Learning Corey wasn’t mortally wounded did Andreas in. He sobbed as his father put his arm around him to comfort him.
“God,” Andreas wept, wiping his eyes. “I thought he was dead.”
“He’s not dead,” Troy assured him softly. He’d never seen Andreas weep, not ever, which was indicative of the emotional situation at hand. “Dray, what happened? Please tell me. Gareth could not tell us much, only that you were in trouble, so I took half my army and rode here like a madman. Thank God it was not too terribly far. We came as quickly as we could.”
Andreas took a deep breath, struggling to regain his composure. Corey was well, Gavriella was well, and that was all that mattered. He kept telling himself that.
Everything was going to be all right.
He gestured to the body on the ground.
“That,” he said wearily, “is Nicholas de Soulis. To understand this situation, I must start from the beginning. It is a complicated tale, but I will try and simplify it. When I was in London, I met a woman. She was special, Papa, and I knew… I knew she was the woman for me. I do not think you ever thought you would hear me say such a thing.”
Troy grinned. “Never,” he said. “Will told me that you had met a woman, but he did not know more than that. He said that she disappeared, however, and that was why you were so moody when you returned to the north. I saw that moodiness in every battle we fought.”
Andreas nodded. “I know,” he said. “I was… hurt. Disappointed. Angry. That emotion found an outlet against the Scots. But I have discovered that she left London to return home – to Falstone Castle.”
Troy’s eyebrows lifted when he realized what his son was saying. “You found her?”
Andreas smiled weakly. “I found her,” he said. Then, he looked to Nicholas’ form in the snow. “But this bastard violated her. She became pregnant as a result. As it turns out, he did it intentionally so he could harvest the child and use it to fulfill some strange prophesy given to him by True Thomas. Have you heard of him?”
Troy was listening seriously. “A Scotsman,” he said. “A soothsayer, I think. I’ve heard the name, but I have never met him.”
“He was enough of a soothsayer that Nicholas de Soulis listened to him,” Andreas said with disgust. “He was supposed to sacrifice a child of de Soulis blood at the nine stones near Hell’s Guardhouse and it would give him the power to defeat the House of de Wolfe.”
Troy looked at him in shock. “This was about us?”
Andreas nodded wearily. “Aye,” he said. “Ultimately, it was all about us. De Soulis hated the House of de Wolfe and wanted to see us fall. I will tell you more about it later, but right now, I must see to…”
He happened to look up, towards the walls of the foundling home, and caught sight of a bundled-up figure standing several feet away.
He recognized the clothing.
A lump came to his throat.
“’Tis all right, sweetling,” he said, holding out a hand to her. “Everything is as it should be. There is no longer any threat from de Soulis.”
Gavriella hadn’t been standing there very long. She’d been watching the battle from the top of the tower house and she had seen, clearly, when it had ended. There was no longer any fighting, so she left her son in the care of Sister Fiona and ventured out to find Andreas.
To make sure he had survived.
It was the strongest pull she’d ever known.
But her concerns were for naught. He was standing and whole. She could see a bloodied body in the snow and an older man with Andreas. She came towards him, trying not to slip in the snow, but the closer she came, the more she realized that Andreas was beaten and bloodied himself.
“Andreas!” she gasped. “You’re bloody!”
He grinned. “Not much,” he said, taking her by the hand and pulling her to him. “Gavy, I want you to meet someone. This is my father, Troy de Wolfe. Papa… this is Gavriella de Leia and I have her father’s permission to marry her.”
Troy found himself looking at a delicate blonde beauty. She was exquisite. Reaching out, he took her hand and kissed it warmly.
“My lady,” he said. “It is the greatest honor to meet you.”
Gavriella found herself looking into the face of a man who looked a good deal like Andreas through the eyes and nose.
“It is a privilege, my lord,” she said. “But I am very sorry to cause so much trouble. I am so sorry that this was surely an inconvenience for you.”
She had a silky voice, sweet like honey. “It was no inconvenience,” he said. “I am simply relieved that everyone is sound and whole.”
“As am I,” Gavriella said, looking to Andreas, who seemed awfully beat up to her in spite of his assurance that he wasn’t. “Is… is it finally over?”
Andreas nodded, turning slightly so she could see the body in the snow. “The remains of Nicholas de Soulis,” he said quietly. “He paid for his deeds every way I could make him.”
Gavriella glanced at the body before quickly looking away. “God’s Bones,” she breathed. “He’s dead. He’s truly dead.”
There was relief and astonishment in her voice, as if she could hardly believe it. Andreas put his arm around her and turned her in the direction of the foundling home.
“He is,” Andreas said. “I want you go to inside while I clean up this mess. You do not need to be part of it.”
She wouldn’t let him push her away. “Nay,” she said, turning to face him. “You did this for me. I would be a terrible woman, indeed, if I let you face this all alone. You must at least let me help clean up the mess I caused you to make.”
Andreas loved that about her. She was a selfless woman in too many regards to count. He smiled, pulling her into his powerful embrace. For a moment, he just looked down at her, those lovely eyes, that little nose that twitched whenever she found something funny, and those lips that were so incredibly delicious. He forgot about his father standing there who, in fact, had turned away to remove the daggers from de Soulis when he saw his son in an amorous embrace.
All Andreas could see was Gavriella.
“You did not cause me to make any mess,” he said softly. “But know that I would make a million more, and gladly so, if only to keep you safe and happy. From this day forward, you are a de Wolfe, Gavy. You belong to me and I belong to you. As I told you, de Wolfes mate for love and we mate for life. There will never be anyone but you, from now until the end of all things.”
Gavriella wrapped her arms around his neck, gently kissing his cheeks, finally his mouth. “I was thinking something,” she murmured.
“What were you thinking?”
“That I always thought attending Gomorrah was the worst day of my life. As it turns out, it was the best.”
He grinned. “Mine, too,” he said. “Thank God you were hysterical that night or we might have never met.”
She kissed him again. “You were my champion that night,” she said softly. “You will always be my champion, on that night or any other. I do not remember when I started loving you, Andreas. It seems as if I have always loved you. I cannot remember when I have not. You once said that you saw a sunrise in me, a new day, and you did not want to see the sun set. I think that sunrise dawned the moment I went crashing into that chamber and you found me there. That will always be the beginning of my world with you in it.”