With Dreams Only of You Read online

  Eryx went over to the chair where he had deposited the wrapped parcel. Carefully, he uncovered it and lifted it up into the light.

  “This,” he said, the awe back in his voice. “A blade left behind by the Romans. I found it buried in a hole in one of the ancient walls. Stones were falling away and this is what was revealed.”

  Broderick was on his feet again, making his way towards Eryx and the blade. His expression held the same wonder that Eryx had felt when he’d first discovered the sword. Legends of Romans were part of the fabric of the north, tales of their terror and greatness, and finding a relic from those ancient of days was not unusual, but it was quite exciting. Broderick peered closely at the blade, visually inspecting it, before reaching out to take it from Eryx’s grip. Carefully, so carefully, he held it.

  “Magnificent, Eryx,” he breathed, holding it up so that he could get a clearer view of it. “Look at the craftsmanship, positively stupendous!”

  “What is stupendous?”

  A soft, female voice came from the solar entry. Eryx knew the tone of that voice before he even turned around. The dulcet, sultry tones of a lady he saw in his dreams both day and night. He savored that voice, that delicious breathy whisper, as he turned to face a vision more beautiful than all things combined in heaven and earth. He was blinded by the sheer radiance of it.

  Let there be light….

  Lady Frederica de Titouan stood in the doorway. It was as if no one else in the entire world existed for her. As her gaze fell upon him, her pale blue eyes riveted to his face as if she were incapable of looking at anything else. Their eyes met and, for a second, no one moved. They just stared at each other. Then, a smile lit up her features and she came forward into the room.

  “Greetings, Sir Eryx,” she said in her sweet, almost child-like voice. “I was told you had arrived.”

  Eryx’s heart began to pound against his ribs and his breathing quickened. Something about the woman fed his joy like no other. He’d thought of no one since the day he’d met her those few weeks ago. He suddenly couldn’t remember when he hadn’t known her, when his heart hadn’t sung with happiness at the mere thought of her. She was beautiful, kind, and gracious, and she had a silly little habit of wrinkling her nose when she laughed. God’s Bones, he loved that about her. There wasn’t anything about her he didn’t love.

  “Good day to you, my lady,” he said. “How did you know I was here? I have only just come.”

  She lowered her gaze in a knowing gesture. “Pelinom is a castle that is rife with gossip and rumors, I have found,” she said. “Therefore, I knew you had arrived before you had even set foot inside the keep. I have spies everywhere.”

  Eryx laughed softly. “I have no doubt, my lady,” he said, his gaze raking over her. “I am very glad to have come, as you are looking very well today. You are a bright bit of beauty against this gray backdrop of winter.”

  Frederica grinned, biting her lip because her grin threatened to burst wide in an utterly giddy way. “Thank you,” she said. “It is agreeable to see you again, also.”

  Eryx returned her smile. “I sincerely hope the trumpets heralding my arrival did not disturb you.”

  Frederica giggled. “Not at all,” she said. “But the weather is cold and terrible for travel. I hope nothing serious brings you to Pelinom?”

  Eryx shook his head. “Nay, not serious,” he said, thinking of the ancient blade he had brought. “I simply wanted to give you something and it could not wait.”

  Frederica’s face lit up. “A gift?” she said, gleeful. “I am thrilled and honored, my lord. What is it?”

  Without taking his gaze off of her, he reached out and grasped the blade still in Broderick’s hands. “I found this and immediately thought to give it to you,” he said, holding the blade up between them. “This is an ancient Roman sword, something I found at the Roman castle not far from Prudhoe. It seems to me that something that has survived so long hints at the untold tales of the man who once owned it. Mayhap… mayhap it was a family heirloom, given to him by his mother and father. Or mayhap it was a gift presented to him from his wife. Mayhap there is a good deal of happiness this sword represents from a wife to a husband, as if she gave it to him with her blessing so that it would protect him.”

  Frederica was enraptured from both the story and the blade. As she looked at the blade, dark with age, she could only imagine the mists of romantic tales behind it, mostly because that was the way her mind worked. She was a lass wrought with romanticism. Her wide-eyed gaze moved between the weapon and Eryx’s face.

  “Do you really think so?” she asked, her voice filled with awe. “What a magnificent weapon it is. And look… there seems to be something written on it. Do you see those odd scratches on the metal?”

  Eryx tore his gaze off of her long enough to look at the oxidized blade. “Indeed, I did,” he said, glancing at Broderick. “I was hoping your uncle, being that he is a scholar, might be able to tell us what it says.”

  Broderick was looking at the pair with a smirk on his face. “So you did realize I was in the room, after all?” he teased. “I was certain that you two thought you were alone.”

  Frederica flushed a bright shade of red. “Uncle,” she scolded. “What a scandalous thing to say.”

  Broderick laughed. “Freddie, feigning ignorance is quite practiced with you,” he said, laughing again when she shook her head and turned away from him, moving for the fire. He looked at Eryx, who was only marginally less embarrassed. “So the blade has words upon it, does it? I would be very interested to know what it is. Hopefully it is not a curse against the man who takes it from its safe haven.”

  He meant it as a taunt to Eryx, who smiled weakly. He was distracted, however, by Frederica over near the hearth as Broderick took the blade and sat down with it, holding it up against the light of a bank of fat tapers behind his chair. The old man scrutinized the blade, taking the hem of his woolen tunic to try and wipe away some of the centuries of oxidation.

  “Well,” he muttered, trying to clear up the etchings. “What can you tell me, my friend? What stories do you have to tell?”

  Eryx tore his focus from Frederica to look at Broderick. “Can you make out anything?” he asked. “Can you even tell what language it is?”

  Broderick shook his head. “There is a good deal of grit and dirt on the blade,” he said. “I will take it to my smithy to see if he can clean it off.”

  Eryx took a few steps in his direction. “I would prefer not to let it out of my sight or out of the keep,” he said. “Summon your smithy to come to the keep to take a look at it. I do not want the lady’s valuable gift damaged in any way.”

  Broderick shrugged. “As you wish,” he said, still peering at the sword and its well-forged edges. “How long will you stay with us, Eryx?”

  Eryx smiled at Frederica when she looked to him, bashfully, as if to influence his answer. How long will you stay with us? Eryx wanted to stay for eternity, or at least long enough to offer for Frederica’s hand. He realized, the more he looked at the woman, that marrying her had been his goal all along. Perhaps that was why he had been so furious at Robbin for showing interest in her as well. This is the woman I shall marry, he told himself. But he still had to tell Frederica. He could only hope and pray that she was agreeable because if she wasn’t, it would surely crush him.

  “At least through the night,” he said. “My soldiers will be expecting me back at the garrison soon and if the Scots are truly on the move, then I must return.”

  Broderick nodded, his gaze still fixed on the blade. “Indeed, you must,” he said. “In fact, I will send fifty men with you to reinforce your ranks. As I recall, Corchester Castle is rather small. It cannot hold more than one hundred men.”

  Eryx nodded, watching Frederica as she held her hands out to the blaze to warm them, all the while smiling sweetly at him. He smiled back.

  “I have been able to squeeze about one hundred and twenty-five men into the courtyard,” Eryx
said, his eyes still on Frederica. “But that was in the summer when there were not snow drifts on the ground and frozen weather. It would be difficult to do that now, as the men would freeze.”

  “Do you have shelter for them, then?”

  Eryx nodded again. “I do,” he replied. “I can get fifty men into the tower and I also have a stable for the horses where more men can be sheltered. In all, I can shelter around one hundred men.”

  Broderick was satisfied. “Excellent,” he said. “You may take my men with you on the morrow when you go.”

  “Thank you, my lord.”

  Broderick was still focused on the sword as Eryx and Frederica passed coy smiles between them. Broderick kept glancing up at the pair, grinning, thinking it was quite touching the way de Reyne, a rather hardened and serious knight, had fallen for his sweet, and sometimes silly, niece. While Broderick and Frederica were technically cousins, the difference in ages between them led to her referring to Broderick as uncle and his wife as aunt. In like manner, Broderick referred to Frederica as niece. In truth, it was a lovely match and Broderick had been expecting Eryx to ask for Frederica’s hand long before now. It was obvious that the pair was smitten with one another and Broderick had already written his cousin, Frederica’s father, to tell him the wonderful news and assure him that Eryx de Reyne would make a very fine husband for Frederica. Now, if Broderick could only persuade Eryx to propose marriage, then all would work out as it should. Perhaps the sword, the gift, was a prelude to that. Broderick hoped so.

  “Freddie,” Broderick said, addressing his blushing niece. “Take Sir Eryx into the hall and feed him something warm. The man had come a very long way and has brought you a magnificent gift, so do your duty as a hostess and provide him with something to warm his bones. We shall then feast tonight and enjoy his fine company.”

  Frederica obediently moved away from the hearth. “Of course, Uncle,” she said, her lovely smile flashing at Eryx once more. “Will you come with me, then? I am sure you are quite exhausted after your long ride. Will you tell me more about where you found the sword? I am very interested to know.”

  Eryx was close on her heels as she walked from the room, but telling her the circumstances of where and how he found the sword wasn’t something he was inclined to do. In fact, thoughts of the circumstances of how he found the sword caused him to feel instant anger and fear as he thought of Frederica at the hands of raiding Scots. He murmured a silent prayer that she was safe at Pelinom and under the heavy protection of her uncle. He couldn’t even think on someone as sweet and lovely as her being preyed upon by barbaric Scots. It was too horrible to even entertain.

  “I will tell you about the Roman castle where I found it,” he said, thinking on the structure alone and not the circumstances surrounding the discovery. “Some say that it is haunted by the souls of ancient Romans who were killed by the Scots.”

  Frederica turned to him as they passed through the door. “Truly?” she asked, eyes wide. “Have you ever seen the ghosts?”

  “Nay,” Eryx shook his head, thinking back to that morning and the foreboding sense he felt whilst in the enclosure. “I have not seen them. But I have surely felt them.”

  Frederica was very interested to know what he had felt but Eryx wasn’t apt to tell her much. He thought he would have sounded too much like a superstitious fool, which he wasn’t. Knights didn’t believe in ghosts, but for Frederica, he would entertain the idea simply to have a conversation with her. He’d come to discover, over the past several weeks, that she was fairly open-minded but not gullible, and she liked to be teased. Well, he liked to tease her and she was gracious enough to laugh about it.

  As they headed into the hall that was directly across from the solar, Eryx found himself telling her about the Roman castle where he found the sword, describing the structure and speaking on the fact that there were several other Roman castles in the north, all aligned across the Scots border. Even back then, the Scots had issue with the wild men from the north, and on the subject of ancient days and ancient Romans, Eryx spent the afternoon seated quite properly across the table from the woman he intended to marry.

  As he snacked on bread and hot wine, he made the decision that today would be the day to ask for her hand, preferably before Robbin arrived, but he couldn’t seem to break away from her in order to seek out Broderick. Eryx wanted to squeeze every moment he could out of their time together, listening to her sweet voice and hearing her silly giggle.

  It was those things that moved the heaven and earth for him.

  Chapter Four

  Robbin arrived after sunset.

  Furious that he had been kept at the gates and questioned by the soldiers who had been told by de Reyne that an assassin was following him, Robbin spent over an hour explaining that he was not, in fact, an assassin. He was finally able to gain access to Pelinom’s enclosure because an older sentry, who had served the House of de Velt for many years, happened to recognize him and allowed him access. The sentry apologized for the delay in admitting him but explained that Eryx de Reyne had suspected he had been followed from Corbridge and after the run-in with the Scots earlier, they couldn’t be too careful about the intentions of lone riders following lone knights. Robbin accepted the apology because he knew it wasn’t the sentry’s fault, it was Eryx’s, categorically.

  With that in mind, Robbin approached the keep with a rising temper. He knew that Eryx was trying to keep him out of Pelinom and, subsequently, away from Lady Frederica. Like two dogs who had been circling the same bone for weeks now, they were about to go to battle over it and Robbin had every intention of winning. He had decided those weeks ago that he would make Lady Frederica his wife and Eryx’s bold interference would come to an end this night. Robbin was no longer willing to tolerate the man in the name of friendship. Now, that friendship would truly be put to the test.

  With the wilted thistles he had brought with him clutched in his hand, he approached the very large keep. Light streamed from the windows, beams of warmth against the cold and wintery night. He could also hear the faint strains of music and as he mounted the steps that led up to the keep, the smells of roasting meat tickled his nose. It was a delicious smell.

  A servant was at the door when he entered the keep and the man helped him remove his ice-crusted cloak and frozen gloves. There was a hearth next to the door and Robbin stood there a moment, holding his fingers out over the blaze because he was very nearly half-frozen, but his attention was on the hall off to the left. The hall was glowing with banks of lit tallow candles and people were seated at both of the scrubbed feasting tables. From what he could see, the musicians were in the very small, and somewhat precarious, minstrel’s gallery overhead, with no railing and a floor that leaned. Moreover, they weren’t very good. But the lack of musical talent in the hall wasn’t the most predominant thought on Robbin’s mind – a certain young lady was.

  Even though his fingers were nearly blue with cold, he pulled away from the warming fire, his gaze seeking out Lady Frederica. He wasn’t long in finding her and when he finally did, the anger in his heart surged. The lady was sitting at the end of one of the tables in close proximity to Eryx. In fact, they looked rather enamored with each other, which set Robbin’s blood to boiling. So you think to keep me away from her, Eryx? He thought angrily. We shall see about that, my friend… we shall see.

  “Sir Robbin!” Broderick was suddenly in his face, greeting him amiably. “What a surprise to see you here!”

  Robbin was caught off-guard by Lord de Velt’s happy greeting. “Greetings, my lord,” he said, stepping back because Broderick was, literally, right in his face. “I hope you have been well since we have last met.”

  Broderick nodded. He had a cup in one hand, clapping Robbin on the shoulder with the other. “Very well,” he said. “But very cold. I certainly cannot do what you and Sir Eryx have done today. Riding miles in such freezing weather would turn me into a frozen side of beef. Speaking of frozen, wherever did you get t
hose thistles?”

  Robbin smiled thinly because Broderick was snorting at his own sense of humor. “I found them struggling to bloom and thought I would bring them to Lady Frederica,” he said, his gaze moving to Frederica and Eryx across the room. “I see that Eryx made it here before me. Did he tell you about the Scots raid?”

  Broderick lost some of his humor. “He did,” he said. “The Scots have not yet made it down to Pelinom yet. I am hoping they will leave us alone but I suppose I know better. It has been a difficult winter. At some point, they will be here.”

  Robbin nodded but his attention was on Eryx and Frederica. “I would agree with that.”

  Broderick could see where the young knight’s focus lay. He certainly wasn’t interested in discussing Scots. He clapped Robbin again on the shoulder and pulled him along towards the other end of the hall.

  “No more talk of Scots tonight,” Broderick said. “Come and see Freddie and Eryx. They will be pleased to see you. Freddie has just joined us after dressing for dinner.”

  At least one of them hopefully will be pleased to see me, Robbin thought wryly. He was quite certain that Eryx would be very unhappy with his presence. As he allowed Broderick to pull him across the warm, smoke-filled hall, his gaze remained on Frederica but he was inevitably drawn to Eryx when the man, spying him on the approach, rose to his feet. There was instant tension in the air as Robbin met Eryx’s neutral gaze.

  “Eryx,” he greeted without a hint of warmth in his tone. “I thought you were heading to Prudhoe. At least, I thought that is what you said you were going to do. Something about sending a surgeon to Corbridge to tend the injured?”

  Eryx’s expression remained neutral as he faced off against the man he had hoped would see a longer detention by the gatehouse guards. “And you said nothing about coming to Pelinom,” he said bluntly. “Why are you here?”

  Robbin smiled thinly. “For the same reason you are.”

  “I am here to seek reinforcements for Corchester Castle.”