Page 272 of Historical Hotties
“You… youhitde Lucera,” she finally said. “My God… You actually struck him!”
Thor helped her out of the cab. “What of it?”
Caledonia seemed genuinely stunned. Dressed in one of the garments that they’d purchased yesterday in Birmingham, an exquisite blue silk, she looked over the castle, the bailey, before finally returning her attention to Thor.
“He had it coming,” she finally said. “God’s Bones, Thor. You have no idea what a bully of a man Cristano de Lucera is. A horrible dictator who breathes cruelty like men breathe air. It is part of him. He deserved what you did to him.”
Thor took her hand, feeling that it was clammy. She was nervous. “You told me that you had nothing to do with the knights,” he said. “But you know de Lucera’s character?”
She shrugged. “I have lived here for many years,” she said. “Of course I am going to know something of the people here, even if Robert did control everything.”
“You should have told me of de Lucera and his cousins.”
She looked at him seriously. “When we first met, there was so much turmoil,” she said. “We were building trust. We are still building trust. I felt that if I told you what I knew about de Lucera,trulytold you, that you might think I was trying to discourage you from taking possession of Stafford. I was afraid you might think it was one more ploy to talk you out of the marriage.”
He could see her point. “Very well,” he said. “But you must tell me everything. I could have walked into an ambush with the de Lucera family.”
Caledonia shook her head. “I do not think so,” she said. “They are men of talk, not action. They are arrogant and nasty, but cowards at heart.”
Thor took the hand he held and tucked it into the crook of his elbow. “But I am not,” he said quietly, a smile on his lips. “But tell me next time if you know something, even if you think it is not significant. Will you do that?”
She leaned against him affectionately. “Of course I will,” she said. “I apologize that I did not.”
“You are forgiven,” he said. “But what about this nun? What can I expect from her?”
Caledonia’s warm expression faded. “She is a tyrant,” she said. “Her name is Madam Madonna and she was Robert’s nurse. A former nun. He has always surrendered to her, in every way. Whatever she wanted, he gave it to her. She not only supervised the children, but she was chatelaine as well. I wastold it was her duty, not mine. I am certain she is inside the keep somewhere. She would not leave that which she commands.”
“Then Madam Madonna is about to meet someone she cannot command.”
“She will more than likely try.”
“Shall we find out?”
Thor said it with some enthusiasm, as if he was looking forward to it, and Caledonia broke down in a weak smile. She was about to reply when she happened to glance at the carriage and saw Nicola still sitting inside, looking frightened and lonely. She held out a hand to her.
“Come, Nica,” she said. “We are going to go inside now. Will you come with me? I will need you.”
Nicola climbed out of the carriage and scurried over to them. She had seen her brother pound the hapless knight and was just a little fearful now. She latched on to Thor’s other arm.
“Where is Darius?” she asked her brother. “Where did you send him?”
“He is handling the men,” Thor said. “Have no fear. He will return to you shortly.”
Nicola kept looking around, hunting for Darius, but Thor began to walk, pulling the women along. They were heading for the square keep, three stories in height, with a flight of stone steps leading to the entry with the biggest door Thor had ever seen. It was a small, compact keep, and as they approached the stairs, a figure abruptly appeared at the top.
A woman had emerged, followed by other women. Servants, perhaps. She stood at the top of the steps and held out a hand.
“Come no closer until you announce yourself.”
The three of them came to a halt, looking up at a woman dressed in brown woolen robes. She had a tight wimple covering her hair and her face was rosy and wrinkled and completely hairless. But her expression…
That was the stuff of nightmares.
With her eyebrow-less eyes, she stared down Caledonia as if beholding her worst enemy. There was something in the very air that swirled about her, a dark miasma of wickedness. Other than those few words, she hadn’t said a thing, but she didn’t need to. The animosity radiating out of her spoke for her.
As Caledonia looked at the woman, something in her snapped.
It was because Thor was with her and she was feeling brave. After all these years, she’d finally have the voice that Robert never allowed her to have. She’d never liked Madam Madonna, not from the moment she first met her, because the old woman had made her feel inferior and stupid. She’d only been a breeding mare, the woman had said. Madam Madonna had a gift for making people feel stupid.
