Chapter 5

5

W hile eating her meal, Accalia watched Erik’s boys. They were eating a little bit but throwing food at each other or quarreling with each other for the most part. Then they tossed some of their food to the dogs that scrambled to get it before the others did. It was no wonder the dogs were at the boys’ table.

Everyone was talking to each other at the lower tables, a few heads turning her way from time to time, the clansmen and women probably trying to determine if she would stay for longer than…some time. Beathag was smiling and laughing with a couple of maids but glanced in Accalia’s direction and gave her a haughty look.

Erik said, “You will put the lads to bed tonight. I will warn you, that isna a pleasant task. Their nannies will happily give that chore up to you.”

“Are you hopeful I willna succeed?” She felt he was trying to push her away, not solicit an agreement on her part. Was it because he was unsure if he wanted to mate again? She could understand that.

But if they didn’t want to mate with each other, she could be stuck with Freigard.

“Nay. I wanted you to know what you’re up against. I suspect you’ll succeed where I wouldna.” Erik smiled imperceptibly.

That made her feel better to know he thought she was up to the task when he couldn’t handle it.

She never gave up easily and was willing to do what she could to see if this might work. How difficult could the boys be? Troublesome, she was certain, since their nannies didn’t even want to put them to bed at night.

She wanted to ask him about his deceased wife, but she didn’t feel comfortable asking him right away. But if she were to mate him, she wanted to know what she’d been like as a mate, a mother, and a pack leader and though she hated to admit it, if Accalia measured up.

After dinner, Erik said, “I have business to conduct with my men. You’re free to explore the castle, but since you said you believe the boys should be washed, I’ll leave it to you to handle. You will have maids to help, naturally. After that, you will decide when they go to bed.”

It was already getting late. As far as she was concerned, they needed to go to bed now. Well, after they washed up.

“All right then,” she said, and as they were leaving the table, she motioned to Etta.

Erik hesitated, as if he wanted to say something else, but then thought better of it and headed out of the keep.

The maid hurried over. “Do you want to see your chamber now, my lady?”

“I want to ensure Erik’s lads have baths.”

Etta’s blue eyes widened. “Oh, my, that will be a difficult thing to do.”

“Where do they normally bathe?”

“In the loch, when they feel like it. Not so much for a few weeks now.”

“It is too late at night. Have the water heated for a bath in their chamber and I will be up presently.”

“I will gather three maids to help us.”

“We will need that many?” Accalia asked.

“Maybe more, my lady. They are indeed a handful. We quit trying to bathe them because of it.”

“Oh, you’ll have to show me where their chamber and mine are.”

“Aye, my lady. I’ll take you there first. I was told you would need gowns. Tailors are working on them now.” Then Etta escorted Accalia up the winding stairs to the upper floors of the keep. “We didna expect the lord to bring you home without any bags. We thought he would stay for a week at your da’s castle and if you suited each other, he would wed you and bring you here.”

“Aye, we believed the same thing.”

“This is your chamber,” Etta said, showing her the room that featured a bed, chair, small table, and a trunk. A narrow window opened on one wall.

“Where is Erik’s chamber?”

Etta’s eyes widened.

“Show me.” If Accalia were to marry the pack leader, she would be in his bed, not in a guest room. But not right away. She had to know they could love one another and that the boys would be fine with the arrangement.

“Aye, my lady.” Etta led her to another set of stairs and showed her a much larger room, a bigger bed, tapestries hanging on the walls, trunks beneath them, and a bathing area.

It would do. “I will take my bath in here while Erik is occupied. But first, we bathe the lads and put them to bed.”

“Aye, my lady. Will you sleep in the lord’s room?”

“Heaven’s no.”

Etta nodded perceptively. Then she showed the lads’ chamber to Accalia filled with wooden toys—swords, horses, toy soldiers—scattered all over. The beds were unmade, furs on the floor, feathers from pillows scattered around. The room was larger like Erik’s for three growing boys.

“I want all the toys removed and the boys’ bedding washed. But in the meantime, fresh bedding must be added to the beds,” Accalia said. If the boys had no toys in the room, they wouldn’t make such a mess of their chamber. And they couldn’t play if that was what they did until they fell asleep.

Etta smiled. “Aye, my lady.” She hurried off and within minutes, several men entered the chamber and began hauling everything out. Three maids stripped the beds and carried the bedding out of the room. Then others came in with replacement bedding.

“Better.” Accalia liked her life and her castle to be nice and orderly. It made her feel more settled.

Then men brought up a tub and women filled it with buckets of water warmed in the kitchen.

Accalia wanted to ask where the hellions were, but suddenly Logan entered the chamber and smiled. He folded his arms. “I heard there was lots of activity going on up here. You’ll do.” Then he cast her a smirk and left.

She scoffed at him. He wouldn’t decide if she would be Erik’s mate. She would.

Not much longer after that, three husky Highlanders were pulling three cantankerous boys into the chamber. One of the boys immediately tried to leave, but the burly Highlanders guarded the door. Now that was more like it.

While the door was still open, the five rambunctious wolfhounds ran into the bedchamber. Their claws tapped on the stone floor and echoed through the bedchamber. The wolfhounds ran around, panting and joyfully barking, their large paws creating a chaotic symphony of noise as they stepped on her feet and the boys. They knocked her over and she fell on one of the boys’ beds.

The boys laughed. She figured she would have done the same in their place and didn’t take it personally.

One of the men came to her aid, but she got to her feet without his help, wanting to show the boys she could manage.

“Out with you,” Accalia said, waving her hands at the dogs to leave the bedchamber.

The men herded them out of the room for her, the one saying, “Off with ye now!”

She wondered then if the dogs slept with the lads. If they did, she might have to rethink chasing them off. She wanted them to bathe and sleep and not to remove something that might comfort them.

“It’s bathtime,” Accalia told the boys. “Whoever wants to take a bath first, remove your clothes and climb in. It’s warm and will feel delightful.”

“Then you take a bath in it,” one of the boys said, folding his arms across his small chest.

“Which one are you?” Accalia asked the impudent lad.

“Hendrie.”

“That’s Thorfinn,” Etta said, shaking her head.

“Aww.” So disrespectful and deceitful. Not a good start.

“Who are you?” Thorfinn asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Accalia, like your da told you. I’m staying here for a while. Maybe even forever.” Maybe losing their mother was the reason for their behavior. She wanted to demonstrate that she was there for them, even if she had to show a little tough love.

The lads cast glances in each other’s direction and then smiled. She suspected that meant they would do whatever they could to make her want to leave right away. They had never met her when she faced a challenge she was determined to overcome. Even if she didn’t stay because she didn’t want to be with Erik, the boys would be clean and mindful by the time she left.

“Thorfinn, since you’re so inquisitive, you get into the bath first.” She motioned to the pristine water.

Thorfinn raised his brows. “You canna make me. You’re no’ my da.”

“Do you have a dungeon?” Accalia asked Etta. She knew they did because Cook had mentioned it when Accalia had first arrived.

The boys’ eyes widened.

Etta smiled. “Aye, my lady.”

“You canna put us in there. Our da wouldna allow it and you would be put in there instead,” Thorfinn said, sounding like he knew what he was talking about.

“You are so filthy you are fit for the dungeon. If you dinna wash, you willna sleep in your clean beds. The choice is up to you. Sleep here or sleep in the dungeon.” Accalia folded her arms and looked as crossly at the boys as she could.

One of the other boys said, “She wouldna dare to do that. No one would allow her to, and she would be in big trouble with da.”

“You are Hendrie, aye?”

“Aye.”

“I will count to ten and if the first of you isna in the bath by the time I reach ten, I will march all of you off to the dungeon myself.” Accalia had learned the hard way never to bluff.

She hoped Erik would go along with her decision. She didn’t intend to leave the boys in the dungeon for long, just long enough for them to get the point and then they would start all over again.

She didn’t think it would go that far. But if they were used to sleeping in dirty beds, they might not care if they were sleeping in the dungeon. They might even feel it was a fun adventure.

“She wouldna do it,” Thorfinn said, stubbornly resisting the idea.

“Johnne?” Accalia asked, hoping one of the boys would rather bathe than go to the dungeon.

He looked at his brothers as if waiting for them to tell him what to do. Maybe that was the key. Separate the boys. She thought Thorfinn was the hardhead and the leader of the pack of brothers. If they didn’t have him telling them what to do, maybe she could get the others to clean up and go to bed. Thorfinn could sleep in the dungeon by himself. Maybe that would have more of an effect on him.

Accalia went to the door, opened it, and said to two of the men, “Remove Thorfinn and Hendrie from the chamber. Keep the boys there until it’s their turn to bathe.”

“Aye, my lady.” Smiling, the guards both looked amused.

Once the lads were removed from the chamber, Accalia told Johnne, “Go ahead and remove your clothes and climb into the bath.”

Two maids helped him out of his filthy clothes and Johnne did what he was told. He was much more of a follower, which meant maybe Accalia could reach him first. He seemed a little shy, sweeter than Thorfinn, and not as opposed to bathing. She gave him some soap and a cloth and directed him to wash himself as she began to tell a story.

“When I was a little girl, I was as wild as they come.”

One of the maids began to wash his hair.

“I loved to climb trees, play in the meadow, swim in the loch, and on a rainy day, play in the mud near my castle. My mother had fits of course. My da said it was good for me to experience life until I was too old to behave in such a way. But I always bathed and had a clean bed to sleep in. I behaved at meals and was rewarded with many freedoms.”

She swore Johnne looked like he was ready to fall asleep in the bathtub. She handed him a large cloth to dry him in and one of the maids had brought out a long shirt for him to sleep in.

Once he dressed, Accalia sat on his bed, had him sit on her lap, and combed out his tangled hair. “You have lovely blond hair like your da,” she said. “I imagine your mother had the same beautiful hair.”

“She died when we were four.”

“I’m so sorry. My mother died when I was young too. I was terribly sad when she died.”

“Are…are you supposed to be our mother?”

“Maybe. But we shall see.”

He nodded and she urged him up, then pulled aside his furs and he climbed onto the bed. She covered him up and she kissed his forehead.

“What are you going to do with Hendrie and Thorfinn?” Johnne sounded worried about them.

“’Tis up to them. You sleep. I’ll see which one wants to bathe next. If neither will, we will see you to break your fast in the great hall in the morn. Your nanny will stay with you tonight.”

“No’ you?”

She chewed on her bottom lip. “Aye, if you wish it.” If it helped her to be closer to the boys, she would.

“I do. Our mother would no’ do it. She said she wasna a nanny.”

What difference did that make? She had been their mother! Accalia wasn’t even their mother, yet she was fine staying with them if it pleased the boys. “All right.” Then she opened the door and said, “Who wishes to take their bath next?”

Hendrie looked at Thorfinn and that decided it for her. She took Hendrie’s arm, pulled him into the chamber, and shut the door. Hendrie glanced at Johnne half asleep in bed. Johnne gave Hendrie a small smile.

Hendrie didn’t look reassured, but then Accalia and Etta helped him out of his clothes and assisted him into the bath.

“When I was a little girl,” Accalia said, “my mother had died. I felt lost. My da was away fighting battles often. I only had the maids and nannies to talk to. My mother was everything to me.”

“Did you ever get another mother?” Hendrie asked as Etta washed his hair.

Accalia shook her head. “You know how wolves are. They lose a mate and sometimes they dinna want to find another to replace the one they lost and loved.”

“So Da isn’t going to marry you?” Hendrie asked.

“We will see. It depends on how we feel toward each other. And how you and your brothers feel toward me.”

“You were going to lock us in the dungeon,” Hendrie said, frowning.

She glanced back at Johnne. He was sound asleep. “Only if you didna bathe. Do you see how nice this is? No’ torture at all. Staying in the dungeon would have been uncomfortable and maybe even scary.”

Then she helped dry him off, combed his hair out like she had done with Johnne, kissed the top of his head, and covered Hendrie with his furs. “Sleep well, Hendrie.”

Like Johnne, he was practically asleep when he climbed under his covers.

The maids smiled. Etta said, “We are very impressed.”

But it didn’t mean it would stay that way if the troublemaker—Thorfinn—returned to the chamber. She could see him waking his brothers up and causing mayhem, to prove she wasn’t in charge of them.

So she had another thought. Now that both boys were asleep, she said, “We heat water for Erik’s bath.”

“But what about Thorfinn? You dinna plan to put him in the dungeon, do you?” Etta asked.

“He will take a bath in Erik’s bedchamber. I dinna want him to disturb his brothers.”

Then Accalia and the others left the room, except for a nanny who stayed with the brothers.

“We go to Erik’s chamber now,” Accalia announced to the guards.

“What did you do to my brothers?” Thorfinn asked.

“Bathed them and put them to bed. They are sound asleep.” Accalia led the way.

“I said I wouldna take a bath,” Thorfinn said.

Accalia ignored him.

When they headed into Erik’s chamber, the servants began to prepare a bath.

“On second thought, hold him outside of the chamber. I want to bathe before he muddies the water as filthy as he is,” she told the guards.

“Aye, my lady,” one of the guards said.

Then once one of the women brought Accalia a clean nightshift, she took a bath, luxuriating in the feel of the silky warm water on her skin, and washed her hair. She didn’t take too long because she wanted to ensure Thorfinn was bathed and put to bed as soon as possible. Especially before Erik returned to his chamber and learned what she was up to.

Once she dressed, she had the guard bring Thorfinn into the chamber to bathe. He was looking mutinous, his arms folded across his chest.

“Are you afraid of the water?” she asked, knowing he couldn’t be because he swam in the loch. And to her that could be way scarier as dark as a loch could be.

“Of course no’.”

“Then get in so we can finish this. Och, Thorfinn, ‘tis either the dungeon or a bath. Which will it be? Your brothers are happily sleeping in their beds, so if you go to the dungeon, you’ll be alone.”

Thorfinn glanced at the guard, who only smiled at him.

“Fine. But I’ll tell my da about this.” Then Thorfinn tore off his clothes, climbed into the bath, and washed himself. Not his hair though.

One of the maids did that for him.

Accalia was glad she had finally gotten his compliance. They helped dry him off and dressed him in a nightshirt. Accalia didn’t believe she could comb his hair like she had the other boys who were so much more cooperative. She didn’t ask, sure he would say no. She slipped her hand around his hand, sat on the bed, and pulled him onto her lap.

He looked surprised and started to move off her lap, but she forced him to stay. “I’ll comb your hair.” She carefully combed out his hair, not wanting to hurt him. His blond hair was silky and fine, curling into coils like his brothers’.

He even relaxed, but once done, he climbed off her lap and headed to the chamber door.

“You will stay here,” Accalia announced. “One of the guards will remain here to ensure you comply with my wishes. You can sleep on the trundle bed.” Since she was staying with his brothers, she considered that she could make them behave. But after the long journey, she was tired and knew the other boys would sleep if Thorfinn didn’t join them.

“My da wouldna approve,” Thorfinn said, sounding panicked.

“I willna have you disturbing your brothers who are happily asleep.” Accalia began to leave the chamber with the maids and Thorfinn tried to escape.

“You stay. I’m retiring to bed now myself,” Accalia said.

The guard, Philbin, looked a little concerned.

Accalia smiled. “Per Erik’s orders.”

Then the maids and Accalia left the chamber while the one guard stayed behind with Thorfinn. She wondered how that would all turn out. At least she was glad all three boys were clean. And that the two brothers were happily asleep.

When she returned to the boys’ chamber, she dismissed the nanny and climbed under the covers of the nanny’s bed.

Johnne lifted his head. “You said you would return.”

“Aye, and I did.” She was surprised he had been awake.

“Where is Thorfinn?”

“He had his bath and is sleeping elsewhere.” She didn’t want to tell Johnne that Thorfinn was sleeping with their da or he might want to. She suspected Erik would lecture her, but she would do this her way.