Ruby - Book 1 (Daughters of the Dagger Series) (13 page)

“Your majesty,” she said, raising her hands
above her head as she spoke. The tips of the swords around her
lowered but only slightly. “I am the daughter of Earl Talbot, from
Blackpool,” she said, “first born of his four daughters.”

“Earl Blackpool?” he asked and then nodded.
“Aye, he is a fine warrior and has served me well through the
years. Continue.”

“Had I known I was meeting with you today,
Sire, I would have dressed in my finest gown and worn my jewels as
well as coiled my hair atop my head and tucked it beneath a proper
headpiece.”

“Umph,” grunted the king.

“But I was married just yesterday and my
husband, Lord Sheffield, has not yet learned to communicate with me
fully. You see, I planned on practicing in the weapon yard this
morning and that is why I am dressed as such and also carry so many
weapons.”

“You, a female know how to use a sword?” he
asked.

“Aye,” she said proudly. “Would you like to
see the sword my father gave me?” She lightly tapped the hilt of
her sword and once again the tips of twelve others greeted her from
the knights atop their horses.

Nyle grabbed her arm and held it down at her
side. He squeezed hard, and spoke in a low and very irritated
voice. “You do that again and you’ll be meeting with the tip of my
sword next time.” Then he looked up toward the king, still holding
her arm tightly as he spoke. “I apologize, Sire, ’tis just that
we’ve just been married and she has yet learned what is expected of
her. I have not yet had the time to train her, as she is a bit . .
. shall I say, untamed.”

“Train me?” She yanked her arm away from
him. “Untamed? You speak as if I am naught more than one of your
hounds,” she said, not caring anymore that she was in the presence
of their king. Then she looked up to King Edward and spoke directly
to him. “I apologize for my appearance, Your Majesty, but I cannot
apologize for who I am and for what is truly in my heart.”

“I see,” he answered, then spoke to Nyle.
“You will have your hands full with this one, Sheffield. I am
surprised you chose her in the first place.”

“I assure you, I will handle her,” Nyle told
him. “As well as the boy,” he added. “Please, allow me the chance
to prove it.”

Ruby still didn’t of what boy he spoke, as
she’d yet to see a child, only warriors.

King Edward didn’t say anything, but seemed to
be thinking. His hand raised and he smoothed his fingers over his
beard. He looked first at Nyle and next at Ruby and gave a slight
nod of the head.

“I like her, Sheffield,” he said and
grinned. “Aye, I think she’ll keep both you and the boy in
line.”

“Your Majesty?” By Nyle’s clipped words,
Ruby knew he did not like the king’s prediction.

“I jest with you, Sheffield, so calm down.
All I meant was that while your wife is untamed and quite rough
around the edges, she’ll do fine.”

“Thank you, Sire,” said Nyle with a slight
nod.

“Get the boy,” the king called to one of his
men. The guard made his way to the wagon and reached down and took
a small child from within as a handmaiden handed it up to him. He
put the child atop his horse and rode forward. The boy looked to be
no more than one year of age at most, and had a head of dark brown
hair, almost black. Just the opposite of the king’s fair hair. The
guard approached Nyle and the boy shouted out,

“Nyle,” surprising her completely. He reached
his arms out, and she watched her husband collect the boy and hold
him to his chest protectively.

“Now take good care of my bastard,” said the
king. “I am leaving today for London, but when I return I am going
to decide if I will acknowledge him as mine or not.”

“He’s your son?” she blurted out, thinking
all along that this boy was Nyle’s. After what Ascilia had told
her, and by the fact this boy had dark hair and the king was blond,
none of this made any sense to her.

“Aye, I believe so,” said the king, looking
at her oddly. “Do you know differently? If so, you need to tell me,
as I would slay the man by my own hand who I found had sired a
child with my mistress Jocelyn.”

“Lady Jocelyn was your mistress?” she asked
in shock. She saw Nyle’s expression and she wished now she hadn’t
said anything, but ’twas already too late.

“Lady Ruby,” the king said. “If you have
information about this child or the Lady Jocelyn, you need to tell
me. If not, I would consider it treason to your king.”

She looked at Nyle whose eyes begged her to
still her tongue. Then she looked at the boy clinging to Nyle
seeming to feel safe in his arms. She didn’t want to say anything
that could jeopardize this, nor did she want to have the king
slaying her husband as she stood by and watched.

“Nay,” she answered, knowing she needed to
say something more in order for the king not to be suspicious. “I
just . . . heard Ascilia mention Lady Jocelyn’s name, that’s
all.”

“Ascilia the old handmaiden?” asked the
king. “I thought she’d died right after I banished Lady Jocelyn
from Windsor, but mayhap I’m mistaken.”

“Oh yes,” Ruby told him. “She is alive and
in the walls of Sheffield right now, I assure you.”

“Well, I will take your word on that,” said
King Edward. “And Sheffield, I need to retreat now, but I assume I
can count on you to keep the boy safe until my return? I would have
left him with the wetnurse, but the queen is getting suspicious and
is not happy. Actually, the boy has been weaned so I wouldn’t have
to leave the wetnurse behind in Sheffield. That’s why I need you to
have a wife. She will raise the child now as if it was her own,
with you looking out for its safety.”

“You can count on me to watch after little
Tibbar,” said Nyle ruffling the boy’s hair with his hand.

“Good, good,” he said, then nodded. “Until I
return, then.”

“Until you return, my Majesty,” echoed
Nyle.

The king raised his hand and gave the order
and the whole entourage turned around and headed down the road.

Ruby waited til they’d left and then turned
back to Nyle.

“Why didn’t you tell me we were meeting the
king and you needed a wife to help you look after his bastard?”

“Well, now you know,” he said, climbing atop
the horse with the boy in his arms. She wanted to talk to him more,
but saw Locke racing up the road on his horse with a puff of dust
behind him. She also didn’t want to harm the child by speaking of
who may have sired him in front of him. While he was too young to
possibly remember, or even speak much at all, she was sure he could
still understand what they were saying. Instead, she mounted her
horse and turned and followed her husband who was holding proudly
onto the little boy.

She should feel relieved the boy was the
king’s bastard and not Nyle’s as Ascilia had said. But for some
reason, it just didn’t feel right. Nyle looked so natural with
little Tibbar in his arms as they rode down the road. And he looked
so happy as well. In her heart, she knew he was hiding something,
and she guessed it was the fact that this boy was indeed his own
son.

A sudden sadness blanketed her thoughts that
he may not be able to keep his child. Then a sheer bolt of panic
ripped through her thinking what the king would do to him when he
found out. And then she felt that stab of jealousy through her
heart, thinking about the woman named Lady Jocelyn whom Ascilia had
told her, Nyle loved. She wanted to feel that love from her husband
and as if they had a child together and were riding down the road
as a family.

This young boy reminded her of the loss of
her own baby brother, as well as the loss of her mother. She
wondered how her life would have been different had her mother
lived to tell her the ways of married life, as well as if she’d had
a brother to look after and nurture while she was growing up.

An emptiness engulfed her as she looked over
to the little boy who was laughing and trying to grab Nyle’s
fingers on the reins. Nyle played with the child and teased him by
moving the reins to the side every time he tried to touch them.
This was a side of her husband she truly admired. A gentle, caring,
loving side - and she liked it immensely. Now if only he could act
this way with her. But then again, she realized she had given him
no reason to show her this kind of attention and admiration - had
she?

She needed to get away and think. She wanted
to go home and see her father and talk to her sisters. She’d never
felt so alone in her life and she knew she needed to get far away
from Nyle right now or he’d see the tears welling in her eyes. She
kicked her heels into the sides of the horse and passed up both
Locke and Nyle, ignoring their calls for her to slow down and ride
with them. She needed to get away from them, and she would do
whatever it took in order to escape the feelings that were
threatening to consume her.

Nyle watched Ruby riding off toward the
castle, and though she tried to hide it, he saw the tears in her
eyes. He needed to talk to her. He needed to discuss the plan that
the king wanted them to pretend it was their baby and they’d just
brought it here from her home in Blackpool. No one was to know it
was the king’s bastard, and Nyle had to do everything to convince
her to keep it a secret.

Only Locke knew the truth about the boy. But
Nyle had not told him his suspicions that Tibbar may be his son,
not the king’s. He rode up next to Locke and placed the baby on the
saddle in front of him.

“Can you ride with the boy on your lap and
the reins in your hand?” he asked.

“This horse would go back to the castle
without me guiding it,” said Locke, fastening his arm around the
young boy. “And I would ride with the reins in my teeth if I had
to,” he assured him. “The boy is safe with me.”

“Ride up to the gate but don’t enter until I
return with Ruby. I see her heading off toward the woods and I need
to tell her about the plan.”

“Of course, I’ll be waiting,” Locke
said.

Nyle took off at full speed, able to
overtake Ruby as she no longer seemed to be in such a hurry. He
rode up to her side, trying to get her attention.

“Stop, Ruby, I need to talk to you.”

She kept riding.

“I said, stop.” He reached over and grabbed
her reins, causing her horse to rear up. She held on expertly, and
Nyle couldn’t help but be impressed by her unnatural skill. He
guided her horse over to a tree, then dismounted and tied up both
mounts. “Come down from there anon, wife. I need to speak with
you.”

Instead of fighting like he thought she
would, she slipped from the saddle and stood next to him, her arms
crossed over her chest.

“So speak,” she said. “But please don’t ask
me to do anything before you explain to me what is going on.”

“Take a walk with me,” he said, reaching out
to put his arm around her shoulder. She pulled back and walked a
good distance from him as they made their way down to the
creek.

“Why didn’t you tell me we were going to
meet with the king?”

“I couldn’t. He swore me to secrecy.”

“Locke didn’t seem surprised, so I doubt
that’s the truth.”

“Please, Ruby, sit down, and let me
explain.” He pointed to a large boulder and she leaned against it
with her arms still crossed.

“There’d better be a good explanation,” she
told him. “Because now that we’re married, I don’t want to hear any
more lies.”

“All right,” he said. “I owe you that.” He
leaned against the boulder next to her. He reached out and took her
hand in his but she still refused to look directly at him.

“I’m listening,” she said.

Nyle wet his lips thinking how dry his
throat was right now. He wished for a drink to help him get through
this, as he couldn’t tell her everything, but he needed to tell her
enough so she’d agree to help him.

“The king wants me to watch his son, Tibbar,
for awhile,” he said.

“You mean his bastard, don’t you?”

“I don’t like calling the boy that,” he
said, feeling irritated to hear her say that.

“Well, that’s what he is, isn’t he? After
all, he wouldn’t be asking you to hide one of his heirs away in a
castle that is not fortified enough to be able to have stopped
three murders in a row. Why is he allowing the baby to stay here
after the murders? Even if the boy is his bastard?”

Nyle knew she was going to ask that, and he
didn’t fancy telling her the answer. Still, he had no choice.

“I . . . don’t think he knows about the
deaths of my other wives,” he said.

“You mean, you didn’t tell him, don’t
you?”

“The opportunity never arose, so I didn’t
think it necessary.”

“And what was that comment the king made
that he ordered you to take a wife? Why?”

“He wouldn’t leave the child with me unless
I was married.”

“So that’s why you were in a hurry to marry
so many times in a row?”

“Aye. And it seems someone didn’t want the
child to be left with me, as they kept getting rid of my wives. And
without a wife, the king would not have put Tibbar into my
care.”

“Do you mean that footsoldier who tried to
kill me was the one trying to stop you?”

“I do. Although something tells me he wasn’t
working alone.”

“Why do you want to watch this child so
badly that you’d go through all this?” she asked. “And why wouldn’t
he just have a nursemaid watch the child in his own castle?”

“He doesn’t want the queen to know about
this. After all, she has birthed him a dozen children, their
youngest only a half year old. And she has also lost several as
well to the plague. She has been through tough situations and he
doesn’t want her concerned. He really doesn’t want her to think he
is not loyal to her.”

“But he’s not,” she said.

“That is not for us to judge.”