WolfeBite (De Wolfe Pack Generations #10)

Chapter Eight

CHAPTER EIGHT

S he could admit it.

She’d been avoiding him.

Not that it was difficult, especially during the morning hours when the knights were off accomplishing their duties. Every time Christelle thought about what she’d done, she grew red in the face. Trouble was, she knew everyone could tell because her skin was fair by nature, so any hint of color and she looked like a berry. A red, shiny, foolish berry.

God, she was so embarrassed.

Unable to sleep because of what she’d done, she finally gave up and unlocked the entry door just before sunrise. The servants needed access in order to bring food and hot water to Phillipa, so she unbolted the door and stepped out into the ward, inhaling deeply, smelling the dampness of the early morning air. Servants were already coming out of the kitchen yard, and she noticed them as they began to move for the keep. She also noticed Catherine, who was among them, and trying not to be seen.

Christelle’s brow furrowed at the sight. She thought Catherine had been in her chamber all night, having given the excuse of an aching head, but clearly that wasn’t the case. The young woman had been out of the keep and hadn’t made it back in time before being locked out, which made Christelle think that perhaps she’d been busy with clandestine things. Perhaps even a lover. There was no other explanation that would keep a girl out all night. Given that Leonidas had been gone for a year, that was plenty of time for a young woman to gain a suitor and want to keep it from her stepfather.

Pondering that very possibility, Christelle headed back into the keep.

The morning went quickly. Phillipa was late to rise, and the children were already up, being tended to by Catherine, who was bright and cheery and pretending she’d been in the keep all night. By the time Christelle saw her, she had changed clothing and wore a lightweight frock because the weather, even at this time of the morning, was faintly warm. There was heat on the breeze, which wasn’t entirely unusual for the time of year.

As Phillipa wearily assisted Catherine with the twins, who were clamoring about wanting to play in the river, Christelle supervised the servants and spoke to one of them briefly about the evening meal. Evidently, Phillipa had expressed her desire to go to the fish market to the cook, also, and already the woman was in town to catch the fishermen as they came in from the sea. The thought of fish pie with onions didn’t sit well with Christelle for obvious reasons, but she didn’t argue about it. She resigned herself to having bread and cheese for supper.

Once the twins were dressed and fed a meal of warm bread, stewed fruit, cheese, and some of what remained from the previous evening’s meal, the cries to play down by the river increased to the point where Phillipa had to quiet them. The children were quite determined. In exasperation, she turned to Christelle.

“Will you please ask Leo if we can have an escort down to the river?” she said. Then she turned toward a lancet window, feeling the breeze on her face. “It does seem to be warm today. I should think dipping our toes in the water would be quite lovely.”

Christelle wasn’t thrilled about having to seek out Leonidas, but she nodded. “If that is your wish, your grace,” she said. “Are you certain you feel well enough?”

Phillipa brushed hair out of her face with the back of her hand. “Of course,” she said, looking to the children. “Moreover, I do not believe they will be stopped. They want to dip their toes in the water, too.”

The twins cheered loudly and began to jump up and down as Phillipa and Catherine shushed them. Meanwhile, Christelle was heading out of the chamber, mentally preparing herself for seeing Leonidas. Her stomach was in knots as she quit the keep, out into the day that was growing warm and mild.

The first knight she came across was Zander as he came from the stables. He was blond and bright, and far prettier than a man had a right to be, and Christelle had come to know him a little over the past few days. Just swift interactions, but he was quite amiable. She thought she might take the coward’s way out and ask Zander about a visit to the river instead of Leonidas.

“Good morn, Sir Zander,” she said, holding up her hand in greeting. “’Tis a fine day already.”

Zander grinned, looking faintly like his cousin when he did so. “It is, my lady,” he said, squinting into the bright sky overhead. “I think it will be a warm one. Growing up in a land where some men would consider our warm days cool, a day like this is sent from God. I should lie down on the ground, spread my arms out, and bask like a turtle on a log.”

Christelle giggled. “I should like to see that.”

“You do not believe me? I will prove it right now.”

A twinkle came to her eye. “Would you prove it down by the river?”

He cocked his head curiously. “My lady?”

Christelle threw her thumb back in the direction of the keep. “There are two little rabbits in that keep that are jumping like mad, wanting to go down to the river and put their feet in the water,” she said. “Would you be so kind as to ask Leonidas for permission and an escort? Just for a couple of hours, until they exhaust themselves and want to go back to the keep.”

Zander nodded. “Certainly, I will ask,” he said. “But he is in the great hall if you wish to ask him yourself.”

Christelle shook her head. “I do not wish to bother him,” she said. “I will go and help prepare the children if you will ask him for me. You may fetch us from the keep when the escort is ready.”

“As you wish,” Zander said.

Christelle turned and headed for the keep before he could ask her any further questions. She didn’t want to explain why she didn’t want to ask Leonidas personally and, in fact, was very glad that Zander was so willing to do as she asked. She’d managed to avoid Leonidas this time.

But it didn’t last.

Georgiana and Gabriel were dressed in linen, something light for their adventure on the river’s edge, while Catherine was clad in a simple linen gown. She’d loaned Phillipa a beautiful muslin shift and a lightweight robe that went over it, and Christelle was in another dress belonging to Catherine because they had come to Ashendon with very little, so they had depended on Catherine to provide them with some clothing, which she had done happily. Properly dressed, everyone was ready for the jaunt to the river’s edge when there was a knock on the door. Thinking it was the escort, Christelle opened the panel.

Leonidas stood there.

Christelle’s heart leapt into her throat, so much so that she started to cough. It was a startled reaction to his abrupt appearance, and she struggled to speak as he stood there, his gaze never leaving her face.

“Your escort to the river is waiting, my lady,” he said rather formally. “Are you ready?”

Christelle nodded, still coughing, and turned to gesture to Catherine and Phillipa, who got the children on their feet. But the pair didn’t need much prompting, and Leonidas was bum-rushed by eager children. He had to grab them both before they could throw themselves down the stairs in their glee.

“Slowly, please,” he told them, handing them back to Catherine and Phillipa. “You will walk slowly and with restraint. Only wild animals run as you did. Are you wild animals?”

Georgiana and Gabriel shook their heads vehemently. “Nay!” they shouted in unison.

Leonidas rested his fists on his hips. “Then you must not behave like one,” he said. “If you do that again, I will put a collar on your neck and walk you on a lead. I will even feed you raw fish and animal guts, like a wild animal would eat.”

He was trying not to smile as he said it, and the children burst out laughing, declaring that he was not serious. But Leonidas nodded as if quite serious, even though he was no longer able to keep the smile off his face.

Out of the castle they went.

While Leonidas and Zander led the pack, Christelle, Talan, and a dozen soldiers brought up the rear. Dayne, unhappily, had been left in charge of the castle, but it could not be helped. Georgiana and Gabriel were so excited that they could hardly contain it, and seeing this, Zander got the children worked up and began to run, encouraging them to run with him. Catherine and Phillipa finally gave up trying to keep them calm and let them go, watching them bolt after the knight who was leading them on a merry chase. Zander ran up and he ran down, and the children ran after him, squealing. By the time they reached the river’s edge, Zander fell down on the bank, exhausted, and the twins gleefully jumped on him. But that horseplay was short lived with the reality of the river right in front of them.

Water began to splash.

Catherine and Leonidas stood right on the riverbank with them, carefully watching the pair. The bank was slippery, and although the River Hull was a wide and seemingly slow-moving river, it had an undercurrent that was swift. Leonidas wouldn’t let the twins get any deeper than their knees, and when Georgiana indeed tried to go deeper, he pulled her onto the bank and made her sit down and wait a few minutes before going back in again as punishment.

Unhappy, Georgiana sat there and wept.

But the tears were temporary. Georgiana went back in again, this time with Zander at her side. Catherine was at Gabriel’s side as he splashed the water, mostly on her, until she scolded him. But still, he splashed and kicked until she was forced to move away. Delighted she wasn’t hovering over him any longer, Gabriel began to roll around in the mud.

As the antics were going on, Christelle stood downriver, alternately watching the water and the frolicking children. She was far enough away from Leonidas that she didn’t have to look at him or talk to him, but her stomach was in knots. She still didn’t know why she had kissed him, but this morning, she had the added trouble of wondering why she didn’t kiss him harder. Or longer. One moment she was attracted to him, and in the next, it was something that had grown deeper. Deep enough to want to kiss him. That big, handsome knight with the scar on his forehead that she had put there had managed to get under her skin, and it had happened so quickly that she was struggling to come to terms with it.

But one thing was for certain.

She had no idea what to tell him when he asked her why.

Why did you kiss me?

As Christelle was looking out over the river and trying to come up with an answer, she made the mistake of losing track of Leonidas. He’d been standing by the children, but suddenly, he was standing beside her. Christelle saw his shadow and her heart began hammering again as she looked up to see that he was fairly close to her. Their gazes locked and, sensing the unspoken question in his eyes, the very question she’d been wrestling with, she blurted the first thing that came to mind.

“I do not know why I did it so do not ask me,” she said quickly. “I am ashamed of myself, so nothing you can say can possibly make me feel worse. I would be grateful if you would forget my complete and utter failing so we can simply move past it.”

Christelle lowered her head, unable to look at him. If she had been, she would have seen the mirth and, quite possibly, warmth in his eyes. As Georgiana and Gabriel screamed in the background because Zander was splashing them, Leonidas folded his arms across his chest and took another step in Christelle’s direction.

“That is difficult to hear,” he said, his voice low. “Clearly, it was a terrible kiss. You did something on impulse and it was the worst thing you had ever done. I understand.”

She looked at him then. “What do you mean by that?” she said. “And I did not say it was a terrible kiss.”

“You said you were ashamed.”

“Of me .”

He shrugged. “You are simply being kind,” he said. “You do not have the heart to tell me that I did not meet your expectations.”

She sighed, exasperated. “I did not have expectations,” she said, waving her hands around for emphasis. “I put my hands on your face and I kissed you and I do not know why. I have never done anything like that before.”

“Oh? Why not?”

“Because I’ve never met anyone I wanted to kiss, I suppose.”

Christelle realized he’d cornered her into a confession too late. Her eyes widened when she became aware of what she’d said, and she clapped a hand on her forehead, turning away from him in horror. By now, Leonidas was fighting off a grin because he could see how mortified she was. The truth was that he’d wondered how she felt about her impulsive act.

He’d been wondering most of the night.

He hadn’t been at all certain what to say to her when he saw her today. In fact, he’d been in the great hall trying to figure it out when Zander entered with requests for a visit to the river. He mentioned that it had come from Christelle, and even though Leonidas hadn’t wanted to frolic by the river’s edge today, the fact that the request had come from her had him willing to agree to it. Mostly because it gave him an excuse to see her again.

Odd how he wasn’t upset about it in the least.

It was true that he was attracted to her. More as the days went by. It was also true that he was still grieving the loss of Juliette. At least, he thought he was. He thought his return to Ashendon would only exacerbate the grief he was trying to put aside, but the truth was that returning home had given him comfort. He’d been able to face what he left behind—three children and the life he’d once known. What he realized was that his life hadn’t changed much. The children still loved him, but more than that, they needed him. Juliette’s ghost was here, but he could live with it. He knew she would want him to be happy and perhaps even love again.

The kiss last night… It had given him hope.

Hope that life, for him, would go on.

“Thank you,” he said after a moment.

Christelle was wallowing in embarrassment, so much so that she couldn’t even look at him. “For what?” she asked.

“For being so brave,” he said. “For doing something first that I should have done but did not have the courage to. When one gazes into the sun, the fear of blindness is real.”

That statement forced her to pause. Then her head came up and she looked at him. “What does that mean?” she asked.

He smiled. “It means you are a remarkable woman, Lady Christelle,” he said. “I am awed every time I look at you because you are, indeed, brighter than the sun. Mayhap I am even a little intimidated by you. Now, if you are truly ashamed of your bold kiss and wish me to forget it, I will. But if you do not want me to forget it, and I hope that you do not, I shan’t. I shall treasure it.”

She looked at him in wonder. Realizing that her kiss had not offended him changed the entire mood between them. Instead of shame, Christelle was starting to feel the least bit giddy.

“Truly?” she said.

“Truly,” he said. “If you wanted to do it again, I would not put up a fight.”

Christelle couldn’t help the smile that spread across her lips. A silly, flattered smile. The man was being just the least bit flirtatious with her, but she’d had so little practice with the games that men and women played that she was at a loss for words. Opening her mouth to say something, anything, that might sound witty or pleasing or just plain coherent, she was cut off by a horrifying scream.

“She fell in! She fell in!”

Catherine was screaming from the bank about fifteen feet away as Zander and Talan both jumped in, grabbing for something that was just out of their reach. Gabriel was on the river’s edge with Phillipa, but Georgiana was nowhere to be seen. Frantically, Christelle and Leonidas went to the river’s edge, as it was flowing in their direction, only to see a scrap of fabric and a foot on top of the water.

Christelle immediately dived in.

The water was freezing and murky, but she swam in the direction of the foot. Unfortunately, the icy water caused her ears to nearly explode with pain and her head came up as she gasped in agony. A few feet away, Georgiana’s head came up and the child cried out, struggling for air, but she just as quickly went under again and Christelle began to swim frantically in her direction.

Unfortunately, the undercurrent was strong, and even though Christelle was a good swimmer thanks to a grandfather who had lived by a lake, she couldn’t seem to get to Georgiana. The child hadn’t come up again and Christelle continued swimming down the river, along with the current, as Leonidas and Talan, and the majority of the soldiers, ran along the banks, trying to catch a glimpse of the little girl. Zander had jumped in and was working the other side of the river, opposite Christelle. At one point, there was a sandbank in the middle of the river and Christelle ended up swimming around it, grabbing for Georgiana in the muddy, cold water.

Time passed.

Too much time, Christelle thought, but she refused to acknowledge it. She couldn’t. But deep down, she knew that with every second that passed, Georgiana’s chances of coming out of this alive were growing slimmer. Georgiana was somewhere in this freezing water and Christelle was determined to find her. Further downriver, soldiers were jumping in, trying to form a human net that would prevent Georgiana from going any further, and Christelle began to dive again, feeling for anything she could under the water, but the river merged into a bunch of underwater grass and she found herself tangled up in it. She could get her head above water, but her forward progression was nearly stopped. In a last-ditch effort, she tried to dive again, grabbing around for anything that didn’t feel like grass, when her fingertips touched something rough.

It was fabric.

Grabbing hold, she yanked as hard as she could.

“I have her!” she cried as her head came out of the water. “Help me! I have her!”

Using the sandbank that was about twenty feet behind her, Leonidas and the others crossed the river to the opposite bank, where Christelle was just lifting Georgiana’s limp body out of the water. Zander came frantically swimming in her direction, helping her lift the little girl. The child’s face was ghostly pale, her lips blue, and Christelle was so cold and so exhausted that she could barely bring her to the bank. Suddenly, Leonidas was in the water along with Talan, and he grabbed the little girl as Talan grabbed hold of Christelle. As Leonidas rushed the child onto the grass and put her down, beating her on the back and trying to pound the water out of her lungs, Talan managed to drag Christelle onto the bank. Once she was lying on the grass, he helped Zander out as well.

“Lady Christelle?” Talan said as he returned to her. “Are you well?”

Christelle was coughing up river water, but she waved him off. “Aye,” she said. “Help Leo. Help him with Georgiana!”

Talan reluctantly left her as she lay there, coughing and trembling. After a few moments of deep breaths, Christelle managed to push herself into a sitting position only to see Leonidas and Talan as they tried to save Georgiana’s life. The soldiers were huddled around them, watching, and Christelle staggered to her feet, wandering over to the men as they worked hard on the little girl. At one point, Leonidas even picked her up by her ankles and hung her upside down in an attempt to drain the water from her lungs.

“Is she breathing?” Christelle asked anxiously.

Leonidas laid the child back on the ground. “Nay,” he said grimly. He patted her back a few more times and then laid his head against her chest, listening for a heartbeat. Several seconds passed before he lifted his head and stared at the little girl. “Oh, God. This cannot be. This cannot… be. ”

Christelle’s eyes welled with tears. Pushing through the soldiers, she fell to her knees beside Georgiana and began to shake her.

“Georgiana!” she wept. “Wake up! You must breathe and wake up!”

Talan, who was standing at the child’s head, tried to put himself between the little girl and Christelle. “Stop,” he muttered softly but firmly. “She cannot wake up, my lady. She is gone.”

“Nay!” Christelle roared. “You did not try hard enough! She is not gone!”

She did the same thing that Leonidas had done, flipping the child onto her belly and pounding the water out of her. She pushed on the child’s torso, throwing her weight into it, trying to push the water out of her lungs. She’d seen Leonidas do the same thing, but he hadn’t done it hard enough. Or long enough, in her opinion. Christelle even rolled the child onto her back again and blew into her mouth, trying to blow air into her lungs.

But it did nothing.

Georgiana remained still.

Christelle still had her hands on the child but then she realized that Talan had been right. The little girl really was gone. Horrified, she looked at Leonidas, who had an expression of horror in his eyes that she would never forget. He’d given up. With that awareness, sobs burst forth as Christelle pulled the little girl against her, holding her tightly.

“I tried,” she sobbed. “I tried so hard, but I could not find you. Please forgive me, Georgiana. Please… forgive me.”

Every man standing there, Leonidas included, watched Christelle weep her heart out. It was a gut-wrenching scene, made worse when Catherine managed to get to the opposite bank. Seeing her limp little sister in Christelle’s arms had her in hysterics, so much so that she fell down, twice, before she even reached her sister. She practically yanked Georgiana from Christelle’s arms and wept over her little sister with such pain that even the hardest man was swallowing back tears.

The entire scene was a nightmare.

Christelle was on her arse, weeping heavily as she watched Catherine’s grief. The young woman was beyond shattered as she called to Georgiana repeatedly, begging her to awaken. Leonidas, struggling to keep his composure, turned to Talan and Zander, standing behind him.

“Zander,” he said hoarsely, “go back and escort Phillipa and Gabriel to the castle. Make sure they are secure.”

Zander nodded, wiping the tears from his face. “What do I tell the queen?” he asked. “She will want to know what happened.”

Leonidas sighed heavily. “Tell her the truth,” he said. “But be gentle. I will seek her when I return.”

Zander acknowledged the command, wiping his face one last time before heading upriver, where Phillipa and Gabriel were still waiting with a half-dozen soldiers guarding them. Leonidas watched him go before returning his attention to the sobbing women and the dead little girl.

“We must return to the castle,” he said to Talan. “Christelle will catch her death if we do not get her into warm clothing, and we must… take Georgiana back. Send one of the men for blankets immediately, anything to keep Christelle from freezing and something to cover Georgiana with. I do not want her to be a spectacle for curious men when we bring her back.”

Talan nodded, leaving Leonidas long enough to send a soldier running for the castle. But he quickly returned, his gaze hardly leaving Catherine as she wept over her sister.

“Now what?” he asked. “Shall we force the women back?”

Leonidas watched as Christelle, no longer sobbing uncontrollably, crept over to Catherine and put her arms around her and Georgiana. She held the young woman, trying to give her what comfort she could. Leonidas knew that it should be him giving her comfort, but the truth was that he was in shock. Absolutely in shock. A bright, warm day had turned deadly, and he simply couldn’t believe it. Not only had he lost Juliette and their daughter, but now he’d lost yet another daughter.

Little Georgiana.

It was all he could do not to get sick.

But the knight in him, the man who had been trained to function logically when everything around him was chaos, had to take control. Not the stunned stepfather. He had to dig deep to find that emotionless commander because, at the moment, he was anything but emotionless.

There would be time enough later for him to grieve.

“I will take Catherine and Georgiana,” he finally said. “You take Christelle. I am certain they do not wish to move, but I am equally certain that we cannot leave them here, in the open, for all to see. Let us return to Ashendon and do what needs to be done.”

Talan nodded, following Leonidas over to the huddle of women. Carefully, Leonidas bent over Christelle, putting his big hands on her shoulders.

“My lady,” he said softly, steadily, “we must return to the castle. May I help you stand?”

Christelle lifted her head from Catherine’s shoulder, looking up at him with pain in her eyes. “For pity’s sake, give her a few moments,” she said hoarsely. “Let her grieve.”

Leonidas squatted down next to her. “Georgiana is wet and cold,” he said. “Does she not deserve the dignity of dry clothing and a little peace? And does Catherine not deserve the opportunity to grieve in private? Please, Christy. Help me get Catherine back to the castle.”

Christy. He’d never called her that before. That made her take a second look at him, and she could see his reasoning. After a few moments of deliberation, she nodded reluctantly and returned her attention to Catherine, giving the young woman a squeeze.

“Georgiana needs dry clothing,” she muttered. “And we must take her somewhere so that men are not gawking at her. We must protect her, Catherine. Let us return to the castle.”

Catherine was still weeping, her face buried in the top of Georgiana’s head. She lifted her face, looking at Christelle with completely devastation in her expression.

“She was standing next to me,” she wept. “I was holding on to her dress. I was holding her. But she slipped away.”

Christelle nodded sympathetically. “I know,” she said. “She wanted to play in the river. She loved the water. What happened was an accident, Catie. Just an accident. No one is to blame.”

Those gently uttered words only caused Catherine to cry harder into Georgiana’s hair. Christelle put her hand on the little girl’s face in a comforting gesture.

“She is cold, Catie,” she said. “We must take her to the keep and dry her off. Then you may hold her as long as you wish. Please?”

Catherine was still weeping, still struggling, but at least she wasn’t openly fighting her. After a few more moments, tense moments because Christelle wasn’t sure the girl was actually going to take her advice, Catherine finally turned to Christelle.

“Will you please help me?” she whispered.

Christelle nodded and immediately reached out to take the little girl. Catherine relinquished her without a struggle, and Christelle quickly turned the child over to Leonidas, who held the little girl tightly against his chest as he stood up. Christel helped Catherine to her feet and they began to walk with Leonidas, slowly heading upriver to the sandbank so they could cross to the other side. The entire time, Leonidas kept Georgiana clutched against him, her face pressed into his chest and a big hand over her head, protecting her from prying eyes and the elements. Protecting her in death as he’d tried to protect her in life. He still half expected her to suddenly cough and start crying, but she never did.

She remained still.

It was a sad procession that headed back to the castle.

They were just nearing the gatehouse when a couple of soldiers emerged bearing the blankets that Leonidas had requested. Talan took one and immediately tossed it over the little girl. The second blanket went around Christelle, who was still wet and cold, but she shared it with Catherine because it seemed to her that the young woman needed some kind of protection and comfort at the moment.

The blanket shielded them both.

By the time they hit the bailey, it was clear that everyone knew what had happened. The soldier that ran back for the blankets had told the men at the gatehouse, and the rumors had spread like wildfire. All of the activity at the castle seemed to come to a halt as Leonidas led the party with a dead child in his arms, covered in a dusty blanket. But Leonidas didn’t acknowledge anyone. He continued to the keep, where he would leave Georgiana with her sister and the queen and Christelle. The three women would ensure that the little girl was properly taken care of.

That was the best Leonidas could hope for.

God help him, it had been an extremely costly day.