Devil's Dominion (16 page)

“Do you think someone is trying to exact revenge on you somehow?” she asked. “Twenty-five years ago… you did some very bad things, Jax. Is it possible that someone is out for vengeance and is using Allie to get it?”

Jax was feeling guiltier by the moment.
My sweet Allie
, was all he could think.
Will she pay the price for my sins those years ago?
But he would not voice his thoughts. Kellington probably already knew them, anyway, and it would do no good to upset her more than she already was. After a moment, he sat back heavily on the top of his desk, gazing at the missive in his hand. He was a man of supreme control except when it pertained to his wife and family. They were the only ones who had ever seen the emotion he was capable of. And Kellington... his life, his love… she knew all of his dark secrets.

“That is exactly what I think,” he said after a moment, feeling despondence creep upon him. “I did many things those years ago, things that were necessary in the course of conquest. Never did I apologize for my methods because they were my own. I remember you asking me once why I killed men, women, and children, and I told you that it was because every one of them was a threat to me. Mayhap whoever has Cloryn, and Allaston, is someone who had a relative who fell under my blade. Mayhap he has a blood debt to settle with me. I am frankly not surprised by it. In fact, I have expected something like this to happen at some point. It was only a matter of time.”

Kellington was quieting since her initial outburst, wiping away the last of her tears. “If it is true that he seeks vengeance against you, then the missive seems to indicate he wishes to see you face to face,” she said, looking up at him with her big brown eyes. “You are not going to do it, are you? You promised me twenty-five years ago that your days of battle were over. You have kept that promise for the most part except where the security of our castle or family was concerned.”

Jax looked up at her, taking his eyes off the parchment. “If I do not go, I am sure it will not bode well for Allie,” he said. “I have no choice. I must go and retrieve my daughter.”

Kellington stood up, shaking her head. “So that is my choice?” she asked, agitation in her voice. “I must sacrifice my husband to regain my daughter? That is no choice at all, Jax.”

“Do you want Allaston back?”

She threw up her hands. “Of course I do,” she said. “But not at the expense of my husband!”

“Then what would you suggest?”

Kellington looked at her husband with some fear and he knew it was because she didn’t have an answer. To her credit, she tried to make it seem as if she did.

“Mayhap… mayhap we could send a mediator instead,” she said. “Someone who will bargain for Allie’s release on your behalf. Mayhap the man who holds her will release her if we give him enough money.”

Jax lifted his eyebrows thoughtfully. “That is possible,” he said, “although if this really is a blood debt, or vengeance, a mediator may anger him. He abducted our daughter for a reason, Kelli, and it was not to gain money. Nay, the man who holds Allie wants to see me. It says so in this missive.”

Kellington felt as if she was losing a fight. She didn’t want to give up. She wanted her daughter returned but she wanted her husband whole, as well. “But surely there is someone well respected and powerful who can act as a mediator,” she said. “At the very least, mayhap this man will stand with you and support you as you negotiate for Allie’s release.”

Jax shook his head. “You know better than to suggest I have allies all over England,” he said. “Yves de Vesci is my only ally and that is because the man is my liege. Any opportunities for allies were destroyed many years ago, Kelli. No one will ally themselves with The Dark Lord and I do not want allies. They simply complicate things.”

Kellington could feel her control of the situation slipping. “Then what of the men stationed at your other Welsh castles?” she asked. “You have six of them, five now if Cloryn is compromised. What of them? Surely you can gather your men from the Welsh outposts and converge on Cloryn to demand Allie’s return? Mayhap he will release her by a pure show of force.”

Jax shook his head. “That is doubtful,” he said. “Moreover, if Cloryn is compromised, I have no way of knowing if the other castles are, too. I do not want to ride all the way to Wales, presuming my castles are still intact, only to discover those have been compromised. Nay, love, I will take most of the men from Pelinom and nearby White Crag with me. Those two castles of mine will provide almost one thousand men. That will be sufficient to march upon Cloryn and demand Allie’s return, but if he does not return her, then I will have enough men to lay siege to Cloryn.”

Kellington’s expression suggested great displeasure at the entire scheme. “Then you are going?”

“I have little choice.”

Kellington’s gaze stayed on him a moment before hanging her head. “Then you are doing what this man who holds our daughter wishes,” she said. “You are walking into his hands.”

“I do not see any other way with Allie’s life at stake.”

Kellington was deeply torn. “But as long as you do not show your face, she will be safe because he will be expecting you to come,” she said, trying to reason out her thoughts. “But once you arrive, I fear that his reasons for keeping her alive will end. She will no longer be of value to him once you appear if it is, in fact, you whom he truly wants.”

Jax admitted the woman had a point but it didn’t crush his resolve. “He wants me to come,” he said, picking the parchment up from his desk and shaking at her. “I have no choice but to comply. If I do not, I risk Allie’s life.”

“And it is acceptable to risk your life, too?” Kellington fired back softly. She could feel the tears of heartache coming on. “I must risk you both? Jax, you are too old to be engaging in battle. You haven’t fought a battle in years. Why can you not send someone to Cloryn to mediate or, at the very least, make sure Allaston is really there and still alive? Why must you simply march straight into the jaws of the lion simply because some man tells you to?”

Jax knew she was upset. He was upset, too, but he was also trying to do what he thought he needed to do. “The man who holds Allie has all of the power,” he said, rather sternly in an attempt to make her understand. “I have no power at all. He has what I want, what I love, and he knows it. Therefore, I must do as he says. I must go to Cloryn to try and gain my daughter’s freedom. All of your arguing will not change what needs to be done.”

That was perhaps true, but Kellington was still trying to find another way that wouldn’t see both her husband and child risking their lives. “What if you were to ask de Vesci to intercede on your behalf?” she asked, desperate. “He would do this for you.”

Jax shook his head. “De Vesci is too old to travel these days. He cannot make the trip.”

“What of Denedor, his captain of the guard?” she asked. “Denedor is very persuasive.”

Again, Jax shook his head. “The last I heard, Denedor had taken his family to the Northlands because his grandfather had passed away and there was much turmoil as a result,” Jax replied. “I do not believe the man has returned yet. Moreover, I doubt de Vesci would let him go. You know how he keeps the man close.”

Kellington thought hard on more options. “What of William Marshal?”

“He hates me with a passion and you know it.”

“Hubert de Berg?”

“I killed a nephew in battle years ago.”

“The king?”

“John?” Jax snorted. “It would probably cost me everything I own. The less contact I have with the man, the better.”

Kellington couldn’t give up, not yet. She tried one last time. “Christopher de Lohr?”

Jax didn’t immediately dismiss her suggestion. In fact, he actually seemed to consider it. “He is the most powerful marcher baron in England,” he said. “I have never had any interaction with the man. I do not personally know him.”

Kellington felt a stab of hope at that. “At least he does not hate you or want to kill you,” she said. “I have heard talk of the man. They say he is fair and wise. He is liked a good deal. If such a man would intercede on your behalf, mayhap the man who holds Allie would respond to him.”

Jax nodded cautiously, thinking of the Earl of Hereford and Worcester, a man he only knew by reputation alone. De Lohr had been one of the more powerful players in King Richard’s court, a man known throughout the land for his fierce fighting and keen intellect. He had a brother, also, who was nearly as powerful. Christopher and David de Lohr were nearly legends in the annals of England’s history, much as Jax was, but for two entirely different reasons. De Velt and de Lohr had purposely stayed out of each other’s way, and for good reason; a battle between the two would more than likely lay half of England to waste. But times had changed. Jax was no longer a warmonger and de Lohr, from what he had heard, was enjoying peace along the Marches. The more Jax thought about it, the more he was coming to agree with his wife.

“De Lohr is well respected,” he said. “The man is known for his keen politics and negotiating skills. As much as John hates him, he also respects him a great deal and regularly solicits his advice. At least, that is what de Vesci says. De Vesci has high praise for de Lohr.”

Kellington nodded eagerly. “Mayhap you should send de Lohr a missive and explain the situation,” she said. “Mayhap he will agree to help, especially with a young woman’s life at stake.”

Jax lifted his dark eyebrows thoughtfully. “It is more than that,” he said. “The properties I hold are not far from Lioncross Abbey, his seat. If this man who holds my daughter begins to make trouble on the Marches, it will directly affect de Lohr. Mayhap he does not even know this is happening or, the more likely scenario is that he knows more than I do about it. Mayhap… mayhap I will visit de Lohr and seek counsel with him. Mayhap he can enlighten me as to what is truly going on along the Marches.”

Kellington liked that idea a great deal. She felt as if help was on the horizon, someone who would aid Jax and aid Allaston. Although she was still in turmoil over the situation, realizing her husband would seek out Christopher de Lohr for advice eased her panic somewhat.

“Then go to de Lohr,” she said. “Take your army and go to him. Solicit his counsel and his aid.”

Jax looked at her. “There is a real possibility he will not accept my visit,” he said quietly. “I am not exactly a man to be easily received. It is possible de Lohr will see me and my army and think I am there to lay siege to Lioncross and burn it to the ground. That is what a sane man would think, anyway.”

Kellington shook her head. “For what purpose?” she asked. “You have no reason to attack de Lohr. Moreover, you stopped doing that twenty-five years ago.”

“He may think I have decided to resume my conquest.”

“Then you will have to assure him that you are not.”

She made it sound simpler than it was but he didn’t argue. He simply went to her again and wrapped his arms around her, hugging the woman tightly and struggling against the guilt that was trying very hard to consume him.

He knew this was his fault, all of it. Now, he had to face something he more or less had expected to face within his lifetime. The old hatred, the blood of the innocent, was coming back to haunt him. All of the murder and conquest he had conducted twenty-five years ago was returning to the forefront, but now he was on the other side of that battle line. Back in the dark days of his youth, he had been the one killing and maiming, confiscating property and people as if they were simply objects for the taking. He hadn’t been human back then. He’d been a creature, a dark and terrible creature who fed off of human sorrow. All of England, Wales, and Scotland feared Jax de Velt because he was more ruthless than anything anyone had ever seen before. He had no soul. He had been darkness itself.

But that had changed when he had laid siege to Pelinom Castle and a young woman by the name of Kellington Coleby had made him understand things about life that he had never known. She had shown him love and happiness, humor and loyalty, and he had fallen in love with the woman. Twenty-five years later, he loved her more each day. They had a wonderful life together with a wonderful family, and The Dark Lord had changed into something unrecognizable, civilized and loving.

But The Dark Lord was still there, buried deep, now to be summoned forth by someone who was determined to threaten the safety of Jax’s family. Woe to the man who summoned The Dark Lord again, for all of England would run red with blood if Jax de Velt went on a rampage. The more Jax thought on the bastard who had abducted Allaston, the angrier he became. He hadn’t felt anger like this in years. Fire began to burn in the belly of the beast again, fire that had been dormant these long years. He understood vengeance, he understood it very well. Now, he had some vengeance of his own.

The man who abducted Allaston had called forth The Dark Lord and he was about to learn the truth behind de Velt’s reputation.

Hell would follow with him.

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