63 Frost
XX Age of Kings

Their breathless delight had given way to talking late late in the night. Wrapped in the intimacy of the suite they had perched on the chairs and exchanged news and all those things that had been missed in a year of separation. With the snow unwilling to yield, Malcolm had hired a room and retired to it before dawn.

With the first touch of pink and gold on the horizon, Elyna found herself still unable to sleep. She and Malcolm had shared a kiss upon his proposal and her acceptance. Then an almost chaste farewell upon his departure in the early hours of morning. Still, her veins felt as though they were filled with lightning. There was no way that she could sleep. Which is how she spotted the lone figure in the settled snow. Crunching through white powder that reached his knees, was Edmund.

She pushed open the window, grimacing as the heat fled the warm room and the fury of frozen air replaced it. Her actions scattering snow from the window with soft little thudding noises as they landed.

His attention caught, Edmund looked up at the tavern and met her gaze. Finally he gave a silent nod and found his way inside.

In the parlour, he peered around as though looking for someone. Elyna sighed, ‘the Duke took a room,’ she explained and set the tea pot back on the fire.

‘I see,’ Ed stood by the door, gloves folded in his hand. He looked around again, ‘you’re up early…’

‘I didn’t sleep,’ Elyna poured him a cup of tea and sat down beside the fire. Her adrenaline finally running out and leaving her tired, wishing for the brief hours of sleep she had missed when Malcolm had retired to bed.

‘I wanted to tell you,’ Elyna folded her hands in her lap, ‘I wanted to tell you everything…but I’ve not seen you and you’ve been so close to Mother…’ she ran her fingers down the bridge of her nose. ‘We used to be so close Ed, more than anything, I wanted to tell you.’

Edmund finally peeled off his outer layers, hanging them up to dry. ‘I…I’m still struggling to understand what you saw in him,’ he scowled but approached, dropping into the opposite chair. ‘I met him once or twice, I just don’t understand it. He was so much older.’

‘Twice my age,’ she admitted and looked down, Elyna exhaled slowly, carefully. ‘He…I should have been a better noble daughter Ed, I know that I’m a sorry disappointment to the family,’ she swallowed her pride, ‘that’s how he stole my heart.’

‘So you did care for him?’

‘Of course I did,’ she pressed her hands over her eyes, unable to bear her own admission. ‘He…I could be something more for him, something - someone other than a failure.’ She swallowed, ‘I wanted that so badly, I would have given anything to be seen…’

Edmund had interlocked his fingers, also watching his boots. ‘He coerced you Elyna, he took advantage of your youth.’

She remained silent. The fault wasn’t all Yvans, but age and experience had taught her that Edmund was right.

‘You’re up early,’ Elyna curled up in her chair, exhaustion was pulling at her. Making her limbs and eyelids feel heavy as she wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

‘I feel I have made a rather large mess of things.’ He admitted. He looked as though he hadn’t slept either, but surprisingly he looked more sober than she had seen him all season. ‘I wanted to catch up with our parents, and see if I could convince them that the Duke might be an appropriate match for you.’

Surprised, she stared at him. ‘Father gave his blessing,’ she admitted and wondered if she had remembered to tell Malcolm. ‘He renewed it yesterday. And with all that snowfall, there’s no way down the mountain.’ She smiled again. ‘Malcolm and I are engaged,’ she couldn’t help but smile.

‘Engaged?’ Ed was on his feet, ‘then…well congratulations!’ He faltered and ran his hand through his hair, ‘what about Mother?’

Elyna sighed, ‘I don’t know yet. But with your help, perhaps we can help her see? This is advantageous,’ she grimaced, nose wrinkling.

‘Is that why you accepted the proposal?’ He teased before falling silent at her look of horror.

‘I didn’t fall in love with a Duke,’ she protested, cross. ‘I fell for a man I knew as Malcolm Bennett.’

‘A love match then? I think I’m happy for you sister.’

‘Ed,’ she grinned, ‘honestly you’d never believe me. But the moment I met Mal…the rest of the world just fell away.’

‘I might know something about what you speak,’ he mused. Edmund watched her moving around the room, collecting her coat and hat. ‘Where are you off to now?’

‘I just…there’s someone I need to speak to.’

Ed sat down with his tea, ‘I’m sorry for last night.’

‘Forgiven,’ she smiled. Nothing was going to ruin her mood this day.

Elyna set out into the early Dawn. It had stopped snowing but it was hard work to wade through the deep compacted powder. But she persisted, clapping her hands together to stave off the cold. She stomped all the way to the Keep, where the courtyard at least was cleared of snow. There, where she had expected to find him was Jared Warrick with a shovel in hand. Working instead of practising with a blade as she had expected.

Silent, she picked up a shovel that had been set aside and moved to help clear snow beside the large man.

‘I get the impression that you don’t like me,’ she said quietly. ‘There’s little I can say to change your mind. But I can attempt to show you through my actions how much I care for Malcolm.’

Jared Warrick was a devastatingly handsome man. He looked like one of those white knights depicted in all of the best storybooks, the kind that rode off into the sunset with the princess to live happily ever after. His light eyes and golden hair softened the dark scowl his features seemed to settle into naturally. A look that, not for a second, matched his kind, genuine nature. When people spoke of lord Warrick, they seldom had anything ill to say, and why would they? He was the champion of his people, a shining example of a nobleman, a baron, a father, and one of the most famed marksmen the realm had ever known.

Light of foot and lean of limb, he made short work of clearing a path in the snow, making sure the way was safe for any who chose to come and go, sand sprinkled wherever stone had been revealed. “Lady Burhan,” he greeted Elyna as she approached, visibly taken aback by what she had to say. Jared took swift control of his moment of shock, letting it pass with an ease only a lord could master.

“Lady Burhan,” he said, “I can assure you I neither think nor feel anything of the sort. Furthermore, I am concerned that you consider us well acquainted enough to muster any such thought.”

His fingers curled about the shaft of the shovel as he brought it upright and set it aside in the snow as if he no longer fancied the task. Jared removed his gloves and pressed them into his pocket, tucked beneath the veil of his cloak. “If there is something you would like to discuss, Lady Burhan, might I invite you to join me inside for a cup of tea?”

The wind whistled over the courtyard, picking up the carefully shovelled snow and dumping it back down like an angry sprite on the sand that had been so carefully sprinkled. Elyna let out the breath that had caught in her lungs. Not for the first time in her life, and she feared not for the last, she felt as if the world had lurched sideways. As though the snow slid away under her feet and left her scrambling for balance. She had made a misstep. Now, somehow, seven knew how, and had to correct it. So she offered a cautious smile to the Baron and quietly accepted his offer of a warm drink.

The Baroness was undoubtedly a handsome man. Anyone could appreciate that. And as Elyna followed him into the Keep, she reviewed each of her previous interactions with him. Why, why had she felt this near desperate need to confront him with his ill-thoughts toward her. It had been a compulsion to seek him out and now she struggled to understand it.

So it was with uneasy conscience that Elyna removed her scarf, taking time to unwind it from her neck before coiling it between her hands and setting it to the side. She settled on a window seat as Jared summoned hot drinks and took his own place in the room. What had she wanted to discuss with him? He couldn’t know about Malcolm’s proposal, no one did yet. Elyna was struck with the sickening knowledge that it wasn’t her place to reveal it either. That was a conversation Malcolm should have with his friends and family.

She pushed her fingers through her fringe before setting both hands on the seat, peering up at the handsome man. He was magnificent, yet so different in appearance to the wolf who had stolen her heart. She shouldn’t be here. She should be back at the inn, waiting for Malcolm to wait. In another world, without so many rules and restrictions she would have crawled beneath the covers with Malcolm and curled up to sleep within his arms. Never, had she felt so tired.

‘My apologies, my Lord,’ Elyna grimaced as she struggled for a way to explain herself. ‘You are quite right, in all of our interactions you have been most pleasant.’ She offered a faint smile. She had even suspected not two nights ago that he might be pleased if there was a match between herself and Malcolm.

‘I suppose that I am here, on a fools errand, because you seemed so unlike yourself last night.’ She frowned and forced herself to look up at the man, ‘in my experience…I am usually a cause of such consternation. If I had offended you in some way I wished to apologise…although my visit this morning may have done more harm than good.’ She looked down at her boots as the toes pressed against the floorboards.

Jared ordered tea and sat, allowing the noblewoman her chance to give thought and then breath to her concerns. The tea was delivered and, unlike most, Jared stirred a lump of sugar into his cup. He added a splash of extra milk before giving the mixture a stir. “Nonsense,” he said, finally, “you’ll not address me by such titles. Jared is just fine.” He paused then, taking a moment to blow on and then sip from the cup of tea. The extra milk had cooled it enough to taste for now.

“I’ll be frank with you, Elyna—I hope you don’t mind me calling you by your name. The duke and I have been friends a long time. In fact, our friendship may have seen as many winters as you yourself have known. Malcolm is not only my friend, you must know I consider him my brother. And, as brothers do, we fight. I will not divulge as to the nature of our most recent disagreement. I can, however, say hand on heart,” and he did raise his free hand to his breast then, “that you were not at the centre of it.”

It was then Jared studied the woman for a spell. She was pretty, had he not noticed that before? He said then, without too much thought, which was rather candid of the lord, “I can see why Malcolm thinks you’ll make a perfect match for his son, Marcus. The young man will need someone to guide him.”

Ely offered a smile at the Lion, ‘Jared it is,’ she agreed to use his less formal name and felt some of her tension ease. As though weights were gently lifted from her shoulders.

With her hands curled around the cup of black tea, she bent her head to take a careful sip of the hot liquid. So she had not been involved in their disagreement the night before? In truth, Elyna hadn’t really thought she would have been. Thankfully it had been a way to explain herself this morning, even if a little untrue. Still, she remained curious as to the reason of their disagreement.

Malcolm was generally a calm man, he didn’t do things without a reason. If he and Jared argued then she hoped it could be easily mended before turning to a bigger rift.

Any sense of relief fled as Jared spoke again. Taking another sip, she nearly choked. What? Elyna set her cup down carefully, swallowed the tea and forced a faint smile. Taking pain to keep her features neutral.

‘Forgive my surprise,’ she let out the breath caught in her lungs. ‘I didn’t realise Malcolm felt that way.’ It hurt to breathe. Don’t panic, she told herself, don’t panic it’s just a misunderstanding.

‘What did he say?’ She frowned and searched Jareds expression. ‘Forgive my curiosity…but you can imagine I feel such comments quite personally.’

Elyna swallowed the lump at the back of her throat. ‘Did, does he have plans to such effect?’ She could only hope that he would divulge the truth to her. Then armed with the facts she could make up her own mind.

Jared took his time to consider the woman’s question, almost as if he enjoyed the weight of the sudden tension in the air. Had Malcolm deceived him or was it Elyna who felt that way? “Forgive me if I’ve said too much,” Jared offered. “I assumed the two of you had spoken at length about the idea of a match? But then, I suppose, the duke is a busy man.”

The baron looked at the woman as though he pitied her. “I don’t imagine either of his children will ever accept you as a mother figure, but perhaps as someone they can learn to trust, given time, and confide in. Marcus has quite the temper. He’s rash in every sense of the word, and every bit his grandfather.” He paused to take a sip of tea. “I fear the boy has forgotten what fun is or probably never knew.” Jared teased.

He had not so quickly forgotten what Owen had done and what it meant to come between the duke and his family. If Elyna was to be just that, the baron thought that perhaps he should choose his words with more care around her. “Malcolm cares a great deal for you. My only hope is that you are genuine in your returned affection for him. He’s a complicated man, Elyna. But he’s honest and so very loyal. He deserves nothing less than that in a love match. I hope you are everything Owen described you to be. The man speaks very highly of you, after all.”

Elyna shook her head slowly, she lifted a hand to her temple. As though she could rub away the headache that was forming. ‘We just…spoke more of me being a match for Malcolm.’ She admitted, ‘rather than Marcus,’ the woman struggled to swallow the lump in her throat before she chocked on it. ‘I could never be a match for Marcus.’

Elyna edged back, leaning against the chair as the baron continued a different train of thought. At first she was relieved until she could only nod. ‘I…’ any certainty she had felt that morning had surely been stripped away. ‘I don’t think I’m ready to be a Mother to anyone, not just yet.‘ The woman confided and dreaded what he might think of her. What had Owen said? That she was too young, or was it too immature?

What else could she say? Elyna had never considered being the boys Mother, but in name she would be. She rubbed her head again, the pain in her temple was only getting worse. ‘I would hope that…they could learn to trust me.’ She admitted finally. ‘It must be so hard to lose a Mother so young,’ Elyna shook her head as the Baron teased. When she thought about the two small babes that they would have been. Her heart broke a little for them. ‘No one could ever replace her.’

Jared seemed determined to batter her with difficult subjects and the woman steadied herself with a sip of tea. Grimacing as he came to a pause. It was hard to imagine Owen speaking highly of her at all.

‘I love Malcolm,’ Elyna said slowly, carefully so that it could not be missed. She looked up to meet Jareds gaze then, she wasn’t ashamed of her feelings for the wolf. ‘He deserves the very best, and all the happiness in the world.’ She touched her tongue to her teeth. ‘I am…imperfect, and I have made mistakes for which we have both suffered. But for as long as Malcolm will have me, I am his.’ Elyna set her drink down again.

‘Perhaps I might even recover my friendship with Owen, if you believe he still thinks well of me.’

Jared studied the woman. If Owen had fallen out with her, he hadn’t made it known. Jared knew about the letters, but had put it down to Owen trying to protect rather than hinder his brother and any relationship he might seek to form with the noblewoman. What was she hiding, he wondered. What did her pretty words seek to conceal?

Jared set his tea down and leaned back in the chair, saying nothing, though his gaze and the slight offset of his brow questioned in silence what he dared not to ask. Was she telling him the truth? He could only hope she was. So many girls had tried to win the duke's attention over the past decade and all of them had failed. What was it about this one, the baron wondered.

“I’m glad we talked,” Jared said. “I hope any confusion has been set straight.” He glanced across at her, finding it easy to hold the woman’s gaze. “I won’t take up anymore of your time, Lady Burhan.” He rose then and bowed his head to bid her good day before taking his leave.