The Duke of Tremont

Chapter 20

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“Justin! Parry to the left! That’s it, now Hunter get that shield arm up a bit more. Very Good!”

Brian, Michael and Jonathan watched as Ben coached while Justin and Hunter sparred against each other. Justin had fully recovered from his illness and had been given leave by Melanie to join the other men for weapons practice. They were currently in the indoor practice arena since it was only the beginning of March and still very cold outside; “he’s a very good teacher,” commented Jonathan.

“Aye he is,” agreed Brian; “and a fine specimen as well,” he added slyly as he looked sidelong at Michael; “wouldn‘t you agree Michael?”

“Yes he is,” Michael blushed bright red.

Jonathan spoke again; “well, I don’t really have an opinion on that, but he is a fine swordsman.”

“He has asked me to marry him,” Michael spoke softly.

“What?” Brian looked at his friend in shock.

Michael looked at the King; “I mean, I know it is not legal, yet, but well, my uncle has agreed to perform a hand fasting before the campaign this spring.”

“That is wonderful Michael,” beamed the King, “as you know I am hoping to change that law, but it is proving more difficult to persuade the older members of our council and clergy.”

“Thank you Sire, I know you will do your best,” replied Michael.

Brian pulled Michael in for a hug then gave him a chaste kiss on the mouth; “I am happy for you.”

Michael gazed into Brian’s eyes for a moment and finally let go of the last vestiges of the worship and love he had felt for his friend all these years, letting respect and friendship fill their place. Brian’s eyes held a silent question that Michael answered with a sheepish grin; “thank you. I am happy as well.”

Both men were startled by Ben’s sharp cry; “Justin! Pay attention!” With that he whapped Justin on the rear with the flat of his practice blade. Jonathan, Brian and Michael all turned to see a blushing Justin being dressed down by a stern Ben; “I have told you many times to never let your mind wander from your opponent. That is what got you injured that day in the clearing. You have plenty of time to ogle Duke Brian later. Now is not the time or place!”

“Sorry,” replied a red faced and contrite Justin as he let his eyes wander to his lover once again.

“I shall be the one who is sorry if you are injured or worse in battle come spring;” answered Ben in a gentler tone; “now, ready positions!”

Brian sent Justin a quick wink as the young man smiled and returned it with a brief nod of acknowledgement before raising his sword and turning his attention back to Hunter.

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An hour later all the men were making their way back to the castle through the courtyard when a lone rider sped in through the gates; “Father,” he shouted as he pulled his horse up short and dismounted quickly.

“Timothy!” Replied the king in a somewhat startled tone as he accepted the boy’s brief bow and then pulled him into a fatherly hug; “what on earth are you doing here? Is all well at the capitol?”

“All is well Father,” Timothy replied. He turned to Brian and bowed again; “hello Uncle. It is good to see you again.”

“And you as well Tim. You have grown up, just like your brothers.”

“Tim!” Called Hunter, who had been walking a bit behind the others with Justin.

“Hunter!” The brother’s briefly embraced and then Hunter turned to introduce Timothy to Justin.

Timothy stared for a moment at the very handsome Justin who had bowed and reached out his hand. Shaking himself out of his reverie he returned the handshake feeling his stomach clinch as he felt Justin’s firm and calloused hand; “how do you do Your Highness?” Justin asked oblivious to the affect he was having on the young man before him.

Timothy cleared his throat; “I…I am fine thank you Lord Justin,” he realized he still had Justin’s hand in his and released his grip, “please call me Timothy though.”

“Thank you Timothy, I will, if you promise to call me Justin;” he smiled at the boy and Timothy’s heart leapt into his throat at the beauty of it.

“Son, you have yet to answer my question;” The King had grown impatient. “Why are you here? You are supposed to be helping your brother and mother back at home. And more importantly what are you doing riding around the countryside by yourself in these dangerous times?”

Timothy was both grateful and a bit resentful that his father took his attention from the young man before him; “Brian and Mother are fine without me father, and I have not come by myself. Brian is the one who sent me to be an escort.”

“An escort?” Asked the puzzled king; “an escort for whom?”

Just then a band of men in the King’s livery rode through the gate; banners flying high. Behind them trailed an ornate, enclosed carriage followed by more men.

Brian and Jonathan looked at each other with horrified expressions on their faces; “Mother,” they both said at the same time with the exact same amount of dread in their voices. It would have been funny if the two did not look quite so miserable.

As the group made their way over to greet the Queen Mother Hunter grabbed his brother’s arm pulling him back a bit; “he is with Uncle Brian,” he told his older brother.

Timothy turned bright red and stopped to stare at Hunter; “I…I don’t know what you mean. I‘m not…”

Hunter shook his head as he interrupted; “I saw how you looked at Justin. I’ve known for awhile Timothy, don’t worry your secret is safe with me. It is just that Justin and Brian are very happy together. I do not want your heart to get broken Tim.”

Tim swallowed hard and shook his head; “It won’t,” he replied but he refused to meet Hunter’s eyes.

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The Queen Mother sat regally in a large armchair in the sitting room of the suite that had been hastily prepared upon her surprise arrival. Queen Joan was a thin woman whose steel gray hair was piled in a braided coronet on top of her regal head. She wore a dour expression on her face and her brown eyes were set upon her two sons in grave disapproval.

“You should have sent word you were coming Mother,” said Brian stiffly, “we would have had more time to prepare your accommodations.”

“What and give you time to find an excuse not to be here?” She asked haughtily eyeing her youngest child who had turned his gaze to the floor; “no need to be so coy Brian, I know how you feel about me, but I have come here to speak with both of you.”

“About what Mother?” Jonathan asked, barely able to contain his annoyance at his mother’s treatment of Brian.

“About this folly of a war with your sister and her husband of course. I will not have my children fighting against one another. I want you to stop this nonsense at once!”

“Mother you act as if we are children arguing over a toy. Claire and Sapperstein have committed treason against Pennington and they must be stopped. I have no choice but to fight them.”

“Why can you just not give them what they want? Are you so power hungry that you cannot give your sister a tiny piece of your land to rule?”

Jonathan leapt from his seat and faced his mother; “have you gone mad Mother?”

“Do not speak to me in such a manner. I am still your mother King or not,” Joan replied icily.

“Yes, I am king and I will not turn part of my kingdom over to traitors! I thought that my sister and her husband did have a piece of my land to rule. Correct me if I’m wrong, but is that not what a dukedom is? I think you are not seeing who the power hungry party is in this scenario mother.”

“There is no need to be sarcastic Jonathan,” retorted Joan; “your sister is merely trying to look out for the morality of this country which is far more than you have been doing I am sorry to say,” her gaze moved pointedly to Brian who still would not meet her eyes.

“How dare you speak to me about morality Mother? Claire and Sap have killed a woman in cold blood. What is moral about that?”

“Well if you are talking about that Janniver woman it was unfortunate, but really you should have expected something like that to happen. You did force their hand.”

Brian listened to his mother’s callous words and the dark ball of resentment and hate he felt for her grew inside him. He thought of the devastation Janniver’s death had wrought upon not only Justin, but Molly and Patrick as well. He found himself unable to ignore the woman’s bitter tirade as he usually was wont to do. “How dare you!” He looked into his mother’s eyes, his jaw clenching in rage; “how dare you act as if Janniver of Westlake’s life meant nothing! She was someone’s wife and mother. How dare you act as if her death was some trivial event!”

“Do not get high and mighty with me Brian. If it were not for you none of this would be happening! Do not think I have not heard of your wickedness with the son of that poor woman! Rumors have been running rampant at court about your behavior. The woman is probably better off dead than alive knowing how you have tainted her son!”

“Mother! Enough!” Jonathan’s voice was sharp and threatening.

“No! I am not finished yet!” Replied Joan through clenched teeth; “you are the cause of all of this Brian. Jonathan was a good and obedient son until you came along. You were always dragging him into trouble and now you have turned him against us; his own flesh and blood. You have tricked him with your wicked ways and are damning him to face the same torment in hell that is waiting for you.”

Brian stepped back from his mother, surprised at the venom and hate that filled her words; “but I am your flesh and blood too,” he replied quietly.

“I know I gave birth to you, but I wonder if your father was not right about the mark that brands you as evil.”

Jonathan watched his brother physically blanch and spoke up; “how dare you speak to my brother that way! Brian is your son, the same as I. He has not turned me against you. You and Claire have managed to do that on your own. I am simply doing what is right for my kingdom. I will not rule with cruelty and hate as our father did before us.”

“You will turn your back on the Lord’s word as well?” She asked.

“On the contrary Mother I do this in the Lord’s name. In the name of His love, kindness and acceptance.”

“On that we do not agree my son. If you insist on this folly I fear I must leave you.”

“Are you asking me to choose between my brother and you?” Jonathan asked in disbelief.

“I cannot stay and support this madness whilst you run this kingdom into the ground. You must make a choice.”

Jonathan looked between the pain filled face of his baby brother and the icy stare of the woman who gave birth to him; “I choose Brian Mother, because it is the right path for me and my Kingdom.”

Joan seemed to deflate and suddenly she looked much older than her 60 years; “then you give me no choice but to leave. You shall not lay eyes on me again.”

“Where will you go? To Balybonne and Claire?” Asked Jonathan.

“No, I want no part of this war. I will sequester myself in the abbey in Harrisburg. There I will pray for the souls of my two wayward sons until the end of my days. I shall leave in the morning. Leave me now please. I no longer wish to look upon either of you.”

“Mother,” Jonathan could not help but plead one last time.

She refused to look in his direction but spoke firmly; “good bye Jonathan,” to Brian she said not a word.

“Mother,” Jonathan spoke the word one last time as they exited the room. When he had closed the door behind him he turned to Brian; “I am sorry brother,” he laid a gentle hand on Brian’s shoulder.

“You should not have chosen me;” Brian’s eyes met Jonathan’s and the king was stunned by the wild look of grief and anger there.

“What are you talking about? It was not a difficult choice to make;” Jonathan tried to smile, but Brian just backed away.

“I ruin everything. Perhaps I am evil. My own parents could not even love me, how can you? How could anyone?” With that Brian turned and ran down the corridor.

“Brian!” Jonathan shouted, but to no avail. His brother was gone.

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Justin knew something was very wrong with Brian. The link between them was open all the time now and Justin was even learning how to control it a bit as well. He had been having tea and visiting in the great hall with Hunter, Timothy, Molly, Daphne and young Charles under the ever watchful eye of Deb. They had all been getting to know Timothy better, always happy to have another young person at the castle.

Truthfully they were all trying to kill time waiting for the meeting between the Queen Mother and her sons to be over. All were curious as to what the woman had come for.

As Justin was laughing at a story Timothy was relaying about life at court he felt the link between he and Brian cut off completely.

He almost let out an audible gasp at the suddenness of it; “Justin are you all right?” Daphne asked with concern. She had been feeling very protective of him since he had been sick.

“Yes fine;” he spoke shortly as he rose from his seat at the long table; “I…uh…I just remembered something. I must go,” with that he fled quickly out of the hall.

“Justin!” Molly called after her brother. She turned back to the others; “I’m willing to bet it has something to do with Brian.”

Hunter nodded wisely; “I am sure of it; especially if our grandmother is involved.”

Timothy rose as well; “if you will excuse me. I think I will go and get cleaned up from my ride;” he bowed to the ladies and left the room as well.

It did not escape Hunter that his brother had followed in the same direction as Justin, which happened to be the opposite direction of the apartment he and Hunter would be sharing.

Hunter sighed deeply and then noticed his father hurrying into the room; “have any of you seen Duke Brian,” he asked them.

“No, Highness he has not been through here,” supplied Molly; “but my brother did just leave rather hastily with that odd look on his face.”

Jonathan threw himself on the bench next to Hunter taking the boy’s cup of ale and draining the rest in one gulp; “well that is something anyway,” he said with a sigh; “Justin will take care of him.”

Hunter decided to keep quiet about where he saw his brother go. No need to worry his father about Tim when he was obviously distraught enough about Brian.

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