Cole shifted on his undoubtedly frozen legs. “There is nothing to tell,” he said. “She gave herself over to her captor in order to secure the release of the English captives. I asked her and she did not deny it.”
“So you believe the rumors.”
“As I said, I asked her and she would not answer me.”
“You just told me she did not deny it. Now you tell me she would not answer you. Which is it?”
Cole did turn to look at him, then. “Both,” he said. “She would not give me a straight answer. That is the same thing as not denying the rumors.”
Jax looked at his boy. He loved all of his sons, but Cole was his firstborn. He was the child who made Jax grow from a soulless barbarian to a man with feeling. Cole was the light of his life. But he was also stubborn, ridiculously so, and he had a temper. Jax could see that both of those things had come into play in the situation. Cole was seeing it the way he wanted to see it.
He wasn’t seeing it from any other perspective.
“So she did not deny them,” he said. “And now you hate her.”
Cole shook his head. “That is the problem,” he said. “I don’t. I never could. Papa, I love her. How could she do such a thing? How could she violate everything we have between us?”
Jax cocked his head. “Let me understand this situation as you see it,” he said. “She violated your bond, your trusts, in exchange for the release of captives. That means she does not love you?”
“After our most recent conversation, probably not.”
“The woman is so shallow that she could not love you after an argument. Is that what you’re telling me?”
“Nay, that is not what I’m telling you,” Cole said, growing frustrated. “I don’t know what I’m telling you.”
He turned back around, facing the river, and Jax walked in next to him. The water was so cold that he started to lose feeling in his toes almost immediately.
But he had a point to make.
“You thought she was honorable enough and wonderful enough to fall in love with,” he said. “Has that changed so drastically?”
Cole’s jaw was ticking again. “She gave herself over to another man.”
“Do you think she did it happily?”
That forced Cole to think. It forced him to be honest. “Nay.”
“Do you think she wanted to?”
Cole paused. “Nay, she did not want to. I would never believe that. But she did.”
“Did you ever think that mayhap she was forced to?”
Cole’s head snapped to him. “Raped?”
Jax looked him in the eyes. “If the woman loves you and she is honorable and loyal, what other circumstance could there be if, in fact, she did this?” he asked. “Did you ever stop to think about the fact that mayhap she was assaulted and too ashamed to tell you? Did you even give her a chance to tell you, lad, before you were demanding to know the truth?”
Jax could see the color drain from Cole’s face. “Oh… my God,” he breathed. “Do you think that is what happened?”
“I do not know. But did you give her the chance to tell you?”
Cole started twitching, his eyes glazing oddly, as he suddenly slogged out of the water. “Nay,” he said. “I… I asked her, but I was upset… I was distraught. I asked her but… nay, I did not ask her. I accused her. I demanded… I don’t even know what I demanded. God, Papa, what have I done?”
Jax put his hands on the man because he was coming apart at the seams. The thread that was keeping his control had finally snapped. “Breathe, Cole,” he said. “Breathe. Calm yourself. You’ve always been an emotional man but, in this case, you must not be. If that is what happened, Corisande needs your love and understanding, not your rage. This happened to her, not to you. It is not your right to go to pieces. You must be her rock. Think of her and not yourself for once.”
Cole drew in several long breaths through his nose, like he was trying not to hyperventilate. As he bent over, trying not to get sick, he caught sight of something over near the stairwell leading up to the castle. Standing tall, he could see Ares coming from the stairs, heading towards him.
And Gaia was with him.
Jax, too, caught sight of them and he stood next to Cole as they approached. He thought that perhaps Ares had come to pick a fight with Cole for his argument with Corisande, but it wouldn’t have made sense to bring Gaia along if that was the case.
In fact, he was most curious about their appearance.
Ares, unusually pale and serious, looked straight at Cole.
“I heard what happened,” he said. “Gaia has something she wants to say to you. She asked me to bring her to you.”
With that, Ares grasped his little sister by the arm and pulled her front and center. Gaia looked at Cole fearfully, but she was looking even more fearfully at Jax, the legendary and terrifying warlord.
She swallowed hard.
“May I… may I speak with you privately, Cole?” she asked.
Her voice was trembling. Jax graciously bowed out, but he didn’t go far. He went to stand next to Ares and they were easily within earshot of Gaia and Cole, but they were behind Gaia so she couldn’t see them.
It was a good thing, too, because Gaia was very nervous. She’d just been through a soul-baring confession with Ares, who hadn’t been pleased, but at least he hadn’t exploded. He’d been surprisingly sympathetic, even more so when he realized why Gaia had done such a thing. He’d taken her straight to Cole because he was the one who really needed to hear her confession.
She could hardly look at him.
“I… I want to first say that I am sorry I pinched you,” she said as tears stung her eyes. “I knew you were fond of my sister, and she was fond of you, and I should not have pinched you. I am very sorry I did that.”
Out of all the things Cole expected to hear, that wasn’t on his mind. Moreover, he had no idea what Gaia could possibly say to him and, frankly, he wasn’t in the mood to hear anything from her. He was desperate to find Corisande and apologize more fervently than he’d ever apologized for anything in his life.
If she’d listen to him.
Therefore, he struggled to stay patient with Gaia.
“No harm done,” he said. “But your apology is noted.”
Gaia nodded, wiping at her eyes because tears were starting to trickle through. “I wanted to tell you that I know my sister loves you,” she said. “She’s a wonderful, loving sister and I love her very much. She was so excited to marry you so I knew I had to help her. I had to protect her, so when MacDuff told her that he would release everyone if she warmed his bed for the night, I knew I could not let that happen.”
Now, she had Cole’s attention. Brow furrowed, he bent over so he could hear her better because she was speaking so softly, she was barely audible.
“Is that what happened?” he said, struggling with his emotions again. “It was Alexander MacDuff who captured you? The same man who came to The Keld and demanded your father’s loyalty last month?”
Ares heard him. “Aye,” he said, answering for Gaia. “The same man, the Justiciar of Scotia. He’s a powerful man, Cole.”
Cole began to put the pieces of the puzzle together. “So MacDuff was your captor,” he said. “Being beaten back from The Keld must have been a humiliating experience for him, so when he realized he had Alastor’s daughters as captives, he must have seen an opportunity to get back at Alastor. Is that true?”