The guests wereled to the great hall, where a grand feast awaited. There were minstrels and harpists, acrobats and jesters for entertainment. Barrels of William’s finest wine, ale, and whiskey were cracked open for the Celebration. Tables were lavishly decorated with fine linen and shiny silver and gold goblets. Cooked swan and pheasant, stuffed with various delicacies and re-feathered, rested upon silver trays dusted with flower petals. The aroma of roasted lamb and shark sautéed in fresh mushrooms watered the palette and made stomachs growl.
The king led the bride and groom, along with Tanon’s parents, to a dais festooned with a lush array of colorful flowers.
Later, the hall grew quiet as Cian recited Welsh poetry. Tanon found it hard to believe when Gareth told her that the young poet was Madoc’s brother. With a halo of shimmering bronze curls falling over huge eyes, he looked more like an angel than a warrior. Tanon listened to his tales of love and fidelity while she glanced at her husband beside her. She didn’t hope for love, but would he take a mistress if she didn’t please him? She didn’t want him to. She didn’t want him to kiss any other woman the way he had kissed her. Saints, but he was good at it. She wondered if other men kissed as wonderfully as he did. She doubted it. And he’d looked pleased with her afterwards, though she’d done naught but stand there weak in his arms. She smiled at his profile before she realized she was doing it. He was well-mannered too. Why she—
“Hell,” he growled, scowling at the crowd.
“Gareth,” Tanon leaned in and whispered. “I do wish you would refrain from—”
“The fool is going to start another war.” He rose up from his chair and left her without another word.
Tanon watched him stride toward Alwyn, the brawniest of the four men who’d been following Gareth around for the last two days. At present, an even beefier Hereward the Wake was subduing the beefy Welshman.
“But that son of a whore called Cian a woman.” Alwyn glared over Hereward’s shoulder and yelled, “I’ll break his skull with my fist and use it for a cup!”
“Alwyn.” Gareth didn’t shout but his frosty tone silenced the growing murmurs of the guests. “Go outside and get some air.”
Alwyn didn’t protest. He yanked his arm free of Hereward’s vise-like grip. Gareth plucked the goblet out of Alwyn’s hand as he passed him. When the rowdy warrior was gone, Gareth looked to the Norman knight who had offended Cian and offered him a slanted grin cooled with the promise of retribution should the offender open his mouth again. When Gareth turned back toward the dais, Roger stood in his path.
Tanon saw her father move to intervene, but William’s hand on his shoulder stopped him. No one stopped Madoc though as he pushed his back off the wall a few feet away and narrowed his eyes on Roger.
“You’re still an arrogant bastard,” deCourtenay spat, then swayed on his feet. “You haven’t changed.”
Gareth glanced down at the empty flagon in Roger’s hand and drew out an impatient sigh. “You should mind how much you drink,” he told him with the tiniest trace of menace lining his words. “It could be the death of you.”
DeCourtenay was too drunk to heed the warning. “I should have killed you all those years ago.”
“That would have been impossible,” Gareth assured him and tried to step around him. Roger moved to block him again.
“You robbed her from me!” he suddenly roared, bringing Dante to his feet as well as Brand.
“Nay, in truth you robbed her from me,” Gareth corrected him calmly. “But you had no way of knowing that, so I won’t kill you.”
Roger laughed, but an instant later his face contorted into a mask of fury. “Her dowry was to be mine. You made me look like a fool in the tourney. I’ll—”
“Youarea fool, deCourtenay.” Gareth’s commanding voice overpowered his. “I knew that the moment I first laid eyes on you.” He moved closer, his eyes sparked with challenge, his posture ready to end this altercation swiftly. “You lost to me because your skill is as poor as your taste in women. Will you tempt me now to wound more than your pride?” Though his words were meant as a warning, he sounded most eager to carry out the threat.
“Madoc.” Gareth didn’t take his eyes off Roger as his first in command appeared beside him. “Move this drunkard out of my way. I don’t want to soil my hands with his blood on my wedding night.”
Tanon gasped from the dais when Madoc shoved the inebriated earl so hard, he sailed into a nearby table.
Now that his path was clear, Gareth returned to the dais without so much as a glance to see where Roger landed.
“You handled that well,” William commented before Gareth sat down. “deCourtenay had that coming after his lewd behavior the other night.”
“With respect, Your Majesty,” Gareth said with a slight chuckle of disbelief. “Were you as drunk as deCourtenay when you promised Tanon to him? I told you how poorly he treated her that day with her pig, and yet you arranged for her to marry him?”
William regarded him for a moment with deadly stillness, then leaned forward and smiled over Gareth’s chest at Tanon. “Mon amour, go with your mother and speak to Dante and his lovely wife.”
Tanon knew by William’s tone of voice that he was angry with Gareth for what he’d just said. The king was sending her away so that he could throttle her husband. She was reluctant to go because Gareth had spoken in such a manner in her defense. She cast her husband a nervous look and then excused herself.
“Gareth,” William beganin a low voice as soon as the women were gone. “If you ever speak to me like that again, I’ll cut off your head and hang it from the battlements. Clear?”
Gareth looked him dead in the eyes. “Aye.” The challenge in his cobalt stare surprised William and made him smile at the same time. He wouldn’t have his Tanon marry a cowering dolt.
“I don’t need to explain my decisions to you, but after seeing deCourtenay’s actions myself, I find your question a valid one.” William leaned back in his chair, bringing a flagon of wine with him. “DeCourtenay’s father fought with me at Hastings. He was my friend, which is why I showed his son mercy after you confirmed his mistreatment of Tanon. It’s true that Roger was a hellion as a child. I sent him to Normandy to put that aggression to better use. When he returned, he seemed changed enough to be a suitable choice of husband for Tanon. He also inherited much land when his father died. Does that satisfy you?”
“Aye,” Gareth said, relieved that he’d arrived at Winchester in time to save Tanon from Roger again. He scanned the hall for his wife.