Alexander: A Seventh Son Novel (McClains Book 1), Page 3

  “Because it brought me to you, of course.”

  She laughed softly. “Why would you say that? What lucky thing brought you here? Wasn’t it your father’s message that brought you here?”

  “Well, yes, but he could have sent any of my brothers over the years, and instead he chose me to come to your uncle.” And looking upon her face, he knew he was the luckiest man in the world.

  “There is that, I suppose.”

  He grasped her shoulders and pulled her to him, kissing her again, this time more passionately than the first. “I want our wedding to be soon, Lina. I’m not sure how long I can wait to make you my wife.”

  Lina smiled up at him, amazed that this wonderful man had come here and felt the same for her as she felt for him. She said a silent prayer that her uncle’s man moved quickly and didn’t run into any trouble. Even three days seemed too long to wait.

  Late that night as she laid in bed, she thought of him and the way his lips had felt against her own. He was a good man. She could sense it, though it wasn’t her power. Her aunt Christiana could usually sense evil intentions in a man, and she’d felt nothing from him. No, she was sure they would be married quickly, and she would get to live happily ever after.

  She heard a sound, and the little girl climbed into bed with her. “Mama?”

  Madelina frowned. “Your mama isn’t here.”

  “She was sick.”

  “I know she was, but you were brought here to me so I could help you feel better.”

  “Mama died.”

  “Aye, I think she did. Do you have a grandmother? Aunts or uncles?”

  “Papa died.” The little girl was crying, and Madelina stroked her back, trying to soothe her.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Letice. Mama calls me Lettie.”

  “Then I’ll call you Lettie. If no one comes here looking for you, then I’ll be your new mama, all right?” Madelina held the little girl, knowing that she was young enough that it wouldn’t be a terrible transition for her.

  “Aye.” With that one word and knowing she’d be cared for, Letice closed her eyes and fell back to sleep. Madelina watched her sleep, wondering if she’d just made a mistake. Alex had agreed to raising her if no one came for her, and she really hoped he hadn’t just said it to appease her. She was keeping this girl. She loved her already.

  Alexander lay in his bed across the castle from her, his hands folded behind his head. His incredible luck was really with him now. Madelina was the kind of gentlewoman he’d spent his entire life dreaming he would find and marry. She was kind, considerate, and forward-thinking. And she could keep him cool during a heatwave.

  He smiled as he thought of her powers. Most people would have scoffed, but he had seen them with his own eyes, and he was used to the idea of some families having a little something extra.

  He prayed that her father would allow her to be his wife. Nothing else seemed to matter to him at that moment.

  Chapter Three

  Madelina carried her new charge down the stairs for breakfast the following morning. She found her family all there already along with Alexander, who watched her with the child.

  When she got to the table, she said, “This is Letice. She knows her mother and father died, and she is going to stay with us if no one comes for her.”

  Marina got up and took the child from her daughter. “How are you feeling this morning, Letice?”

  “I’m all better. I was sick, like my mama, but now I’m not.” Her blue eyes studied Marina intently. “You made me not sick anymore.”

  “I healed you, yes. I’m so happy you’re feeling better.” Marina handed the girl back to her daughter, and Madelina set her on the bench between her and Alex. Marina then looked at her sisters. “I think we’re going to be sewing for a few days, sisters. We need to make sure my new granddaughter has clothing.”

  They’d burned the girl’s clothes shortly after healing her and borrowed a nightgown from one of the servants. “I’ll help with that, Mother,” Madelina agreed readily. She wasn’t about to leave the work to the other ladies.

  “You will not. Your job at the moment is to get to know the young man sitting beside you,” Roland said firmly.

  Madelina was more embarrassed than ever when a gentle snowfall started in the hall. “Yes, Uncle.”

  Alexander laughed softly. “I like this way you show me your emotions.”

  “I don’t.” Madelina shook her head. “No one else has to deal with storms inside when they get embarrassed or sad.”

  “Will it rain inside?”

  “It can. Of course, if there’s a fire, I can put it out!” Madelina had listened to him the previous day, thinking about ways that her powers could actually help people and not just embarrass her.

  “And there will never be a drought as long as you’re around.” Alex grinned at her, wishing he could kiss her good morning, but not with her entire family watching. “Would you care to walk with me after breakfast?”

  She nodded. “Maybe I can get my bow and arrows, and we can hunt!” She had learned to hunt from her mother and her aunts when she was young. Her father and uncles had never thought much of women hunting, but they had all approved of the idea of their daughters being able to defend themselves, so they had allowed the training.

  “You can shoot a bow and arrow?” he asked, surprised. It wasn’t something most ladies were capable of.

  “Of course, I can.” Madelina loved the look of astonishment on his face. She thought to her aunt Christiana, “Thank you for teaching me. It made this moment so special.”

  Christiana grinned. “Eva and your mother agree with me when I say, ‘We’re very proud of all of your skills. Not just the ladylike ones.’ We are not about to send our daughters out without skills to live in a man’s world.”

  “Tell them thank you as well!” Madelina looked down at Letice. “I’m going to go for a hunt this morning. Will you be happy with my mother and her sisters?”

  Letice nodded. “Aye.”

  Charles frowned at Alexander. “I will allow you to take her hunting, but you must take four of our men with you. I keep my daughter safe.”

  Alexander nodded. “I expected nothing less, milord.”

  After their meal, Madelina hurried up the stairs to fetch her bow and arrows. When she returned with them slung over her shoulder, Alex couldn’t help but smile. She was not the lady he’d expected that he’d someday marry—she was so much more.

  They went to the stable with four of her father’s men trailing behind them. Madelina turned to the men. “Keep us within sight, but stay far enough back that our conversation is not overheard.” She hated that they had to have someone following them about, but they’d do it on her terms because that’s how she did things.

  He was surprised to see that she didn’t saddle her horse, but instead, she mounted it bareback. “Are you not forgetting something?” he asked, indicating the back of the mare.

  She laughed. “I don’t like saddles, and neither does my lady. We ride together much more happily without that burden. Follow me. I will show you the best hunting ground in the area!”

  She led him over the lowered bridge and across a field. Watching her ride was a thing of beauty. She seemed to be one with her mare. He had never seen a lady ride with such pure delight on her face, and he knew it was her training. Her mother and aunts had obviously had more of a free reign with the girls in their household than most did.

  He caught up, riding beside her. When she stopped her horse and dismounted, she laughed happily. “No one is ever willing to ride with me. I’m not allowed to go out with just the knights, so I’m often cooped up at home. I’m glad you’re here.”

  He caught her hand, and they went into the forest there. She squatted down, her arrow notched and ready. He frowned but stood silently, watching her. It didn’t take long before a rabbit hopped along, and she shot it with one arrow straight through the heart.

  One after another, she sh
ot eight rabbits, and strung them all together while he stood watching. “I know what we’re having for supper this evening,” she said, grinning at him. Her father’s men had stayed just close enough to see them as she’d instructed. “I wish I could kiss you this morning, but Father’s men are not giving us a moment’s peace.”

  “Later,” he promised her, his eyes gleaming. “I look forward to the man your uncle sent coming back with word that I’m safe.”

  “I’m a little sad that I will have no daughters to pass my powers on to,” she said softly.

  “Mayhap my family’s luck will mix with your family’s powers, and something wonderful will happen.” He didn’t really believe such a thing could happen, but who would have believed in a family of lucky men and a family of powerful women to begin with. God was capable of anything He chose to do.

  “And mayhap we’re being silly hoping for such a thing,” she responded. “We should get these rabbits to Cook. She makes a rabbit stew that will make you cry with pleasure.”

  “I can think of a few other things that will make me cry with pleasure as well,” he said with a wink. He wasn’t even surprised when the snow started falling under the July sun. “Come, let’s go back to the castle. Mayhap we can find a quiet room for a while.”

  She knew he was thinking of kissing her again, and she was thinking of letting him. Despite her embarrassment, she loved his touch. She loved his words. She knew that it wouldn’t be long before she would love this man, who would hopefully be her husband.

  When they arrived back at the castle, they took their mounts to the stable and left them with Gerald. “Thank you,” she said to the young man.

  He inclined his head with a grin. “Did ya surprise him with yer skills?”

  “Of course I did. No one thinks a lady can ride until they see it for themselves.”

  Gerald laughed softly, taking both the horses. He had worked for the family for a while, and he was always proud of the ladies’ skills with the horses.

  She had the rabbits strung together and thrown over her shoulder as they walked into the castle. Roland looked up and smiled. “Cook will make a wonderful stew with those. Take them straight to the kitchen. I’m hungry already.”

  Alexander followed her into the kitchen, watching the way she interacted with the servants. “Cook! I brought you something!”

  Cook, an older woman with no teeth left in her head, turned and smiled. “Wanting some of my rabbit stew, are ya?”

  Madelina passed off the rabbits and leaned down to kiss the cook’s cheek. “I always want some of your rabbit stew. You are a sorceress in the kitchen.”

  “And you’re a sorceress out of the kitchen!” Cook said with a laugh.

  “It’s my lot in life,” Madelina said as she headed for the door.

  Alexander smiled at her. “Does everyone here in the castle know about your powers?”

  She nodded. “Many of the servants were here when my father and uncles came to claim the manor my mother and her sisters were protecting.”

  “And they were able to defeat them?” he asked with surprise.

  “Come, and I’ll take you to a sitting room and tell you the whole story.” She’d heard many times the story of the Battle of Hastings and the battle that had followed it when her uncle Roland came to claim the home, land, and bride he’d been given.

  As they passed through the great hall, her father called out to her, “’Twill be time to eat in less than an hour. Be sure your mother can find you!”

  “If Mother can’t, Aunt Christiana always can!” she retorted. She hadn’t been taught to be afraid of men. Instead she’d been taught from her cradle that men and women were each powerful in their own ways. Her father hadn’t especially liked that she’d been taught that way, but as he’d been off seeing to the defense of their new home, her mother and her sisters had gotten their way.

  Alexander waited until they were in the sitting room before he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “I’ve been waiting to do that all morning.”

  She smiled, her green eyes shining. “I happen to like it when you kiss me that way.”

  “Good, because I like it a lot, too.” Alex led her over to the window seat, and this time they sat there together. She once again curled her legs underneath her, and she rested her head on his shoulder as she told the story of how the army had come and fought her mother, her two aunts, and some servants.

  “So they were actually able to turn the men back with the vision of an army?”

  “Aye, but only for a short while. They came back all too soon, well before Aunt Eva was ready to cast the image of an even larger army. Uncle Roland says that when he saw the women on the parapet with their bows and arrows, he knew the army couldn’t be real. No one with an army that size would allow their women to help in the fight. So he aimed for Aunt Eva, and the army disappeared. Not before Aunt Christiana shot him, though!”

  “Your aunt shot the man who had come to marry her?” Alex couldn’t help his laughter. It came booming out, filling the room with his joy. “And he still married her?”

  “The very next day. Mother healed him at Aunt Christiana’s insistence, though. Mother wanted to leave him in pain. She’s almost never in favor of not healing someone, but she had no desire to be a captive of the Norman army.”

  “It seems odd that your mother and aunts were Saxons, and I don’t even know why. My mother was a Norman, and I was born after we came here to England.”

  “Where do you live?” she asked. “You’re not in London, are you?” She hated the idea of anything to do with court. She was a country girl, and she would prefer to stay that way.

  “No, we’re up in the north. Just past York to be exact.”

  “But you don’t live in the city? I couldn’t imagine having to go to court. If I wore my velvet dress and I got too hot, I’m not sure how all the lords and ladies there would feel about snow falling in the middle of the palace.” Madelina knew she wouldn’t fit in with proper ladies.

  “We’re much more casual in the north. The biggest city we visit tends to be York and not often.” He smiled at her. “We’re far enough south that the Scottish aren’t constantly raiding us, but we’re far enough north that we aren’t expected at court on a regular basis.”

  “Oh, good. Sounds like the perfect place to be.”

  “I certainly think so.” He eyed her skeptically. “How will you feel about leaving your family?”

  “Aunt Christiana is able to keep tabs on family with her power. As long as I communicate with her often, and with my mother through her, I don’t think there will be a problem. You won’t mind if Mother and I write letters back and forth, will you?”

  He shouldn’t have been surprised that she could read and write, and yet he was. ’Twas not a skill most ladies had. “You read and write?”

  She shrugged. “Mother taught us when we were young. She has had me write down recipe after recipe for medicines. That way when I’m on my own, I’ll still be able to do the healing work that I’m so fond of.”

  “You astonish me more and more by the minute, Lina. You are truly a special young lady.”

  The snow fell once again. “I’m no different than the other ladies who were raised under this roof. ’Twas the influence of my mother and aunts that made us all extraordinary.” She looked down at her hands for a moment. “You are not intimidated by my strangeness?”

  “Intimidated?” He shook his head. “Never. In awe? Yes. I admire you a great deal, Lina, and I am very excited to start our lives together.”

  “What if my father won’t agree to our marriage?” She knew there was little likelihood of that, but she wanted to be prepared for the worst.

  “I’ll sneak you away and marry you anyway,” he said with a grin. “I don’t think there will be a problem, though. My father was friends with your father at one time, remember. I believe it’s just a matter of waiting for the man your uncle sent to come back, and we’ll be wed.”

  “
I should start work on a wedding gown. Do you have a favorite color?”

  “Green,” he said, looking into her eyes. “I want to match your eyes. I can’t wait until we have children with eyes that are green.”

  “Do you think we will?” She looked at his eyes. “Your eyes are more of a grayish blue. Do you not think that the boys will have your eye color?”

  He sighed. “You found me out. Every boy in my family for generations has had the gray-blue eyes. I was just dreaming of green eyes. Just for a moment.”

  “I happen to love the color of your eyes, so I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

  He leaned down and kissed her once more, softly and tenderly.

  A knock on the door had them jumping apart. They’d left it partly open because she knew her family would accept nothing less. She turned to see her father standing at the door. “Madelina? I don’t believe you were taught to behave that way.”

  She lowered her head, ashamed. Hail began to fall from the ceiling. Her father covered his head with his arms. “Make it stop!”

  Madelina concentrated and made the hail stop falling, but she could see her father had a knot on his temple. “I’m so sorry, Father!”

  Charles sighed. “Go get your mother to heal it. I want to talk with your young man anyway.”

  Her eyes were wide as she looked from one man to the other. The two men she loved most in the world, and neither looked as if he was willing to give so much as an inch. “Yes, Father.”

  She stood up and hurried from the room, all but running to the great hall, where she knew she’d find her mother. “I made it hail, and Father has a lump on his forehead. Come quickly!”

  “A lump on his forehead? He won’t even let me heal something so paltry.”

  “He said to bring you!” Madelina grabbed her mother’s hand, tugging her behind her.

  When they reached the room where Madelina and Alex had been kissing, she saw her father and Alex standing toe to toe. “Do something, Mother!”

  “What were you doing that you were ashamed enough it hailed, Madelina?”