Page 234 of Historical Hotties
Rotri shook his head, looking at his son with more delight than Domnall had seen in a very long time. “Not under Rhun’s wardship,” he said. “Undermine. And I would have to give permission for any marriage.”
It was as if a curtain was drawn back and the sun of possibilities was now blazing brightly upon them. Rotri wanted to keep Tamworth in the family and Domnall knew he’d go to great lengths to do it, but the sudden remembrance of an old missive from Rhun was unexpected. However, given that the mighty war machine of Ashington was involved, that might set up an epic struggle. If they were keen on Caledonia, too, then they would surely not want to relinquish her, not even for her father’s wishes from long ago.
If they could prove it.
A servant was riding for Dordon before the day was out.
CHAPTER FIVE
After waiting outsideof the garderobe for about fifteen minutes before he was impolite enough to check on the lady, Thor really wasn’t surprised to find her missing. Windows were open and she was gone. He was simply angry at himself that he’d let her trick him.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out where she had gone.
Henry was nowhere to be found when he charged back into the hall, so he informed the nearest servant that he was going to retrieve Lady de Tosni. In fact, no one seemed to be in the hall, his father included, so he headed out to collect his horse, which had been returned to Westminster by Daniel when Thor had gone to the tavern with the lady after the chaos at Gomorrah. But now, Gomorrah was once again Thor’s target as he headed out of the stable, only to be stopped by his men, who had seen him from the palace where they’d been waiting for his meeting with Henry to end. After a brief explanation as to where he was going and why, Clayne, Truett, and Darius were more than ready to return to Gomorrah with him.
While Thor’s men collected their horses, Thor went to the gatehouse to question the guards about letting a woman with white hair slip through. The main gates to Westminster weren’tnormally kept closed because of the administrative offices at the palace, so it wouldn’t have been difficult for a solitary woman to leave. No one was stopped going out, only coming in. The guards remembered her but there hadn’t been anything remarkable about her other than someone mentioning that the woman was flushed, as if she’d been running.
Not running so much as escaping.
That only made Thor angrier.
His men joined him at the gatehouse shortly and the group of them thundered into London, through the Ludgate entrance and on to the eastern side of the city where Gomorrah lay buried beneath the ruins of an old church. Rather than beat the door down like they did before, Thor was subtler this time.
He went in through the secretive secondary entrance.
As he’d hoped, they’d not barred the door after the initial breach earlier in the day. Perhaps they hadn’t realized it, or perhaps they didn’t care, but in either case, Thor and his men descended into the depths of the guild, down where it was dark and dank and smelled of rot. They could hear people talking in the distance and even some musicians striking up a tune, but no one stopped them as they came in the back way. It was quite a contrast to the resistance they’d encountered earlier in the day, and Thor had his men split up and hunt for the white-haired lady. No punching or kicking or fighting this time. They were moving in stealth, in the shadows. He had no idea where the guards were, the ones they’d encountered the first time, but he didn’t hunt for them.
He was hunting for something else.
Someoneelse.
In truth, the lady wasn’t difficult to find. She was on the next level down, sitting at a table with drinks spread out before her and deep in conversation with an older woman. Several feet away, couples danced to the strains of a citole. Thor sat downacross the table from her but it was a full minute before she even took notice of him.
Any hint of pleasantness vanished. Her eyes widened and the battle lines were immediately drawn as she picked up the nearest weapon, which happened to be a dull knife used for butter.
“I amnotgoing back,” she declared. “I do not care how many men you’ve brought with you this time. I will not go back, and if you try to force me, I’ll give you more of a fight than you expect.”
Thor didn’t move a muscle. He simply watched her face as she spoke. Truly, she had quite a face. Her lips curved in a most alluring way and her pert nose had an arrogant tilt to it. But the defiance in her voice was undercut by something else. He thought it was fear.
She’s afraid,he thought.
Fear and desperation.
He could smell it in everything about her.
“Is that why you ran?” he asked. “Because you are afraid?”
Her brow twitched in confusion. “Afraid?” she repeated. “Afraid of what? You?”
He remained cool. “You tell me,” he said. “I can see it in your face.”
“You see nothing. You do not know me.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I know enough about you to know that you are foolish,” he said. “Only a fool would run from the king’s directive.”
That took her down a peg or two but she was still indignant. “What you call foolishness, I call self-preservation.”
“What are you preserving yourself from?”
