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Closing his eyes, Royce brushed a kiss against her smooth forehead. Thank you, he thought.
And in his heart, he could have sworn he heard a voice answer, You're welcome.
Epilogue
January 1, 1499
'Tis an odd feeling to have the hall this empty," Stefan joked, glancing about at the twenty-five people, including the fifteen men who comprised Royce's private guard, who'd just finished eating a sumptuous supper.
"Where are the dancing bears, tonight, love?" Royce teased, putting his arm around the back of Je
"I look," she laughed, her hand pressed against her abdomen, "as if I swallowed one."
Despite her advanced pregnancy, Je
Je
At the moment, Gawin was lounging back in Royce's chair at the center of the table, his arm draped over the back of Aunt Elinor's chair in a comic imitation of the way Royce was sitting with Je
Royce quirked a brow at him and resignedly waited for the question.
"Is it fact or falsity," Gawin demanded, "that you're called the Wolf because you killed such a beast at the age of eight and ate his eyes for your supper?"
Je
"No, my lord," Je
"You're right," he gri
"Sir!" demanded Gawin, "an answer if you please. What part of the beast you ate matters not. What does matter is your age at the time you slew it. Legend puts you at everything from four to fourteen."
"Is that right?" Royce mocked drily.
"I thought the story was true," Je
Royce's lips twitched. "Henry dubbed me the Wolf at Bosworth Field."
"Because you killed one there!" Gawin decreed.
"Because," Royce corrected, "there was too much fighting and too little food to keep flesh on my bones. At the end of the battle, Henry looked at my lean frame and my dark hair and said I reminded him of a hungry wolf."
"I don't think-" Gawin decreed, but Royce cut him off with a quelling look that clearly said he'd had enough of Gawin's antics for the evening.
Je
As Je
Arik hesitated, his big hand atop the small, silk-wrapped item beside his trencher. Looking sublimely uncomfortable to be the focus of so much attention, he awkwardly unwrapped it, glanced at the heavy silver chain with a small, round object dangling from it, then covered it with his hand. A curt, uneasy nod expressed his "profound gratitude," but Aunt Elinor was not put off. As he started to arise from the table she smiled at him and said, "There's dried grapevine blossom within it."
His heavy brows drew together, and even though he spoke in his lowest tone, his voice boomed. "Why?"
Leaning close to his ear, she whispered authoritatively, "Because serpents loathe grapevine blossom. 'Tis a fact."
She had turned to accompany Je
"God's teeth!" Godfrey burst out, nudging Lionel and even Bre
Godfrey broke off as Royce, who'd been watching Je
"Je
A moment later, Aunt Elinor looked down from the gallery above and cheerfully replied, "She is going to have your baby, your grace."
The serfs in the hall turned to exchange smiling glances, and one of them dashed off to spread the news to the scullions in the kitchen.
"Do not," Aunt Elinor warned in direst tones when Royce started up the stairs, "come up here. I am not inexperienced in these matters, and you will only be in the way. And do not worry," she added breezily, noting Royce's draining color. "The fact that Je
Two days later, the serfs, villeins, vassals, and knights who were kneeling in the bailey were no longer smiling in anticipation of the arrival of the heir to Claymore. They were keeping a vigil, their heads bent in prayer. The baby had not come, and the news filtering down from the frantic serfs within the hall had been increasingly bad. Nor was ft regarded as a good sign that the duke-who rarely set foot in the chapel-had gone in there four hours ago looking tormented and terrified.
Faces lifted in hope as the doors to the hall were flung open, then they froze in alarm as Lady Elinor went racing into the chapel. A moment later, the duke burst past the doors, ru
"Je
Her blue eyes opened, smiling sleepily at him as she whispered, "You have a son."