Page 79

Wark Castle

“H old the bandage tighter,” Jordan commanded. “Keep her arm up above her head.”

The servants were trying very hard to carry out Lady de Wolfe’s orders, but it was difficult when the woman they were trying to help was being so difficult.

At least, she was trying to be difficult without actually resisting too much.

With Adelaide, it was mostly noise and weeping and some wriggling, but nothing to suggest she was really trying too hard to pull away.

She was letting Jordan and the maids inspect her cut arms and wrists, and weakly struggling when they wrapped them to stop the bleeding, but not much beyond that.

She was in the midst of a performance of a lifetime.

Jordan was trying to be sympathetic. God help her, she was genuinely trying because the lass had only just received word that her father had been killed in an ambush.

The man’s battered body had been brought back to Wark Castle, where it was placed in the cool vault until arrangements could be made to return the remains to Kyloe Castle for burial.

Adelaide had been told of her father’s death and promptly collapsed, whereupon she was brought to her chamber to recover.

Her German nurse, a woman who was rarely seen and even more rarely heard, remained with her in case she awoke, but when next Jordan and William realized, the German nurse was screaming that Adelaide had cut her wrists and had smeared the blood on her fine bed curtains.

Why she smeared the blood there, neither Jordan nor William could guess, but she’d done it before.

They could only assume it was for dramatic effect.

Now, Jordan and several female servants were bandaging up Adelaide’s arms as her nurse stood on the landing outside the chamber and loudly wept.

William stood just inside the doorway watching everything that was happening.

Sincerely, it was a nightmare.

“My father,” Adelaide wept listlessly. “My dear and sweet father! Why did they kill him? And where is Thomas so he might comfort me? I need him!”

Although William did not blame the woman for her grief, her manner of dramatics had him on edge.

Perhaps he was used to women who were more mannerly and in control of their emotions, which Adelaide was not.

She wailed and writhed weakly on the bed as Jordan and the maids tightened up her bandages.

When she finally seemed tightly wrapped, Jordan dared to leave her post by the woman’s side and went to her husband.

Sighing heavily, she pulled William into a corner of the chamber, away from the German nurse on the landing and away from Adelaide’s bed.

She didn’t want to be overheard.

“She’s not cut herself deeply enough tae do any real damage,” Jordan muttered to her husband. “’Tis just enough to be bloody.”

William was trying not to react with complete and utter disgust. “I am truly sorry for Edmund’s death,” he whispered. “But what she has done…”

“What she has done is try tae play upon our sympathies,” Jordan said quickly. “Make no mistake, English; as sorry as I am for the death of her father, she is usin’ it as an excuse tae gain attention from us, and particularly, from Tommy. Can ye hear her callin’ for him?”

William nodded. “I do, indeed,” he murmured. “I have sent for him. I expect him shortly, as it is not a long ride from Edenside, but we have a crisis on our hands now. With Northumbria dead, Adelaide is now the head of a very powerful army. That unstable girl controls an empire.”

“What are ye sayin’?”

It was William’s turn to sigh heavily as he brought forth words he didn’t want to speak. But he’d had time to think on the situation and the words, unfortunately, were necessary.

“Tommy is betrothed to her,” he said simply.

“Northumbria would not break the contract, Jordan. I have not had the opportunity to tell you of our conversation, but I asked him to break the betrothal and he refused. That is why he fled this morning, because of our rather contentious conversation. The betrothal is intact.”

Jordan looked at her husband, long and hard. Somehow, she sensed he didn’t seem so angry about the fact that Northumbria had refused to break the betrothal. Knowing her husband as she did, God help her, she knew what he was thinking.

“Ye’re goin’ tae make Tommy marry her, are ye not?”

“He would be the biggest land holder in the north.”

Jordan tried to become angry but she didn’t want to explode in front of Adelaide. She bared her teeth and balled her fists, struggling not to lash out at her beloved husband. Still, she couldn’t help the passion in her actions or in her voice.

“But the man would have tae marry that! ”

She was pointing to Adelaide now, so very infuriated.

But in the same breath, she understood her husband’s position perfectly.

Even if they could somehow break the betrothal, the chance of Adelaide marrying someone who would assume that great power and create a great upheaval in the north was always a grim possibility.

The king had favorites that would salivate to have such wealth in England.

It would create a crisis of power, which was what her husband was trying to avoid.

“Let us be realistic,” William said, sounding as if he were trying to rationalize the situation. “We have been very fortunate that all of our children have found love matches. If Thomas does not… most men do not find love matches. It is the truth. Marriage is made for alliances, not love.”

Jordan didn’t believe him for an instant. “ Ye married for love.”

“But you were also a chieftain’s daughter. We have been through this. What happened with us was very fortunate.”

“But Tommy willna be so fortunate.”

William just looked at her. He didn’t have to speak because Jordan already knew his answer.

She was thinking of her son and his happiness.

William was thinking of the future of his entire family as well as Thomas’, as the next Earl of Northumbria.

It was an incredibly powerful position, one that would make Thomas a major player in the north, even more than his brothers were.

As Scott and Troy had once said, on the day that they were all trying to talk Thomas into the betrothal with Adelaide, the older de Wolfe brothers had all made good for themselves with properties and wealth.

But even all of those properties, and all of that wealth, couldn’t compare to what Thomas would have when he married Adelaide de Vauden.

The Earldom of Northumbria.

“He will thank me for this one day,” William finally said.

“Mayhap he will not find happiness with his marriage; mayhap it will only be tolerable for him. It is an unfortunate thing, but he will make a fine earl and he is badly needed, Jordan. I will not live forever, and when I go, I want to make sure my sons, and my family, are protected and the family legacy shall live on.”

Jordan could feel great disappointment on behalf of her son, disappointment that he would sacrifice his happiness for wealth and position.

“Ye werena so determined for him tae marry Adelaide before the death of the earl,” she said in a low voice. “Ye told Tommy as much. Ye told me as much, English. Ye even spoke tae Northumbria tae see if the betrothal could be broken. Why the change of heart now? What has changed?”

William’s gaze traveled to Adelaide, who lay upon her blood-smeared bed with maids all around her.

“Up until this morning, Northumbria was still in control of his earldom,” he said quietly.

“A man with a reasonable mind was in command. Tommy inheriting the earldom was still years away, far enough away that, mayhap, a suitable replacement could be found should the betrothal be broken.”

“But now there is no more time for that.”

William shook his head. “Nay,” he said, his gaze returning to his wife.

“We have no more time. That madwoman over there is in control, but more than that, she is alone. When Edward discovers that Northumbria is without an earl, she becomes the most valuable commodity in England. God only knows who we will have on our doorstep if Edward has his way, and it is my intention to control the situation.”

“With yer own flesh and blood.”

William’s jaw ticked, torn on a decision he knew he had to make.

“That has been my intention from the beginning,” he said quietly.

“It was a moment of weakness for me to think otherwise, Jordan. I was thinking with my heart and not my head when I suggested breaking the betrothal. I was angry because I felt deceived by Edmund. But I’ve had time to think, to understand what is best for us all– Tommy must marry the girl.

He must do it now before Edward catches wind of Northumbria’s death. ”

Jordan sighed faintly. “Ye sent a man for him, did ye not? He’ll be here in a few hours. Ye can tell him tae his face that ye’ve changed yer mind. I wouldna be surprised if he doesna agree with ye.”

“He will do what he is told.”

Jordan looked at her husband. In truth, he was an old man.

He’d been involved in the politics of England for over sixty years and he’d been making difficult decisions for nearly as long.

He hadn’t achieved that longevity by being weak or fickle, and she knew that he’d been trying to gain something quite valuable for Thomas with the marriage to Northumbria’s heiress.

That had been his goal from the beginning.

It would have been a perfect situation if the heiress hadn’t been a madwoman.

Jordan wondered if her own feelings were causing her to neglect her son’s political and financial future. Did she want her son to find love and happiness over financial gain that would make him a very important man in England?

It was the worst decision she and William had ever had to make.