The Agents of William Marshal Volume I: A Medieval Romance Bundle, page 62
There was much in her world to be thankful for, even if he had to leave her once in a while.
“You have established yourself as an indispensable advisor to the king,” she said, the gleam of pride in her eye. “I am proud of you, Kress. You are well-deserving of the honors bestowed upon you.”
He turned to her, smiling faintly. “You are my greatest supporter.”
“And I always will be.”
Lifting her hand, he bent over to kiss it. “I am not entirely sure how long I will be gone,” he said. “It could be months. These negotiations often take a very long time.”
Her warm expression faded somewhat. “I hope it is not too long.”
“Why not have Susanna come to visit? She can keep you company while I am gone.”
She gave him a look that suggested he was mad. “And have her leave Achilles? Surely you jest. Besides, he would probably not let her come. He does not like to be parted from her, much as you do not like to be parted from me.”
He shrugged. “Then your friend, Lily-Elsie?”
Catherine shook her head. “Susanna tells me that Lel is in love with a Summerlin knight. She will not leave him.”
“Then I suppose you must endure my absence with only Keene and his nurse to keep you company.”
She cast him a sidelong glance. “It is not a matter of being alone,” she said. “It is simply that I should like you to be here when your next child is born.”
He looked at her in shock, his eyes widening. “What next child?”
“The one I am to have next spring.”
Kress’ jaw dropped. “And you are only thinking to tell me now?”
She giggled at the astonished look on his face. “I am still not entirely sure, but I suspect it is the truth,” she said. “I do not want to wait until my belly is big and round before telling you while you are in France. I would send you on this journey knowing you can only be in France until early spring and then you must come home to see if I was right.”
He just looked at her a moment before breaking down into soft laughter. “You are a continual surprise and joy,” he said, his gaze lingering warmly on her. “Have no fear that I shall return in the spring to see our new son. But all I truly care about is that you come through the birth unscathed.”
“I have before.”
He lifted his big shoulders. “I would imagine that giving birth is like going into battle,” he said. “Each one is different and in each one, you risk your life. I never go into battle thinking it is a simple thing. You should not go into childbirth thinking it is simple, either. You must take care of yourself. I could not survive without you, Cadie.”
Catherine could see that he was growing emotional, as he had when she’d been pregnant with Keene. She’d never seen a man worry so much over a woman and it was truly a sweet thing to experience. It only made her love him more.
“Have faith,” she said softly. “As you shall endure, so shall I. But if something does happen… do you remember what I said to you once, years ago when we thought we would never see each other again?”
Kress knew what she was speaking of. He thought back to that moment in time, one of the worst moments in his entire life when he thought he and Catherine would be forever separated by her marriage to Ellesmere. He recalled the words as if she had only spoken them yesterday.
“I recall,” he murmured. “’When that moment comes and you pass through the veil between life and death, wait for me. When my time comes, I will be looking for you.’ Those words still hold true, you know. I will be waiting for you and I know that if you should go before me, you shall be waiting for me. I have never believed that death would permanently separate us, Cadie. For you and I, it will only be the start of a new adventure together.”
She smiled up at him, squeezing his hand. “Going through life with you has been a great adventure already,” she said. “I am eager to know what the next fifty years will bring us, and even beyond.”
“Only greatness, Lady de Rhydian. We shall know only the greatness of love that men dream of but few experience. That shall be our legacy.” He watched her face for a moment as she mulled over his words. “No regrets, Lady de Rhydian?”
She shook her head before the question was even out of his mouth. “Never,” she insisted softly. “It was a nightmare to think of marrying the earl those years ago, at that place where I was born. Mountain Dark is something I do not think of any longer. My life now is better than I could have ever imagined. And it is because of you, my love. Only you.”
He bent over, kissing her hand again, feeling warmth and devotion for the woman that he could have never believed himself capable of. But with Catherine, all things were possible.
From nearly the first moment he met her and her naughty poems.
True to his promise, Kress made it home from France the following April, just in time for the birth of his second son. The child was large, and Catherine had struggled to bring him forth. But in the end, mother and child fared well and Kress was blessed with another son and a recovering wife.
He couldn’t have been happier.
In fact, it was enough joy to prompt him to write to William Marshal to tell him of his good fortune and to let the man know that he and Catherine were deliriously happy. He hadn’t contacted William since he’d fled north with her those years ago, but now, he thought it was time to let him know just how happy the failed mission to bring Catherine of Vendotia to Mountain Dark had made him.
Finally, he was a contented man.
When William read of the birth of Mattox William de Rhydian, he grinned like a fool. In truth, he had to agree with Kress – it was probably the first time he could recall being glad that a mission had failed, and that the Welsh princess had never made it to Mountain Dark. It would have been the end of many things in more ways than they could comprehend.
Instead, that failure was only the beginning for the Executioner Knight and the lady of pure Welsh blood.
For them, it had marked the start of their happy lives, forever after.
* THE END *
Children of Kress and Cadelyn (Catherine)
House of de Rhydian
Keene
Mattox
Layne
Lohr
Seton
Lily-Elsie
Some of Lady Dark’s Immodest Poems
Bickford and Cedrica
His blood touches Cedrica, o’er the miles
His praises, she sings,
In the dead of night, she calls to him,
Feeling him against her, of flesh and soul
The magic of creation
As his lips touch her nipple.
Alvina’s Lament
A kiss, from him, is all I wish
His eyes reflect the sky
My heart reflects his soul
Our bodies intertwine
Bliss!
But it was all a dream, for he is gone.
Garden of Passion
He comes upon a warm wind,
His heat fills my veins
I can feel nothing but his touch,
Taste nothing but his skin
He feasts upon me in the Garden of Passion.
The Life of Garnet
Red and passionate,
With a life all her own.
Garnet dreams of the day
He will return to her
And claim her for his own
With arms that hold her,
Stronger than the heavens.
Oswalda’s Secret
She hides from him; delight!
He can sense her, but not see her
Smell her, but not taste her
Oswalda leaves him pieces of herself
Locks of hair, tied with a ribbon
As hints that her spirit adores him.
The Knight and the Lady
His words are noble
But his eyes speak fire
His words speak truth
But his lips contain passion
She wishes to feel his lips upon hers
And wonders if he feels the same.
Example of Lady Dark’s post-marriage poetry:
The Bloom of Womanhood
Her petals unfurl
Her flower blooms
Receiving his pulsing life
As the blossom receives the bee
He fills her;
She shudders!
Her flower is satisfied
Only to bloom again.
STARLESS
A Medieval Romance
Book Three in the Executioner Knights Series
By Kathryn Le Veque
Author’s Note
Welcome to Achilles and Susanna’s story!
This is a very interesting story in that it marks something I’ve never done before – writing the love story of a couple who had their “first meeting” in another tale. Part of writing a romance novel includes the first meeting and then developing the story from there, but Achilles and Susanna met in The Mountain Dark, Book Two of the Executioner Knights series, and readers were begging for a continuation of their story from the outset.
So, here we are!
This novel essentially picks up right after the last chapter of The Mountain Dark, but instead of Kress de Rhydian and Cadelyn of Vendotia’s story, we continue on with Achilles and Susanna. You don’t need to read The Mountain Dark to understand this tale, but it helps. It gives it much more dimension.
Interestingly enough, originally I hadn’t meant Susanna for Achilles. He had an entirely different story planned, but after the (several) combative encounters these two had, I knew I couldn’t give Achilles any other heroine. Susanna was made for him. And that makes this story a heck of a lot of fun.
This series originally started off as just a trilogy – the stories of Maxton of Loxbeare, Kress de Rhydian, and Achilles de Dere, men known as the Executioner Knights: The Unholy Trinity. However, the series is growing the more I introduce cool new characters. Now, the Executioner Knights is beginning to encompass the entire stable of knights that serve William Marshal as special agents and spies – and this would include characters like Sean de Lara (Lord of the Shadows) and Garren le Mon (The Whispering Night) among others. The Unholy Trinity is the “original” three of this series – the OG knights – Maxton, Kress, and Achilles. Characters like Alexander de Sherrington are close friends of the Unholy Trinity, but not official part of them. They do, however, all work together.
In the first three books in the series, knights have rotated in and out – knights we have met in previous books – Gart Forbes, Christopher de Lohr, David de Lohr, Bric MacRohan, Dashiell du Reims, Cullen de Nerra, and Sean de Lara to name a few. This particular book happens to have Kevin de Lara, brother to Sean de Lara who played a major secondary role in Archangel, also playing a major secondary role here as well. This book also contains a major plot point for Lord of the Shadows, by the way. It’s part of Sean de Lara’s backstory. Like an Easter egg, you’ll need to find it!
So many books are related to the Executioner Knights series, books that aren’t actually part of the series but connected to it. Those titles are Rise of the Defender, Steelheart, Archangel, The Promise, Godspeed, and High Warrior to name a few. The heroes all serve William Marshal within the same twenty-year time frame, so they rotate in and out of these tales. It’s a small world in my early 13th century England universe.
Fun things to note – since I have quite a universe of characters and locations, I want to point out to readers that Susanna’s ancestral home of Aysgarth Castle first appeared in the novel Fragments of Grace. That’s one more book to tie in to this series! That de Tiegh family comes about ninety years after this one, descendants of Susanna’s brother.
Now on to Achilles – he’s got a lineage in the Le Veque Universe! His parents are Tyren and Valeria from Of Love and Legend. Surprise! If you haven’t read that novella, make sure you do. It gives you a little insight into Achilles’ parents. His older brother is none other than Brickley de Dere, a major secondary character in the de Lohr novel, Steelheart. Achilles is the baby of the family, born several years after his eldest brother, Brick (whom I loved in Steelheart). I didn’t list the offspring of Valeria and Tyren when I wrote the novel, so here it is:
Antonia
Cecelia
Brickley – (served the Earl of Canterbury, Lyle Hampton, later served the Earls of East Anglia – father of Dashiell du Reims)
Benedict
Tobias
Achilles
Richmond Castle in Yorkshire plays a role in this tale and I must say that Richmond is one of my all-time favorite castles. If you ever have a chance to visit it, or use Google Maps to see it, do. It’s absolutely enormous – and beautiful – and has quite a history, some of which is part of this storyline.
A few things to note – real places versus fictional:
Real:
Richmond Castle
Skipton Castle
Whorlton Castle (and the family that owned it is the actual family in this novel, de Meynell. Whether they held the views expressed in this novel are purely a figment of my imagination for plot purposes)
Fictional:
Aysgarth Castle
And, the usual pronunciation guide:
De Tiegh – duh TEEG
De Dere – duh DARE
Aysgarth – ACE-garth
De Meynell – duh mayNELL
And to answer your questions, YES – Alexander (Sherry) and a new character introduced in this book, Caius d’Avignon, will be having their own stories told soon. I will also be working in a story for Kevin de Lara – finally, Sean’s little brother will have his own tale.
Whew! That was a big author’s note. This is a fast-paced story, and very different from most I write, so I sincerely hope you enjoy it. Achilles and Susanna are a total match made in heaven.
Love,
“I suppose we all hope to meet that one person who makes us spark.”
– Lady Susanna de Tiegh to Achilles de Dere from Book Two, The Mountain Dark
PARTIAL EXCERPT OF THE FIRST MEETING
From the novel, The Mountain Dark
May, Year of Our Lord 1206
~ First encounter between Susanna de Tiegh and Achilles de Dere ~
William Marshal had told them that Lady Cadelyn had a female bodyguard, he suspected who the woman was.
“You are the bodyguard The Marshal told us of,” Kress de Rhydian said to the woman. “Susanna de Tiegh, is it?”
Susanna nodded. “Aye, my lord.”
“Where are you from?”
“My father was Baron Coverdale of Aysgarth Castle in Cumbria.”
“I have heard of it,” Kress said, his gaze lingering on her. “But you… a lady bodyguard? How did this come about?”
Susanna met his gaze steadily and Kress found himself looking into fine features and eyes the color of a sapphire. She wasn’t unattractive in the least, but her hair was uncombed and her dress slovenly. She almost had a masculine way about her, tough and seasoned in a world of men who would not accept that from a woman.
Any woman.
If Kress could guess, the woman had to be closed to thirty years of age, and obviously unmarried. No husband would permit his wife to assume duties that Susanna had assumed, and if he did, then he would be a poor excuse of a man.
She was quite an oddity.
“My father had two children, twins,” Susanna said, breaking into his train of thought. “My brother and I were inseparable. Anything he did, I did, and that included fostering. We both went to Exelby Castle to foster years ago, but I did not want to learn what fine ladies learn. I wanted to do what my brother was doing. Lord de Geld, the lord of Exelby, was not a very firm man. He let me do as I wished, against the advice of the knights. As it turned out, I was better than most of their recruits.”
She was making a statement of fact, without gloating in her manner, but the distaste the men felt at the thought of a woman thinking she could possibly be as skilled as they were was evident. Achilles de Dere, part of Kress’ contingent and seated next to her, spoke up.
“Then Exelby must have had a good many weak men parading as warriors,” he said, doubt in his voice. “Were you knighted?”
Susanna turned to look at him, a warrior who was a good deal younger than his bald head would suggest. “Nay,” she said, lifting an eyebrow. “Were you?”
Kress fought off a grin at her saucy reply but he could see that Achilles found nothing humorous about it.
“By men better than anything you have ever stood against,” he growled. “A woman who does not know her place in life is an insult to every man who has ever lifted a sword.”
To her credit, Susanna didn’t openly react to his offense. She kept her composure. “I would be happy to demonstrate just how much of an insult I am,” she said. “Say the word and I shall meet you with my sword wherever, and whenever, you wish.”
Achilles’ eyes narrowed. “I would not lower myself to such a thing.”
Susanna shrugged. “As you wish, my lord,” she said, returning her attention to Kress. “Do all of your men fade from such a challenge? Mayhap they are not up to the task of escorting Lady Cadelyn to her betrothed. That task requires men of courage.”
Before Kress could reply, Achilles was going for his sword and Susanna, seeing his movement in her periphery, vaulted from the bench and ended up several feet away, her skirts up around her waistline to reveal that she was wearing leather breeches and a broadsword strapped to her waist underneath. Her hand was on the hilt of her sword and the gemstone eyes were fixed on her opponent.
(And with that, the stage was set…)
CHAPTER ONE
ET TU MORIERIS IN GLADIO (You shall die by the sword)
