Gerard should have been standing by her side, but she’d worried too much about what others thought and ignored her own feelings. She was the reason that he was displaced. Why he felt rejected. She had not welcomed him into the trigon. She had mistakenly believed that her grandmother was the third person.
Before Elea could speak, Grandmother led her away from the courtyard and all of the prying eyes. Over her shoulder, she saw a man lead Gerard in the other direction.
“Where is the steward taking Gerard?”
Her grandmother clucked her tongue. “To sleep with the men, of course.”
“But he is a member of the trigon,” Elea said. “Shouldn’t he be given a room in the main part of the castle?”
She shook her head. “Gerard has no formal place. No formal title. He will be safe enough in the soldiers’ barracks.”
Her grandmother led her to the lady’s of the castle’s room. Elea couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. The lady’s room led to the laird’s room and was typically occupied by his wife.
“I hope that you don’t mind sharing a bed with me tonight,” Grandmother said. “The castle was already at capacity when you arrived.”
“How many have come?”
“A little over three thousand.”
Hope sprang in Elea’s heart. That was more than double the number that she expected. Perhaps their odds were not so small after all.
“But only a tithe of them are trained soldiers,” her grandmother continued. “Laird Donnelly and his men have done their best to outfit the serfs with armor and weapons. They are also trying to train them on how to use the weapons, but we don’t have much time before Laird Lochdon will strike. To try and stamp out the only laird of the thirteen who rebelled against his rule.”
Elea’s heart fell to the floor. “He’s coming here?!”
Grandmother gave a sharp nod. “Our spies say he’ll be here with his army by tomorrow afternoon.”
“How many are in his army?”
She sighed and shook her head. “Anywhere between six and seven thousand. Our sources do not agree on the number.”
Elea sat on the edge of a trunk, trying to catch her breath. They were outnumbered and inexperienced. How could they possibly win?
Her grandmother came and sat beside her. “Now tell me all about Nora. How is it that she is the one married to the King of Sania? You are both so altered, and I do not mean your new haircut.”
Such a question a few weeks ago would have been a source of pain and embarrassment. It was no longer because Elea now had feelings for Gerard. A truer, purer emotion that had been reciprocated. Until she ruined it, like she ruined every relationship in her life.
“Matteo loved Nora from the first time he saw her,” Elea said, feeling a blush form in her cheeks. “And there was no going back for any of us.”
“But you were already married to him by proxy.”
Elea sighed again and let her shoulders slump. “Contingent upon consummation with Princess Eleanora; and clearly, he and Nora have fulfilled that part of the treaty. Perhaps that was the reason why we had to be given the same name. I believe that they were always meant for each other.”
Her grandmother took Elea’s hand and squeezed it. “You are handling this delicate matter like a true queen.”
Elea huffed and pulled her hand away as she stood up. “I did not. I was jealous and petty and an absolute beast to Nora. Which only made Matteo more resolved never to tie himself to a shrew like me. I was blinded by jealousy and an obsession with being the queen. Nora could not help Matteo’s feelings for her any more than she could have helped her own. I don’t know when theyfulfilledthe treaty, but it was after she took my place as a prisoner of Kaul. After she died for me.”
“You are her queen. It was her duty to take your place.”
“I should have been her cousin first,” Elea whispered, wiping a tear from her cheek. “My mother wanted us to be sisters and we could have been. If not for my choices.”
* * *
Her grandmother was still asleepwhen Elea stole from the bed. Her short hair had dried in the night. It was all kinky curls going in every direction, but that didn’t matter. She pulled on a clean dress from the wardrobe that was rather large. She found a sash and tied it around her waist. Nora had proclaimed her loyalty at the cairns but not her forgiveness. And before the battle, Elea needed to try once again to gain Gerard’s forgiveness. She had to make amends.
A layer of dew covered the grass in the courtyard and made the hem of the overlarge dress wet. She could smell smoke and saw that the castle blacksmith was already hard at work smelting. When she arrived at the soldiers’ barracks, they were already empty. Elea noticed that the drawbridge was down.
She walked over it and through the city until she reached the outer wall. In the field, just outside of the stone wall, she saw hundreds, thousands, of men and women practicing with both real swords and wooden ones. Gerard stood before a company of men and showed them how to properly hold the sword’s hilt for maximum control and power. She saw the farmers, bakers, carriers, and townsfolk mimicking his moves, looking at him in admiration. He was truly a leader. He exuded confidence and it smelled delicious, like freshly baked cake.