A Battle Lord’s Heart Read online

  There was a ripping sound behind them. Someone was tearing the black linen banners from the outer walls. Atty turned to her husband as the crowd surged toward them. Her eyes mirrored his thoughts.

  They thought we were dead. The compound was mourning us!

  A frightened whimper came from inside the carrier. The noise of the people celebrating their Battle Lord and Lady’s arrival had awakened the infant. Quickly, Atty lowered a strap and reached inside, lifting the baby and cradling him under her chin as she tried to sooth him, covering his ears against the din. At the sight of the tiny child, the crowd quieted, their eyes riveted on the mother and son. Yulen saw he had their attention, and took advantage of the lull.

  “Good people of Alta Novis. My sincerest apology in what you’ve had to go through these past few months. The story of what happened to us is a long and complicated one. But you’ll get all the details as soon as we’ve been able to rest and get ourselves reacquainted with loved ones.”

  In the distance he could see Tory running through the mainway, her arms spread wide to fling herself into Fortune’s embrace. He had no idea where MaGrath and Madigan had gone, but it didn’t matter.

  “I also bring you more good news,” Yulen informed them, smiling at his wife. “Atty has given me a son. Please welcome Mattox D’Jacques, Battle Prince of Alta Novis.”

  The cheer that escalated at this news frightened the baby even more. Holding him tightly, Atty tried to calm the wailing infant. She shot Yulen a pleading look. Quickly, Yulen dismounted and walked around to help her out of her saddle. Keeping his arm around her waist, he escorted her into the main hall where it would be somewhat quieter.

  Behind them, the celebration would continue for the next three days.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Gentle Kisses

  “It was Madigan who sent me the plea for help,” Batuset told Yulen. “She was beside herself, her and almost the entire population of this compound. When two weeks had gone by, and they’d gotten no news back from Atty or Liam, she sent another forty soldiers to Bearinger. When they returned, the news of what they’d found was devastating. She got in touch with me, so I took a small battalion of my own to see for myself.” The big bear of a man shuddered at the memories. “Mother of mercy, Yulen, what else were we supposed to think? We found parts of your armor. We found what was left of your horse. We found Verris’s head, finally, so we could give the man a proper funeral. We were still walking around in a daze when you showed up at the front gates, like ghosts risen from the dead. No wonder the perimeter sentry went into shock!”

  It was three days later. They were seated in the living area of the new lodge, speaking about what had happened. How they had coped. How they had survived.

  “The sight of that compound will forever haunt me,” Fortune said softly. He held Tory in his arms as they sat on the rug beside the fireplace. Tory felt her husband shiver as he pressed his forehead to her neck, and she patted his hands crossed around her middle.

  “To be honest, the thought of sending back a message never occurred to me,” confessed Yulen. “I never even thought about you discovering the remains of Bearinger. I was in a coma for most of two months. And then, right after that, Atty went into premature labor.”

  “You’re lucky she didn’t do it earlier,” MaGrath said darkly from where he and Madigan sat, chairs scooted next to each other. “With the stress she was going through, you’re lucky you have a wife and son at all!”

  Yulen glanced down at where Atty was curled up beside him in the large, comfortable chair. Mattox was sound asleep, arms and legs folded underneath him as he lay tummy-down and bottom-up on his father’s warm abdomen. One of Atty’s hands rested lightly on the baby’s back. Impulsively, Yulen placed a hand over hers. Unconsciously, their fingers laced, forming a protective tent over their son. “You drew an arrow on Mother and Liam?” he asked her softly in amazement.

  Atty replied with a slight shrug of one shoulder. “I would have shot them, too, if they had refused to let me go after you.” Lifting her face to him, she clarified, “I wouldn’t have hurt them. Just pinned them down until they saw things my way.”

  Yulen chuckled. “You were saying, Zane?”

  Batuset swirled the last of his beer around the bottom of his mug. “We were in shock. So many men lost. So many lives. The carnage... We thought the Bloods were still out there. It was pure panic here. We held your funerals last month, although we had no bodies to burn.” He glanced at the couple. “We burned two piles together, symbolically together. We felt it had to be that way.”

  “Thank you, Zane,” Yulen solemnly replied. “So, how did the compound get through the winter?”

  “Physically? Quite well. Of course, I stopped the work on the new wall, and used those men to further protect the compound. Mentally, however, that’s a different story.” Batuset pointed toward Madigan. “She was a pillar of strength for your people, even though she was crumbling inside. First Rory, then you and Liam.” He tossed back the last of his beer. “God, what is it about the women of Alta Novis?”

  His remark had them laughing softly.

  “If there are stories and songs about the two of you now, just imagine what it’s going to be like once news of this latest gets out,” MaGrath stated. “Before you know it, the thousand Bloods overtaking Bearinger will become two thousand. It’ll be interesting to see how Atty’s take-down of that Blood leader is recounted.”

  “I wish I could have been there when she had,” Batuset admitted. “My word, that must have been something to see! So far, all I have to show for her skills is two of my banners with holes in them.” He gave her a stern but playful look. “The moment I saw that arrow coming over the wall, I knew without a doubt you were back.”

  Atty smiled. Once they had finally managed to enter the main lodge, Berta was there crying buckets of tears as she served them a light meal, and oohed and ahhed over the baby. It took nearly two hours to calm everyone down enough so Yulen could relate a sketchy account of the past several months, and promise more details in the days to come.

  It was after midnight when they were able to retire to their new lodge, where Yulen tore the black wreath off the front door. Once inside, the place looked exactly as they had left it...until they reached the top of the stairs.

  Their bed had been filled with flowers. But not with dead flowers. Not with flowers brought and placed in grief and remembrance. Every inch of the quilt was covered with a riotous kaleidoscope of color, brought there by many hands which had ventured outside the compound walls in the dark to pick the new spring blooms while Yulen and Atty had been inside the main lodge answering questions. The heady perfume of the enormous pile could still be detected from the top covering down to the sheets.

  “Are you still intent on rebuilding Bearinger?” Batuset asked.

  “Yeah. Not right now, but soon. Even though we managed to bring back two hundred of our men, there’s just as many that didn’t return with us. Let’s honor their memories first, then we’ll talk reconstruction.”

  Mattox snorted in his sleep. Lifting his head sleepily, he gradually turned his head to rest his other cheek on Yulen’s stomach before drifting back into slumber. Everyone was riveted at the sight.

  “Yulen, isn’t he too young to be able to lift his head yet?” Madigan pointed out.

  The Battle Lord shrugged. “I don’t know. Is he?”

  “He’s not even a month old,” Liam pointed out, also dumbfounded. “He shouldn’t have the strength in his neck muscles yet.”

  It was Tory who softly commented. “He’s Mutah. You might be surprised at what he can do as he grows older. After all, look at Atty. She made her first kill when she was two months old.”

  Yulen smiled down at his wife who was tenderly stroking their son’s back. Giving the top of her head a gentle kiss, he agreed. “One thing’s for certain. I can never say that life is dull with my wife around.”

  “Can we look forward to another D’Jacques mak
ing an entrance in the near future?” Tory inquired, while Fortune goosed her for her lack of manners.

  Before her husband could answer, Atty placed a finger over his lips. “You promised me a daughter,” she reminded him with a twinkle in her eye.

  “We’ll talk about it later.”

  “No, we won’t.” She shook her head. The shoulder-length waterfall of blue hair brushed over the arm he had draped around her shoulders. “You can’t go back on a promise.”

  “Atty, you ruptured an artery—”

  “And you had the crap kicked out you,” she interrupted, burying her face in the warm hollow of his shoulder. “I’ll be fine next time.”

  Yulen turned a halfway pleading look to MaGrath. “Would you talk some sense into her, Liam?”

  Instead, the physician grinned and held up his hands in surrender. “For once, I’m staying out of this argument.”

  Looking back down at his wife, Yulen asked, “What if the next one’s not a girl?”

  “You’re not stupid. What do you think?”

  “What if we’re not able to have a girl?”

  “Then I guess we’re just gonna have a grand old time making babies, Yulen. Geez!” When her last comment drew laughter, Atty wrinkled up her nose. “I’m serious!”

  “We know you are,” Yulen laughed softly, giving her a squeeze. “Okay, so what if the next one is a girl? That means we have one of each, and we can stop there, right? Either one of us goes on a contraceptive, or we curtail some of our little midnight escapades.”

  “In your dreams, mister! If you want to sleep with me in that bed up there, you damn well better make it worth my time!” she warned him hotly.

  Their laughter increased, threatening to wake the baby. Exasperated, Atty started to get up to take Mattox to the nursery where it certainly was quieter. Yulen would have none of it, grabbing her before she could get out of the chair and pulling her back down against him. Face to face, he smiled slowly and tenderly into her softening gaze, then gave her another gentle kiss, this time on the lips.

  And another. And another. Until there was no one left in the world except the three of them on a long, lazy afternoon, with the promise of two hearts beating in unison as the compound around them shredded the last of the black linen.

  For all of them, the celebration was only the beginning.