“And that impresses you?”
“It does.”
Addax scratched his head. “Then mayhap you should keep away from Audrie de Longley until you can figure out if the attraction to Corisande de Bourne is something more than simple infatuation. But you do have a commitment of sorts with Audrie, Cole. This could get… tricky.”
Cole sat up. “There is no commitment,” he said. “Simply an expectation that has never been spoken aloud. I have never asked to formally court her. Audie is charming and witty, but there is also a superficialness to her. When I speak to her about my life, about my interests, she listens politely and immediately starts talking about herself again. It would be nice to have a wife who was interested in my likes and wants again. Mary was.”
“And you think that Lady Corisande can replace Mary?”
Cole shrugged. “Not replace her,” he said. “It is not my intention to replace her at all. But if I could find an intelligent woman who showed interest in me, that would mean something. With Audie, everything you need to know about her is right there in front of you. There’s nothing deeper with her. No wants, no dreams, no desires.”
Addax regarded him in the dim light. “And you sense something deeper in Lady Corisande?”
Cole half-nodded, half-shrugged. “I don’t know what I sense,” he said. “All I know is that she makes me sit up and take notice in a way Audie never has. She’s like a goddess on the mountaintop and I am but a lowly servant at her feet. The woman is far too good for me and I know it, but that does not stop my interest in her.”
Addax was grinning at him. “Then mayhap you should explore that,” he said. “Es and I can return to Pelinom and tell your father what has occurred here with Canmore. Why not remain here under some pretext? Get to know Lady Corisande and see if she’s really the goddess on the mountaintop that you think she is.”
Cole shook his head. “I would like to, but I cannot,” he said. “I must tell my father personally what we have discovered, but when that is finished, I will return here if I can. I have promised myself that. And I have promised Corisande, too.”
“She knows of your interest?”
“Nay,” Cole said. “But it is quite possible that she will at some point soon.”
Addax grinned, his white teeth flashing in the dim light, as Essien suddenly rolled onto his back.
“By all that is holy,” he muttered, putting his hands over his face. “Will you two shut your bloody mouths? How is a man supposed to sleep?”
Cole started laughing as Addax used his blanket to beat his brother, who yelped and ended up grabbing the blanket. A full-scale brawl was about to erupt but Cole stood up, putting himself between coiled Essien and snickering Addax.
“Enough, you idiots,” he said. “I get that enough from my own brothers. I do not need it from you two.”
Essien cooled down, but only a little. He fell back on his bed, his arms over his eyes. “Cole, if I were you, I would stay away from Lady Corisande,” he said.
Cole was heading over to the basin of freezing water to wash his face in the pre-dawn darkness. He struck flint and stone to light the oil lamp on the table before glancing at Essien.
“Why?” he asked.
Essien grunted. “Because if she is anything like her sister, she is an annoying monstrosity.”
Cole grinned as he turned back to the basin of water, collecting a bar of lumpy, white soap next to it that smelled of pine and rosemary.
“I saw that she was paying you an inordinate amount of attention last night,” he said as he splashed water on his face. “She is a pretty little thing.”
Essien’s arms came away from his face. “She is pretty, but she pinches,” he said, making pinching gestures. “She’s got crab claws and she uses them. I swear to you that my entire left side is bruised from her pinching.”
Cole lathered up his stubble with the soap and picked up the razor that was next to the basin, one belonging to Addax.
“The bruises are badges of honor,” he said as he carefully shaved his left cheek, using a small bronze mirror on the table. “Since when do you complain if a pretty girl leaves marks on your body? That has never bothered you before.”
Essien yawned. “Normally, it would not,” he said. “But the youngest de Bourne sister is far too much of a child for me. I like my women older. And less pinchy.”
Cole washed off the razor in the water. “With your ugly looks, you are lucky she finds you handsome enough to pinch,” he said. “Speaking of ugly, what was done with Canmore’s body?”
Addax answered as he pulled his tunic over his head. “Ares sent it to the priests at St. Oswald’s,” he said. “It was a terrible way to die, but mayhap better than the way the rest of his men died. I suppose the man should be grateful for small mercies.”
Cole finished with the right side of his face, ignoring the comment about Canmore’s army. He knew that Essien and Addax had been somewhat sensitive to what his father had done at Fountainhall and Cole wouldn’t be put in a position where he had to defend his father’s tactics to them, Essien in particular.
Ajax de Velt was beyond reproach, in his opinion.
“My father will be very interested in the mention of Berwick,” he said, changing the subject slightly. “Canmore never mentioned Berwick to him, so that is a new and curious bit of information.”
“Will he move troops there?” Essien asked.
Both Cole an Addax nodded, but it was Cole who answered. “If that is where the Northman ships intend to enter England, then he’ll have to,” he said. “My suspicion is that we shall all be going to war very soon and William Marshal will be heading north, if he is not already.”
Addax was pulling on another tunic to protect against the cold morning, but his movements were slowing. “Cole,” he said after a moment. “I have been thinking… your father left a survivor from Fountainhall to deliver a message to King William.”
“He did.”
“Was that wise?”
Cole had just finished shaving his chin. “What do you mean?”
Addax straightened out the tunic. “I mean that sending a survivor back to William the Lion means that the king will know that we are aware of his plans,” he said. “Do you not think he will adjust for that? He may change his plans altogether.”
Cole wiped off the remaining froth from his face. “I am certain that my father considered that,” he said. “On one hand, we capture Canmore and glean what we can from the man and we kill any witnesses to our activities. No one knows what happened, or where Canmore is, and the Scots continue with their plans to charge into England. On the other hand, we raze Fountainhall, capture Canmore, and let William know that we are well aware of his plans and we have demonstrated what we will do to him should he try to enter England. It gives William pause, of course. But does it make him amend his plans? I think they are already in motion. He cannot change them. We are going to Berwick and he will probably go there, also. We will try to prevent the Northmen from entering the River Tweed and he will try to prevent us from stopping them.”
Addax could see the logic. “Assuming King William realizes we know of Berwick.”