Medieval Ever After (41 page)

A body was suddenly beside him, on his knees, and Stephen found himself looking into Kynan’s dark, intelligent eyes. The Scotsman shook his head as their gazes locked.

“Ye’re mangled, man,” he said. “I have sent for food. They’ve got no cause tae be treatin’ ye like this.”

Stephen closed his eyes. “I am the enemy,” he replied quietly. “They can do with me as they please.”

Kynan stayed on his knees next to him, studying the man. He could see how badly injured he was and something inside him, however reluctant, sought to give him some comfort. Maybe it was because of the last conversation he had with him. The words rang round and round in his head. They had ever since he had spoken them.
I married your cousin to form an alliance; that is true. But she loves me and I love her, and there is nothing in this world that I would not do for her.
It was something that had broken down Kynan’s hatred of the man and even now, all he could see was Joselyn’s husband on the ground, not an English enemy. If Joselyn loved him as he said she did, and he had no reason to believe otherwise, then Kynan was reluctant to destroy something that had undoubtedly brought joy into her life. And with the life she’d had, he just couldn’t bring himself to cause her more pain. He sighed faintly.

“Where is Jo-Jo?” he asked softly.

Stephen grunted. “Well away from here.”

“She was not here when the castle was besieged?”

“Nay,” Stephen said faintly.

Kynan watched the man a moment before emitting another sigh and planting his buttocks on the ground beside him. His gaze drifted over the big man.

“So the situation has turned,” he muttered. “It was ye looking at me through the iron grates. Now I am the one lookin’ at ye. Ye’re a sight, man.”

Stephen’s blue eyes were dull with pain. “I can imagine that I am,” he whispered. “What do you plan to do with me?”

Kynan’s jaw flexed. “I didna tell them tae do this to ye,” he said in a low voice, avoiding the question. “I told me men tae take Berwick back but I dinna tell them tae beat ye tae death.”

Stephen shifted on the ground, grunting with pain as his ribs screamed. “Your men knew exactly who I was,” he said. “They came right for me with clubs, not to kill but to subdue. You must have told them who I was.”

Kynan nodded faintly. “I told them tae take ye alive if they could.”

Stephen thought of the four soldiers he had sent to follow Kynan in the hopes of gaining information on the rebellion. The men had never returned. He closed his eyes to the irony of it all, how things had turned out so badly. He thought he was a better soldier than that. Maybe he was not. Or maybe his thoughts had been too preoccupied with his new wife to pay close attention to the castle he was supposed to be commanding. Though Kenneth had never said anything to him directly, he knew the man’s thoughts. He knew Kenneth too well to not know what he was thinking. Maybe Kenneth had been right.

“So our great plan turned the tables on us,” he muttered, his lips against the floor, his breathing coming in heavy draws. “We let you escape, MacKenzie. I had men following you. But it seems that you outsmarted them and turned the tide against me.”

Kynan lifted a dark brow. “I knew ye did,” he replied. “It was too easy for me tae escape tae be convincing.”

“What of the men who followed you?”

“Dead,” he said without distress.

Stephen had suspected as much. “So you came to take back Berwick.”

“Me men were already comin’ back tae Berwick, gatherin’ the clans while I was in yer vault.”

“You knew this?”

His dark eyes glimmered. “There is much I know that I didn’t tell ye.”

“I figured that out.”

The door to the solar opened and a soldier entered with a tray of food and a pitcher hanging from his hand. Kynan motioned for the man to set the goods down on the nearest table. He didn’t speak until the man left the room and even then, his voice was very quiet.

“You will tell me the truth, Sassenach,” his tone was odd, almost pleading. “Ye told me once that ye loved Jo-Jo. Is this true?”

Stephen’s eyes opened at the mention of her name and he turned his head slightly, looking at Kynan. “Why do you ask?”

Kynan’s jaw tightened, torn between stubbornness and deep compassion for his cousin. He finally lifted his shoulders. “Because I want tae know. Answer me.”

“I told you that I did. That has not changed.”

Kynan absorbed the statement, pondering his next move. “I pray tae God that ye’re sincere. She feels the same way about ye.”

“How would you know that?”

“She told me,” Kynan replied, eyeing the man on the floor. “She… she’s not had a good life.”

“I know,” Stephen answered softly. “I know all about her life and what her father did to her. There are no secrets between us. To elaborate on my answer, I love her more than life. I would die for her without question.”

Kynan could only hold his gaze a moment longer before looking away. He finally sighed heavily. “I was afraid of that,” he muttered. He fidgeted with his boot a moment as if pondering his thoughts. “Me mother and Julia Seton were sisters. I remember when Jo-Jo was born. I was just a lad but I remembered the most beautiful babe I’d ever seen. Julia was married tae a sick man. Alexander was a gambler and he gambled away most of her dowry, their fine things, and their money. He was also a drinker and would spend days drunk with wine. There was times when there wasna food on the table so Julia would bring Joselyn tae our home. My mother would feed and take care o’them. And then Joselyn grew older and that’s when the trouble started.”

Stephen was staring at him fairly lucidly. “Kynan, I do not mean to be abrupt, but Joselyn has told me all of this and I do not want to hear it again. It feeds my anger like nothing else and makes me want to kill her father.”

Kynan’s expression was dark as he regarded the fallen knight. “What did she tell ye about the child?”

“That he was the result of a rape by an English soldier in repayment for a gambling debt.”

Kynan stared at him, finally shaking his head and looking away. There was anguish in his features. “Still she protects him.”

Stephen found himself forgetting all about his agony and injuries as he listened to Kynan’s hissed words. He shifted his big body, ignoring the screaming pain as he struggled to sit up. Kynan saw what he was doing and grabbed hold to assist. But Stephen was so heavy that it was like trying to prop up a horse.

“Protects who?” Stephen demanded. “Who is she protecting?”

Kynan was inches from the man’s face. In that instance, he could see that everything he had told him was true. He did love Joselyn with a deep and agonizing vengeance. Stephen was nearly beaten to death, but still, his only concern was for his wife. Kynan spilled the truth without regard to whether or not he should. He had a point to make and he would make it.

“Her father,” he whispered.

Stephen just stared at him, the agony in the blue eyes unfathomable. “She told me that the soldier raped her and fathered the child.”

Kynan had a good grip on him. “He did rape her,” he murmured. “But she was already pregnant from her father.”

Stephen suddenly couldn’t breathe. He stared at Kynan, his words rolling over and over in his mind, struggling not to go mad at the mere suggestion. It was fantastic, horrific and sickening all rolled in to one.

“Who told you this?” he finally hissed.

Kynan was trying to be kind, he truly was. He could feel the man’s pain radiating from his very pores, reaching out to infiltrate him and make him hurt, too. But Kynan’s hurt on the subject had dulled a long time ago. What remained was disgust and sorrow.

“Julia,” he muttered. “Alexander had confessed that he had taken his daughter’s innocence in a drunken rage. He allowed the soldier tae rape Jo-Jo to cover up the resulting pregnancy.”

“Then it was not in repayment for the gambling debt?”

“It was. But it was a sickenin’ coincidence.”

Stephen seemed frozen, unable to respond. The revelations were too overwhelming and he was struggling like a drowning man to keep his head above water, his mind sane in the face of madness. “She told me that she had her innocence taken when she was nine years old,” he whispered in a strangled tone. “She said she had been used by her father twice before the soldier raped her and… oh, my dear God… she said her
father
used her twice. It never occurred to me that she meant literally.”

“She did,” Kynan replied. “Did ye not understand that?”

Stephen couldn’t even think straight. He was filled with such anguish that it was spilling everywhere. “So Cade is her father’s child?”

“Julia thought so, but I suppose we’ll never know for sure.”

Stephen closed his eyes and collapsed back onto the floor. He was such a big man that Kynan couldn’t support his dead weight. But he leaned over Stephen as the man lay on the floor, half-conscious and reeling.

“Listen tae me,
Sassenach
,” he lowered his voice, speaking urgently. “I dunna tell ye the ugly family secrets tae drive wedges between ye and Jo-Jo. I tell ye because the child has known no happiness in her life and if ye truly love one another as ye say ye do, then I canna be the cause of more pain tae her. Alexander Seton is a wicked devil who hurt a young girl and gave no thought tae what he did. I watched it. From the time I was a young lad, I watched it happen and could do nothing tae stop it.”

It was a passionate speech, enough for Stephen to open his eyes and look at him. The blue eyes were dazed, but fire still burned within. Nothing Kynan could say would destroy the love he had for Joselyn. If anything, it made him more in love with her, fiercely protective over this woman who had known such shame. He blamed himself for not completely understanding what she had told him. He should have been more intuitive, asking more questions to make it easier for her to tell him everything. She had tried. He knew that. But he hadn’t understood clearly. His heart ached so badly for her that he could feel the physical impact deep in his chest.

“Nothing you have said changes how I feel about her,” he muttered. “I love her more than I ever did. The child she carries is the result of a deep and abiding love that will never die.”

Now it was Kynan’s turn to look shocked. “Jo-Jo is pregnant?”

Stephen nodded weakly. “All the more reason to send her from Berwick. I want my wife and child safe.”

Kynan puffed out his cheeks, digesting the news and realizing he was thrilled with it. Stephen watched him with half-lidded eyes, seeing a flicker of a smile cross the man’s lips. That was the moment he began to think that he might have an ally in Kynan Lott MacKenzie.

“You told me once that I was not for the likes of Joselyn,” he muttered. “What made you change your mind?”

Kynan sat back slightly, regarding the big English knight. After a moment’s reflection on that conversation long ago, he lifted his shoulders and averted his gaze.

“The best thing that coulda happened tae her was marrying ye,” he said. “She came tae me before Berwick was retaken, beggin’ fer me help. She wanted me tae tell her what I knew and I wouldna do it. She told me that if anything happened tae ye that she would hate me forever.”

Stephen watched the man’s profile. “And this bothers you.”

He shrugged again. “Jo-Jo is like me little sister and I canna stomach her hate.” He finally looked to Stephen. “Ye offer her yer protection and love. I could see it in her face when she told me of her feelings fer ye. English or no, ye’ll always have my respect fer making the lass happy.”

“Your family means that much to you?”

“Doesna it mean that much tae ye, too?”

He had a point. “So what are you going to do?” Stephen wanted to know.

Kynan looked over at the tray of food on the table. He reached for it, setting it down on the floor next to them. Then he took the pitcher.

“I’m gonna try and lift ye up tae drink this,” he indicated the pitcher. “After that, we’ll discuss yer future.”

Tate knew that Kenneth was furious with him. Although Kenneth was, more than any other man alive, able to control his emotions in any given situation, Tate knew simply by the look in Kenneth’s eye that he was beyond furious. He was livid. He further knew this because Kenneth stuck to Joselyn as closely as a mother hen, making sure she was comfortable, fed, not too hot or cold, and generally well taken care of. It got to the point where Joselyn actually had to chase him off. The man was as clinging as a shadow.