The three-man de Shera escort, sitting at the table next to the ladies, stood up, eyeing the door with some concern. The man in charge of the escort turned to Jeniver.
“My lady,” he said. “Mayhap you should retire to your room for the time being. It sounds as if there may be some trouble about.”
Jeniver didn’t argue with the man. She’d been through this drill before. Sometimes loud and obnoxious men came to the tavern and it was safer if the women weren’t in the common room. Therefore, Jeniver stood up and Courtly stood with her, both women making their way to the stairs that led to the upper levels. Ellice, hardly caring if rough men were about to enter the tavern, simply picked up her food and moved to another part of the tavern, back in a corner that was hidden from view. As Jeniver and Courtly reached the bottom of the steps, the door to the inn flew open and a shout from across the room stopped them.
“Courtly!”
Maximus stood in the doorway. When Courtly realized her husband had returned, she nearly fell off the bottom step in her haste to reach the man. She cried out with surprise, with relief, as she ran across the room, being thwarted by tables and chairs and people in her attempt to reach him. Maximus, too, was dodging obstacles, but he met his wife somewhere in the middle of the room and threw his arms around her, lifting her into his massive, warm, and safe embrace.
Courtly wept as she clung to Maximus, her arms wound around his neck so tightly that she was very nearly strangling him. They stood there in the center of the room, holding one another, as Gallus rushed past them, sweeping his emotional wife into his arms as he greeted her. Tiberius entered the roomas well, without a scratch, followed by Scott, Troy, and Stefan. Troy was sporting a rather large bandage on his neck but out of all the de Shera knights, he seemed to be the only one who was injured. More men piled into the room, exhausted de Shera soldiers, and began shouting for food and wine. They had returned from battle, safely, and it was time to celebrate the fact.
It was loud and chaotic as Courtly and Maximus held one another, re-affirming bonds, each assuring the other that their beloved was safe. Courtly finally pulled her head from the crook of Maximus’ neck, beaming at him through her tears of joy.
“You are safe,” she breathed.
He nodded, kissing her deeply. “I am,” he confirmed, his lips on hers. “I am well.”
Courtly ran a hand over his bearded face, partially covered by the mail hood he wore. “Did the messenger reach you?” she asked, breathless. “Did he tell you about my father?”
My father.Maximus’ joy diminished somewhat as he set Courtly carefully to her feet, his hands moving to her arms, clutching at her. As he gazed into her happy but concerned face, he struggled to bring forth the words that would tell her all that had happened. There was a great deal to tell and he hardly knew where to begin.
“He did,” he finally replied. “The messenger did not find me until after the battle, however, when it was all over.”
Courtly sighed heavily, with great relief. “God be praised,” she murmured. “Aunt Ellice thought that my father was going to try to kill you because he found out that I had fled the escort assigned to take me to Trelystan.”
Maximus gazed seriously at her. “How did he discover this?”
“A soldier assigned to the escort returned to tell him that I escaped,” she replied. “He also told my father about the de Shera men who had intercepted the escort and tried to take me away.My father could only assume that I had escaped to run off to you and Auntie thought that he planned to kill you because of it.”
It was essentially what the messenger had told him. Maximus peeled back his mail hood, revealing wet, sweaty hair beneath. He seemed so weary, so very weary, as he grasped Courtly gently and began to pull her towards the stairs. He wanted to take her to their chamber to inform her of her father’s death. He didn’t want to tell her here for all to see where her grief would be public. But as he pulled her towards the stairs, he happened to see a man he recognized sitting at one of the tables. The man was a soldier he had left behind at Isenhall. He knew the man very well. He came to a startled halt.
“Why is Chambers here?” he asked, pointing at the man. He looked at his wife, his brow knitted with both curiosity and foreboding. “When did he come?”
Courtly looked at the Isenhall messenger, who had spied Maximus long before Maximus spied him. The man stood up, moving towards Maximus and speaking before Courtly could answer.
“My lord,” the messenger said, appearing rather strained. “The majordomo sent me. He wants me to tell you that your mother, the Lady Honey de Shera, has passed away. He begs you and your brothers to come home immediately.”
Maximus stared at the man, unable to react to the shocking news. Gallus, standing with Jeniver several feet away, had also heard him, as had Tiberius, who was on the stairs, heading up to a bedchamber because he was so exhausted. But the messenger’s trembling words had all three brothers frozen in time and space, unmoving as they processed what they had been told.
In fact, it seemed as if the entire room had come to a halt, the messenger’s terrible words hanging in the air as the Lords of Thunder were informed that their beloved mother had finally passed away. Months of illness and weeks of anxiety and worryhad now come to a close whether or not they were willing to accept it. It was final, as only death could be. As the brothers continued to stand, paralyzed with shock, Gallus was the first one to move. The look of grief on his features was indescribable as he made his way, haltingly, to the messenger.
“When?” he asked hoarsely.
The messenger, too, was wrought with sorrow because everyone at Isenhall knew what Honey meant to her sons. The woman had been so ill for so long but had lasted longer than she probably should have.
“Seven days ago, my lord,” he replied. “It has taken me five days to reach Oxford. I only arrived yesterday. I came as soon as I could.”
Gallus stared at the man, digesting his words. “Was…?” he began, choked, and started again. “Was her passing peaceful?”
The messenger nodded. “She died in her sleep, my lord,” he replied. “She had awoken, briefly, the night before to ask that your daughters be placed in bed with her. Then she went back to sleep and never awoke. She was not alone, my lord. Lady Violet and Lady Lily were with her. She was comforted with her grandchildren.”
Gallus’ eyes filled with a flood of tears. He sat, heavily, in the nearest chair and Jeniver rushed to him, wrapping her arms around his head and neck, holding him to her breast as he wept. Maximus was still rooted to the spot, his gaze on the messenger as if unable to move or speak at all. Courtly was gravely concerned for him but she was distracted when Tiberius, as the news hit him, sat down on the steps leading up to the second floor and openly wept. The Lords of Thunder were crumbling before her very eyes.
“Max?” she whispered, clutching his hand. “Will you at least sit down? Please sit, my love. Sit down a moment.”
Maximus was in shock. His mind was a black, roiling void with only thoughts of his mother filling it. He saw her when he was young, a beautiful woman with a brilliant smile, and he saw her as she took a willow switch after him and Gallus when they had stolen their father’s coins. He saw her holding Tiberius as an infant and then comforting Maximus when he’d been ill with an infection in his chest. So many memories were rolling through his mind and not one of them bad. Everything was joyous. But upon those joyful memories came darker thoughts, those of Kellen de Lara and the man’s attempts to kill him. The man who had given Courtly life had tried to take his, and Maximus began speaking before he even truly thought about what he said.
“Your father tried to kill me,” he said to Courtly, looking down at her with a rather perplexed expression on his face. “I had been trying to avoid your father since we arrived at Wallingford but the man sought me out in battle and tried to put in arrow in my back. Bose de Moray killed your father as your father was making an attempt to kill me. De Moray saved my life.”
