beckoned gently while sheathing his long blade to the belt at his side. “I will keep you safe. Trust me.”
Thankfully, she nodded, pulled on her slippers, and followed him out the door.
Most of the people they met on the way to the stable wished them well. Still, Nicholas kept his eyes honed on anyone coming too close to her. He warned her friends, of which there were many here at Scarborough, not to mention seeing her. “She is in danger of someone’s evil plan,” he told them. “I must protect her.”
“We will help you!” they called back.
“Just deny that you have seen her if anyone comes here looking for her,” Nicholas charged them.
The people gave their words and went about their business as if they hadn’t seen her.
“We will have to enjoy our celebration some other time,” she told him after he pulled her up in front of him in his saddle.
“’Twill be sooner than you think. I intend to squash this now.”
They did no more talking and rode hard to Walter’s.
The old merchant needed no prompting or monetary promises to do as Nicholas asked him. He opened his crypts to them without question and left them alone once he had her settled in.
“What now?” she asked Nicholas when they were alone. “What will you do?”
“First, go to the king and get him to denounce this.”
“Do you think he will?”
“If he values his life. After that, I intend to discover who started this and kill him and any others with him.”
“Nicholas,” she went to him and fell into his arms. “You can’t go around killing anyone who calls me a witch.”
He mumbled an oath and ground his jaw. “That is exactly what I am going to do.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Nicholas thundered home. His horse’s hooves tore the ground beneath him. He cursed himself for never making friends with his men. He had many under him, but he trusted none of them with Kestrel’s life. He didn’t know what they would do if the king threatened them or paid them. For that reason, he would rather do this alone. She would be safe at Walter’s. He would end this.
He dismounted before the horse came to a complete halt at the castle doors. He rushed inside, calling for the king. He made his way to the great hall, the solar, the king’s bedchamber, but Richard was not in any of those places.
“Richard!” he called out.
“Cousin, what is this uproar about?”
Nicholas pivoted on his heel and moved his hand across his hips to the hilt of his sword.
“What are you doing here, Reg?”
His cousin looked terrified for a moment and then found strength from somewhere, mayhap his mother’s de Marre’s blood. “I came to see the king.” He lifted his chin. “As his guest.”
Nicholas cast him an angry snarl. “And you think that means I will not throw you out of my castle?”
Reg shifted from foot to foot. He looked just a slight shade paler.
“What do you know about this accusation that my wife is a witch?”
“Only what I have heard.”
“Which is what exactly?” Nicholas moved forward.
Reg stepped back. “That she appeared out of nowhere on the battlefield. Men say they saw her, and they saw you take her away. More people are coming forward.”
Nicholas wanted to be sick. How many men? What else were they saying? “Who was the man who first brought this to everyone’s attention?”
“I…I do not know.”
“I will find out,” Nicholas vowed, close to his face. “Now, bring me to where more people are coming forward. Who are they coming forward to? Where?”
“I…I…”
“Reg, you will no longer enjoy the privilege of living in a house I paid for if you do not start telling me what I want to know.”
“They are men from your garrison,” Reg
