The Last de Burgh

‘Do you know something I don’t?’ Nicholas asked, losing his patience. ‘Has Emery confided something to you that I should know?’

The look on Guy’s face was comical.

‘Because unless you are aware of some scheme to assail us while we sleep, I hardly think we are in any danger inside these walls,’ Nicholas said. Turning away in annoyance, he pulled his tunic over his head and tossed it aside. Let Guy sleep in his clothes, for he had not been wearing mail all day.

When Guy slunk away, suitably chastened, Nicholas moved to the bowl and splashed some water on his face. Then he dampened the soap and began working it over his arms and chest. The coolness on his skin felt so good, Nicholas tipped his head back and sighed.

He had learned to appreciate such small pleasures and the soothing ritual was bound to relax anyone, even his overwrought squire. In fact, Nicholas was about to urge his companions to partake of the water, too, but a glance in their direction gave him pause. While Guy was tending to their gear, young Emery was staring at Nicholas with something akin to shock.

Was the boy dismayed by his scars? Although Nicholas had his share, they were of no account and he opened his mouth to reassure the boy. But just then Emery’s gaze met his own and Nicholas’s response was both swift and inexplicable. Sudden heat rushed through him, along with a sharp awareness, and he felt the same strong connection he’d known when he looked at Emery in the darkness of the tunnel.

Just as it had before, Nicholas’s surroundings fell away, the manor, his squire and all else, until there was only Emery, whose bright blue eyes were barely visible in the firelight. The moment might have lasted for ever or only for a heartbeat, but when the boy looked away the bond was broken.

‘I—I must use the garderobe,’ Emery stammered. Scrambling towards the doorway as if the devil himself gave chase, the boy pushed by Guy without a backward glance.

‘Good idea,’ the squire said as the fleeing figure passed him.

Nicholas turned away, unwilling to let his squire see his dismay. Was he feverish? Had he been stricken with some new malady? Nicholas finished his ablutions in silence, unease overcoming his earlier enjoyment.

Drying himself with a scrap of linen, he sat down to remove his boots, but left on his braies. Although he suspected no attack from outside forces, such was his custom whenever staying in a strange place. He had learned from his brothers how to leave in a hurry and a naked man was vulnerable in a fight.

Lying back upon the bed, Nicholas heard Guy settle on to his pallet. The firelight lent a soft glow to the room, which should be enough to guide Emery’s steps when he returned. Nicholas felt a stab of concern over the lengthy absence, but he doubted there were any threats within these walls. And he was not about to go after the boy.

With an effort, he turned his thoughts elsewhere, considering his plans for the morrow, when they would retrace their steps, heading back towards the Hospitaller commandery. For if Emery lived in the ‘old gatehouse’, then the uncle’s residence must be nearby. And whether Gerard was there or not, their search for him likely would end since there was nowhere else to look. No matter what the outcome, Nicholas’s quest would be over, as well as his association with Emery.

Nicholas shifted restlessly at the thought, balking at the approaching end of both. He had come to realise that he needed a task, something to be doing until he could do no more. And as for Emery … Nicholas shifted again as he acknowledged his odd kinship with the boy.

There was something about Emery that reminded him of home, which might explain the peculiar yearning that had struck him. Emery was obviously devoted to his brother, making Nicholas recall his own siblings with new affection. For a moment, he wondered about them and the changes these past months might have wrought, only to push such thoughts aside.

He also dismissed his plan to teach Emery some of his skills. He could not take on another squire, and he was not sure of his own abilities, considering the weariness, flashes of heat and strange giddiness that had come over him today. He would rather not start something he could not finish.