“Glayer Felsteppe hurt Mother, Papa,” Christian said, his chin flinching. “He burned the hall. She couldn’t get up. But she put me in the window. I had to jump.”
“But Christian, how?” Constantine said. “It’s so far to the wall . . .”
The little boy looked into Constantine’s eyes with a solemnity that was heartbreaking to Dori.
“There were men lying beneath the window. I hurt my leg when I jumped, so I lay there for a long time, waiting for Mother. But she never came. I reckoned later she knew she wouldn’t be coming.”
Dori closed her eyes for a moment, thinking of how terrified Christian must have been.
Constantine pulled the boy back into his arms, holding his blond head.
“I understand that you have much to catch up on, Stan,” said a dark-haired, well-dressed man of swarthy complexion. “But do we no even get a simple hello?”
Constantine turned and set Christian on his feet, although his hand gripped his son’s and did not let go as he fell into the embrace of his friends and their wives.
“Forgive me, all of you,” Constantine said, looking at this one, gripping the arm of another, touching the red-haired woman’s face. He turned to the largest man Dori had ever seen in her life, who claimed white-blond hair and carried a hunting bird on his shoulder. At his side was an exotic-looking woman whose wide-eyed expression gave Dori the idea that she was as anxious about this meeting as Dori herself was.
“Roman,” Constantine said. “You, most of all—”
The giant of a man smiled. “It’s all right, Stan.”
The two men embraced, and then Constantine turned to the woman. “I’m so glad you’re both safe.”
“As we are you, my lord,” the woman said.
Constantine frowned. “Isra, I’m not your lord.”
Everyone in the group save Dori laughed, and Dori felt a lump in her throat again at the bond these people shared. She could never compete with them.
“It is good to see you once more, Stan.” Isra laughed.
“Do they always call youStan?” Dori blurted out, and everyone turned to look at her. She blinked and quirked her mouth, muttering, “It’s dreadful.”
The red-haired woman seemed to consider. “’Tis nae worse than Dori now, is it?”
A heartbeat of silence passed, and then the entire group roared with laughter.
Constantine pulled Dori to his side. “Friends, may I present Lady Theodora Rosemont and her son, William Calumet.” He introduced each person to Dori, in reverse order to that in which she’d heard them speak, and when he got to the sweet-faced Mary, the woman rushed forward and embraced Dori.
“I’m so happy to meet you,” she said, looking into Dori’s eyes. “I just know we will become the best of friends. Sisters, you and I. And my home is close, just south at Beckham.”
“At least until the king finds out, yes?” her handsome husband cautioned before turning to Constantine. “The soldiers along the wall are the king’s. Er . . .borrowedfrom Beckham Hall.”
“With a small amount of coin for incentive,” Adrian admitted. “My father is coming with the men he can claim, but I don’t expect them until after the sun has risen. Your loyal villagers are already inside the walls—they were keeping watch when we arrived.”
“They knew a fight was coming,” Constantine said grimly.
“Felsteppe left London before us,” Theodora offered to the group. “If he has gone to Thurston Hold, he might be warned that Constantine and I are here. He could be upon us at any moment.”
As if in an attempt to point to the truth of her words, a shout called down from the wall walk. “Party approaching the village! Perhaps fifty mounted!”
“Papa,” Christian said suddenly, grasping at Constantine’s tunic. “He’s coming! Let’s go! Let’s just go! We can go away somewhere—all of us—and live. Maybe with Adrian’s father and brother. They have cows and pasties,” he said, his voice thready with desperation. “And a gate. We can hide!”
Constantine squatted down to eye level with his son. “I know you’re frightened, Christian. I would much rather go away with you and Lady Dori and William. Somewhere we could try to forget all this and start over. But the bad man who harmed you and your mother, he has also harmed Lady Dori and William. He’s harmed our friends and their families. He is responsible for the deaths of many good men where Papa was away for so long.”
Constantine stroked the side of his son’s face as he continued. “I made promises when I married your beautiful mother. And when I became a general. And when I swore to help exonerate my brothers’ names. And I also made a promise to the man who’s done all those terrible things; that I would hold him responsible. I want to make very, very certain that he never harms anyone ever again. It’s my duty, son. And Adrian and Valentine and Roman, and the men you see atop our wall there, they are going to help me keep my promise. You understand?”
“You can’t go away again,” Christian whispered.
