Keeper of the Stone (17 page)

“So you gave her your cloak.”

She shrugged and admitted, “I didn’t have anything else to offer her.”

He couldn’t resist the urge this time and bent down to brush his lips across hers, then tucked her slender form in the curve of his arm and began heading towards the king’s home once more.  “I have a feeling we better procure several additional cloaks for you, wife.”

“You needn’t spend any funds on me, Nathan.  I have several fine cloaks at Heaven’s Crest.”

Nathan sighed at her reluctance to spend his money.  Although he’d been a landless knight he was by no means a poor one. He reached in his pocket and drew out a heavy pouch of coins.  When she just stood there regarding the leather pouch with a puzzled look on her face, he reached for her hand again and dropped the pouch into it.  “You are not to give away any of your gowns or cloaks from Heaven’s Crest,” he instructed her.

The confused furrow between her brows deepened.  “But Nathan how could I?”

He cut her off.  “Promise me.”

It irritated him that she seemed to need a few moments to consider his request before acquiescing to it.  She finally nodded her assent.

“The words wife.”

“I promise, Nathan.”

“And in the future, Rhiann, if one of my men offers you their cloak you will accept it.  They are responsible for you, and it would go ill for them if anything were to happen to you while under their care.”

Rhiann blushed guiltily and glanced back apologetically at the soldier trailing them back to the keep. He accepted her whispered apology with a smile and a nod.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Later that evening at the king’s table Rhiann tried to stifle a yawn.  She was not accustomed to such late hours and even when she was finally allowed to retire to Nathan’s room, she was not given much opportunity to sleep. Nathan seemed intent on exercising his husbandly rights at every opportunity.  Surprisingly she had no objection to his intent but it left her with very little time to rest. She wondered why Nathan never seemed tired.  She was certain she never saw him sneaking into the keep for an afternoon nap.  Her lips curved at her foolish thoughts and she leaned tiredly against her husband’s side.  He was engaged in conversation with the man at his left. On her right, the queen’s head was bent close to her husband’s at the head of the table. 

She was reluctant to ask her husband’s permission to be excused for the remainder of the evening.  She had been enough of a bother to Nathan today. She thought she should concentrate on being a more pleasing wife to him.  So she did her best to follow the conversations drifting around her, smiling politely if someone chanced to look in her direction, and edged a little closer to her husband’s warmth.

Even with the fire roaring in the fireplace and all the overhead candles in the chandeliers hanging over the tables for light, there was still a chill to the air.  The gown she was wearing was somewhat thin considering the approach of winter but she couldn’t fault the little dressmaker.  No doubt deliveries to the city were interrupted during the course of the invasion. She scooted a little closer to her husband’s solid warmth and promised herself she was just going to rest her head on his shoulder for a moment.  She definitely would never embarrass him by falling asleep at the king’s table.

From far off she heard the queen asking her a question.  She struggled against the fuzziness in her thoughts to try to recall her query. She was very careful not to embarrass Nathan any more than she already did that day. Nathan, hearing Matilda address his wife, and being greeted only by silence, turned to question the cause of his wife’s rudeness.  He met Matilda’s amused glance over Rhiann’s head nestled up against his shoulder.  She seemed to be having trouble staying awake.

His apologetic glance further amused the queen when he reached down to lift his wife’s chin from where it rested against him.  Heavy lids struggled to lift over sleepy green eyes.  She smiled when she saw him staring down at her so tenderly.  Maybe he was pleased he married her after all.  Her expression took on a faraway dreamy quality, and Nathan quickly reminded her of the queen’s inquiry in an effort to bring her back to the present.

“Rhiann, the queen asked you the significance of the bells in your hair.”

Rhiann blushed, remembering the queen’s earlier query and she quickly straightened away from her husband’s side and turned to face Matilda.  “Forgive me, your highness, for my inattention.  You asked about the bells.”

The older woman smiled kindly back at her.  “Yes, my dear. I would have you finish your story from this afternoon.  I understand now the purpose of the dagger you wear strapped to your arm, but you’ve yet to enlighten me as to the purpose of the bells.”

Rhiann nodded and offered softly.  “The bells are meant to remind me of why I should choose life over death.  Though in truth there is no death, only this life on earth, and the more wonderful life awaiting us in heaven when our heavenly Father calls us home to Him.”

Eavesdropping on Rhiann’s conversation with the queen, Nathan was stunned by the purity and conviction of his young wife’s faith in the Almighty.  Seeing his astonishment, Matilda prompted Rhiann to continue with her explanation.  “So their purpose is to encourage you to choose life here rather than life in heaven.”

Rhiann nodded.  “Our heavenly Father is in no hurry for His children to return to Him.  He’s not going anywhere after all.”

At the monarch’s smiling nod, Rhiann continued, “The bells serve as a reminder of His many blessings over His children here on earth: of a soft breeze on a warm day, a gentle rain sent to cleanse the earth, the joy contained in a child’s laughter, the love of family and friends.  So many gifts He sends freely to all of His children.  They are far more important than gold and fine gowns; jewels and lands.”

“And does a time come when you make a definitive choice?”

“Eventually, at each little reminder, the dagger is used to cut a length of bells and leave them as a blessing with the source of the reminder.  With each decrease in their number, I am to remember that like the bells there will come a time when I can no longer remember the sound of my family’s voices, but their love for me remains behind with me and we will be joined anew in the next life.  When there are no more bells, I am to return the dagger to my grandmother and then she will know my choice is to remain so she may draw comfort from it.”

“I am certain she will, Rhiann. Thank you for sharing your family traditions with me.  They are quite beautiful.” 

“Nathan said they were...” The rest of her reply was smothered by her husband’s hand clamped firmly around her mouth. 

“I have already apologized for my insult to your family traditions, wife.  You need not embarrass me further in front of the queen.”

Rhiann reached up to push his hand away, her eyes dancing with amusement.  “Really, Nathan, men do not get embarrassed.”

“We don’t?”  He liked seeing the laughter in her eyes at his gentle mockery, and he was loathe to threaten it, but one thing about her explanation still puzzled him.  “Did your grandmother send your mother a jeweled box with a dagger and a pouch of bells?”

Shadows immediately replaced the laughter in her eyes.  She nodded.  “Not
a
jeweled box and dagger, Nathan.  The same ones.”

He did a quick calculation in his head.  “That’s impossible wife.”

She shrugged.

He pushed.

“She refused it.”

“You can do that?”

“Of course.  If you know you would rather not be reminded.  If you have already made up your mind…”  Her voice, already barely above whisper, trailed off.

He remembered her reluctance to accept the box from the stranger’s outstretched hand, wishing at the time she would refuse it, only now understanding the significance of her decision to accept it. 

“I am glad you didn’t refuse.” 

“At the time you seemed irritated I accepted it.”

A smile curved his lips at her disgruntled tone.  “I failed to understand then the significance of sacred family traditions.”

Her eyes lit for a moment at his teasing, and then she added, still in a soft voice only he could hear.  “You understand why I had to accept it.  When Amele asked me not to send him back to my grandmother with the unopened box…she’s already lost so much, Nathan.  I could not add to her grief.”

“So the strands of your hair you sent back in the box were proof he actually saw you and you accepted the bells and the dagger the box contained.”

“Yes, there was nothing else I could think of to send back.”  She saw his eyes pass over the stone nestled at her breasts, knew what he was thinking. “She would have refused the stone, as much as I would have liked to return it to her keeping.  The stone has already passed from her hands.”

Nathan seized on the inconsistency.  “How was it in your mother’s possession to give to you if your grandmother is still alive?”

She shrugged.  He assumed she was too tired for any more explanations.  Too bad. He wasn’t about to let her escape until he had all of his questions answered.  For some reason his wife seemed to be in a malleable mood tonight.  He planned to take full advantage of the unprecedented opportunity for as long as it lasted. 

“Rhiann...”

She had the nerve to roll her eyes at him for his insistence, but he refused to let up. 

“It happens like that sometimes.”

“That is not an explanation, wife.”

She shrugged again.  “Sometimes the stone decides to seek out a new keeper before the current one has passed.”

“How does it do that?” 

“Do you remember how the stone appeared when you held it in your hand?’

Away from his wife’s warm flesh the stone became instantly dark and lifeless. “Yes.”

“That is what happens.  The current keeper then knows she has been released from the stone’s service and the time has come to pass the stone to its next keeper.”

“So your grandmother sent the stone to your mother.”

“Yes.”

“Before or after your father was killed?”

“Before, many years ago when I was still a child. I cannot recall the exact date.”

“And your mother did not refuse her.”

“She could not.”  His wife sounded shocked by his suggestion.  “She knew her entire life the time would come when the stone would pass to her.”

“As did your sister.”

“Yes.”

“What is your sister’s name?”

“Melissa.”

“What happened to Melissa?”

“Before the siege, she left the keep in search of my brother.”

Nathan felt his head beginning to spin again, but he wanted the entire story of his wife’s family history.  It was the only way to help Rhiann reconcile herself to the future.  He would have preferred to have their conversation in a more private location, but he feared interrupting her now would take away his chance.  Besides her voice was so low he thought only he could hear her soft responses to his insistent questions, though he noticed both William and Matilda’s heads were bent in their direction, straining to hear his wife’s soft voice.

“She just left the keep?  No one accompanied her?”  He was so astonished by her revelation about her sister, it required an effort on his part to keep the tenor of his voice even.

“She snuck away one night and left us a note as to her intentions.”

“How did she get past the guard?”

Rhiann shrugged.

“Answer me, wife.”  This time Nathan made certain his voice was hard and demanding.  If Rhiann took it into her head one day to sneak off into the night, he wanted to know how she planned to accomplish her escape and put a stop to it in advance.

Rhiann’s eyes widened at his harsh tone and her voice fell even quieter when she confessed, “She left through the secret passage in the old keep.  It leads to the sea.”

Nathan made a mental note to have Rhiann point out this secret passage to him as soon as they arrived at Heaven’s Crest.  “This was before your brothers were killed?  Why would she leave the safety of the keep to go in search of them?”

Rhiann shook her head.  “My older brothers were already dead when she left.  She went looking for Michel.”

“Michel is another brother?”

“Yes.  Melissa loved him best.  They were twins.  His body was never returned to us.  The men who accompanied him north, some of them returned, but in the fighting they became separated from my brother.  They searched for him for many weeks but never found any word of him.  They finally returned to bring news to my mother.”

“They believed your brother perished in the war in the north.”

“Yes, so did my mother, but Melissa refused to accept his death.  She believed if her twin was dead she would know it in her heart.  My mother was in no condition to comfort her.  Melissa was head strong.  She refused to listen to anyone.  She was angry at us for giving up hope.  She said Michel’s blood was on our hands for abandoning him.”

Nathan gave her slender shoulders a comforting squeeze.  “She didn’t mean it, Rhiann.  She was overcome with grief.”

“No Nathan, she did mean it.  She didn’t confide her plan to us.  She knew mother would inform the guards and they would stop her.” She added in a meek voice, “I would have told on her, too.  I was afraid of losing my sister.”

“But she didn’t confide in you?”

“No, she knew I couldn’t be trusted to keep her secret.  Isn’t that pitiful?  My only sister didn’t trust me and she was right not to.”  Rhiann bowed her head at the remembered pain of that morning when she found the note and realized Melissa left the keep, leaving her behind alone with their grieving mother. The news of her husband’s death had robbed their mother of the last of her will to wage any additional battles.  Rhiann wasn’t certain her mother even recognized the significance of Melissa’s absence or the great danger her elder daughter was in outside the thick walls of Heaven’s Crest.  She believed her mother was lost to them the day their father’s mangled body was returned to his estates.  Her physical death weeks later was merely a formality.

“You believe your sister is dead.”

Rhiann nodded tiredly, hoping her husband’s endless questions would be satisfied soon. She was trying so hard to be a good wife to him and satisfy his curiosity, though what difference the answers to his questions could possibly make now, she was unable to fathom.