Rose Victory - Eagle Series (24 page)

Henry had to smile at the earl’s
impressive and daunting posture.  “Are you sure, Eagle?  Because there are a lot of people down there who are just waiting for you to give an indication that you are leaving.”

Surprisingly, the earl laughed.  “Watch,
Sire.”  Roydon gave Sir Stefan, who still stood at the bottom of the dais, a signal.  Immediately the knight repeated the sign to a man standing just inside the Hall.  Henry watched as the man disappeared, only to return a moment later with ten of his fellow men-at-arms in a two column formation.  Not only that.  In front of the men-at-arms were four off duty soldiers of the King’s Bodyguard.  The troop of men stopped just inside the Hall.

Roydon glanced sideways at the
king.  “Still think someone will wish to put me to bed, Sire?”

“No, most definitely not.”  Henry glanced down to see Aguilus trying to peer round his father.  He had not moved from where Sir
Ivan had left him.  “Come here boy and learn how your father won my battles for me.  Strategy and meticulous planning always governed his actions and invariably led us to victory.”

Rafe led the four men of
the bodyguard across the crowded room while the rest waited by the entry.  They came to a stop when they reached their commander.  Sir Stefan looked up at Roydon, an easy smile on his face.  “My lord, your escort and honour guard.”

“By your leave,
Sire?”  Roydon waited for the king’s amused nod before bowing and offering his arm to his bride.  “My lady, our escort awaits.”

Lady Roslyn gave the earl a
grateful glance before laying her hand on his arm.  “My lord.”  Gracefully she sunk into a deep curtsey before the king.

The earl then glanced at Aguilus, who looked slightly put out, probably at not being included in the arrangements.  “Well squire
? We are waiting for you.  It’s your responsibility to lead your lord and lady to their escort.”

The smile that Aguilus gave his father could have lit up the whole Hall.  Hastily he
stepped in front of his parents.  “My lord, my lady, this way,” the squire bowed and pointed towards the foot of the dais, as if the escort were not clearly visible.  With a last bow to the king, the boy led the way down the steps towards the waiting soldiers.

Roydon smiled at his lady and her golden eyes smiled back at him
as they followed their son from the Hall.

T
he earl of Eagle Rock and his companions had no trouble reaching their chambers, where the honour guard left them.

“Lady Roslyn’s maid arrived a while ago, my lord.  She
waits inside.”  One of the two soldiers on duty reported as he held open the door to the ante-chamber.

The earl acknowledged the information and accompanied his lady into the room, followed by his son and the two knights.

A woman rose from the bench by the window.  Tall, slim and dark haired, with dusky skin and dark brown eyes, she curtsied deeply.  “Your Highness,” her voice soft and melodious, welcomed them into the room.

“It’s ‘my lady’, now, Antonia.
”  Lady Roslyn gently corrected the young woman, as she smiled up at Roydon.  “Antonia Salim is my kinswoman as well as my companion.”

Roydon felt an incredible feeling of
contentment as he gazed at his lady’s beloved face.  Then he dragged his eyes away to address the companion.  “Await your lady here, Antonia.  She will need you in a little while.”  The earl smiled to put the young lady at ease, then he turned back to his wife.

“Roslyn,” the earl waved Stefan forward.  “This is Stefan, a friend and commander of my troops at Eagle Rock.”

Stefan bowed, “It’s a pleasure to meet you at last, my lady,” he watched the lady closely.  “To tell you true, I never thought you would return,” he added candidly.  “Yet now do I understand why Roy was willing to wait indefinitely for you to come back.”  He smiled easily, the sincerity in his voice unmistakeable, “Your return has brought Roydon great happiness and for that alone you have my gratitude, lady, as well as my sworn pledge.”

“I thank you for your sincerity, Sir Stefan.”  Roslyn returned the knight’s intense look.  “In my country, family is
everything; our clans are the backbone of our society.  When an outsider is considered worthy, he is adopted into our clan, our family.”  The countess paused and smiled at her husband.  “Sir Stefan is such a one, is he not, my lord?”

“Most definitely.  He is also a pest
and likes to act like an idiot most of the time. But he is also a loyal and true friend, so I suppose he has been adopted,” Roydon ended with a grumble.

“Ha, you grumble, my lord, but now you have no choice.  When you accepted my oath of fealty you gave your word to protect me,” Stefan grinned.  “You can’t get rid of me now.”

“You, Stefan, need protection like I need a belly ache.”  Roydon turned to his wife, a long suffering look on his face.  “You see what I mean about a pest and a fool?”

Roslyn saw only the easy
camaraderie and friendship between the two men.  “Is he always like this?” she asked suppressing a smile.

Roydon nodded glumly
and then seemed to rally when his gaze fell on Sir Ivan.  “And this is Sir Ivan, my one time squire and now one of my household knights.  He too has been adopted into our family,” he smiled at the suddenly shy knight.  “He too is worthy.”

Sir Ivan
felt his face redden with pleasure.  “You honour me, my lord,” he murmured, as he stepped up to Lady Roslyn and bowed deeply.  “I am your most humble servant, my lady.  Anything that I can do for you, you have but to ask.”

“Thank you, Ivan.  I may call you Ivan, may I not?”

Another hot blush suffused the young knight’s face at Roslyn’s question.  “Of course, my lady.” 

“I can call him Ivan too,” Aguilus spoke up.  “But only when we are not on duty,” he clarified.  “I can call Sir Stefan, Uncle Stefan too, but only when I am not being a squire
.  Sometimes it’s a bit confusing!” he admitted.  “Like when I call Father ‘my lord’.  It’s a problem sometimes…”  Aguilus stopped talking abruptly when he noticed that everyone stared at him.  “Sorry,” he mumbled.  “I just wanted to ask what do I call…Lady Roslyn?  May I call you Mother in private?” he finished uncertainly.

Tears glazed her eyes as Roslyn drew Aguilus to her in a fierce hug.  “You can call me ‘mother’
whenever and wherever you want,” she drew back and tenderly brushed back the boy’s hair.  “I have missed you so much.”

“Aguilus, come here.”  The earl walked over to a low stool and sat down.  “
You have mentioned this confusion before, but not that you were having trouble with our arrangement,” a worried frown marred Roydon’s brow.

“I’m not, Father, not really.  It’s just that since we’ve been here
you have been…away and Uncle Stefan and Ivan have been so worried that…”  Aguilus took a deep breath.  “I am fine now, sir.”  He gave his mother a quick smile.  “Everything is alright now.”

Roydon stared intently at his son for a moment then he nodded.  “Very well, but you are to let me know if you have
…problems.”

“Yes, Father,” the boy nodded vigorously.

“Good.”  Roydon thought for a moment and then continued, “As to calling your mother, ‘Mother’, that will not be a problem.  We must protect her from unkind tongues, but as your supposed stepmother you and your half sisters are perfectly entitled to call her Mother.” The earl looked up for a moment to receive Roslyn’s nod of unequivocal agreement.

“Until we leave court I think it best if you are not seen together, there’s no sense in calling attention to the fact
that your eye colour is identical.”  Roydon had to smile at the pleased look that infused those self same pairs of eyes.  “Once we cease to be the centre of attention, it will just be an unusual coincidence.”

The earl now turned to speak to his friend. 
“Stefan, I think the sooner we go home the better.  My daughters should have returned from their visit to their grandparents and they have yet to meet their new brother and mother.”

“I couldn’t agree more,
Roy.”  Stefan grinned.  “Court life is both trying and dangerous,” gingerly he lifted his wounded arm in evidence.  “I will go now and make arrangements.  With any luck we could leave late tomorrow or possibly the next day, depends on how much baggage and people Lady Roslyn has.”  Stefan raised an eyebrow at the lady.

“I bring only Antonia with me.
”  Roslyn waved the lady forward and touched her arm affectionately.  “She will show you what needs to be taken.”

“Very little has been unpacked, sir.  One cart should be sufficient to carry my lady’s belongings.”  The companion spoke timidly and blushed as she looked at Sir Stefan, quickly looking away from his bold stare.

“Do you ride, mistress?”  Stefan asked, intrigued with the woman who looked to be at least a score and five and yet seemed so shy and timid.

Lady Roslyn answered for the girl, drawing Stefan’s attention away from her.  “We both ride, Sir Stefan.  You’ll find our horses in the stables.”

Stefan nodded and turned to the earl.  “Even if the ladies ride, we will still need extra guards for the return trip, Roy.”

The earl agreed.  “I will speak to the king about it tomorrow when I ask for permission to leave court.  Antonia, please go with Sir Stefan now and show him what needs to be transported, then return here to assist your lady.”

“Yes, my lord.”
Lady Antonia curtsied and left the room accompanied by Sir Stefan.

Roydon turned to address his son.  “Now I am going to have a little talk with your mother.”  Roydon glanced again at his lady, ten years of unanswered questions in his eyes.  At her almost imperceptible nod, he continued.  “Later I am sure she will want to speak to you, but meanwhile I want you to stay out here with Ivan.”

“Yes, Father,” Aguilus assented with a quick smile.

Taking Roslyn by the hand,
the earl retired to the inner chamber with his lady.

The moment the door closed behind them, Roydon drew his countess into his arms.  She came willingly
, her arms closing around him.  “I have missed you so much, Roslyn.”  The longing in the earl’s voice brought tears to his lady’s eyes.  “I have waited so long to hold you again.”

“I know
, my love, but we are together now.  I have missed my mate too.”  Roslyn clung to her husband as he bent his head and joined their lips in a kiss that they had only been able to dream about during the last ten years.

At last Roydon lifted his head and for a long moment he
just held his lady against him.  Tucking her head under his chin, he savoured the feeling of contentment and serenity that had settled around his heart; the feeling of ‘rightness’ and pleasure that holding his lady brought him.  He was whole again, at last.

The earl could have remained like that forever but they needed to talk.  He stepped back from the embrace and tipped Roslyn’s face up with his finger.  “You will not leave me again?”  The earl kept a hold of his lady’s
hand; the words were both an assertion and a question.

“No
, I will never leave you again.”  Roslyn cupped Roydon’s strong face with her free hand, tenderly caressing the stubble roughened skin.  “It has been…difficult staying away from you.”

“Why, Roslyn?  Why?”  The torment in Roydon’s vo
ice was palpable.  “I don’t understand any of this.   My obsession to follow an eagle up a mountain; the desolation, the emptiness I felt until you…appeared.”  Roydon refused to go into the ‘transformation’ now; there would be time enough for that later.  “The instant attraction, the possessiveness I felt for you.  The peace and solace you brought me and then you left.”  Roydon paused remembering the emptiness, the despair he had felt when he found himself alone on the mountain.  The dull ache he had lived with for all these years.

“I knew you for but one
night, but you took my heart with you when you left.”  Roydon’s hand tightened on hers.  “You will not leave me ever again.”  This time the earl’s stern words were a demand, a command from which he would not back down.

The countess closed her beautiful golden eyes for a moment and Roydon thought she would not answer him.  “No, my lord, I will never leave you again,” she reiterated, drawing him unresisting to a chair by the blazing hearth.  “Sit here and I will explain.”

Gracefully, Roslyn sunk down on her knees beside his chair, her hand still held firmly in Roydon’s grasp.  She didn’t think he would ever let go.  “I will explain this as best I can.”  Roslyn paused a moment ordering her thoughts.  “My people live scattered all over the world, sometimes in isolated clans, but usually two or three clans will settle together for protection.  Our main settlement is our island of Gibel, where my father the king, rules us all.”

“The
…special ones among us…”

“Special?  You mean
…”  Roydon interrupted, wanting to understand if she meant those that could transform.

Roslyn laid a gentle finger against his firm lips and shook her head.  “Later,” she whispered, as the firelight danced in her brilliant eyes.  “The special ones,” she continued when Roydon sat back in his seat, his eyes never leaving her face, “will spend their whole lives searching for their own specific mate.  Others of our people can sense these mates
, but only the pair can actually determine who is their other half, the person that will make them complete.  It is an intense feeling of belonging of being fulfilled only when your mate is near.  Very rarely do we find our mates to be outsiders”

“Like me.”

The countess nodded seriously.  “When it was reported to my father that a potential mate, a male, lived here, he sent me immediately to find out if you were the one for me.  It was a near certainty that you would be my mate because we knew of no other special female.  I lost my guardians on the way, but I did not turn back.  As I neared your mountain there remained little doubt in my heart that you were mine, my predestined mate.  The moment I saw you something fell into place in my soul, I knew then you were the only man for me.  My mate, my love.

“I did not know how to approach you.  I was alone in a strange land, so I watched you and I tried to get your attention, I even sent you the mating call.”  Roslyn shook her head remembering.  “But you are not one of us, you did not understand.”

“I did feel your call.  I thought I was going mad.”  Roydon would never forget that horrible sense of desolation and emptiness he had felt.  The need to find the eagle, even at the risk of his life, an unexplainable compulsion that he had not even wanted to control.

“We have very acute hearing,” his lady continued.  “I heard you speaking with Sir Stefan on the training field that day.”

Roydon looked at her, startled.  “You heard what my father had done?”

“Yes,
and I was glad that our union would solve your problems, would save your home for our children.”

“But you left,” the pain she heard in Roydon’s voice saddened Roslyn.

“I also heard you speaking to Stefan the next day, after I…called you again.”

Roydon remembered that was when he had told Stefan of his decision to marry Emma, when he had sent word of his intention to her father.

“I could not make you break your word or dishonour your father, but I couldn’t come away either without bonding with you.  Bonding would diminish your heartache, our heartache, after hearing my mating call.  So I lured you up the mountain and gave us a night of joy.”  Roslyn’s hands tightened on his.  “It was not our time, but I swore I would return to you.  You are my mate, my only mate.  There is, and never will be, another.”