“So you would permit me to believe you were dead so I could marry Guy and get on with my life?”
“Something like that,” he murmured, feeling stupid even as he said it. “But the months passed and I slowly grew stronger. And along with my health, my resistance against the king returned.”
She looked at him, shaking her head after a moment. “Always the king,” she murmured. “You were on your death bed yet still you thought of the rebellion.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “You must remember that the last nine years of my life have been dedicated to the opposition againstthe king. I did not want to waste my hard work. I did not want the Shadow Lord’s reputation to be in vain.”
She understood somewhat. “So what did you do?”
He sighed, pulling her on to his lap so he could feel her belly against him. His chin rested on her shoulder as he spoke.
“I joined the barons in Runnymede last month for the signing of what they are calling the Magna Carta,” he told her. “It is a document that is meant to give rights and fairness to all. It is meant to end tyranny.”
Her eyes widened. “I was supposed to be at that meeting but could not travel because of the baby. Do you mean to tell me that you were there?”
“I was.”
“Jocelin was there in my stead. Did you not see him?”
He shook his head, thinking on the document he had helped author yet would never receive credit for. He wasn’t even sure he would ever tell Sheridan. Perhaps some things were better left unsaid.
“I knew he was there but I did not want to reveal myself,” he replied. “I did not want him to be the one to tell you that he saw me there, alive, when I had not yet contacted you.”
Sheridan’s thoughts turned from the great Magna Carta signing, something which the entire country was now aware of, to the fact that Sean had been well enough to travel to the signing. But still, he did not contact her and his behavior was puzzling. More than that, it was hurtful.
“I fail to understand why you did not send word to me when you were well enough to move about,” she said honestly. “You should have.”
He kissed the shoulder that his chin was resting on. “I did send word as soon as I was strong enough to do so,” he murmured. “Assuming you were with Guy, I had Gilby send word to Abergavenny in late May. It took time for the missive toreach the Marches, but Guy was not there. His father sent word to him at Lansdown, prompting Guy to meet me in London. I told him to bring you but he did not. He explained why. So I accompanied him back to Lansdown.”
It was a complicated series of events that took time to execute but the explanation made sense. She understood everything perfectly and suddenly, the delays and illnesses didn’t seem to matter any longer. He was here and he was real and such happiness as she had never known swept her. She put her hands on his face, focusing on his clear blue eyes.
“And so you are here,” she said softly. “Now what do you intend to do?”
He smiled, his eyes glimmering. “I intend to claim my wife and wait for the birth of my sons.”
“And after that? What about your commitment to William Marshall and the resistance against the king?”
He shook his head. “With the signing of the Magna Carta, I am finished,” he told her. “I have given enough to king and country. From now on, my devotion is to my wife and family. The Marshall has had enough of my time. The rest of it is yours.”
Tears filled her eyes again. “Swear it.”
He kissed her gently. “I swear on my oath as a knight that my devotion is to you and no other. I will never leave you again.”
She threw her arms around his neck again and held him tightly. Sean swallowed her up in his big arms, silently thanking God that he had been given another chance at life with Sheridan. He would not take it for granted.
When Father Simon, Alys, Gilby, Neely and Guy finally joined them at the lake a nominal amount of time later, there was joy in the reunion. Even Sheridan’s mother embraced him like a long-lost son. The very cause that had drawn them all together had indelibly linked them for life and a tremendous bond had been forged, never to be broken.
For nine years, Sean had been hated and feared. But now, he felt nothing but love and companionship. Even from Guy, who had become more of a friend than a rival. On the trip from London to Lansdown, they had made their peace and Guy eventually became Sean’s brother-in-law. It made the nine years as the king’s shadow a horror of the past, like a faded memory. It simply didn’t matter anymore.
The Shadow Lord died on that cold January night; Sean de Lara, however, did not. He lived through the Magna Carta and the cause that he had fought so hard to ensure. He lived through Lansdown and Trelystan and the other holdings he had procured. He lived through the Chronicles that his wife had kept for safekeeping and in the love he had for her. Most of all, he lived through the nine children that he and Sheridan eventually had. The beautiful twin girls born in October of that year were only the beginning.
The de Lara legacy lived on.
*THE END*