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He slipped his arm around her waist. “What about the rarest of them all?”
“Which would that be?”
He pressed a kiss to her brow. “Ye, Wife. Ye.”
Still trembling from the fright of what had just happened, Edwina allowed her husband to scoop her up into his arms and carry her upstairs. However, she could not help but look back a few times on the way, fearful of the darkness, and anyone else who might be lurking in the shadows.
“Did ye pay the piper?” she asked suddenly, as they reached the door to Felix’s bedchamber.
Felix paused. “Pardon?”
“The piper. Did ye pay him with a drink?” It was a custom that could not be forgotten. When the piper played, he chased away bad spirits and bad luck that might haunt a marriage. In return, he had to be paid with a drink, or that bad luck would come back.
Felix gulped and set her down. “Wait here a moment. I’ll find someone and send them to ensure the piper was paid. I’m sure he was, but… it’s best to be certain, even if it means payin’ double.”
As he left her in the eerie quiet of the drafty hallway, she prayed it was not too late to send away the bad luck that might have crept into their union before it had even begun.
CHAPTER24
Felix wanted to kill Victor.Violence was an unfamiliar sensation to him, but it bubbled beneath the surface, cooled only by relief and the fledgling love that grew for the woman he now called his wife. Indeed, he was not a superstitious sort of man, but when she had mentioned the piper not being paid, a chill had prickled down his spine.
Running back to his dear wife, he had forced himself not to make a diversion to the main courtyard, so he could join John and his brothers-in-law throwing Victor from the grounds. If he wanted to salvage his wedding night, he needed to concentrate on his wife, and only her.
As he hurried back down the hallway to the bridal chamber, however, he froze. Edwina sat up against the door with her knees bent and her head resting in the dip between them. She had not gone inside without him. For some reason, that charmed and saddened him in equal measure.
“Is it done?” She raised her head, her eyes damp.
He nodded and continued his approach. “It had already been done, but I gave him another to make certain we can start our marriage as we mean to go on—with good fortune.” He crouched and picked her up, wielding her across the threshold. “Ye’re shiverin’, Lass. Are ye cold?”
“Nae anymore,” she replied with a brave smile.
He froze for a second time as he looked upon the bridal chamber beyond. The entire room had been transformed with garlands and ribbons and wreaths and a blanket of petals that must have taken forever to pluck. A thousand candles flickered, mocking the dinner that he had arranged for Edwina in the tower. Indeed, there was an entire feast laid out upon a table that he could have sworn had not been there before.
“Och, I could strangle the pair of them!” Felix grumbled, for the state of the chamber had Melissa and Meredith written all over it. Even the bed had not escaped embellishment, for it was graced with rose petals.
Edwina turned her head to look. A moment later, she burst into laughter, so sweet and genuine that it dispelled any shadows that hung over them. As she continued to wheeze with amusement, he felt his anger toward Victor ebb, replaced with an overwhelming affection and desire for the woman in his arms. The woman who could laugh like this, so soon after being scared for her life.
“Well, ye willnae have to worry about the scent of my perfume intoxicatin’ ye,” Edwina teased. “I cannae smell anythin’ but rose and tallow. Ye’d have thought they’d have used yer good candles, at least.”
Felix smiled. “I worry for what they deem to be romantic. Those petals are offensive to my eyes.”
“Och, it’s sweet.” She batted him lightly on the arm. “They’ve been lookin’ forward to this day for years, so ye cannae blame them for bein’ a touch… enthusiastic.”
Felix arched an eyebrow. “This is more than enthusiastic. This is madness.” He carried her to the feasting table. “How hungry do they think we are, after already dinin’ on an entire weddin’ feast?”
“Aye, that is somewhat strange.” Edwina turned his face toward her. “Maybe, it’s for when wedohave an appetite. Ye’re always sayin’ that I make ye hungry, though I still havenae figured out what it is about me that ye’re hungry for.”
Desire tightened his stomach as he gazed into her eyes and saw a sultry sort of mischief there. Evidently, she knew full well what he was hungry for whenever he was close to her. Indeed, he had shown her a few morsels last night.
“We… daenae have to do anythin’ but rest tonight,” he said, though it pained him. “Ye’ve had a tryin’ time and I wouldnae want ye to be distracted, or to have bad thoughts runnin’ around in yer head.”
Her fingertips trailed down to his neck, stroking gently. “I’m nae distracted and I daenae have any bad thoughts. Nae the kind ye mean, anyway.” Her cheeks flushed with pink, suggesting she was not as comfortable with her flirtations as she sounded. “Truly, I’m well. Drink can make monsters out of men, and I ken that wasnae Victor down there—it was the wine-soaked version of him. So, there’s nay point in dwellin’ upon it.”
“Are ye certain?”
She nodded. “I want the distraction of ye. I want to continue our weddin’ night. I want to remember this night for all the right reasons, and, most of all, I want ye.”
He did not know if she understood what that meant, but it stirred him regardless. From last night until that very moment, he had dreamed of stealing away with her so they could be alone. He had imagined all the ways in which he would please her, so that he might hear her cry out his name again, and he would be damned if he was going to deny her what she wanted because of some drunken oaf.
