Alexander: A Seventh Son Novel (McClains Book 1) Read online

  “With a saddle?” he asked, popping another piece of the venison into his mouth.

  “I thought to teach her to ride the way I ride.”

  “It’s not safe.” He wouldn’t hear of her teaching any of their children to ride without a saddle.

  “I’m perfectly safe when I ride Buttercup.”

  “But our daughter wouldn’t be.” He sighed. “I have a feeling you’re going to be more opinionated about many things than I expected while we courted.” He was proud to have a wife of such spirit, but hopefully she would also be able to bend to his will.

  “I would gladly have shared my opinions with you then if you’d but asked,” she pointed out honestly.

  “Mayhap you would have. I was too busy kissing you to worry about your opinions at the time.”

  She grinned at him. “Much to my father’s dismay.”

  He shook his head at her. “I know you laugh about it now, but it was not funny at the time. He wanted to challenge me to a joust.”

  “A joust? Really? I’ve never seen one because I’ve never been anywhere. Do you joust, Alex?” She found she was fascinated by the idea.

  His face softened into a grin. “I never have jousted, but I have been trained as a knight. There was just no need for me to ever try to prove myself on a mock battlefield.”

  “I would give you a token of my esteem before you rode into the arena. A scarf maybe?” She was amused at the very idea of him jousting. Her father had held much the same opinion as he seemed to about jousting. If you were a good knight, you had no need to prove yourself on the grounds of a tournament.

  He shook his head at her. “And what color would your token be, milady?”

  “Oh, it must be the perfect shade of bluish gray to match your eyes.” Madelina leaned toward him, resting her head on his shoulder. “Have I mentioned how fascinated I am by the color of your eyes?”

  “Mayhap once or twice . . .” He found himself more fascinated by this creature he called his wife every day.

  Madelina unexpectedly burst out laughing. “Look at the babe . . .”

  He glanced at the child, who was now stretched out between them, sound asleep. Shaking his head, he said, “As soon as we have finished our meal, I shall carry her into the tent. Are you as tired as our daughter is, wife?”

  “Not quite, but I’m looking forward to sleeping tonight. And I really look forward to arriving at our new home and sleeping in a real bed with a roof over my head.” She looked over at the tent and frowned. “Not that you didn’t provide every luxury you could during our journey.”

  He kissed her forehead. “I will usually provide you with much better than this. But you will need to enjoy this as much as you can in the meantime.”

  “If it’s too hot in the tent, may I make it snow?”

  “Hot? Summer nights are cool.” He sighed. “How about a cooling breeze? I prefer those to snow . . .”

  “All right, but sometimes you take all the fun out of my powers . . .”

  After he carried Letice into the tent, he left Madelina alone to prepare herself for bed. She carefully tucked the covers around her daughter, wanting her to stay warm and healthy; even though Madelina knew Letice would be plenty warm, she worried about the fever the child had had just days before.

  She undressed and slid under a cover to wait for Alex. It was a perfectly cool evening, normal for July in England, and it felt good to her. She was ready for sleep.

  When Alex entered the tent minutes later, he found his wife and daughter both sleeping peacefully, and he smiled. All was right with his world if his ladies were happy.

  Late on their third day of travel, Madelina reached out mentally to her aunt. When there was no answer, she frowned. “How far from your home are we, Alex?” Her aunt’s voice had sounded weaker and weaker in her head as the hours had passed. She’d known she’d be losing her soon, but until that moment, she hadn’t believed she would lose her completely before they reached their home.

  “Less than an hour. Are you too tired to go on?” he asked, frowning at her.

  She was filthy, bedraggled, and exhausted, but she had the promise of a hot bath and a bed waiting for her, and there was nothing that would keep her from continuing their journey. “Of course not. I’m ready.” In fact, knowing they were so close made her pick up the pace. Surely, they could ride ahead and have the wagons follow them. She had her husband at her side and her child on her lap. What more could a woman ask for?

  As they rode, she was vaguely aware of their surroundings. They passed the walled city of York and just rode a few minutes north of there. She would have liked being further from the city, but she wouldn’t complain. Home was within her grasp.

  When Alex stopped in front of a large castle—not quite as large as the one she’d grown up in, but very big nonetheless—she looked at him. “Home?” she asked softly.

  He nodded, swinging down from his horse and holding his hands up for Letice. Madelina swung her sore body down from the back of her mount and moved to stand beside him. “Are your parents home?”

  “My parents are always home. Now that my father has retired from fighting, he is content to stay at my mother’s side. Mother says she wishes he would find himself a hobby that would keep him out from underfoot all the time, but so far, he hasn’t done so.”

  She smiled at him. “When we’re that age, will you bother me by being underfoot all the time? Or will you be a docile husband, obedient to my every wish?”

  He threw back his head and laughed. “If you think there will ever be something docile about me, you are a very confused woman.” He led her into the castle, calling out as they entered. “Mother! Father! I’ve come home with my bride!”

  Both of his parents hurried in from a room off the great hall. “Introduce us, Alexander!” his mother told him. She frowned at the child in his arms.

  “This is my wife, Madelina, and this is an orphaned child we found. We decided to keep her so Madelina could have a daughter.” He smiled over at his wife. “Father, Madelina is the youngest daughter of Charles Nobilis, who is the younger brother of Roland.”

  Her new father-in-law stepped forward and grasped both of her hands in his. “I don’t see any of the features of my old friend, but I’m happy to welcome you to the family. I heard both Roland and Charles married well.”

  Madelina smiled in response. “They married sisters, and their friend, Hugh, married their third sister. All of us have lived in the same home. I was raised with brothers and sisters and cousins.”

  His mother stepped closer to Madelina. “It sounds like you have had a wonderful life. I can’t wait to start training you on running this old castle.”

  Madelina then broached the topic that had been bothering her for days. “Alex has said that you will move away now that we married. Please know that I would love to have you stay here with us. The castle is plenty large enough.”

  Lady Lain laughed loudly. “You think if I stay you’ll be able to pursue your own interests. It’s not going to happen. This place is all yours to manage.” She leaned over and kissed Madelina’s cheek. “Welcome to the family.” She reached out her hands for Letice, who was watching everything with interest, her thumb firmly in her mouth. “Come see your grandmama.”

  Letice looked at her for a moment before leaning forward and allowing her new grandmother to hold her. “Grandmama?”

  “Yes, I’m your grandmama.” Lady Lain grinned at Madelina. “I like how you solved the problem with no daughters being born to the seventh son. Very creative of you.”

  Madelina grinned. “I thought so.”

  “I hope you’ll call me Mother, just like Alex does. Would you like to see your new home?”

  “Yes, I’d love that.” Madelina lifted her hands to take her daughter from the older woman, but Letice just put her head on her new grandmama’s shoulder.

  The house was significantly smaller than the one she’d been raised in. Of course, her uncle’s castle was built with
the knowledge that there would be three married couples living there with all of the children they bore between them, which ended up being seventeen. The house had needed to be large.

  This home had been built with a different knowledge. The knowledge that every generation that lived in it would have seven sons. What an odd thing that was to know going into a marriage.

  As she was shown the first floor of the home, including the kitchens and the storage rooms, Madelina could see the care that had gone into the home. “Alex is very excited to have Letice and me here under his roof.”

  “I’m sure he is. It must have been strange for him being under your family’s roof. Tell me, how long have you been married?”

  “We were married four days ago. We spent two nights at my home, and then we began our journey here.”

  “You must be exhausted! Instead of the rest of the tour before supper, let me take you to your room, and I’ll have the servants ready a bath for you.”

  Madelina wanted to kiss the woman’s feet. “That would bring me a great deal of pleasure.”

  “I’m certain. Being on the road is so tiresome.” Lady Lain walked toward the stairs and opened a door at the top. “We will be moved out within the week, but for now, I think you’ll find Alex’s boyhood room comfortable.” She opened a door at the other end of the hall from hers. “We can put little Letice in the room beside yours that was his brother Philip’s.”

  “Thank you.” Madelina walked into the room and found everything perfectly set up. She sat on the edge of the bed. “This room will be perfect for now.” She reached out her hands, and this time Letice came to her, getting down to look around the room.

  “I’ll go request that bath.”

  Madelina liked the way that statement had been worded. She would “request” a bath rather than order it. It sounded like that was exactly the kind of family she needed to have married into. “Your room is next door,” she said to Letice. “Would you like to go see it?”

  Letice nodded. Madelina groaned softly as she got to her feet, walking to the next room. There was a firm bed and a nice window. “This will be just right for you. Papa and I will be right next door. All right?”

  “Aye.” Letice didn’t need a further invitation. She climbed into the bed and pulled the covers over her, shoes and all.

  Madelina wished she could do the same, but she knew she couldn’t be rude on her first night in her new home. She tucked the covers around her daughter and left the room.

  Chapter Six

  After she had finished her bath, Madelina dressed in the clothes she’d just removed. They were filthy, and she wished her other clothes were available to her, but they were still in one of the wagons. She used the salve on her thighs again, pleased with how well the medicine was easing her pain.

  Descending the stairs, she wasn’t certain what she’d find, but when she walked into the room where Alex sat with his parents, all eyes went to her. “Letice is sleeping. I showed her to her room, and she climbed under the covers, shoes and all. I think she’s as tired as I am.”

  “Supper will be in a few minutes,” Alex told her. “You can get a good night’s sleep after that.”

  Madelina nodded, sitting on the arm of the window seat where he was relaxing. She needed his strength to make it through the night. She was so tired, she wasn’t sure if she would make it through no matter what she did. “I would enjoy that.”

  He grinned up at her. “I was telling my parents about your family and the special powers the ladies have.”

  “Oh!” Madelina hadn’t expected him to tell them about the powers, so she was a bit surprised. “Yes, the ladies of my family have very strange powers.”

  “I know that when Roland was told that he would be getting Sir Robert’s eldest daughter, there was much laughter because she was reputed to be a witch,” Sir Ralph said. “Is your mother a witch?”

  Madelina was used to the question, and she immediately shook her head. “No, we are all Christians, and we wear the cross, which we couldn’t do if we were witches. We believe our powers come from God, but we do have powers.”

  “But only the women in your family have powers?” he asked.

  “Until this generation, there were no boys, so yes, the girls have the powers. I have brothers and male cousins because my mother and her sisters were able to fulfill the family’s destiny by conquering evil.” She knew many people would think what she said was nonsense, but with a family who believed in luck so strongly, surely he would believe what she said.

  “According to Alex, your power is to control the weather. Is that true?”

  “Yes, it is.” She was tired, but she closed her eyes, letting the snow fall into the sitting room. She opened her eyes when his mother gasped with alarm. Laughing softly, she ordered the snow to stop. “You’ll find that I can’t always control it, and there will sometimes be snow inside when you least expect it.”

  “That must make it hard when you are at court or traveling,” his mother said.

  “I’ve never been to court, and I’ve never traveled before this week. I imagine it will be very hard, but I will mostly stay home as I can. Our lands were isolated enough that few people ever visited, except peasants wanting to be healed.” She hadn’t thought about how much her family’s isolation probably had to do with her and her lack of control over her powers.

  “Who has the healing powers?” Sir Ralph asked.

  “My mother, Marina. She has the power to heal with her touch, and she’s been known to pull someone who had just died back from the other side. That’s where Letice came in as well. She was lying by the side of the road, and Alex picked her up and brought her to me because one of the peasants told him I was a healer. And while I am, I can only heal with herbs and poultices. I called for my mother, and she saved the girl. Alex saw her parents’ home being burned, so we decided we would keep her and raise her as our own. I want to teach her the ways of healing.”

  Both of Alex’s parents looked at him. “Did you realize the babe was ill when you picked her up?” Sir Ralph asked.

  Alex nodded. “She was burning up with fever.”

  “You have shown no signs of this illness?” his mother asked.

  “None. I’m a strong, healthy man, Mother.” Alex grinned at Madelina, who smiled back.

  “Would you be able to cure this disease if you were presented with it?” his mother asked.

  Madelina shook her head. “It’s possible I could if I saw it in the early stages, but most likely we would need to send for my mother with her healing touch.”

  His parents exchanged a look between them. “How would you send for her?” his father asked.

  “My aunt has the ability to communicate through thoughts. She had a feeling we would be too far for her to hear my thoughts from here, so she had me try every hour along the way. About an hour south of here, I lost her voice in my head. If I have need of my mother, I can travel to that location and ask my aunt to send my mother. ’Twould be much faster than sending for her by messenger.”

  Alex frowned at Madelina. “Why did you not tell me you were communicating with your aunt every hour?”

  She shrugged. “I didn’t think it mattered,” she fibbed. Truthfully, she knew it had mattered to him too much, so she hadn’t mentioned it. She had need to be able to communicate with her family, and that would be the easiest way, whether he liked it or not. “My mother wants to be here when I have my first, so I promised to make sure that I could communicate with Aunt Christiana.”

  “Is that the aunt who married Roland?” Sir Ralph asked. At her nod, he continued. “There is not a more able knight I’ve seen. He was a good commander of his men and quite shrewd.”

  Alex wanted to discuss her communicating with her aunt more but decided that would be better left for when they were alone. “Madelina will have to tell you the story of how the three sisters bested Roland and his knights for a day before they took the manor where the ladies lived.”

  Sir Ralph
smiled. “That sounds like a wonderful story and one I look forward to hearing.”

  After they had eaten their supper, Madelina asked where she could find her clothes. She wanted to be able to put on something clean the following morning instead of something covered in dust. She knew that Alex didn’t mind, but what must his mother think of her?

  Alex was still down talking about the journey with his parents when she slipped under the covers. She was too tired to stay awake for another moment. Three days on the road, after two very emotional days at home, had left her drained in a way she had never been in her life. She prayed for her family and immediately drifted off to sleep.

  When Alex got into his bedchamber, all he could think about was talking to Madelina about her communicating with her aunt so frequently on their trip. He walked in, and she lay on her side, her breathing even. She looked very young in that moment, and he couldn’t bear to wake her. The morrow was soon enough to make his displeasure known at her actions. They were married, and she should tell him everything.

  He slipped into bed beside her and pulled her toward him, not wanting to sleep without at least holding her. It was amazing how just a few days of marriage had changed him. He couldn’t wait until their sons started to be born, and he was able to mold them into the kind of men they needed to grow up to be.

  Madelina woke early, dressing immediately in her hunting clothes. She wanted to make certain her aunt knew they’d made it home safely. She realized as she went to the stables that she had inadvertently fibbed. The last time she’d talked to her aunt in her mind was two hours south, not one hour. She would go to the spot where she’d last tried to communicate and reach out to her every ten minutes after that.

  She mounted Buttercup gingerly, still a bit sore from the long days of riding, but this time she would be able to ride at her own pace, racing across fields. Not having an escort as she rode made her feel truly free for the first time in her life. She didn’t stop to think about safety or whether or not Alex would mind her going off by herself. Instead, she rode like the wind, her hair streaming out behind her.