Page 61 of Cadell the Dragon

“I see.” His brother’s expression tightened. “Tell us all about it.”

While Johanna settled next to Katherine, he launched himself in the description of what he had found—or rather not found—in England.

“Johanna was right, the place I was looking for was next to the Scottish border. Since Peredur had been able to remember that it was called Stanley Manor, it didn’t take me as long as I’d feared to find it. But by the time I got there, Rhiannon was no longer there. I questioned the servants but no one knows what happened or where she is now. We can only hope that she is well.”

“What about Sir Humphrey? What impression did you get of the man?”

“I think she was right to fear some nefarious intent. He seemed a particularly devious fellow, though it is difficult to say exactly why I got that impression. Perhaps I was already ill-disposed toward him, after having read the letter.”

“Yes. Perhaps. Still, I think that, now you know where the manor is, I will send one of my men to investigate further.”

“Thank you.” Johanna appeared genuinely moved.

“And now that I’m back, Johanna and I will get married,” Cadell concluded. “And this time, nothing will stop us.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! I’m so happy for you,” Katherine cried out, falling into her new friends’ arms. Then she turned to address Cadell. “I cannot think of anyone who deserves happiness more.”

Of course, Siaspar would have told her about his lifelong obsession with the beautiful English lady. But he didn’t mind. Let the whole world know just how much he loved his wife, had done so from the moment he had become a man.

“Come,” Katherine said, standing up. “We were about to go and eat. You will share our midday meal.”

“I guess you won’t have heard since you’ve only just arrived,” Siaspar said while the two women led the way to the great hall, “but you’re not the only one getting married. Peredur has found himself a bride.”

“Has he now?” Cadell could not think of a man less suited to marriage. Their friend had always prided himself on the fact that he appealed to every woman who set eyes on him. But everyone knew it was less his personal charm that drew them, and more his prodigious fortune. Not that he was not personable when he chose to be, but the problem was, he didn’t do that very often, and he could be rather fickle and vain. “Who is the lucky lady?”

Would she still feel so lucky in a few years’ time? That remained to be seen.

“That is the most surprising thing of all. Enid is not a lady at all, but a simple villager.”

Cadell’s arched brow made it clear Siaspar had better carry on with his explanation. This was too good to be true. Mighty Peredur ap Hywel, married to a villager?

“She and another friend called Eira came to deliver a message to Mel one day. You know, Katherine’s lady in waiting.” Yes. The woman had been a maid before, and was of humble origins, so there was nothing surprising in the fact that her friends were villagers. What did not make sense was why the arrogant knight would have paid a woman like her any attention. “Peredur was visiting that day. He took one look at her and was lost. I swear he became a different man in the blink of an eye. About time, too. He was in danger of becoming insufferable.”

A laugh. “He’s been in danger of becoming insufferable from the day we met him. But I’m glad if all ended well. The woman agreed to have him, I take it?”

“She did, even though he proposed to her at the most ill-chosen moment possible. Or perhaps she agreed because of it, now that I think of it. It allowed her to see the man under the self-assured exterior he thought would sway her.”

“What do you mean?”

“Having gone to the village to speak to her, Peredur found her by the river, washing her clothes. Apparently, the mundane sight stirred him so much that he started declaring his feelings. They were surrounded by other villagers at the time who, as you can imagine, delighted in the spectacle of a mighty lord begging a woman of such low birth to have him.” A grin. “And then, lost to his tirade, he slipped on the muddy riverbank and fell into the water. When he resurfaced and saw that Enid was not even trying to stop herself from laughing, he proposed there and then.”

Cadell let out a snort. What a story. “Well, it seemed we handled him wrongly all these years. All he needed to become personable was to humiliate himself.”

“Apparently.” Siaspar shook his head. “Still, I cannot think of a more unlikely way to propose to a woman, can you?”

An impossibly lewd image crossed Cadell’s mind. His cock, sliding in and out of the most luscious mouth he had ever seen, the mouth he loved to kiss.

“I can,” he said under his breath.

“I see. Do I want to know how you⁠—”

“No.”

His brother chuckled. “No. I think it might be better I don’t know when or how you proposed to your lady. I’m glad you did find the courage to do so though, a second time. What a pair we make, you and I. Me, having to rid myself of a wife to be able to marry the love of my life and you, having to wait for her husband—” His face fell. “Forgive me, I don’t know why I said that. Rhun’s death is no laughing matter.”

No, it wasn’t, but Cadell had finally made his peace with the events of that terrible day. That had been the reason for his going away, and it had worked.

“It’s all right. I know what you mean. And it is true that we have had a hard time securing the hand of our English wives.”