Read Online The Fallen One by Kathryn Le Veque - Free Book Online Page B

quite
happily, but I hope you will never again need saving.   To save you means that you will be in some
manner of danger, and that I could not abide.   I would not ever wish that for you.”
    She gazed at him seriously, her smile
fading. “What will you do now, Mathias?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Will you return to shoeing chargers for
the tournament? Or will you mayhap travel to Italy again someday and relive the
days of your youth?”
    He shrugged.   “If I go, it will not be alone,” he said, a
twinkle in his eye. “Mayhap I will take you along so I have someone to talk
to.   Sebastian can be such a bore and all
he wants to do is chase women.”
    She laughed. “I will not chase women, I
promise,” she said, sobering.   Her brown
eyes glimmered at him. “If you go again, I do hope you will consider taking
me.   It would be a lovely thing to travel
with you, I am sure.”
    The conversation was coming to a close;
Mathias could feel it. They were floating along on sweet, dreamy words,
bordering on flirting, and he was scrambling for things to say, feeling a
desperation he’d never felt before.   He
didn’t want the moment to end.
    “Do you have plans for any more trips into
town?” he asked. “If you do, mayhap you will do the honor of another visit some
time.”
    Cathlina could feel the desperation, too.
She didn’t want to leave him but she knew he had to return. She could feel the
stares of her father’s knights on her back, heated and questioning.  
    “Father has made mention of coming to see the
tournament that will take place in a couple of days,” she said. “We will be in
town then and mayhap I will see you at that time.”
    Mathias’ thoughts were running wild. We will be coming to see the tournament .
He began to think all manner of foolish things at that moment. In fact, he
could hardly contain himself.   Reaching
down, he took her hand and kissed it softly.
    “You will see me at that time,” he said
quietly. “Have no doubt that I will find you.”
    Cathlina felt his kiss down to her toes.   Other than her father and grandfather, a man
had never kissed her, and certainly not in the sweet and warm way Mathias had.
Wide-eyed, she watched him turn and ride off, wind gusts and rain pelting him
as he went.   In fact, the rain was
falling fairly steadily and she had to wipe it from her eyes as she mounted her
palfrey, but she hardly cared.   Mathias
the smithy had charmed her, had listened to her, and had finally kissed
her.   That was all she cared about.
    Even when her father spent an hour yelling
at her for being foolish, she considered the crime well worth the cost.

 
 
    CHAPTER FIVE

 
 
         “We were stripped of
our knighthood,” Mathias said steadily. “We were told never to pick up arms
again. We were never told at we could not compete in tournaments.”
         Justus was beside
himself; as the storm raged outside and sunset turned to night, he stood in the
middle of the warm, smoky stall he shared with his two sons and listened to the
eldest spout nonsense. He was truly at a loss for words.
         “Have you gone mad?”
he hissed. “You cannot compete in the tournament!”
         “Why not?”
         Justus threw up his
arms. “Because you are no longer a knight and only knights can compete!”
         Mathias shook his
head. “I am a warrior,” he said in a tone that suggested no debate. “That can
never be taken from me.   I have had my
titles and lands removed, but not my heart. I can compete and I can win.”
         Justus stood there
with his mouth hanging open.   He finally
shook his head, twitching-like, as if his entire body was in an uproar. “Where
has this come from?” he demanded, his gray hair swishing back and forth. “Since
January one year ago, you have been quiet and obedient. You have never as much
as lamented your fortune, Mathias, although if anyone had a right to, you did.
Sometimes I wondered if you even