Dark Destroyer (32 page)

“Now, Jasper,” Henry said, forcing his focus away from his son. “When will we meet our future daughter? I am eager to come to know her.”

Jasper downed his cup of wine and poured himself more. “Alex,” he said. “Please fetch Kathalin and bring her here, but tell her nothing of our plans. I should like to do that personally.”

Alexander nodded his head and stood up, heading out of the hall. He was silent in his actions, dutiful, but his mind was racing. He was still reeling from what had happened, therefore, it wasn’t Kathalin he would seek first.

It was Gates.

He found that he had to.

The troop house was already crowded with the addition of de Lohr’s men and Gates, after he left Kathalin in the garden, found himself lured to the situation by Tobias, who was trying to deal with it.

The troop house was designed to hold about six hundred men in beds built in doubles, one on top of the other, and even more men should they sleep on the floor. With the men that had returned with Gates from France, and now the addition of de Lohr’s men, Gates and Tobias were forced to do some reorganizing. Many more men were expected, so the rope and wood bunks in the troop house were moved around to create more space for the incoming escorts.

Gates was in the process of supervising the shift in sleeping space when Alexander entered the troop house. He asked the men at the door where de Wolfe was and, following pointing fingers, he found Gates about midway in the structure as men moved furniture all around him.

Gates, who was trying to figure out a way to cram a lot of bodies into a finite space, caught sight of Alexander as the man approached.

“Did your parents arrive safely, then?” he asked.

Alexander smiled weakly. “They did,” he said. “They are in the hall with Jasper now.”

Gates smiled. “The last time I saw your mother, she wanted to know why I had not yet married and I seem to remember that she harassed you fairly stringently about your lack of a wife, too,” he said. “Has she started in on you already about being unmarried or will she wait a polite amount of time before laying in to us both?”

Oh, God
, Alexander thought.
If he only knew how close he was in that lightly-uttered jest
. “She has started already,” he said. “In fact… I have a need to speak with you, Gates. Privately. Can you spare a moment?”

Gates didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary. He didn’t even notice Alexander’s pale features or tense expression; the dimness of the troop house negated such observations. Leaving Tobias in charge of the grunting, heaving men, he followed Alexander outside in the daylight, blinking his eyes and shielding them because he’d been inside the dark troop house.

“God’s Bones,” he complained. “The Light of God is shining into my face and I am blinded by it.”

He said it comically and Alexander laughed softly. “God is scrutinizing you, my friend.”

Gates lifted an eyebrow in resignation as he blinked his eyes, becoming accustomed to the bright winter day. “If He looks too closely He will not be pleased,” he said. “I try to avoid His scrutiny at all cost.”

“Is that why you stay away from church?”

“It ‘tis.”

Alexander simply grinned at the glib reply but almost immediately, his smile faded. “Sorry to drag you out into the brilliant light, but there are things we must speak of,” he said. “I hardly know where to start so it is best I start from the beginning. You and I have been friends for many years, Gates. I treasure those years and I treasure you.”

Gates nodded his head. “As I treasure you also,” he said, still not particularly sensing anything odd. “You have been annoying at times, and even frustrating, but it is true that I love you like I would a brother.”

He was smiling as he said it but Alexander couldn’t give in to the humor, not now. There were serious matters at hand. He looked at Gates;
really
looked at the man, trying to figure out the best way to speak of such things. He realized that he was quite nervous about it Hesitantly, he continued.

“Please do not be offended by whatever I say, for I am only speaking frankly and honestly, friend to friend,” he said. “Gates, I must ask you something and you must be perfectly honest with me. It is imperative. Will you do this?”

Finally, Gates began to sense that something was off. There was something in Alexander’s manner and in his words that told him so. Curious but not yet concerned, he nodded.

“Of course,” he said. “I would never lie to you.”

Alexander nodded swiftly. “I know,” he said. “But this is different. What I am about to ask you is personal.”

“Then ask.”

Alexander swallowed hard, hung his head, and then lifted his eyes to Gates in a manner that suggested he was truly reluctant to speak. But he did. “It is about Kathalin,” he said softly. “Are you attempting to make another conquest out of the woman?”

Gates’ expression flickered. It seemed at first as if he was startled by the question, which he was, but he quickly steadied himself. When he replied, his answer was slow and deliberate.

“I am not,” he said. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I sense that you have interest in her and she in you,” Alexander said. “Is this true?”

Gates didn’t say anything for a moment. He sighed faintly and averted his gaze. “I will again ask you why you are asking me this.”

Alexander could tell, by Gates’ expression, that there was indeed something between Gates and Kathalin. He knew Gates well enough to know his moods and expressions, and he saw something in Gates’ features that told him what he needed to know. Still, he wanted to hear the confirmation from Gates’ own lips. He was starting to grow frustrated by the man’s evasive answers.

“Because I must know,” Alexander said, lowering his voice. “Gates, I have known you for many years. You are my friend. I have seen you bed woman after woman with hardly an afterthought when all was said and done. Lord Linley showed up last week announcing that his daughter had borne your bastard, an allegation that I can only imagine is true considering you took the woman to your bed before we left for France. I know this because I was with you when we found her in the streets of Churchstoke, starving to death. You have never, since I have known you, shown any serious interest in any woman. I must know if your interest in Lady Kathalin is serious or if it is simply a passing fancy. Will you please tell me the truth?”

Gates wasn’t fully prepared to divulge the information, mostly because it was frightening and alien to him to realize that he was, indeed, actually in love with a woman. It was the first time someone had asked him that question and the first time he’d truly given thought to it. There was some embarrassment there, too, as if fearful he would not be believed given his reputation. He didn’t want to be doubted or ridiculed. But he knew Alexander and knew that that the man wouldn’t totally discount him, especially since he had sworn to tell him the truth.

The truth….

“She is not a passing fancy,” he finally said, quietly. “You have asked me to be truthful with you and I shall. Alex, you know me – you know I would not say something unless I truly knew it, believed it, or felt it, and in this case I can tell you that Lady Kathalin is not a passing fancy. She has declared her love for me and I love her in return. I am not entirely sure how it happened, but it has. We were fighting each other one moment and adoring each other the next. You have asked for truth and I have given it to you. Now, will you tell me why you have asked?’

Alexander looked at Gates, a somewhat sickly expression on his face. “I see,” he murmured. “And… you are sure of this, Gates?”

“Very sure.”

“What do you intend to do about it? Do you intend to marry her?”

Gates nodded. “I was going to speak to Jasper today of it before the parade of potential bridegrooms arrive,” he said. “Given what Jasper knows of me and my reputation, I am not entirely sure how receptive he will be, but it is my intention to ask for Kathalin’s hand and not give up until I have it.”

Alexander was looking at him with a huge amount of sadness in his expression. In fact, his hand was over his heart, unconsciously, as if to hold in his sorrow.

“And if you do not receive his blessing?”

“I will deal with that if the time comes.”

Alexander held Gates’ gaze for a long, tense moment before exhaling in a long, harsh breath. He nearly doubled over with it, bracing himself against his knees as he labored to catch his breath. Gates watched him, trying not to feel too much fear. Something was amiss with Alexander, something that had to do with his feelings for Kathalin, and he was increasingly concerned about Alexander’s reaction to it. Finally, he could stand it no longer.

“Alexander, in the name of God,” he said. “Why have you been asking about my feelings for Kathalin? I have asked you more than once and you have not answered me. What is amiss?”

Alexander stood up straight, looking at Gates with perhaps the most sorrowful expression Gates had ever seen. It seemed, when he spoke, that he was on the verge of tears.

“I did not know, Gates,” he said hoarsely. “I suspected that there was some interest between you two, but I did not realize the depths of it. Please forgive me. I did not realize you loved her.”

Gates took a few steps towards him, closing the gap between them. “Forgive you for
what
?” he hissed. “Alex, start making sense. What is going on?”

Alexander put out his hands and grasped Gates by the arms. “Jasper has made an offer of marriage to my parents,” he said, gazing into Gates’ stunned eyes. “A contract between me and Lady Kathalin. My parents have accepted.”

Gates stared at the man, hearing his words, understanding them, but not truly grasping what he was being told for several very long moments.

“You… you are betrothed to Kathalin?” he finally asked.

Alexander nodded, anguish on his face. “Aye,” he muttered. “It is true that I think she is beautiful and it is true that even though I saw of your interest in her, I thought you were only looking for another conquest. But it soon began to occur to me that your interest went beyond a conquest. That is why I had to find you and ask you, Gates. I will refuse the contract now, of course, but you must tell Jasper your feelings for her and you must demand her hand. We must go to Jasper now, together, and do this. That way he will know that I relinquish my claim.”

Gates was starting to feel quite emotional about the situation. The shock of the betrothal and the realization that Alexander was fully willing to relinquish any claim on Kathalin, a legal claim that would supersede anything Gates had to offer, had him reeling. But it was then that he began to understand the depths of his friendship with Alexander, a man he had been viewing as a serious threat for the past few weeks when it came to Kathalin. He had seen how the man had looked at her and he had been nearby when Alexander had spoken to her, at least for the most part. Jealousy had filled his veins when it came to Alexander. But now, seeing how Alexander was willing to sacrifice his right for the sake of Gates’ love for Kathalin, Gates was starting to feel like a monster.

“You would do that?” he asked, incredulous. “You would give up what was surely a very attractive offer because of me?”

Alexander nodded. “Aye,” he replied. “Gates, I could not marry the woman knowing you loved her. It would not be right.”

Gates lingered on the words, on the nobility of Alexander’s attitude. He was deeply stunned but also deeply touched. “But…,” he ventured, “I truly have no idea what to say to all of this. I am genuinely speechless.”

Alexander simply lifted his shoulders. “If the situation was reversed, could you marry the woman I loved?”

Gates shook his head. “Of course not,” he said. “But I… I must admit something. I have seen you with Kathalin over the past few days and I have seen when you’ve spoken to her, and I will admit that my heart was full of jealousy. I have never known such feelings before and they were difficult to stomach. I feel like such a fool for having been jealous. What you are doing now… this gesture of unselfishness… it is the greatest sacrifice I have ever known. But I must ask you a question, Alexander, for my own sake… are you sure you want to do this?”

“It would mean nothing to me knowing that I made you miserable. No bride, nor dowry, is worth that kind of anguish.”