Dragonblade Trilogy - 03 - The Savage Curtain (39 page)

He paid no attention to the
sounds of people in and out of the solar, to the door opening and closing.  It
grew silent in the room as he lay there, exhausted and injured, his eyes closed
to the pain that throbbed through his body.  He had no idea that he was not
alone.

“Well,
Sassenach
,” came a
low, somewhat weary voice. “They beat ye like a dog, did they? I confess; I
expected worse.”

Stephen’s eyes opened; the only
thing in his field of vision was a portion of the hearth.  He could barely
move.

“You have me at a disadvantage,”
he whispered. “It is difficult for me to address you from my position on the
floor but you will forgive me that I cannot stand.”

A body was suddenly beside him,
on his knees, and Stephen found himself looking into Kynan’s dark, intelligent
eyes. The Scotsman shook his head as their gazes locked.

“Ye’re mangled, man,” he said. “I
have sent for food. They’ve got no cause tae be treatin’ ye like this.”

Stephen closed his eyes. “I am
the enemy,” he replied quietly. “They can do with me as they please.”

Kynan stayed on his knees next to
him, studying the man. He could see how badly injured he was and something
inside him, however reluctant, sought to give him some comfort. Maybe it was
because of the last conversation he had with him; the words rang round and
round in his head.  They had ever since he had spoken them;
I married your
cousin to form an alliance; that is true. But she loves me and I love her, and
there is nothing in this world that I would not do for her.
  It was something
that had broken down Kynan’s hatred of the man and even now, all he could see
was Joselyn’s husband on the ground, not an English enemy. If Joselyn loved him
as he said she did, and he had no reason to believe otherwise, then Kynan was
reluctant to destroy something that had undoubtedly brought joy into her life.
And with the life she’d had, he just couldn’t bring himself to cause her more
pain. He sighed faintly.

“Where is Jo-Jo?” he asked
softly.

Stephen grunted. “Well away from
here.”

“She was not here when the castle
was besieged?”

“Nay,” Stephen said faintly.

Kynan watched the man a moment
before emitting another sigh and planting his buttocks on the ground beside
him.  His gaze drifted over the big man.

“So the situation has turned,” he
muttered. “It was ye looking at me through the iron grates. Now I am the one
lookin’ at ye. Ye’re a sight, man.”

Stephen’s cornflower blue eyes
were dull with pain. “I can imagine that I am,” he whispered. “What do you plan
to do with me?”

Kynan’s jaw flexed. “I didna tell
them tae do this to ye,” he said in a low voice, avoiding the question. “I told
me men tae take Berwick back but I dinna tell them tae beat ye tae death.”

Stephen shifted on the ground,
grunting with pain as his ribs screamed. “Your men knew exactly who I was,” he
said. “They came right for me with clubs, not to kill but to subdue. You must
have told them who I was.”

Kynan nodded faintly. “I told
them tae take ye alive if they could.”

Stephen thought of the four
soldiers he had sent to follow Kynan in the hopes of gaining information on the
rebellion.  The men had never returned.  He closed his eyes to the irony of it
all, how things had turned out so badly.  He thought he was a better soldier
than that; maybe he was not. Or maybe his thoughts had been too preoccupied
with his new wife to pay close attention to the castle he was supposed to be
commanding.   Though Kenneth had never said anything to him directly, he knew
the man’s thoughts. He knew Kenneth too well to not know what he was thinking. Maybe
Kenneth had been right.

“So our great plan turned the
tables on us,” he muttered, his lips against the floor, his breathing coming in
heavy draws. “We let you escape, MacKenzie.  I had men following you. But it
seems that you outsmarted them and turned the tide against me.”

Kynan lifted a dark brow. “I knew
ye did,” he replied. “It was too easy for me tae escape tae be convincing.”

“What of the men who followed
you?”

“Dead,” he said without distress.

Stephen had suspected as much. 
“So you came to take back Berwick.”

“Me men were already comin’ back
tae Berwick, gatherin’ the clans while I was in yer vault.”

“You knew this?”

His dark eyes glimmered. “There
is much I know that I didn’t tell ye.”

“I figured that out.”

The door to the solar opened and
a soldier entered with a tray of food and a pitcher hanging from his hand. 
Kynan motioned for the man to sit the goods down on the nearest table.  He
didn’t speak until the man left the room and even then, his voice was very
quiet.

“You will tell me the truth,
Sassenach,” his tone was odd, almost pleading. “Ye told me once that ye loved
Jo-Jo.  Is this true?”

Stephen’s eyes opened at the
mention of her name and he turned his head slightly, looking at Kynan. “Why do
you ask?”

Kynan’s jaw tightened, torn
between stubbornness and deep compassion for his cousin.  He finally lifted his
shoulders. “Because I want tae know. Answer me.”

“I told you that I did. That has
not changed.”

Kynan absorbed the statement,
pondering his next move. “I pray tae God that ye’re sincere. She feels the same
way about ye.”

“How would you know that?”

“She told me,” Kynan replied,
eyeing the man on the floor. “She… she’s not had a good life.”

“I know,” Stephen answered
softly. “I know all about her life and what her father did to her.  There are
no secrets between us.  To elaborate on my answer, I love her more than life. I
would die for her without question.”

Kynan could only hold his gaze a
moment longer before looking away.  He finally sighed heavily. “I was afraid of
that,” he muttered.  He fidgeted with his boot a moment as if pondering his
thoughts. “Me mother and Julia Seton were sisters. I remember when Jo-Jo was
born; I was just a lad but I remembered the most beautiful babe I’d ever seen. 
Julia was married tae a sick man; Alexander was a gambler and he gambled away
most of her dowry, their fine things, and their money.  He was also a drinker
and would spend days drunk with wine. There was times when there wasna food on
the table so Julia would bring Joselyn tae our home.  My mother would feed and
take care o’them.  And then Joselyn grew older and that’s when the trouble
started.”

Stephen was staring at him fairly
lucidly.  “Kynan, I do not mean to be abrupt, but Joselyn has told me all of
this and I do not want to hear it again. It feeds my anger like nothing else
and makes me want to kill her father.”

Kynan’s expression was dark as he
regarded the fallen knight. “What did she tell ye about the child?”

“That he was the result of a rape
by an English soldier in repayment for a gambling debt.”

Kynan stared at him, finally
shaking his head and looking away.  There was anguish in his features. “Still
she protects him.”

Stephen found himself forgetting
all about his agony and injuries as he listened to Kynan’s hissed words.  He
shifted his big body, ignoring the screaming pain as he struggled to sit up. 
Kynan saw what he was doing and grabbed hold to assist.  But Stephen was so
heavy that it was like trying to prop up a horse.

“Protects who?” Stephen demanded.
“Who is she protecting?”

Kynan was inches from the man’s
face; in that instance, he could see that everything he had told him was true.
He did love Joselyn with a deep and agonizing vengeance.   Stephen was nearly
beaten to death, but still, his only concern was for his wife. Kynan spilled
the truth without regard to whether or not he should; he had a point to make
and he would make it.

“Her father,” he whispered.

Stephen just stared at him, the
agony in the cornflower blue eyes unfathomable. “She told me that the soldier
raped her and fathered the child.”

Kynan had a good grip on him. “He
did rape her,” he murmured. “But she was already pregnant from her father.”

Stephen suddenly couldn’t
breathe. He stared at Kynan, his words rolling over and over in his mind,
struggling not to go mad at the mere suggestion. It was fantastic, horrific and
sickening all rolled in to one.

“Who told you this?” he finally
hissed.

Kynan was trying to be kind; he
truly was.  He could feel the man’s pain radiating from his very pores,
reaching out to infiltrate him and make him hurt, too. But Kynan’s hurt on the
subject had dulled a long time ago. What remained was disgust and sorrow.

“Julia,” he muttered.  “Alexander
had confessed that he had taken his daughter’s innocence in a drunken rage. He
allowed the soldier tae rape Jo-Jo to cover up the resulting pregnancy.”

“Then it was not in repayment for
the gambling debt?”

“It was.  But it was a sickenin’
coincidence.”

Stephen seemed frozen, unable to
respond. The revelations were too overwhelming and he was struggling like a
drowning man to keep his head above water, his mind sane in the face of
madness. “She told me that she had her innocence taken when she was nine years
old,” he whispered in a strangled tone. “She said she had been used by her
father twice before the soldier raped her and… oh, my dear God… she said her
father
used her twice.  It never occurred to me that she meant literally.”

“She did,” Kynan replied. “Did ye
not understand that?”

Stephen couldn’t even think
straight; he was filled with such anguish that it was spilling everywhere.  “So
Cade is her father’s child?”

“Julia thought so, but I suppose
we’ll never know for sure.”

Stephen closed his eyes and
collapsed back onto the floor.  He was such a big man that Kynan couldn’t
support his dead weight.  But he leaned over Stephen as the man lay on the
floor, half-conscious and reeling.

“Listen tae me,
Sassenach
,”
he lowered his voice, speaking urgently. “I dunna tell ye the ugly family
secrets tae drive wedges between ye and Jo-Jo. I tell ye because the child has
known no happiness in her life and if ye truly love one another as ye say ye
do, then I cannot be the cause of more pain tae her.  Alexander Seton is a
wicked devil who hurt a young girl and gave no thought tae what he did. I
watched it; from the time I was a young lad, I watched it happen and could do
nothing tae stop it.”

It was a passionate speech,
enough for Stephen to open his eyes and look at him.   The cornflower blue eyes
were dazed, but fire still burned within.  Nothing Kynan could say would
destroy the love he had for Joselyn; if anything, it made him more in love with
her, fiercely protective over this woman who had known such shame. He blamed
himself for not completely understanding what she had told him.  He should have
been more intuitive, asking more questions to make it easier for her to tell
him everything.  She had tried; he knew that. But he hadn’t understood clearly.
His heart ached so badly for her that he could feel the physical impact deep in
his chest.

“Nothing you have said changes
how I feel about her,” he muttered. “I love her more than I ever did.  The
child she carries is the result of a deep and abiding love that will never
die.”

Now it was Kynan’s turn to look
shocked. “Jo-Jo is pregnant?”

Stephen nodded weakly. “All the
more reason to send her from Berwick. I want my wife and child safe.”

Kynan puffed out his cheeks,
digesting the news and realizing he was thrilled with it.   Stephen watched him
with half-lidded eyes, seeing a flicker of a smile cross the man’s lips. That
was the moment he began to think that he might have an ally in Kynan Lott
MacKenzie.

“You told me once that I was not
for the likes of Joselyn,” he muttered. “What made you change your mind?”

Kynan sat back slightly,
regarding the big English knight. After a moment’s reflection on that
conversation long ago, he lifted his shoulders and averted his gaze.

“The best thing that coulda
happened tae her was marrying ye,” he said. “She came tae me before Berwick was
retaken, beggin’ for me help.  She wanted me tae tell her what I knew and I
wouldna do it. She told me that if anything happened tae ye that she would hate
me forever.”

Stephen watched the man’s
profile. “And this bothers you.”

He shrugged again. “Jo-Jo is like
me little sister and I canna stomach her hate.” He finally looked to Stephen.
“Ye offer her yer protection and love. I could see it in her face when she told
me of her feelings for ye. English or no, ye’ll always have my respect for
making the lass happy.”

“Your family means that much to
you?”

“Doesna it mean that much tae ye,
too?”

He had a point. “So what are you
going to do?” Stephen wanted to know.

Kynan looked over at the tray of
food on the table; he reached for it, setting it down on the floor next to
them.  Then he took the pitcher.