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Maitland took a few steps towards the children, getting a better look at them.

The sun was nearly down now, but the moon was bright.

Bright enough to light up the yard and the landscape beyond the walls, with the smell of the river blowing on the evening breeze.

The children were looking at her with a mixture of apprehension and hope– four boys, two girls, and then a third little girl in her grip.

All of them dirty and ill-dressed for the cold.

Truly, it was as tragic as Maitland had ever seen.

“But surely they have real names,” she said. “What are their real names?”

While Queenie shrugged, Artus pointed to the two girls standing next to him. “This is Marybelle and Nora,” he said. Then he moved to the boys standing nearby. “The tall one is Phin, and those two are Renard and Roland. They’re brothers. Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, Greed, and Envy.”

He pointed to them in the order he’d introduced them. Maitland thought it was a rather horrible thing to name these children after the seven deadly sins, but she didn’t say so. It wasn’t the time. Instead, she motioned them all towards the fire.

“Come along with me, children,” she said. “We have food for everyone and a fire. You shall be warm and have a meal. Come along, now.”

She turned around again, little Dyana still in hand, only to see that Thomas, Desmond and Tibelda had come up behind her and were watching the interaction. As soon as Maitland saw Thomas, she hissed pleadingly.

“Cloaks,” she said. “Cloaks and blankets, whatever you may have with you. These children are freezing.”

Thomas and Desmond nodded, turning back for the horses where cloaks had been packed for inclement weather, but Tibelda came forth, to Renard and Roland, respectively, because they were twins and not much older than Dyana was.

They were tiny, dark-haired lads with bird-bones and Tibelda was surprisingly gentle with them as she took each boy by the hand and began leading them over to the fire.

The rest of the children, and Queenie, followed.

Thomas, Desmond, and the soldiers with them had managed to unpack several cloaks from their possessions and, soon, the children were wrapped up in them, sitting next to the fire and eating great pieces of roasted pork.

Maitland and Tibelda, with their cups of beans and each with a wooden spoon they’d confiscated from the soldiers, moved from child to child, spooning the soft, delicious beans into their little mouths, feeding them like mother birds feeding their babies.

There were a great many open mouths, starving, and they fed them carefully, making sure each child was fed.

But it was quite a process.

Artus was one of those with his mouth open for the hot beans. With pork hunks in both hands, he alternately stuffed himself on the meat and slurped down the beans. Maitland waited until she got a goodly portion of food into the lad before she started asking him more questions.

“What have you been living off of, Artus?” she asked. “Have the priests from Kelso come here to provide you with food?”

Artus’ mouth was full as he spoke. “Sometimes,” he said. “They come when they have somethin’ tae give us. Sometimes they bring us sacks of barley and oats.”

Maitland’s gaze moved to Queenie, who was dozing by the fire. She didn’t seem to be too interested in the food. “And you,” she said. “Queenie? Why are you at Edenside?”

Hearing her name startled her out of her doze, and Queenie snorted as she became alert. “Me?” she said, wiping at her eyes. “I’m the cook.”

“I see,” Maitland said. “When was the last time the priests from Kelso brought food for these children?”

Queenie scratched her bristly head. “Weeks ago,” she said. “The wee bairns have been livin’ on oats not fit for the pigs. So ye know what I did? I took it with the barley they brought and I made ale. I give it tae the bairns tae fatten them up.”

That explained how the old woman was drunk and it also explained why the children were so skinny– the old woman was making ale rather than feeding them the grains.

She happened to glance at Thomas, who was standing back in the shadows with Desmond, listening to everything.

When he saw that she was looking at him, he shook his head grimly, knowing they were both thinking the same thing.

These children have been neglected.

“From now on, we shall have proper food for the children,” Maitland said evenly.

“I know you have done your best with what you have been given, but I will worry about food for the children from now on. Tomorrow, we shall go through the stores and see everything there is, and I will plan accordingly.”

Queenie looked as if she had no idea what Maitland was talking about. “Plan for what?”

Maitland lifted her shoulders. “Everything,” she said frankly.

“I shall make sure we have enough food stores, and I will make plans so that Edenside will be a productive place. I shall teach the children their bible verses, and I can even teach them skills. We can even make money someday, enough to help sustain us so the children can learn the value of good, hard work.”

The little ones weren’t paying much attention to the conversation as they continued to eat, but Queen and Artus, the eldest child out of the group, were clearly perplexed.

In their minds, there wasn’t anything beyond the daily struggle to survive, so Maitland’s words were completely foreign to them.

Queenie eventually went back to dozing and Artus went back to eating as Maitland made her way over to Thomas and Desmond.

They had been standing well back and out of the way, observing everything with critical eyes.

The conversations and the actions of the women had been touching as well as orderly and nurturing.

It was clear they were used to dealing with children.

As Maitland approached, they looked at her with interest.

“Well?” Desmond whispered loudly. “What are you going to do, Mae? You’ve gotten yourself into a mess.”

Maitland was quite calm about it. “Only for now,” she said.

“We shall sleep in the tower tonight where it is warm and, tomorrow, I will go about assessing the grounds. We will see what we have to work with, but I know even now that the provisions we brought will not be enough. Thomas, can you send us a few craftsmen along with the carpenter and smithy for the doors? I will need people to build beds and fortify the gates, and even more people to help build livestock pens for the animals. I have not seen any pens or fences, and I would be willing to wager there are not any in the kitchen yard.”

Thomas, who had seen the kitchen yard, shook his head. “There is very little in the kitchen yard at all,” he said. “Des and I will head back tomorrow morning, but we will leave the soldiers here. They can help you start getting things repaired around here.”

Maitland nodded gratefully. “I need rope and fabric for beds and mattresses, and clothing. God only knows how badly these children need clothing. Will you see what your mother can send me? I shall be grateful for anything she can donate. She will understand.”

Thomas looked out over the children huddled by the fire. “Sloth, Greed, Gluttony, Pride, Wrath, Envy, and Lust,” he muttered. “If there was ever a place sincerely in need of salvation, it would be this place. I would say you have your work ahead of you, Lady Bowlin.”

Maitland knew that, but she’d never been one to back down from a challenge.

Before she could reply, however, the soldiers who had been over near the gates, watching the landscape beyond, suddenly began calling out the approach of riders.

No one panicked, but a couple of the soldiers near the fire pit drew their swords.

Most of the children were too involved in their food to notice, but Artus did and he tensed, preparing to grab the children and run with them.

It wouldn’t have been the first time he’d had to do so.

But no one moved and no one ran. When the soldiers at the gate determined there was no threat, they threw the big iron bolt on the gates and opened them, admitting a rider. As the man moved in the direction of the fire where everyone was standing, Thomas recognized him.

The soldier was from Wark.

“What is it?” Thomas demanded as he rushed to the man with Desmond on his heels. “What has you riding across the borders in the darkness?”

The man reined his horse to a halt and the frothing animal tossed its head, throwing foam. “Your father has sent me, my lord,” he said. “Lord de Wolfe demands you return to Wark Castle immediately. Northumbria was killed in an ambush earlier today.”

Thomas didn’t react outwardly, but Desmond did– his eyes widened and he audibly gasped.

“Northumbria is dead ?” he hissed. “What happened? Who ambushed him?”

The soldier leaned forward on his saddle, lowering his voice. “Survivors of Northumbria’s party said they were attacked by reivers,” he muttered. “Your father needs you back at Wark immediately, my lord. He says you must return tonight.”

Truth be told, Thomas wasn’t all that shocked. Surprised at Northumbria’s death, of course, but not shocked that it had happened. “Are they sure it was reivers?” he said. “They do not normally ambush and kill. Their purpose is raiding and looting, not murder.”

“Unless it was the men you swept over the cliff into the Tweed last night,” Desmond said. “You know that group to the east has been known to murder for profit. It could have been them.”

Thomas was aware of that. “The Thurrock Cú ,” he said quietly.

“I thought that might be the group last night who raided Coldstream and told my father so. We know they watch Wark and other outposts of my father’s, but an attack from them against travelers is rare.

But mayhap they were watching when Northumbria departed Wark for home and decided he would be a good target. ”

“It is a distinct possibility.”

“And now Edmund is dead.”

It was still difficult to believe, even as he said it.

In fact, Thomas was having some difficulty grasping the sudden turn that life had taken.

With Edmund gone, that meant Adelaide was now the sole heiress and commander of Northumbria’s vast armies and the marriage, with no date set, would now be pushed upon him.

Thomas knew that before he even spoke to his father.

Whatever his father and Northumbria had discussed during the earl’s visit to Wark didn’t matter now.

Thomas was certain his father, even if he’d begged Northumbria to break the betrothal, would now ask Thomas to do his duty, to marry Adelaide, and inherit a vast empire that would keep the northern ties of de Wolfe strong and wide.

Everything he’d ever hoped for his life was now ended.

He turned to Desmond.

“I will return home immediately, but you remain here with Lady Bowlin for the night,” he said. “Make sure she and the children are adequately protected and then return on the morrow. I am sure I will have need of you.”

Desmond nodded, but Thomas couldn’t even look at Maitland as he moved swiftly to his horse. He couldn’t say goodbye. Looking at her, and speaking to her, would emphasize the tremendous disappointment he felt at the moment, how the death of a man could force him into a lifetime of misery.

And a lifetime without Maitland.

Did he love the woman? He’d only known her a couple of days.

He’d known love, once, so he knew he wasn’t in love with her– yet.

But given more time with her, he was fairly certain that he could be.

He had no reason to believe that, given time, he would not love her.

From the beginning, he’d felt differently towards her than almost any woman he’d ever met other than Tacey.

But Tacey was in his past. He only wished Maitland could be in his future.

Attraction for her had turned to interest, and interest to disappointment.

What was it he’d said to her?

Must I go through the rest of my life wondering what could have been between us?

The message from the weary Wark soldier only a few minutes ago had answered that question.

Yes.