“It is not like being in the Scottish royal family,” she said. “You have great expectations and obligations. Our family lineage has no such expectations. Kingdoms do not depend on us.”
“But they did, once,” William said. “Yer family were the Kings of Northumbria.”
“Hundreds of years ago, your grace,” Corisande reminded him. “It has no bearing on our lives today. We are simply Englishmen.”
William’s gaze lingered on her for a moment, suspecting why Alastor de Bourne hadn’t agreed to an alliance. If that was the daughter’s view of their family, then she must have gotten it from someone. It must have been Alastor’s view, too. He didn’t see himself as a man who had a kingdom taken away from him.
He simply saw himself as English.
But there was one way to find out for sure.
“Did ye know I asked yer father tae join me?” he asked. “In this push intae England, I mean. I asked yer father tae join me and my allies. Did he tell ye that?”
Corisande knew more than she wanted to let on. She was afraid of what would happen if she did.
“He does not confide in me, your grace,” she said. “Why would he? I am only his daughter, not his wife.”
“Then ye dinna know about the alliance proposal?”
She caught sight of movement in her periphery, turning to look at MacDuff, who was watching her very carefully. She sensed hostility from him where she did not sense it from William. Or perhaps he was simply better at hiding it.
“I only found out about your proposal when the Scots attacked our village last month,” she said. “I was told they came to The Keld to force my father into joining the Scots rebellion but when he declined, they tried to burn our village.”
“That’s no’ true!” MacDuff spat, realizing he had just been caught in a lie. “They attacked us.”
Corisande turned to him angrily. “The Scots burned our village,” she countered. “My father and his men rode from the castle to defend the village and for no other reason. They did not attack anyone.”
MacDuff was turning red in the cheeks but William held up a hand to him. “Enough,” he said. “It is over with. M’lady, how many men did yer father bring with him?”
Corisande was ready to go to fisticuffs with MacDuff when she suddenly realized that William was asking her pointed questions about the English strength. They were at war and she was a possible source of information, as he saw it.
Her apprehension grew.
“I do not know and that is the truth,” she said. “I am the surgeon. I am not consulted on military issues. I do know that my father has almost fifteen hundred men and he brought most of them north.”
“Who else came with him?”
She thought on that question. It wasn’t like it was a secret with the way the English armies flew their standards high. “De Lohr, de Winter, Savernake, de Velt,” she said. “William Marshal, too, but I do not know how many men have come. Thousands, at least.”
“Anyone else?
“I remember hearing there were more to come, but they are far away.”
William sat back in his chair, mulling that over. After a moment, he collected his steaming cup again.
“Tomorrow morning, I am expecting a dozen Northmen longships,” he said. “Thousands of Northmen will be here and will more than likely destroy yer father. I’m told that the English have managed tae capture the city of Berwick, but that willna last. We have the castle and ’tis all we need, truthfully. With the Northmen, we can take back the north of England. Had yer father joined us, he could have kept his lands.”
Corisande didn’t sense gloating from him, merely the truth as he saw it. She looked down at Gaia, who was gazing up at her fearfully. She put her arm around her sister again as she faced William.
“If anyone understands loyalty to one’s country, it is you,” she said. “You understand why men feel compelled to be loyal to the home of their birth. My father is simply loyal to the home of his birth, come what may.”
William nodded faintly. “Ye’re a reasonable young lass,” he said. “Alastor did well with ye.”
“Thank you, your grace.”
“Will ye join me for a meal?”
Corisande shook her head. “You are kind, but I must decline,” she said. “Please, your grace… may we return? We cannot possibly be of any value to you.”
William’s gaze rested on her for a moment before setting his cup down yet again and rising wearily. He moved away from the women, pulling MacDuff with him, until they were over by his traveling bed. When he was certain they were out of earshot, he faced MacDuff.
“What were the men able tae get when they raided the provisions wagons?” William asked quietly.
MacDuff was reluctant to tell him, but he had little choice. “Seven wagons of provisions and two surgeon’s wagons,” he said. “The men grabbed what they could.”
“Were the provisions plentiful?”
“Nay, because the armies took what they needed as they advanced on Berwick.”
“So ye took empty wagons?”
“No’ empty, but no’ as full as we had hoped.”
“And ye abducted two women along with those wagons?”
MacDuff looked over at the blondes in the middle of the tent, embracing one another. “’Tis a grand opportunity, yer grace,” he said. “Those are the daughters of Alastor de Bourne. Do ye no’ see, yer grace? God has put them in our hands.”
“He has?”
MacDuff’s gaze was intense. “We can use the daughters against their father,” he said. “We can force him tae join our fight.”
That was very true. William knew it was a prime opportunity to force Alastor de Bourne to his will. Once the younger daughter gave away her family name, that very thing popped into his mind. His gaze moved to the women, huddle together, as he pondered MacDuff’s suggestion.
“What man wouldna do anything he could tae save his daughters?” he murmured. “As a father, I’d do anything within my power.”
“Then we send the man word tonight?”
William shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “And I’ll tell ye why. De Bourne has sons and fifteen hundred men tae think about. He has a legacy tae think about. If he turns against The Marshal, he’ll spend the rest of his lifetime, and probably his sons’ lifetimes, being an enemy in the heart of Northumberland. He’ll be destroyed. Men who were formerly his allies will make it so. Is that legacy worth the safety of his daughters?”
MacDuff wasn’t following him. “Ye said yerself he’d do anything tae save them.”
“But the family is greater than the children,” William said. “Alexander, a man can stand losing children, but he canna stand losing his entire family or his legacy, and that’s what this would cost him. Nay, he’d no’ side with us, no’ even if we hold his daughters, but I have something better in mind.”
MacDuff thought the man was going soft in the head. “What is that, yer grace?”
William’s yellowed eyes glimmered in the weak light. “Send them back tae The Marshal with a message,” he said. “The mercy we show upon those lasses will indebt The Marshal tae me. It will indebt de Bourne tae me. Let them see our mercy because the next time we require such a thing from them, they’ll be obligated tae give it.”