“Much of what?”
“The way you treat Jamie. The way you’re so determined to get home even when you know you stand no chance.”
Callie frowned at him as she gained an insight of her own. “You are the eldest?”
He gave a subtle nod.
They reined to a stop just before the stable. Simon slid down with Jamie while Sin helped her down.
“Simon, can you see her back to her room without?—”
Simon cleared his throat loudly. “Remember, there will be no mentioning of that.”
Sin smiled wryly. “Fine. Can you get her back without any more of that-which-will-remain-unmentioned happening again. Or do I need to hire a bodyguard for you as well?”
Callie bit her lip impishly. “We will play nicely with Simon, won’t we, Jamie?’
“If you say so, Callie.”
She watched as Sin left them. Then, she reached for Jamie’s hand and walked back to the castle with Simon by her side. “Simon, how long have you known Lord Sin?”
“He was nine when King Stephen sent him to foster with my stepfather.”
So, he had known him for quite some time. That was good. Mayhap this knight could help her better understand the man who would be her husband.
As they entered the castle, Jamie pulled away from her and bounded up the stairs ahead of them.
“Know you why he is so sad?” she asked.
Simon gave her a suspicious stare. “How did you?—”
“His eyes. He hides it well, but every now and again I see it.”
Simon took a deep breath as they climbed the dark stairs. A muscle worked in his jaw as if he were warring within himself on whether or not he should tell her anything about his friend. Finally, he spoke. “He has many reasons, milady.”
“Such as?”
“I was just a boy when Sin was brought to us, but I remember that night vividly. King Stephen’s men had been unkind to him on his long journey to our home and when he entered the great hall, his eyes were blackened from punches. His nose was still bleeding and his lips and jaw swollen. It looked as if they had dragged him the whole way to Ravenswood over the roughest roads they could find.
“They had shackled him in irons about his neck and hands. Still, he stood erect and faced Harold of Ravenswood with a strength and dignity few men possessed. The old earl was renowned only for his cruelty and love of all things brutal, and as such even the stoutest of heart was known to grow a bit pale when they looked upon him. And yet here was a boy who stood without flinching. One who met the earl with his lips curled and his eyes narrowed in hatred. Harold asked him how it came to be that he held such courage before him.”
Simon dropped his voice and whispered in her ear so that Jamie wouldn’t overhear his words. “Sin said he was hell-spawned from the loins of a whore and sired by a heartless bastard.”
She sucked her breath in at such horrendous words. She could barely imagine a child saying such.
“He told Harold that he had no soul and there was nothing Harold could ever do to hurt him.” His eyes bleak, Simon sighed. “All I can say to that is that Harold took up that challenge and did everything he could to make Sin bow down to him in fear.”
Her chest drew tight at the words. She slid her gaze to Jamie as the lad swept into their room and tried to imagine him in such a state. All little Jamie had ever known was loving arms and a doting family. She didn’t even want to think what it would take to make a child like the one Simon described. Just how much had Sin suffered? And why? Why would anyone do such a thing to a mere lad?
Everyone deserved love. It was what her mother, God rest her soul, had always taught her.
“Why was he in chains?” she asked as they joined Jamie in the room.
Talking loudly to himself, her brother knelt before their trunk and started digging out the toys Aelfa had brought for him. He lined the knights up and catapulted them with his shoes while she and Simon went to stand by the window.
“Sin was a political hostage. Sent as a guarantee that his father would no longer oppose King Stephen.”
Callie grew quiet as she remembered the story one of the courtiers had told her of William the Marshall after she had met William on her first day at King Henry’s court. Like Sin, William had once been handed over to King Stephen in guarantee of his father’s good behavior. When William’s father returned to warring against the king, Stephen had almost killed the lad.
