Chapter Seven—Intentions

 

Curran used every excuse he could think of to roam the castle and attendant structures. Before his activities had been limited by his position as a member of the Duchess’ guard, always following in her footsteps rather than going about on his own. Now that his circumstances had changed, he had more freedom and he had every intention of putting it to good use.

He learned much about the inner workings of the keep during his explorations. His fascination with hidden things led him to scour the stone walls for more secret passages. He discovered that the one in his room was part of a network that led from the Duchess’ private suite all the way down to the dungeon.

The dungeon had surprised him. There were several cells being used as storage rooms. Some contained food, but even more contained a treasure trove of expensive gifts. Enough to fund the running of Luthias’ costly campaign for years to come.

What disturbed him were the two currently empty cells that showed signs of recent use. Human waste mixed with the sparse straw covering the stone floor. Living in isolation as he had for those few days, it was possible that criminals had been brought to justice without him learning of it.

Possible, but not likely.

On his way back to his room through normal channels, Evander waylaid him. The servant ducked into a recessed alcove and bid Curran to follow.

“I know it has become your habit to leave your room while the castle sleeps, m’Lord. But please, sire, do not go roaming tonight if you value your life.”

“What makes you say this?”

Mournfully, Evander explained, “I have worked in this castle, for the Duke and his family, since I was a young lad. I know the secrets of these walls better than I know my own name. You would be wise to listen to me now, even if you cannot bring yourself to believe I speak the truth.”

“How do you know I sometimes leave my chamber in the middle of the night?”

“I check on you throughout the darkness, as I do with all of those who are in my care.”

Curran had to suppress a laugh. Evander’s professed devotion to duty was an unnecessary act since each room had a bellpull to summon him if a need arose. Perhaps he just liked wandering after hours when the castle was quiet and a man could think, as Curran did.

“All right, Evander. I will spend tonight in my chamber.”

Evander gave him a doubt-filled look, but only said, “From the darkest hour onward, if you value your life.”

“Understood. Thank you for the warning.”

Even as he spoke, he knew there was one thing he must do in order to keep his word to Duke Luthias. For several nights now, he’d considered sneaking out of the castle to find the hunt master’s cabin. Though Luthias never expressly forbade him from seeking out Tanis, Curran hadn’t wanted to approach the man in the daylight, lest the Duke learn of his activities and get the wrong impression.

Now, under the cover of dusk before the night grew too old, Curran knew the time had come. Surely he would be back before midnight, thus his promise to Evander wouldn’t be in vain. He changed into dark clothing that wouldn’t get in his way, and followed the plan he had laid out for escaping into the countryside undetected.

 

 

 

Although Athena was not about to warn him, Tanis sensed the change in the forest as a stranger approached. Few would dare to come so deep into the trees at nightfall. His guest must be extremely foolish, or extremely brave.

Foolish, no doubt, Tanis thought. He wasn’t sure if he should be joyous or angry that the young guardsman had finally decided to seek him out.

Tanis opened the door to his rustic, one room cabin, then returned to his task of chopping vegetables to add to his stew.

“Should I take this open door as a gesture of welcome?” Curran asked, his voice cheerful. It was the same tone that haunted Tanis every night in his dreams. A voice that offered pleasure, only to fade to moonbeams when he reached out to grab on with both hands.

“If that is your wish, so be it,” he replied shortly.

“Have I come at a bad time?”

“No worse than any other.”

Curran entered and shut the door behind him. Suddenly what had always been a room big enough to keep him from feeling confined shrank to the size of an unbearable prison. Tanis shifted his broad shoulders to assure himself that the walls were not closing in and continued to reduce the vegetables to small bits.

“What brings you?” Tanis asked, pressured into speech by the long silence.

“You.”

“Luthias has turned you into an errand boy?”

“No, I come of my own accord.”

Tanis considered that piece of information. More than two weeks had passed since the night they met. Why had it taken Curran so long to visit? Had Luthias poisoned the boy against him?

And why did the answers to these and a thousand other questions he wanted to ask Curran matter to him so much?

“Speak your piece then.”

Slowly, Curran began, “You heard of Gavin’s death?”

“Aye.”

“And you know I have been staying in his rooms?”

“Aye.”

“What do you make of it?”

Tanis carried the now minced carrot, onion and turnip to the boiling pot that hung on an iron hook over the fire and dumped them in. “A polished apple can conceal a rotten core.”

“But the apple can also be good through and through. Is that not more likely?”

“Not when it is grown in Luthias’ orchard.”

“Evander would agree with you,” Curran replied. “But I have no evidence of his treachery.”

“Evander is a superstitious peasant, but one who knows evil. You would be wise to listen to him.”

“Gloom and doom. Gloom and doom. Can no one but me be pleased about my rise in station?”

“If you want smoke blown up your arse, go to the kitchens. One of their giant bellows should be fit for the task.”

Curran laughed, somehow retaining his good humor despite the seriousness of the subject. “The only thing I desire up my arse is something far more substantial than air.”

Another kind of silence settled over the room. Tanis couldn’t prevent his thoughts from straying to the one time he’d followed through with the very act Curran described. By the Gods, it had been good. His cock twitched, filling with desire to take seconds and thirds of what the young man had to offer.

But that was not why Curran had come. He belonged to Luthias now. Tanis had to accept that, and so did his cock.

Luckily, a soft cooing reminded him of another hunger that needed to be sated. He lifted the worn blanket that covered his bed and pulled a wire cage out from under it. A grey pigeon blinked, then cooed again.

“Dinner?”

Curran’s voice sounded thick to his ears. Could it be the young man was similarly affected by their close proximity? “No,” Tanis replied, having a care to keep his fingers away from the bird’s sharp beak. “I came across her, injured in a fight with another of her kind. I hope to return her to her nest in another day or so.”

“But why? Surely she would make you a good meal.”

Tanis shrugged. “There are few good reasons to take a life. For food. For survival. Neither of which are relevant here. I have all the meat I need, and while this little one is fierce, I hardly think my life is endangered by her presence.”

“So you will tend to her wounds and set her free?”

“Aye,” Tanis agreed, feeling uncomfortable with the approval in Curran’s voice. He only knew one way to live, and that was what he did.

He fed the pigeon, then returned her to the cage and covered her up. When he turned around, Curran was right there.

“You are a good and honorable man, Tanis of Appin.”

Such a sweet and happy face Curran had. And Luthias had been right. It was also much like Gavin’s when he first came to the Duke’s keep. Not that it had stayed happy and innocent for long. It angered him to think of Curran suffering the same fate. If he were Duke…

But he wasn’t. And that truth added to the rage burning in his chest. “You are blind!”

The young man flinched as if struck. He retreated to the other side of the room. “If you mean that I prefer to see the good in people rather than dig for the bad, then I suppose you are right.”

“Nothing good in this life comes freely. What price will you be asked to pay in return for your good fortune? Have you thought of that?”

“I already know what price Luthias expects from me. My sword, my loyalty. My advice in battle. Small coin in return for all he has promised me.”

That wasn’t all Luthias would demand of the young man. Either the Duke was leaving out that part of their arrangement or Curran had not yet been informed of those duties. Neither prospect pleased Tanis. “The Duke’s promises have no more substance than spun sugar. Do not make the mistake of thinking he lives by the same laws you do. If it is to his advantage, he will take more than your word. He will take your bloody life.”

“Aye, if need be,” Curran replied with a calm acceptance.

“He is not worth it.” The words came out harsh, filled with a lifetime of hatred for the man who considered his subjects as nothing more than game pieces. For the man who played with lives as if he were God.

“I would argue that as the Duke of this province, my life is in his hands whether I have given my pledge or not.”

“That man is a butcher, a murderer, a soulless thief. I wish you could see him for what he is.”

“He kills the heathens so that others, Britons, may live without fear. That is not the act of murder but of protection,” the young man argued, his voice heating with impatience.

Tanis couldn’t let Curran go without knowing the truth. “I speak of Gavin, not some ruddy band of Celts.”

“Gavin?”

“Aye, and once upon a time, nearly me.”

Curran tilted his head, with a questioning look on his face.

Tanis spread his legs, bracing for the pain he was about to bring upon himself. If exposing one of his deepest secrets to the light for Curran to examine would convince him of the atrocities Luthias committed, then he’d do so willingly. Anything to spare Curran the same fate of Gavin.

“Those scars that fascinated you so. They came from Luthias’ own blade.”

Curran blanched. “Why? How?”

“It matters not.” Tanis turned his back on Curran, his heart so swamped with regrets that he could scarcely breathe. The tentative touch of the younger man’s hand on his shoulder brought him back around.

“Everything about you matters to me.”

“Liar. We both know you would have sought me out long before now if I appealed to you beyond one night’s pleasure.” Tanis pulled away from the comfort of Curran’s hand. He didn’t deserve this man’s compassion any more than Luthias did, nor did he want it. “Gavin and I grew up together, entered the Duke’s service—Duke Osric, Luthias’ father—together, trained together, and…”

“Loved together?” Curran suggested, finding the words Tanis could not bring himself to speak.

“Yes. Until the old Duke discovered us together, in that very pool where we met.”

There had been more play involved then. They laughed and made noise, certain their actions would go unnoticed by any human ears. But they had been wrong. So terribly, terribly wrong. And not even sharing a fraction of the Duke’s own blood could save them.

“I have heard stories, even in my village, of Osric’s fierce temper. Did he punish you for soiling his pool?”

“No, he punished us for a sin he saw as being far greater. That of expressing our love for one another.”

“But Gavin ended up a knight. How did that happen if the old Duke thought so little of his value as a man?”

“I never know whether to call it luck or a curse. But as he kept us in chains, ordering Luthias to slice away precious pieces of our hide, Osric died.”

Curran shook his head. “I have always heard that Osric died as a result of wounds sustained in battle.”

“That was Luthias’ doing. With the same blade he’d been using against us, he carved upon Osric’s hide before our eyes, a savage attack that seemed to have no reason. Once he returned to his senses, Luthias ordered us to help him deliver the Duke to bed. Since they had not been home long from the most recent campaign, it was a plausible story that any but the family’s loyal servants would believe.”

“And in gratitude for your assistance, Luthias had a change of heart and spared your life?”

If only the truth were that simple. But Luthias was even better than Osric at binding a man in strings. “Luthias knew he had to kill us or otherwise make it impossible for us to speak out against him. Death, I learned later, he saw as a reward so he came up with a way to keep us alive yet firmly under his thumb. I wanted no part of him or his household, so when asked what menial job I would perform for him, I immediately chose the hunt.”

“A job that would take you away from the castle, unable to spread rumors.”

“Luthias knew it would take more than absence from the castle walls to hold my tongue. He explained that he would keep Gavin beside him. If I ever broke my silence, Gavin would pay the price with his life as well as I and those I loved most.”

Curran paled at the harsh sentence. “Gavin agreed to this?”

“Gavin was given no choice. In my selfishness, I doomed him to be with Luthias until death, his or mine, performing whatever service Luthias saw fit to require.”

“But he did not release you from your pledge once he was assured of your good intentions?”

“Once Luthias has you, he will never let you go. Do not fool yourself about this.”

There was a silence as Curran mulled over his words. Then he said, “The northern raiders must be stopped before they take my friends and family from their homes, rape their women and steal their property as they have done to so many other villages in the borderlands. So far, the Duke has managed to hold them back, but each year they grow braver and more foolhardy. If Luthias offers me the chance to fight against them, I will stand with him. For that chance, I would pledge my sword to the devil himself.”

“You may well be doing just that.”