Page 19 of The Knight's Pledge
“I came as fast as I could, my love.” Effie squeezed him and then held him away from her to scrutinize him. “Are you well? Have you beentreated well?”
“Oh, yes, Mama,” George said. “I have my own chamber and a nursie who is ever so good. I have lots of playmates and there are lessons. And Grandmamma visits me nearly every day.”
Effie felt as if someone wrapped a hand around her throat. “Grandmamma?”
George nodded, his rosy cheeks and his red hair just as vibrant as they had been in the wood, perhaps even more so, Effie thought, as his skin seemed to have paled. “Grandmamma Hargrave. She and Lady Paget brought me to see the king. That’s him, right there.” George half turned and pointed behind him at the man Effie only now noticed was sitting on the dais behind the center of a long table.
Sitting on a throne.
Footsteps sounded near her, and Effie looked up as Lucan Montague reached her and George. His blue eyes were icy, his thoughts unreadable. But his attention was for George alone.
“Good day, George. Do you remember me at all?”
“Good day. Yes, I do, sir. You are Lucan Montague. Mama shot you in your foot. Isit all better?”
The man’s thin lips quirked. “It is. Thank you for asking.”
“You are quite welcome. I am ever so glad that you have brought my mama to me. Have you met the king? His name is Henry, but I am to call him ‘my lord’ whenever anyoneelse is about.”
“I have met the king,” Lucan said. “In fact, I am here to see him myself.”
“That is very good, Sir Lucan,” George said sincerely. “It’s ever so nice that you can be here with Mama and Grandmamma Hargrave andUncle Padraig.”
Effie shook George’s hand to draw his attention to her. “Uncle Padraig is here?”
“Oh, yes, Mama. And not only him, but Auntie Iris, and Tavish and Lohock…Lock—” the boy struggled. “It’s quite hard to say it the way he does.”
“Do you mean Lachlan, George?” Lucan offered. His face seemed rather more pale than usual, and Effie wondered if something was amiss she was as yet unaware of, or if the interior of Westminster naturally sapped the life from its inhabitants.
“Yes, sir.” George looked back to Effie. “Did Father come, too?”
“Shh,” Effie said, drawing her son into another embrace. “He is not far away, my love. On that you can depend. And you shall seehim very soon.”
“Effie,” Lucan said quietly. And then he turned and walked toward the dais alone.
The other two children George had been playing with upon Effie’s arrival had vanished sometime during her reunion with her son, leaving the hall empty save for the king and asingle servant.
“Oh, yes,” George Thomas piped enthusiastically. “Let’s do go with him, Mama. I just know you and my lord will begreat friends.”
Effie swallowed and tried to force a smile while George pulled her to her feet with both hands. Perhaps she would have succeeded, her relief was so great at finally getting to look into his sweet face again. But just as they started forward toward where Lucan had gone to one knee, the single, round-topped door to the left of the table opened, and a ghost entered the hall.
* * * *
“Your Grace.” Lucan knelt and bowed his head before King Henry.
“Ah, Sir Lucan. So glad you at last decided to attend me—Ulric arrived what must be three weeks ago now,” he chastised, but his tonewas not unkind.
“Forgive me, lord,” Lucan replied. “I was yet recovering at Steadport Hall, and”—his words were cut off as he rose and the door to the left of where Henry sat opened. An old woman shuffledinto the hall.
Her face was deeply lined now, the skin around her eyes drooped. Her lips were colorless and drawn like the neck of a purse, and her gown sagged around her shoulders as she leaned heavily on the arm of her tall, skeletal companion. Bright streaks of white gleamed where before none had lived in her once glossy-brown hair. Lucan felt a sizzle of disbelief race up his spine, and it paralyzed himfor an instant.
By God—itwasCaris Hargrave, returned froma fiery grave.
Or hell.
Behind Lucan, George Thomas’s voice called out, “Grandmamma! You were right—look who has come!” The boy then dashed past toward where Caris Hargrave had swayed to a halt next toVivienne Paget.
“George, no!” Effie shouted sharply.
