Brodie really had no idea what was going on, but Will did. He went to Andreas, dropping to his knees in front of the man as he sat upon his bed.
“Dray, speak to me,” he pleaded seriously. “Meeting that woman changed you. I know you were heartbroken when she failed to show herself. Did she even tell you why?”
Andreas nodded. “She told me,” he said. “She was staying at her aunt’s home in London and her aunt disapproved of her going to Southwark with me. There was some sort of fight between Gavriella and her cousins because of it, so her aunt sent her home immediately. That is why she never came to the tavern.”
It made sense to Will, but he still wasn’t satisfied. “And now that you’ve found her,” he said. “I know you felt something for her and when she left, it was as if there were a dark cloud hanging over you. We could all see it. She left you in a dark and unhappy place. I am delighted that you have found her, for your sake, but given what you’ve been told about de Soulis… are we going to find ourselves laying siege to Hell’s Guardhouse?”
Andreas looked at his cousin. He was only a few months older than he was, so they were the same age. They’d grown up together. They’d experienced life and death together. Their fathers were brothers and their mothers had been sisters so, in a sense, Will was a brother to him a well.
He wasn’t going to lie to the man.
“Not at the moment,” he said, smiling weakly. “I have a task to complete here and I am trying very hard to keep my priorities straight. But truthfully? I wish I was with her right now instead of you two. Now that I’ve found her… I made the decision in London those months ago that I was going to speak to her father about courting her. That has not changed. But I will not speak to him until the crisis with the Scots passes. I am not impulsive, nor am I foolish. I am a commander of a de Wolfe army at the moment and that is where my focus is. But that woman is never leaving my sight again.”
Will looked at him, seeing the sincerity and feeling some relief to hear that. He put a big hand to Andreas’ cheek. “Good lad,” he murmured. “But what about de Soulis?”
Andreas’ expression hardened. “Even if her father will do nothing, I do not subscribe to that inaction,” he said. “When I marry Gavriella, and I do say when, it is clear that Nicholas de Soulis took that which belongs to me – her innocence. The woman bore his child, for Christ’s sake. The torment he put her through is beyond belief. What about de Soulis, you ask? The man is going to pay with every last bone in his body. When I get finished with him, being overrun by Scots will have been preferable.”
Will believed him implicitly. Given what he’d seen in battle with the man over the past several months, Andreas was more than capable of tearing both John and Nicholas apart given the chance.
He had a feeling this task to protect Falstone was going to turn into something much bigger for the House of de Wolfe.
At least, bigger for Andreas.
He put his hand on the man’s knee. “If you marry the lass, then it is your right to seek vengeance,” he said. “But not today.”
Andreas shook his head. “Nay, not today,” he said. “Now, I am going to retrieve my saddlebags from Gareth, wash some of this stink off my body, and find Gavriella before the evening’s meal begins. And that is all I have to say about the situation. For now.”
Will remained crouched down as Andreas stood up and used him for leverage to maneuver through the small chamber and to the door. Once he quit the chamber, Will stood up and looked at Brodie.
“We are in for a good deal of trouble,” he muttered. “He’s going to drag us all into a battle against Hell’s Guardhouse.”
Brodie, who had pieced enough of the conversation together to realize what the situation with Andreas was, glanced at the man.
“And you blame him?” he asked quietly.
Will shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “That’s the problem – I don’t. Neither will Uncle Troy, or Poppy, or my father. No one will blame him. And they’ll go to war because of it. Hell’s Guardhouse is going to fall.”
Brodie, who had been around longer than Will and Andreas, nodded slowly in approval. When he spoke, his words were full of venom.
“I hope so.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The snows came.
Gavriella stood at the kitchen door, the one that opened up into a small yard, watching the men struggle with the canvas they’d strung over the enormous iron pot filled with stew, bubbling away on the fire. They’d set it up like a tent. The snow was falling steadily, but the men had to make sure it didn’t build up too much on top of the canvas and collapse it right into the food.
It was an ongoing task.
The meal in the great hall was in full swing. Because of the snowfall, men were crammed into every corner of the room. The hearths were working overtime, belching out heat and smoke and flames against the frigid night. There were four long tables in the hall and it could seat hundreds of men at any given time, and those tables were completely filled. They were so full that men were even sitting on top of them in some places. Dogs wandered underneath.
Gavriella was overseeing the meal, making sure that the army that had come to protect Falstone was satisfied. Jocosa had prepared that lovely stew and the men were gobbling it up. Because the hall was so full, there were still men out in the bailey, in the tent city that had been erected to house them. There were several fires going out there to stave off the icy temperatures, but the men outside were provided with the same meal as the men inside – plus extra ale to help with the cold. There were a few servants moving out in the bailey, making sure that the men were taken care of, as Gavriella remained in the kitchens to ensure that the food stayed hot and plentiful.
It was a busy night.
It was also a difficult night.
Andreas…
She was still reeling with shock at seeing the man. Part of her still thought she was dreaming. Women like here weren’t blessed with good things. It was a strange God who allowed something horrible to happen to her, and then brought the only man she’d ever cared for back to her doorstep. Was it God’s apology for the de Soulis attack? Gavriella could only wonder. She’d only had a few brief moments with Andreas alone before her duties had taken her away. She so desperately wanted to see him again.
She desperately wanted to talk to him again.
It seemed to her that he was still the same Andreas she had left in London. All of her fears that he might hate her for leaving him sitting in that tavern seemed to be for naught. She had lived for the past six months with the fear that he would have grown to hate her for it, but that didn’t seem to be the case. When he’d looked at her today, she could see the same warmth that had been there six months ago, and when he kissed her hand, it felt the same as it did back then.
Delight…
Joy.
Everything felt the same.
But that didn’t mean the situation was ideal.
There was still something about her that he didn’t know.
Now, he knew her name and he knew where she lived, and nothing seemed to have changed with regard to him wanting to speak with her father about courting her. Nothing would make her happier, of course, but she couldn’t let him do it without telling him what had happened last year. Her father seemed so willing to hide what had happened, but she simply wasn’t.