Onyx (27 page)

“And I have something to tell you as well,” she said.

“You let Scots inside these walls?” asked the man next to her. “You can’t trust them. Especially with demon eyes like that.”

“I am Onyx MacKeefe o’ the
t ilk,” said Onyx, “and ye can trust me and me friends, I assure you. And who may ye be, if I can ask?”

“Loveday,” interrupte
d her mother, “this is Lord Richard Vernold, of Wiltshire. Lord Richard, I’d like you to meet my daughter, Lady Loveday.”

The man was a good forty years older than Lovelle, and he looked weathered and as if he’d seen many a battle in his lifetime. She wondered why he was here at their castle.

She held out her hand as was proper, and he kissed it. She noticed Onyx’s eyes burning into the man, and by the twitch in his jaw she could tell he didn’t like it at all.

“Pleased to meet you,” the man said with a slight bow.

“Why are you here?” asked Lovelle. “Is something wrong?”

“On the contrary,” said the man. “I was sent here by the king.”

“By the king?” she asked, feeling a knot in her stomach. This could only mean one thing, and she had almost forgotten about it she’d been so preoccupied lately.

“That’s right,” said the man
with a smile. “King Edward has told me you’ve recently lost your husband. And I have just made an agreement with your mother.”

“Mother?” she asked, feeling a sinking sensation inside her chest. “What kind of agreement did you make?”

“I did what I had to in order to keep our castle and lands,” her mother told her. “You see, Loveday, it was the only way. You are now to become Lord Richard’s wife.”

Chapter 25

“Ye are no’ marryin’ her . . . I am,” said Onyx, not liking the turn of events.

“What?” asked Lady Erwina. “Loveday, what is this all about?”

“Mother, that is what I was trying to tell you. Onyx has asked me to marry him.”

“
I am the one marrying her, and there is nothing you can do about it,” Lord Richard said to Onyx. “The betrothal has been made, and the banns will be posted at once. Besides, you are addled if you think an Englishwoman would marry a bloody Scot. Go back to your hills before I have my men take you there at the end of a sword,” he warned him.

Onyx
unsheathed his sword, ready to fight the man, and Lord Richard did the same.

“I’ll kill ye if I have te, but
Lady Lovelle is mine, no’ yours,” Onyx warned him.

The man’s knights surrounded him instantly with their weapo
ns drawn, and Ian and Aidan rushed to his side with their weapons drawn as well.

“Stop it!” shouted Lovell
e. “No one is going to fight.”

“That’s right, said Lord Richard
, “because you belong to me now.”

“Nay, she belongs to me,” said Onyx.

“No!” shouted Lovelle stepping between them.

“Daughter, step away,” said her mother
, “before you are hurt.”

“Mother, I’ve been trying to tell
you that Onyx and I are to be married.”

“It’s not possible,” said her mother. “In order to secure our lands you need to marry an Englishman. Besides, there is nothing you can do about it, as the betrothal has already been made.”

“If he and his bloody friends don’t leave right now,” said Lord Richard, “then I will order my men to kill them.”

“I’l
l fight te the deith if need be,” said Onyx. “But I am no’ leavin’ here without her.”

Lovelle knew that Onyx would do just that. And she also knew he and his friends were no match against so many trained warriors. They wouldn’t have a chance. They’d be killed for sure
, and she couldn’t have that. She also knew she was virtually helpless to change an agreement like this that was already made, and especially since the man had been sent by the king. It was hell all over again, just like the last time she’d been betrothed to an old goat she was forced to marry that she did not love.

She’d finally found the man she loved, and now she was about to lose him, either by death or by marriage. She couldn’t allow either. She felt so helpless and so alone. But she knew what she had to do in order to save Onyx and his friends. And while she would rather drive a blade through her own heart rather than to do this, she knew if she truly loved him, she would have to let him go.

“Fine, I’ll marry Lord Richard,” she agreed, “but just let Onyx and his friends go free and promise me you won’t hurt them.”

“Love, what are ye sayin’?” asked Onyx, and she almost cried when she saw the hurt and betrayal in his eyes. “I thought ye said ye loved me?”

“I do,” she said. “That’s why I need to let you go. I won’t have you killed over me, Onyx. Now take your friends and go – please.”

“Is this what ye really want?” he asked, still holding his blade in front of him, but his eyes fastened on her.

She knew if she said no, then he’d fight to the death to try to be with her. He wouldn’t just give her up if he thought she still wanted him. And his persistence to still want to marry her even though it could never be, would get him and his friends killed in the end.

“It is what I want,” she told
him, not able to look him in the eye when she said it. “I need to marry Lord Richard to secure my family’s holdings and I will not go against a decision of my king.”

“Ye ken I can tell when ye’re lyin’, lassie, and I see
ye dinna really want me te leave.”

“Go!” she shouted, trying to sound as if she didn’t care. “I want you and your friends out of here, and now. It can never be between us, Onyx, now just face it. Leave now before someone gets killed. Just get on your damned horse
and go back to the Highlands already, and don’t look back.”

His eyes bore into hers and she saw the glassiness within them. She felt a pain in her heart for saying this to him, but she needed him to leave in order to have time to talk to her mother or try to come up with a plan to change the king’s decision.

“I told ye I loved ye, and now ye’re are abandonin’ me?” he asked softly.

“It’s not like that, Onyx.”

“That’s exactly what it is,” he told her. “Ye are no different than anyone else in me life. Lies, betrayal, abandonment. I dinna need this, and especially no’ from ye. Come on,” he said, looking at his friends. “Let’s get the hell outta this godforsaken land and get home te where we belong.”

Lovelle watched him and his friends mount
their horses and leave quickly, Onyx never even looking back. And with them went a part of her heart and her dreams as well. She would never forgive herself for hurting Onyx.

“Well then,” said Lord Richard
, “shall we all retire to the great hall to celebrate the betrothal?”

“I’ll
never marry you,” cried Lovelle, rushing off to her chamber to be alone.

She opened the door to her room to find Charles sitting on her bed petting Tawpie.

“Charles,” she said, closing the door and wiping her eyes trying not to look like she was crying.

“Look at the kitten I found in the corridor,” he said.

“That’s Tawpie. It’s Onyx’s cat.” She settled herself next to her son on the bed. It felt so good to have him back. “You really shouldn’t be playing with it, as it is a wildcat, sweetie.” She reached over to take it, and as if the cat knew what she’d done to Onyx, it reached out and clawed her and hissed. She pulled back her hand quickly, already feeling the sting.

“I don’t think the cat likes you,” said Charles.

“Not only the cat,” she said. “I don’t think Onyx likes me anymore either.”

“Is he going to
be my new father?” asked the boy. The hope and liveliness of his eyes made her remember how Onyx had risked his life to save her son.

“No, honey, he’s not. I have to marry that man out in the courtyard instead.”

“Can’t you just tell them you don’t want to?”

“It doesn’t work that way, unfortunately.”

“Then mayhap you can pray, like I did with Dagger.” He pulled out the chest with the Book of Hours inside and handed it to her. Her heart ached as she ran her hand over the chest that Onyx had been in as a baby. He’d been abandoned then and she was doing the same thing to him now, if she just gave up and married Lord Richard.

“Here, I’ll read it to you,” he said, taking the book
out of the box and opening it up. “Is this God?” he asked, pointing to a picture in the book. “Mayhap he can help you be able to marry Dagger.”

Lovelle looked down to s
ee a picture painted in bright colors and illuminated in gold. It was a picture of a bishop. “That’s just a bishop,” she said, putting her arm around her son. “I don’t think he’d be able to help me.” Then she remembered Onyx’s father telling her that one of his daughters was once going to be a nun and that he knew the archbishop of Canterbury, and was very good friends with him. She also knew the archbishop was close to the king. Suddenly, she had an idea.

She ran to the table by the bed and picked up a piece of parchment and a quill.

“What are you doing mother?”

“Charles, you may be right about this. An
d I need to move quickly. I am going to send a missive to Earl Blackpool right away. Mayhap a miracle will come of all this after all, thanks to that book.”

Chapter 26

It had been a month since Onyx returned home, and last saw Lovelle. And while he’d tried on more than one occasion to go back and get her, his friends as well as the entire MacKeefe clan had talked him out of it. He knew that unless he kidnapped her again, there was no way to actually be with her once the king had decided she’d marry someone else.

He was torn inside. He couldn’t endanger his clan, nor could he endanger Lovelle and Charles if a war should break out because of him. He’d stayed in the Highlands with his friends
, and Aidan and Ian had tried everything in their power to cheer him up, but it hadn’t helped. And he’d left so quickly that he’d forgotten his cat in Worcester, so he didn’t even have Tawpie anymore. He was sure by now, the bloody English had probably killed his pet to try to ward of the plague, as if the poor thing had anything to do with it.

Onyx and his friends were
now visiting at Hermitage Castle on the border, and he’d only agreed to come because the entire clan was congregating here for Valentine’s Day, and he knew this day meant a lot to Clarista. She planned a huge celebration every year, and he didn’t want to disappoint her by not joining in on the festivities, though the last thing he felt like doing right now was celebrating. She was the closest thing he had to a mother now, and he was still feeling the loss of Fenella.

He moped
as he walked behind Aidan and Ian as they made their way to the great hall for the celebration. The plague had not yet left the lands, but it had subsided, and at this time Scotland seemed to be the safest place to be to avoid it. He noticed the extra horses in the stable, and decided that Clarista had invited more people than usual to her annual celebration.

“Come on, Dagger, cheer up,” said Ian as they headed into the great hall.

“Aye,” said Aidan, ye might e’en get paired up wit’ a bonnie lassie this year when we choose lots te share the lovers’ trencher.”

“I dinna want any lassie, e’er again,” he grumbled.

“Ye dinna mean thet,” said Ian.

“I do,” he said. “I willna go through the pain
again o’ sayin’ I love someone only te have them send me away.”

“Ye know Lovelle loves you and thet she had no choice in the matter.” Aidan put his arm around his good friend.

“It disna matter, as I’ve fergotten aboot her already.”

“Really.” Ian just shook his head and smiled.  “And is that why ye’ve refused te bed any lassie since ye’ve returned?”

“And why ye call out Lady Love in yer sleep?” added Aidan.

“Haud yer whees
ht, already and let’s jest get this o’er with.” He stepped into the great hall and stopped to take in the magical site. Clarista had outdone herself this time. The hall was decorated with candles burning everywhere, casting a romantic glow over the room. They were scented, and as they burned, instead of smelling like rancid tallow they smelled like lavender, rosemary, and sweet things he couldn’t identify.

The
candles were inside of hollowed-out vegetables made into lanterns, all of them carved with the light shining out and upward. Several of them were even carved with smiles. Smiling was the last thing Onyx felt like doing, and he really didn’t want to be here at all.

Beautiful red, pink
, and white ribbons were hung from the front of the trestle tables and there were little heart-shaped tarts in front of every spot. Even the trenchers, the bread used to hold their food, were cut into the shape of hearts as well. It all looked so damned romantic, and he only wished Lovelle was there to share a lovers’ trencher with him. She would enjoy this more than any of the Scots, he was sure. The whole thought of her being married already to that old goat turned his stomach. He couldn’t think of anyone besides himself bedding the woman he loved.