Aileen had been to this place before. The bandits that held her didn’t know that apparently, but she remembered coming to this castle as a child, with her father. The Lord of the castle at the time had been a kid hearted old man with sparkling green eyes. He had reminded Aileen of the stories she would hear about St. Nicholas, and his white beard and a twinkle in his eye. Surely that old man had not meant for her to be trussed up this way and dragged to his doorstep. He was her father’s friend.
The bandits rode up into the courtyard and the doors opened to reveal, not an old man, as Aileen had hoped, but a young one. He looked close to her own age. He descended the stairs as if he were the King himself and not just a “landed noble”. She watched as he walked up to her horse and examined her up and down.
“You brought me the wrong woman. This is not who was supposed to be my betrothed,” he stated, bluntly to the men that held her captive.
“You would treat your betrothed like some captive, milord?” she asked the man.
“As I recall, I was not speaking to you, woman. I was speaking to these men. You would do well to keep your lips still and quiet.” He turned back to the men and asked, “Where did you find her?”
“At the castle of Lord Edelbrook as you said, milord. This is who the maid said was the Lord’s daughter,” the man with the beard said to him.
“This cannot be her. She looks nothing like I had heard. She is also too outspoken to be a proper lady, as well,” he said as he untied her hands and helped her from the horse’s back.
“Milord, this is the woman that the maid was working for. She is the daughter of the Lord Edelbrook. She even said so herself,” the younger man said.
“Milord, I have no idea who you are, or who these men are, but I have been here before as a small child with my father, the Lord Edelbrook. I have no idea about any betrothal or any other such dealings with my father. But my question still stands. Is the manner of ‘acquiring your new bride’ that you would normally employ?” she asked the man again.
He pointedly looked at her, and for the first time she really got a good look at him. The man was attractive in a rough kind of way. He was tall and leanly built, with eyes that were so dark brown they bordered on black. His brown hair fell just below the neck of his fine linen tunic, in long loose waves. A wave of acknowledgement passed thru her. He was a fine specimen of the male species, with the exception that he had commissioned these men to take her captive.
“Woman, I have asked you to remain quiet. Since you insist on speaking at lest say something relevant. Who are you, and how did you come to be at Edelbrook castle?
“Milord, I am Aileen, the daughter of Lord Edelbrook. I came to be at Edelbrook castle through birth as it is our ancestral home and my father is its Lord,” she replied as though she were talking to a simpleton.
He glared at her, and then motioned for the men to carry on. Then he spoke with such authority that she automatically obeyed his command, before she realized she should be protesting. “We shall see who you are. Come with me. You are here now, thus, I cannot release you as of yet. Once we know who you are, you will either be returned or you will be wed. Follow me.”
She fell into step behind him, and followed him all the way to a room off the kitchens. It seemed to be sleeping accommodations for a kitchen maid. She stepped into the room and as she turned to look at him, he was already closing the door on her, and locking it. She heard his footsteps stride away from the door and back through the kitchens in the hallway.
Kenwei was disconcerted to say the least. He had never had any intentions of marrying anyone. He didn’t wish to marry. He was content with is mistress and his life the way it was.
His mistress, Adrianna, had said that the Lady Edelbrook was fat, ugly, and had stringy thinning hair. She said the woman looked like a man in maid’s clothing. The woman that he just met looked nothing like a man. She was beautiful. She was very beautiful.
She had long thick dark red hair. Her eyes were like sparkling amber. Her body was no where near fat or ugly. What he held in his hands while he helped her off of the horse was long, lean, and well muscled. She was tall enough to almost reach his nose. That was tall considering there were not many men as tall as he was, in general.
