Page 81 of The Mercenary

Indeed, everyone had been quick to leave the chapel. Some had already fetched their mounts while others spoke softly to each other. The mood was as somber as the cold, grey day.

Sabine remained silent. She didn’t know the clan chief well enough to comment. Instead, she listened to his easy conversation with Idalia, who’d come to know him quite well over the past months. It still shocked her that four such different men had become so close.

They were brothers, and Sabine was grateful Guy had found them. He needed this bond more than the rest, with perhaps Lance as an exception. She knew he’d never truly gotten past his mother’s desertion. And his father . . . even Guy had no idea if he was in England or France, though Guy assured her he’d turn up one day, as he always did.

These men, the order, were his family.

And now they were hers.

“So quiet, lady wife.”

She hadn’t seen him coming.

“Just thinking of . . . things.”

“Can we think of things on the way to Licheford?” He shivered, pretending to be cold, although Sabine knew it hardly bothered him. Guy had told her that he was accustomed to all varieties of weather, fair and foul, having campaigned in the outdoors most of his life.

No one cares about the conditions when they secure a mercenary for a mission, he’d said.

“I feel that you have an ulterior motive, husband,” she said now.

His smile confirmed that he did indeed.

“We’ve just committed ourselves,” Terric said, “to the most treasonous act imaginable, and you’re concerned about bedding your wife.” He rolled his eyes. “At least all is normal where Guy is concerned.”

Their laughter attracted the others, Lance and Conrad joining their small group as the last of the men dispersed.

“It is done.” Lance took Idalia’s hand.

“Langton agreed to deliver the missive.”

The missive demanding John treat with them.

“You will send me with him?” Guy asked.

Conrad stood closest to the chapel wall. He leaned against it as if he were in no hurry to part ways. “Aye.”

The group fell silent. That the archbishop would also be bringing the message to John was a bold statement, to be sure.

“The man has bigger bollocks than you, Guy,” Lance said.

Sabine tried hard not to visualize Guy’s bollocks just then. And failed. She guessed her cheeks reddened because the laughter only increased, with Sabine swatting Terric on the arm.

“I hope your sister does come to visit. Someone needs to tame this big brute.”

Sabine looked at Guy as he explained, “Cait has not been to England, to Dromsley, since . . .”

“We’ve much to do.” Lance pulled Idalia close. “Now that the oath has been taken, we have as much support as we’re likely to receive.”

“Not all of it.” Terric nodded his head toward the north. “My brother is sending men to Dromsley.”

“No.”

They all said it at the same time.

“This is not your clan’s fight,” Lance said.

Terric did not appear to agree. “But it is mine. Which makes it theirs too.”