Lukas and Merek were watching him as he reasoned out the situation. “That is true,” Merek said. “That seemed to be of the most interest to her.”
Andreas paused by the window before turning to look at Merek. “What did you tell her?”
“Edenside.”
It was Lukas who answered, not Merek. Suddenly, Lukas’ eyes widened as he looked at Andreas. “He blurted it out last night at sup,” he said. “Don’t you remember? Lord de Leia said that he’d sent Gavriella to London and the infant to Edenside.”
That fact hit Andreas like a revelation. “And she disappeared after that,” he said. “My God… she fled from the hall and then I saw her leave the stables last night, in the midst of a snowstorm.”
“Because she is running back to Hell’s Guardhouse to tell John de Soulis,” Merek finished. “If she left last night, she is already there.”
Andreas had his answers and he didn’t like them. “Damnation,” he growled. “They’ve been looking for that infant all along and now they know where it is. If they want the infant that badly, my guess is that they will go and fetch it. And we have already given them an advanced start.”
He was moving for the door, as was Lukas. “How does it tie into that damned prophesy?” Lukas demanded. “What do they want it for?”
Andreas was already through the door. “I do not know, but knowing that bunch, it cannot be good,” he said. “You will have my horse saddled. I’ll find Gavriella and tell her what is going on.”
“Wait, please.”
They were almost through the door, but Merek’s soft plea forced them to pause.
“My lord?” Lukas said impatiently.
Merek just sat there for a moment before slowing pushing himself off the bed to face the two knights heading out to help him and his family. Even if he had lost the will to aid his family in any way, there were those willing to do it in spite of his apathy. He didn’t even know when the apathy began, only that it had. Perhaps it had started when he lost his wife, and then when his daughter was attacked… well, that seemed to suck everything out of him. Every dream, desire, goal, or sense of pride.
Gone.
But perhaps he had even more reason than that, as Lukas and Andreas were about to find out.
“There is something you should know,” he said quietly. “I have spent my entire life upholding the good de Leia name. Or, trying to. My father, Henri de Leia, was a good man, as was his father before him. But we have suffered with the House of de Soulis as our neighbors for generations and the sins committed against us by those bastards are beyond measure. It has been our cross to bear. There is a history there that you should be aware of, lads. Nicholas de Soulis’ attack against Gavriella was not the first time a de Soulis has violated a woman in my family. It is only the latest.”
Andreas and Lukas looked at the man with some sorrow. Given the reputation of de Soulis, they weren’t surprised to hear it. But Merek’s confession was unexpected.
“Then this has happened before,” Andreas said quietly.
Merek nodded. “Aye,” he said. “I was the result when John de Soulis’ father raped my mother as a young girl. She was only fifteen and newly married to my father, and as she told me upon her deathbed, she allowed Henri to think that he was my father. She never told him the truth, mayhap for the same reason I had when I sent the infant to Edenside and my daughter to London. Pride, honor… peace of mind. Because no one can win in a battle against de Soulis. They have Lucifer on their side, and no one can win against the Fallen One.”
Andreas eyed the man with pity, with frustration. “I am truly sorry for you, my lord,” he said sincerely. “But surely you do not believe that they fight with Lucifer at their side.”
Merek sighed heavily. “It has long been rumored that they believe in such things,” he said. “I would not be surprised if their obsession with this infant has something to do with it. I suppose that is why I never told Giddy. Even if I wanted the child, and my daughter, out of my sight, that doesn’t mean I was willing to throw them both to the wolves. Maybe, in my own way, I was protecting them. I should have been more honorable about it.”
“But you let Giddy continue? Why did you not just send her away when you realized who had sent her?”
Merek shrugged. “Loneliness, and fear, does strange things to a man sometimes,” he murmured. “Some attention is better than no attention at all. But I make no excuses. I thought you should know… everything. And I am sorry.”
Perhaps they did understand everything, but it didn’t change the situation. Andreas simply dipped his head as if to acknowledge what he’d been told before quitting the chamber. He was almost to the stairs when he heard a voice behind him.
“I am going with you.”
Andreas stopped, turning to Lukas as the man walked up behind him. “Nay,” he said. “You must stay here to protect Gavriella. I do not know why de Soulis has not tried to take her before now, but they may try now that they know where the infant is. I am asking you to remain here with her. Will you, please?”
Lukas frowned, but he didn’t fight Andreas. “Aye,” he said begrudgingly. “But do not go alone. Take your knights with you, at least. If you have to fight de Soulis for the infant, do not go into a fight with them undermanned.”
“True enough,” Andreas said. “Please find my cousin, Will, and tell him what has happened. He is trustworthy. You may tell him everything. Tell him to gather one hundred men and be prepared to depart within the hour.”
They split up, going about their duties. Andreas went on the hunt for Gavriella, finding her in the kitchen yard taking an inventory of the stores they’d used the previous night. She was very glad to see him and when he told her that he had permission to marry her, she threw herself at him gleefully and he spun her around as the kitchen servants grinned. For a brief and shining moment, they gave in to their delight.
A moment of joy among hours of darkness.
But their joy was short-lived when he told her what he and Lukas suspected and where he was going. Andreas really wasn’t surprised when she insisted on going with him. In truth, he didn’t have the heart to stop her.
There was no way he could have.
A mother determined to get to her child.
Within the hour, they were mounted along with Will, Brodie, Gareth, and Corey, leaving Reed riding hard for Kale Water Castle to summon help from Troy. The Lair was closer, but Andreas wanted his father’s help because his Uncle Scott had enough to deal with at the moment, Scots and all. Lukas was left at Falstone to command the army. It was his post, after all, and he would man it till the death.
As he watched the group of knights and one hundred soldiers pour out of Falstone’s gatehouse, he seriously wondered how this situation was going to end. He had several scenarios in his mind and only one of them good.
When one was dealing with the House of de Soulis, the devil was in the details.
Or, so the rumors said…
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The journey to Edenside Foundling Home was a little more than a day’s ride from Falstone under normal conditions, but having suffered through a recent snowstorm, these weren’t normal conditions.