Lords of Honor (43 page)

“
Y
ou would do well to remember that, my Lord!” Sophia nodded and
grinned
.
It made her happy to know she pleased her husband
in some way
.

Lyon couldn’t
stop
himself
.
H
e
bent his head and
kissed his wife
quite passionately
.
He wished to do more but dared not
.
Besides, he needed to re-load
.
H
e
pulled away
from her
and
concentrated on loading
the rest of
his pistols.

Lachlan and Cleve took out two Brown Coats on wat
ch as they came up the driv
e
to the
Hall
.

It was a weary party who
entered
the drawing room at Ho
rethorne Hall late that evening
.

Introductions were made
for Sophia’s sake
, a table and chairs
were brought into the drawing room for the new arrivals
.
They were served a
cold mea
l
.
The rest of the party, who dined
hours
earlier, sat about the drawing room, talking casually until the
others
finished their meal
.

“Despite our
problems on the road
we made good time
,” the Scotsman, Lachlan Douglas,
the
Earl of Gryfe
,
remarked
.

“We saw
only the eight Brown Coats we took out
five
miles back plus the two in the drive
,” Cleve Griffith,
Lord
Templeton informed them.

“The journey
was
easy
until the attack
up
on us
,” Lyon commented
.
He took a sip of the watered down wine
he
requested
.
He noticed his wife pushing her food about her plate
.
He whispered
near her ear
,
“Eat, Sophia.
Please?”

Sophia
met his gaze
.
She s
miled wanly
.
She
took
one
bite
, t
hen another
.
She smiled sweetly
at
her husband
.

Lyon found himself smiling
back at his copper-haired Lady
.
His wife did not hate him any longer
.
It was such a relief to him
, s
uch a boon
.
He felt himself relax
.
At least in regards to his marriage, there might be hope
.

None of his colleagues
behaved as though
they were wait
ing to cut his throat either
.
Still
Lyon
reminded himself
if
any of them endangered his family in the same manner,
he
would not let it pass
.
They would not either
.
Perhaps he would be
expelled from their society
.
He didn’t know
.
He suspected they would meet in private later, after the ladies retired
.

S
oon after they finished the meal the ladies did retire
.
Lady Wincanton and Lady Glaston escorted his wife,
the new
Lady Amesbury, up to their chamber
so she could bathe and retire
.

Lyon was escorted to the library.

Sophia was weary
.
She genuinely liked Lady Glaston and Lady Wincanton, and welcomed their company in the sitting room of the bedchamber she would share with Lyon
.
Her nerves were getting the better of her
.
Lyon fac
ed
his
colleagues downstairs
.
S
he wondered if he would share her bed as
a true
husband tonight
.
They
kissed in the carriage,
several times
but he pulled away
.
She wondered if he meant their marriage to be in name only
.
Sophia
realized days ago she wanted more than that
from her marriage to Lord Amesbury
.
 

“We are so happy you and Lyon have come to Horethorne Hall,” Libby said as she placed her teacup on the table
.
They
were having tea while Sophia’s
bath
was
prepared.

Libby
looked to Rowena
questioningly
when Sophia did not answer
.
The new Lady Amesbury seemed troubled and lost in her thoughts.

“Sophia, dear
?
Are you well?” Rowena asked
in a kind tone
.

“Oh, I apologize
.
I am a little nervous
.
I know Lyon dread
ed
meeting with his colleagues, and I – I,” Sophia gulped in a breath, “I am worried about my marriage, a little
.
Not
that I don’t want to be married;
I do
.
I mean, I
didn’t
plan on marrying, but things happened
.
I’m certain you know something of it…o
h, dear,” she began to tear up
.
“
I can’t help but wonder if
Lyon i
s sorry now that we are married.
”
There was
no one
for Sophia
to talk to
about
the incident
since it happened
.
Unexplainably she began to weep
.
It was as if a damn broke inside her.
“I think he married me as a matter of honor, and I suspect after what happened, he does not desire me as a true wife…”
Sophia began to cry
harder
.
She
refused to cry
since the
night of the
incident with Lyon
.
She remained angry
but
did not
give in to
tears after leaving Lyon’s London house
.

Her two
very
new friends rushed to her and tried to console her
.
Sophia talked and they listened
.
She told them
the tragic tale of how
she and Lyon c
a
me together and
married
.
Sophia could
tell
no one
before that moment, the tale was not something she could
relay
to
her grandmother
.
It felt good to talk about it
.
Rowena and Libby were very kind
.
They each held one of her hands
.
They both assured her Lyon was a good and decent man
; t
hat once things were smoothed out between him and the Avalon Society, they were certain he would come to her as her husband
.
Sophia felt better after talking to two women
near
her own age
.
When they left
her,
she
bathed
.
She
la
y
in the bed
waiting for her husband
.
She
tried to stay awake
, but Sophia
slipped into slumber
not long
after her head hit the pillow.

“Sit down, Lyon
.”
Harry motioned to a chair beside him at
one of
the table
s
.

Lyon
sat
.
He looked
about
and
observed
non
e
were partaking of brandy or cigars
.
For his benefit
?
Maybe
.

“We wish you could have come to us regarding y
our pain and problems with lauda
num, firstly,
” Harry began.

Lyon nodded somberly.

“Secondly, even though there have been some consequences which have come about due to your revealing our Society’s secrets in your drug induced state,
there has been no loss of life
.
You have expressed your regrets to Newt, Cleve and
Lachlan
for your actions, and we realize you mean to make amends.”

“I do.”
Lyon looked to Harry, then to
the others seated around the long
,
massive
table in Micah’s library.

“We ask only that you stay away from opium, laudanum and hard alcohol and remain the Lyon whom we see as our brother and
in
whom we can trust.”

Lyon’s eyes watered
.
He nodded
.
He could not speak at the moment
.
He felt as if there were a large lump in his throat

“We need you to remember every meeting with every person, especially this Mr. Crow and tell us what they asked and what you answered if you can remember
.
And we wish to question Lady Amesbury on what she knows, though I believe Newt
and Cleve both
questioned her
.
There are specific questions we wish to ask her
regarding her father
.
”

“I will tell you whatever I can
, Harry
.
But, I beg you,
please,
do
not
question
Sophia
.
She
was
h
umiliated,
completely dishonored
.
She still suffers nightmares
.
Toda
y
marked
the first time we even shared
a
normal
conversation
.
It was t
he first time she
regarded
me without hatred in her eyes
or her
words
.
Please,
I beg you to
let me question her for you
.
We were both given drugs to increase and enhance sexual pleasure
.
They gave me
something different than
Sophia
, for my symptoms were
milder
than hers.
T
he effects of the drug given to me wore off within ten hours
.
Hers lasted well over a day
and caused her a great deal of pain
.
She burned with a fever all that time
.
Even after my drug wor
e
off, she burned
.
Begged me…” Lyon paused, took a deep breath
.
He b
rushed away a tea
r that escaped
the corner of
his eye
.

Normally Lyon would not share such personal details of his life, but these were his trusted friends
.
For some reason, he felt better explaining everything
.
He continued with a sigh,
“She broke a mirror in my room
after the fever left her
, for she could not bear to look at herself
.
I feared at the beginning she might try to
harm herself
.
‘Tis why I sent Newt
to see to her welfare
.
A
s the
drug
and alcohol haze lifted, I did not like the monster I bec
a
me.”