Page 109

Northwood Castle

I t was a vigil.

A sickening, horrible, heartbreaking vigil that Thomas could barely stomach. He could hardly believe any of this was real.

The news wasn’t good. His father, while trying to mount his horse, had been thrown into a wall, head-first, smashing his temple and his good eye.

Knocking himself unconscious, Paris and several knights had brought William into a chamber where Paris had personally tended to him, as he’d done so many times in the past. Paris was one of the best warrior-physics in all of England, as he’d proven many times, but this instance was particularly difficult for him.

He’d caused it all.

It was something he’d confessed to Jordan when he arrived, in tears because of it, but Jordan had been stoic and calm.

It had helped Paris’ manner immensely, but the guilt he felt was overwhelming.

He’d stayed right by William’s side, applying every technique he’d ever learned to address the head injury.

His attention to the massive lump on William’s head was constant.

Thomas, because he was closer to Castle Questing, was the first brother to arrive behind Blayth, who had brought their mother.

Patrick arrived a few hours later, followed by Troy.

Scott was the last to arrive and he came just before sunset, a man who was also an excellent healer in his own right.

He tried to be professional about it, discussing his father’s state with Paris, but the emotion of the situation was just too overwhelming.

Thomas saw Scott wipe his eyes after a particularly intense discussion with Paris.

That gesture, small as it was, didn’t give Thomas much hope.

Evening fell and William abruptly began to stir, muttering something to Jordan about getting a baby out of bed.

She told him to go back to sleep and he did.

Rising from her chair next to the bed with her favored shawl wrapped around her slender shoulders, Jordan called softly to the servants for some food and drink before going about lighting the tapers in the chamber so that they would have some light during their long and terrible wait.

As Paris left the room in search of more moss for a compress, Jordan brought a lit taper over to the table where her sons were gathered.

As she passed Thomas, who was seated in a chair with a tiny little girl in his arms, dead asleep, she came to a pause.

Handing the taper to Troy, who set it down on the table, Jordan smiled weakly at Thomas.

“Some people find stray dogs, but it appears ye may have found a stray child,” she said. “I saw ye come in with her, Tommy. Who is she?”

Thomas shifted, looking down at Dyana as she slept heavily. “She is from Edenside.”

“But why do ye have her?”

Thomas grunted; he didn’t want to bring his troubles into his father’s sick room, but his mother had asked a question.

He had to tell her something. “Because as we were heading to Northwood, we found this little lass walking along the bridge,” he said.

“She told us bad men had come to take everyone at Edenside away. Desmond has gone to see what has happened, but I’ve not heard from him yet.

He said he would send word as soon as he could. ”

Jordan’s smile faded and a look of concern crossed her face. In fact, all of the brothers in the chamber heard Thomas, all of them now listening.

“Someone has raided Edenside?” Jordan asked. “What of Lady Bowlin?”

Thomas put his big hand over the child’s ear as she lay against his chest so she wouldn’t awaken with the conversation.

“I do not know,” he said, his stomach twisting in knots even as he said it.

“As I said, I sent Desmond and several soldiers to see what has happened to them. I’m simply waiting for word. ”

Jordan frowned, distressed. “Sweet Jesus, Joseph, and Mary,” she breathed. “Who would raid a foundlin’ home?”

Before she could get worked up, Thomas held up his hand. “I think I know,” he muttered. “God help me, I’m fairly certain I know.”

“Who, Tommy?” Patrick had moved away from his position against the wall and was now standing next to their mother. “Who did this?”

Thomas looked up at his enormous brother, who happened to be the Constable of the North.

The north of England may have been fairly lawless at times, but Patrick maintained good control of it.

From his seat at Berwick Castle, he was the heavy hand of justice in the area. Thomas looked his brother in the eye.

“The same reivers who have been giving us trouble for the past year, Atty,” he said.

“The ones that call themselves the Thurrock Cú . They were in Coldstream almost two weeks ago, raiding the village, and my men herded them off of a cliff overlooking the river. I do not know how many of them made it out of that river alive, but those who did are evidently bent on revenge.”

Patrick’s eyebrows furrowed. “But how do you know?”

Thomas glanced around the room. “Because it was in that same battle that I lost the dirk Papa gave me when I was first knighted,” he said.

“We all have the same dirk, the one with the wolf’s head on it.

I thought I would never see it again but this little girl showed up holding it. She said the bad men left it.”

Scott and Troy were listening, too, along with Blayth. “But how would they know about Edenside?” Scott wanted to know. “If they are looking to seek revenge against you, what is your connection to Edenside?”

Thomas looked at his eldest brother. “I am a patron,” he said.

“So are Mother and Father. We have been giving Edenside supplies and livestock so they can sustain themselves. I also believe these same reivers are the ones who ambushed Edmund de Vauden last week as he left Wark and killed him. Clearly, they are watching Wark and they are watching me. I can only surmise that they saw me go to Edenside at some point and that was why they raided it– to punish me.”

The brothers reacted to the shocking news of Northumbria’s death. “Northumbria is dead ?” Patrick said, aghast. “Why was I not informed of this?”

Thomas held up a hand to ease the big man. “So much has happened in the past week, Atty, truly,” he said. “Papa and I have had as much as we can handle. We did not intentionally withhold the information, I assure you. There simply has not been time to send word.”

It calmed Patrick down a little, but not much. As he shook his head, frustrated that he had to find out about a fairly crucial death in his jurisdiction this way, Jordan was looking at her son with great fear.

“Do ye think it’s true, Tommy?” she asked. “Do ye truly think the reivers are truly tryin’ tae punish ye?”

He shrugged. “I can think of no other explanation.”

“Those poor children,” she said sadly. “They survived the scandal of the abbot’s sister only tae fall victim to reivers. God help those sweet bairns.”

With that, she sighed heavily and walked away, wandering back to her husband’s bedside.

Jordan was a woman of deep feeling, in all things, and the raid of Edenside upset her greatly.

But she couldn’t let herself get too swept up in it, not with her husband so badly injured.

He needed to be her focus, so as she sat next to him and put a gentle hand on his battered head, Thomas looked up at his brothers.

“I expected word from Edenside by now,” he said quietly. “I realize this seems like a trivial thing compared to Papa’s injury, but it is important to me.”

“We can see that,” Scott replied. “But why? What is Edenside to you that it means so much?”

Thomas lowered his gaze uncomfortably. “I have grown attached to it,” he said.

“I am not sure I can explain my feelings on the matter, but let me try. I have spent my life rather… directionless. I was born the youngest of six powerful brothers and I spent my life watching all of you and wanting to be just like you– Scott’s command presence, Troy’s aggressiveness, Atty’s air of power, Blayth’s resilience, and Edward’s smooth manner.

Each of you had something I lacked. I think it is fair to say that I have been the wild colt of the group. ”

He watched grins spread across the faces of Patrick, Troy, Scott, and even Blayth, who was listening intently.

“You were the incorrigible baby,” Scott said, rolling his eyes.

“Troy and Atty and I were young men when you were born. It was as if Mother and Father had two groups of children– me, Troy, Atty, Blayth and Katheryn, and Evelyn were one group, and then when we were older, suddenly, there were three more little de Wolfe whelps to tend– you and Edward and Penny. I can still see Katheryn and Evelyn chasing you and Edward around when you were just a few years old because Mother had just given birth to Penelope and it nearly killed her. I remember that very well.”

“I remember the screaming,” Troy said, shaking his head. “God’s Bones, the screaming at all hours. With Edward, not too much, but Tommy and Penny– you are both very lucky we did not smother you while you slept.”

Thomas grinned. “It was my intention to make your lives as miserable as possible, you know,” he said, watching them laugh. “That was always my goal.”

“It seems that you succeeded,” Blayth said in his slow, deliberate speech.

“Although I do not remember you in your youth, I have heard stories. Someone told me once that when you were about five years of age, I made you angry so you spit on me. I grabbed you and took you to the stable, where I tied you to a post and left you. The screaming brought Mother and she evidently tried to beat me.”

The three older brothers were nodding and laughing. “It is true,” Patrick said to Blayth. “I remember that. We tried to tell Mother that all four of us tied Tommy up but, somehow, it did not work. She knew it was you and she took a switch to you.”