Onyx (26 page)

“You look like you’re going to make us something to eat,” said the child.

“Nay, ye dinna want te eat these things, believe me.”

Last of all, he pulled
out the Book of Hours and laid it on his lap.

“What is that?” Charles
asked.

“
’Tis a book . . . o’ prayers and devotion,” he said, flipping through the pages. “And auld mysterious Gaelic charms.” He’d probably go to hell for even attempting to use these charms on the boy. These were works of the devil or at least some kind of witch. They had to be, as no one in their right mind would use arsenic and, God forbid, dried toad on anyone no matter what the case. He didn’t feel good trying something like this, but he also didn’t want the boy to die. He didn’t know what else to do.

Onyx was glad the charm to ward off the plague didn’
t require for him to croak like a frog or do anything that was too out of the ordinary. It only involved administering the things to the boy’s skin, reading the words, burning candles and herbs, and throwing salt at him. He was also glad the boy didn’t understand Gaelic, because he felt like a fool reading the incantation that sounded ridiculous in any language.

“So that’s it?” asked the boy
, after he’d done everything the charm had instructed him to do. “Am I cured now?”

Onyx
threw some salt at himself as well, and figured he might as well use some of these things to hopefully keep him from getting the plague while he was at it.

“These things take awhile,” he said. “
And I may have te repeat this every hour fer at least the next few days.”

“What about
the rest of the book?” Charles eyed it curiously. “Read that, too.”

He looked down to the book and just shoo
k his head. “I dinna ken how te read Latin, laddie, or I would.”

“
Then let me read it. Part of my training of being fostered by the earl is learning to read and write Latin.” He held out his hands, and Onyx hesitated, then realized that the boy needed something to keep his mind off dying and this may be just the thing.

“All right,” he said with a
smile. “I’ll look at the bonnie paintings, and ye will read te me instead.”

Charles seemed to like that, and actually smiled. Onyx felt a feeling, not in his bones this time
, but instead in his heart. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he liked it. And he also liked Lovelle’s son. If the boy were going to die, then he’d be here right by his side until the very end. Because everyone deserved to have someone to care for them. Someone to make them feel wanted. And since the boy’s own mother was not allowed near him, Onyx decided he would fill that void instead. That is, filling in for now as the boy’s surrogate father.

Chapter 24

Lovelle paced back and forth in front of the fire in the great hall, with Aidan and Ian sitting at the trestle table behind her. Aidan was feeding his squirrel nuts, holding them in his mouth and bending over the table with the squirrel reaching up and taking them from him.

“Ye
are nuttier than thet squirrel,” complained Ian taking a swig of ale. “Why dinna ye jest leave the damned thing outside and let it fare fer itself? ’Tis old enough now.”

“Nay,” said Aidan pouring some ale into his
cupped palm, and letting the squirrel drink from it. “I am this poor thing’s faither now. That is, now that I killed and ate its mathair.”

“Then mayhap I’ll jest eat the damned thing and we’ll be done wit’ yer addled little games. Let me at it, as I’m hungry.” Ian pulled his dagger from his sheath and Aidan lunged across the table and grabbed it. Ian then got him in a headlock
, pushing his body down on top of him, both of them sprawled across the top of the table. The squirrel jumped atop Ian’s back and started to scold him.

“Stop it
, you fools,” said Lovelle, running a hand through her unbound hair. These past four days had been hell on her, and she’d not even put up her hair as proper or hardly even eaten a bite, as she was so worried about both Charles and Onyx. “My boy may be dead, and your friend as well, and yet you two are wrestling around like pigs in the mud.

“I dinna smell thet bad, do I?” Aidan asked from under Ian. The squirrel jumped off Ian’s back and started to investigate some leftover crumbs on the table.

“Ye would scare away a rat wit’ yer appearance,” said Ian, letting Aidan out of the headlock.

“Well, at least I’m no’ a pig. And I wouldna talk, as
after havin’ me heid trapped under yer armpit ’tis no’ walk in a garden o’ roses I assure ye.”

“There’s the earl,” Lovelle interrupted, waving her
hand above her head until he joined them. “Have you heard anything about my son or Onyx?” she asked anxiously. “Are they all right? Please tell me they are still alive.”

“Onyx hasn’t been out of the room in days,” he said. “Only to use the garderobe, and he didn’t talk to anyone. I’ve had food and drink left by the door for them, but no one is allowed inside so I don’t know what is happening.”

“What about the plague?” she asked. “Has it claimed many more lives?”

“The infected from the castle have been disposed of quickly, and the pallets they’ve used have been burned as well.
And everything has been cleaned with vinegar or boiled in water. I’ve managed to more or less keep everyone contained in the castle, and we haven’t seen a new outbreak in days now. So hopefully, the plague is not going to be in England long this time.”

“I want to see Charles,” she said. “Please.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

“Mama?” she heard from behind her, and turned to see
her son in Onyx’s arms as they stood in the entrance to the great hall.

“Charles, you’re a
live!” She ran to him and threw her arms around him as well as around Onyx. “What happened? So it isn’t the plague?” she asked, feeling the tears of joy in her eyes.

“
Dagger cured me with the Gaelic charm,” the little boy said with a big smile.

“Dagger?” she asked, and looked to Onyx.

“We have become close in the last few days,” he told her. “I told the laddie he could call me Dagger if he wants.”

“So the
charm really worked?” She was so happy she could burst.

“I dinna ken
,” he said. “Becooz yer son read the prayers in the Book o’ Hours e’ery day as well. So I’d say somethin’ cured him. And though it looked as if he were gettin’ the plague at first, fer some odd reason, the fever broke and the swellin’ left his body. I think we’re safe te say thet neither o’ us is goin’ te die from the plague after all.”

She took her son in her arms and hugged him, letting loose with a flood of tears. “Thank you, Onyx. For risking your life to save my son. And I am so glad that you are all right as well.”

“Aye,” said Ian, coming over and clasping arms with Onyx.

“Good te see ye back,” said Aidan, doing the same, with his squirrel perched on his shoulder.

“What’s that?” asked the boy, pointing to the squirrel.

“
That is me pet. His name is Reid,” said Aidan.

“I want to play with him,” said Charles, and he reached out to pet it.

“Go ahead,” said Lovelle, putting her son on the floor. Aidan took his hand and Ian followed as they made their way to the trestle table.

“Thank you,” she said again, and wrapped her arms around Onyx. She reached up and kissed him, thinking how good it felt to be in his embrace. “I don’t know what
I would have done if I had lost either of you.”

“Well, ye dinna need te think o’
thet again,” he said. “Becooz when I was in there, I realized how much I liked being a surrogate faither te Charles. And I also thought aboot me life and how I couldna go thru it without ye, Love.” He kneeled down on one knee and took her hand in his. “Lady Lovelle,” he said, using her true name for one of the first times. “Please tell me thet ye will fergive me fer everything wrong I’ve done, and marry me and be me wife.”

“Really?” she asked, her heart overflowing with joy. “Are you sure you want to do this, Onyx?”

“I am sure,” he said, looking up to her with sincerity in his eyes. “I . . . love ye, lassie. And I want te spend the rest o’ me life wit’ ye.”

“Yes!” she shouted. “I accept. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you as well.”

Aidan and Ian overheard and came over with Charles to offer their congratulations. Then Lovelle noticed the earl just standing there quietly. He walked over to Onyx with an outstretched arm.

“My congratulations, Son,” he said, but Onyx just lo
oked at his hand and then glanced the other way.

“Gather up yer things,” Onyx
said to Lovelle and his friends. “And gather up Charles’s things as well, as we’ll all be leavin’ first thing in the mornin’.”

* * *

Lovelle
stood in the courtyard the next morning, preparing to leave for home. It was a beautiful day as the sun was actually shining, and servants scurried around the bailey going about their daily chores. Everyone seemed to be a little less cautious of the plague since it had subsided, and mothers even let their children out to play again.

She
gave the earl a hug goodbye, not at all happy about the fact that Onyx still hadn’t talked to his father.

“I’m afraid I’ve done a horrible thing and that my own son will never accept me,” the earl told her in a low voice.

She looked over to Onyx, seeing him helping Charles atop a horse. The boy had said he wanted to ride with Onyx, and it did her heart good to see the quick relationship that was forming between the two of them. Aidan and Ian were mounting their horses as well, still arguing about the fact Aidan had given part of Ian’s food to the squirrel this morning.

“You thought he was dead at the time,” she said. “And I understand how you felt for losing your wife. You
have nothing to feel guilty about. Onyx is not one to forgive easily, and he has been through so much lately. Just give him some time and I’m sure eventually you two will be reunited.”

“I don’t believe that will ever happen,” said the earl. “It pains me so
, that I finally get the son I always wanted, but he wants nothing to do with me.”

“Mayhap his sisters can talk to him and help to change his mind. I can’t wait for the reunion. Thank you for telling me where to find them all.
I enjoyed hearing about each of their lives, and hopefully I can relay all the information to Onyx. We will be sure to send missives to invite them to the wedding once we finalize the details. And I think you should be there too.”

“Nay,” he said, shaking his head. “Not if Onyx doesn’t want me there.”

“Well, let’s just see what happens,” she said with a quick squeeze to his hand.

“Love, we are leavin’ now, get on yer horse,” called out Onyx.

“Did he even thank you for your hospitality while we were here?” she asked the earl.

“Nay
, and neither do I expect him to,” said the man.

“Then I thank you for all of us. And I also thank you for fostering my son and also giving me the opportunity to take him with me
, too.”

“Take all the time you need, and when you and Charles are ready, bring him back here and I’l
l be happy to continue training him. I rather enjoyed having a young boy here, as it may sound silly, but it filled that void of never having raised my own son.”

“Well, if I have anything to do with this, you
and your son will make amends after all.”

“I’d like nothing more,” said the earl with a shake of his head. “But I’ve learned long ago the disappointments in life
, and to never expect miracles.”

“Well, I’ve seen a miracle with my son being cured, as well as Onyx actually saying that he loved me. So don’t give up hope yet. He may surprise you. Yes,” she said nodding her head, “I do believe in miracles.”

* * *

The trip back to Worcester
Castle took several days. Lovelle was so excited to see her mother and to tell her that not only Charles was fine, but that she and Onyx were getting married. But when they entered through the gate and saw an entourage of knights and men that she didn’t recognize, she knew something was not right.

“Mother?” S
he called out, seeing her across the courtyard talking to some man who looked to be an elderly lord. She dismounted her horse and joined them. Onyx dismounted, and holding the boy’s hand, they came too.

“Loveday,”
said Lady Erwina, greeting her daughter.

“Mother, Charles is here and he is fine.”

“That’s wonderful, Daughter,” she said with a smile, patting the boy on the head. “I am happy that he has survived. Go along now,” she told Charles, “as your mother and I have business to attend to.”

“I’ll take him inside,” said Onyx, but she stopped him.

“Nay. Charles, go with Aidan and Ian for now,” she said, sending the boy away. “Mother, Onyx and I have something to tell you.”