Blayth was laughing at the mere suggestion even though it wasn’t something he could recall.

He’d been robbed of most of his memory due to his head injury years ago, and it was times like this when he truly wished he did remember things.

An obnoxious brother and a protective mother would have been a fun recollection.

“An angry mother is a fearsome thing,” he said. But he sobered, looking to his youngest brother. “Nothing we seemed to do did any damage to Tommy. In spite of being a spoiled, screaming child, he seems to have matured reasonably enough.”

“You all matured reasonably enough.”

It was a low, mumbling voice that came from the bed.

All five of them looked over to the bed, startled, where their father was starting to stir.

He was mumbling other things they couldn’t quite hear, but it was clear that he was somewhat lucid.

Jordan, sitting next to the bed, stood up and leaned over her husband.

“Are ye awake, English?” she asked softly. “Can ye hear me well enough?”

“I hear you.”

Her head snapped over to her sons. “Atty, fetch Paris. Tell him that his patient has awakened.”

Patrick headed out of the chamber, quickly, while the remaining sons stood up and headed over to the bed to see their father. William’s only good eye, his right one, was bruised and cut, but it was open. They could see that he was looking at them.

“Welcome back, Papa,” Scott said. “I thought I told you never to ride wild horses at your age.”

William blinked. “Is… is that what happened?”

It was clear in that question that he was understandably muddled. Scott came along the other side of William’s bed, taking a candle from the bedside and holding it up to see the reaction of his father’s pupil. “That is what happened,” he said. “What do you remember?”

William didn’t say anything for a moment. He simply lay there, his eye opening and closing slowly. His left eye, the one he’d lost long ago, was without its customary eye patch, having been removed by Paris after the accident because the strap went over the part of the head that William had hit.

William had lost the eye to a Welsh archer those years ago, and a thick purple scar ran crossways across his eye, starting near his nose and ending right over the brow bone.

The eye was closed, a little sunken, but nothing catastrophic.

His sons, who had never known their father without his eye patch, got a good look at his face without it.

It made him look very different, the reality of what a warrior looked like with William’s years of experience.

No man emerged from that many years of battle unscathed.

“I remember riding to Northwood,” William muttered after a moment, closing his eye.

“I had to speak with Paris about… something. It was Tommy. I had to speak with him about Tommy.” He fell silent for a few seconds when suddenly, his eye flew open and he turned his head, struggling to look around. “Tommy? Where is Tommy?”

“I am here, Papa,” Thomas was standing at the end of the bed, holding Dyana against him. He came forward, passing the sleeping baby off to his mother as he came to stand beside his father. “Here I am. Do not be troubled.”

William struggled to clear his vision, seeing his youngest son standing right alongside him. He lifted a hand to him, which Thomas took. He gripped his father’s hand tightly.

“I remember that I went to Kyloe Castle,” William said. “I went to tell them about Northumbria.”

“I know,” Thomas nodded soothingly. “Do not become upset, Papa. We can discuss this later, when you are feeling better.”

William simply held on to him tighter. “We will discuss it now,” he said.

“It is all true, Tommy– Adelaide is a murderess. The majordomo… he became frightened when I asked him about her. He would not discuss it but, as I was leaving, he told me not to speak with her about it if I valued your life. The man warned me off.”

Thomas stared at him for a moment before emitting a hissing sigh. “Then it is true,” he said. “God’s bones… she did kill them.”

William squeezed his hand in agreement but, in truth, it had taken nearly all of his strength to speak.

His head was throbbing and his entire body hurt– face, neck, arms– everything.

He couldn’t recall why but, at the moment, he didn’t much care.

He remembered why he’d come to Northwood, at least– looking for his son to tell him what he’d discovered at Kyloe.

That was all that mattered.

“Be… careful, Thomas,” he said, the grip on Thomas’ hand weakening. “Be careful with her.”

With that, his eye closed and he drifted off, in pain and exhausted. Thomas kissed his father’s hand before setting it back on his chest. When he glanced up at his brothers, he found himself looking at a host of curious and very concerned faces.

“What is he speaking of?” Scott demanded quietly. “What in the hell is happening with the House of de Vauden?”

At that point, Paris rushed back into the room with Patrick on his heels.

He went straight to William’s bedside as Thomas held up a hand to silence his brothers, drawing them away from his father’s bed.

Troy grabbed hold of Patrick, as he was oblivious to what William had just said, and the five of them gathered near the door of the chamber, away from their father.

It was a tense little huddle.

“I’ve not seen any of you lately, at least not enough to tell you what is transpiring with Northumbria and my betrothal, but the truth is this,” Thomas said.

“As you heard, Edmund de Vauden was murdered last week in an ambush, the day after I routed a large group of reivers who were raiding Coldstream. That is where I lost my wolf’s head dagger, the one that showed up today with the child I was holding.

With Northumbria dead, his daughter– and my betrothed– is now in command of a massive army.

You know the hell I have been going through with Adelaide so I will not repeat it.

But three days ago, Adelaide’s nurse confessed to me that Adelaide is evidently far more dangerous than we suspected.

The nurse told me that Adelaide has murdered two men she was previously betrothed to and that her father was complicit with these deaths.

That is why father has been to Kyloe Castle– to get to the truth of it.

What he discovered is what you just heard him tell me. ”

All four brothers were looking at Thomas with varied degrees of shock and disbelief.

“My God,” Patrick finally breathed. “Tommy, I may have heard of this. Two years ago, a minor noble family that lives near Berwick, with the name of Horncliffe, came to ask for my help to locate their missing son. He’d been betrothed to Adelaide de Vauden and, according to Adelaide’s father, Alexander Horncliffe simply disappeared one day.

The family did not blame de Vauden, or suggest he was to blame, so I did not think to mention it because it did not seem relevant. ”

Thomas was listening intently. “Did you ever find the missing man?”

Patrick shook his head. “Horncliffe is still missing to this day.”

That bit of information greatly concerned everyone. “You are the Constable of the North, Atty,” Scott said rather passionately. “You would know if there are any other disappearances associated with Northumbria and Adelaide de Vauden.”

Patrick shook his head. “I am not for certain,” he said.

“At least, no one else has come forward with a missing son who was once betrothed to Adelaide de Vauden other than the Horncliffe family, but I did hear of another young man from a local noble family who had been pledged to the great heiress down towards Alnwick. At least, I thought it was Alnwick. Mayhap it was Kyloe. In any case, his name was Cabot de Berck and I seem to remember hearing my wife speak of him. I do not know what became of him, however.”

“Then you must find out,” Troy said, interrupting Scott when the man tried to say the same thing. “For Tommy’s sake, you must find out if de Berck was the second…”

Thomas cut him off, shushing them because they were raising their voices.

“I appreciate the concern; you know I do,” he said.

“But Papa and I have already discussed the situation and we have already made plans– Northumbria would make a fine prize for Edward to award to one of his favorites now that Edmund is dead, and Papa cannot allow that to happen, so Papa and I both agree that I should go forward with my marriage to Adelaide to secure the earldom for the House of de Wolfe. Papa’s entire trip to Kyloe was with the intent of obtaining witnesses against Adelaide. ”

“Yet he only found a majordomo who was terrified to speak on the subject,” Troy said. He shook his head. “God’s Bones, Tommy. You tried to run from this betrothal once and we stopped you. If you run now, no one will stop you at all– in fact, we will help you.”

Thomas smiled weakly. “I am not running. Mayhap I should, but I cannot, not with the safety of Northumberland at stake.” His attention turned to Patrick.

“Atty, mayhap you can find witnesses and arrest Adelaide for the murders of Horncliffe and the unknown second betrothal. With her in the vault, I may be able to have the marriage annulled and the earldom would remain mine.”

It was an outlandish scheme at best. The brothers were now looking at each other, dubiously. Quite a bit had gone on with their youngest brother and the Northumbria betrothal, far more than they could have guessed. It was quite a quagmire now.

“I can try to find witnesses to this situation, Tommy, but you are taking a terrible chance,” Patrick said. “What if I cannot find witnesses willing to give testimony against Adelaide? You will be married to a murderess.”

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