Ares shrugged. “It is very possible. But that is not what Gaia came to tell you.”
Cole refocused on Gaia. “Gaia, did he offer to release everyone if Corisande would… surrender to him?”
Gaia nodded. “She was so sad,” she said, starting to weep a little. “She was devastated. She kept saying that you would never want her if another man had her. When she finally found happiness, it was about to be taken away, so I went to MacDuff in her stead. It was me, Cole. Corisande never warmed his bed. I did.”
Cole was thunderstruck. Eyes wide, he grasped Gaia with both hands, forcing her to look at him. “Then why didn’t she deny it?” he demanded, his voice cracking. “I asked her and she would not deny it.”
Gaia began to sob. “Because she was still protecting me,” she wept. “She has always protected me. She did not want anyone to know that I made the sacrifice so that she would not have to, even at the cost of her own happiness. Even at the cost of you. But it wasn’t her. It was me.”
She was off on a crying jag by that time and Cole wasn’t much better. Tears filled his eyes and he pulled the young woman into an embrace, hugging her because she needed the comfort. She’d shown astounding bravery to spare her sister and he’d been a monster about it.
So much bravery from two small woman.
It was incomprehensible.
“I must go to her,” he said hoarsely, releasing her. “I must go to her and apologize for my…”
“Nay!” Gaia said, grabbing him as he tried to walk away. “She must not know that you know the truth. She has tried to protect me and you must let her continue to do so. It would be terrible if she knew I told you the truth. Don’t you see? If you apologize to her because I told you the truth, it would mean that it was the only reason you apologized. It would be a worthless apology. It wouldn’t be because you love her unconditionally, no matter what she did to save a group of captives.”
“She’s right,” Jax said softly. He’d been listening to the entire thing, feeling such sorrow for Gaia, for Cole, for Corisande. It was such a bitterly beautiful thing that Gaia had done and he looked at the young woman through new eyes. “Gaia has made a tremendous sacrifice, Cole. And so has Corisande for letting everyone think she was the one who did the unspeakable thing in order to protect her sister. You will diminish both of their acts of bravery if you let Corisande know that you know. Let her continue to be brave and love her because of it.”
Cole could see all that, very clearly now. Odd how the confession of one young woman suddenly righted everything in his world. He looked at Gaia, who was still so vastly upset, and put his hand underneath her chin, tipping it up so she was looking at him. He smiled at her, wearily.
“I have seen many men in battle,” he said quietly, “but I’ve not seen any man who has come close to the courage you showed in the face of the enemy. You have my deepest admiration and thanks, Lady Gaia.”
Gaia sniffled, her tears fading with Cole’s words. He made her feel better about herself with that gentle praise. He made her feel as if she were actually worth something. Instead of looking at her with disdain, he was looking at her with respect.
She hadn’t expected that.
Cole winked at her and dropped his hand, looking to Ares.
“Where is your sister?” he asked.
Ares tipped his head in the direction of the encampment. “When I saw her last, she was in her tent,” he said. “I assume she’s still there.”
Cole nodded, heading for the stairs, but he put his hand on Ares’ arm as he walked by.
“Thank you,” he muttered. “For everything… thank you.”
Ares, Jax, and Gaia watched him run up the stairs, heading back to Corisande where he belonged.
If she would have him.
Jax found himself praying the young woman had the capacity for forgiveness where his son was concerned.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The wounded needed her.
After her breakdown, Corisande was back with the sick and injured, tending men because that’s what she was good at. It gave her something to focus on other than Cole, someone she would now have to forget.
But she wasn’t sure she could.
Still, she would have to. She would have to force herself. After what had happened between them, there was no going back. Cole would move on with his life and she would move on with hers, but it would not be as one.
Somehow, she’d have to find the will to go on.
She wasn’t sure she could.
Corisande was coming to think that God simply didn’t want her to wed. He didn’t want to see her happy. Spinsters or widows or unmarried women often devoted themselves to the cloister by way of a livelihood, but Corisande wouldn’t consider it. Why would she serve a God who didn’t want to see her happy?
But she also knew she couldn’t stay at The Keld.
Odd how it had been her home since birth but, somehow, returning to such a place would remind her of Cole. In the grand scheme of things, he’d hardly spent any time there, yet his mark was upon it, indelibly. She couldn’t go back there and remember those wonderful memories.
Corisande didn’t know what she was going to do, but she did know one thing – she would never recover from this.
She would never be the same again.
But her focus, for now, had to be on the sick and wounded. She couldn’t let her personal issues get in the way of making sure men lived. It was easier to function if she had something to focus on, something to chase away the crippling thoughts of Cole. But try as she might, she couldn’t keep him from her mind. She couldn’t get his accusing eyes out of her head. That he would not even give her the opportunity to explain cut her to shreds but, in hindsight, she would have only told him what he suspected.
Perhaps it was better this way.
Evening was starting to fall and the torches around the hospital area were lit, weak light to stave off the mist that was now starting to roll in from the sea. It smelled strongly of salt. Corisande moved among the men, making sure those not in the tent were well-covered against the dampness.
The cooks of de Bourne’s army had prepared a meal, including a big pot of beef broth from the bones of the beef they’d been cooking for the regular army. It was a rich broth, salty, and some of Corisande’s helpers began giving it to the wounded. The hospital area, in fact, was surrounded by the regular army, with Teviot’s army immediately adjacent, so they could smell food from all sides as the evening meal commenced for the weary men. Corisande was kneeling beside a man who had taken an ax to the shoulder, helping him lift his head to drink the beef broth, when she heard someone lifting his voice behind her.
“It has come to my attention that there have been some rumors spreading amongst the armies.” It was Cole, standing right in the middle of the hospital area. “I have heard of these rumors myself, cruel and vicious rumors regarding the release of captives from the Scots several days ago. You know who you are, men spreading these rumors, and when I find you, I will make you pay.”
He had the loudest, most terrifying voice possible and with the fog, it carried. Hundreds of men were hearing him. Corisande sat there, frozen, having no idea what he was going to do. He’d run off earlier and now he was back, perhaps to do greater harm to her and her reputation.