But now… now, it had come to a breaking point.
Sean was saddened.
“You have been part of us for several years,” he said after a moment. “You have been an important part.”
Kevin shook his head. “No one is important,” he said. “Don’t you realize that you have been treated like an expendable commodity, Sean? The very fact that you are in this bed proves it. The Marshal is the puppet master and we are the puppets, and watching you nearly bleed to death at the Tower made me realize just how expendable we are in the grand scheme of things. No one is important, Sean.”
“And you no longer wish to be a puppet, as you called it?” Sean asked quietly. “Kevin, we are all puppets. Even The Marshal is a puppet.”
“That is not true.”
“It is. There is no man in England who is not controlled by someone else.”
Frustrated, Kevin stood up, kicking the stool out of the way. He was becoming agitated. “Look what happened to you,” he said, pointing to his brother. “Look at you; the strongest man I know has nearly been laid to waste – and for what? A king who is still alive and still as wicked as ever. He’s still hated, and he is still dividing this country. Was your sacrifice worth it?”
Sean’s steady gaze never left him. “I think so.”
“How can you say that? You nearly died.”
“That was always the risk, Kevin. But while I was the Lord of the Shadows, I did a great deal of good for The Marshal’s cause.”
That wasn’t the answer that Kevin wanted to hear, nor did he believe it. Struggling to calm himself, he sat on the end of his brother’s bed.
“I understand you sacrificed yourself for the greater good,” he said. “But, as I have told you before, I just wish it had been someone else.”
“But it wasn’t someone else. It was me.”
Kevin held up a hand. “Please let me finish,” he said. “I have always been one of many knights in The Marshal’s arsenal. There is nothing spectacular about me, not like you and Caius and Maxton and Kress and the rest of them. You are all older than I am and have more experience than I do. You have all had your commands and your moment to shine, but I never really have. You asked where I have been? I have been on a long ride to the Marches to see to Trelystan and the other de Lara castles. They sit alone and waiting for you to return to them.”
Sean nodded faintly, some of the warmth gone out of his expression as he thought on the de Lara hereditary properties.
“I know,” he said. “They have sat alone for some time.”
“Alone, but not inactive,” Kevin said. “They are well-manned with de Lara men who are loyal to you. They simply wait for your return or my return. In truth, I wasn’t sure you were going to survive so I told them that either you or I would return at some point soon.”
“And Stonegrave Castle? Were you able to go there?”
He was speaking of another, older de Lara property that a relative had inherited long ago, a property that had once belonged to the ancient kings of Deira. It came with a title, Viscount Darlington, that belonged to Sean as well, but neither the title nor the castle was spoken of much since the more widely known title associated with the House of de Lara was Lord of the Trilaterals, a major Marcher lordship. But Kevin shook his head to the question.
“It has been a long time since I have been to Stonegrave,” he said. “It still has a small contingent of men because I have seen the annual payments to them, but I have not been that far to the north in some time. I think I saw Stonegrave about the last time I saw our sister.”
Sean nodded faintly, shifting in bed yet again because it was difficult to find a comfortable position. “Me, also,” he said. “I think I was with you on that trip. I’ve not thought of dear Bridget in some time. She was eleven years of age when I was born and fostering in the north. She never really knew you or me, and we never really knew her. Sometimes I forget I even have a sister, though I should not. I would like to see her again, someday.”
Kevin shrugged. “She married one of the Umfravilles and has lived her own life, far away from us,” he said. “But you and I… our lives are closely intertwined and ever will be.”
Sean looked at him, then. “That is true,” he said. “And that brings me to the reason I wanted to see you.”
“I am listening.”
Sean paused a moment as he considered what he wanted to say. “Our lives are intertwined, as you have said,” he replied. “You know about my wife, Sheridan. I am looking forward to the day when I introduce you. She is a remarkable woman, Kevin.”
Kevin nodded. “I am sure she is,” he said. Then, he hesitated. “And you still do not want me to send her word about you?”
“Nay,” Sean said, his manner hardening. “I told you that I do not want to send her word until I know I am going to survive these injuries.”
“But…”
Sean cut him off. “Nay, Kevin,” he said firmly. “Let the woman remember me as I was, not as I am – wounded, ill, confined to a bed. I do not want her to see me like this. You could bring her here tomorrow and I could die next week of this poison in me that does not seem to want to abate. I could not put her through that turmoil.”
Kevin understood, sort of. “But she is your wife,” he said, trying to be tactful on a very touchy subject. “She has a right to know you are alive.”
“Not until I can walk to her and tell her myself.”
Kevin didn’t push him. Sean wanted this wife to see him strong and healthy, not weak and dying. Perhaps it was male vanity or perhaps he was really trying to spare her feelings; perhaps it was a combination of both. In any case, Kevin didn’t pursue it. He veered the subject back to the very reason he had been summoned.
“Then let us not speak of her,” he said. “What did you wish to tell me?”
Sean struggled to pull his thoughts away from his beloved wife and back to the subject at hand. “Sheridan has something to do with what I wish to speak with you about,” he said. “My wife is an heiress, Kevin. When I married her, I inherited the Earldom of Bath and Glastonbury.”
Kevin nodded. “I know,” he said. “Your physic told me. I am proud of you, Sean. It is well-deserved.”
Sean studied his brother for a moment before extending a hand to him. It was an affectionate gesture, one not missed by Kevin, who took it strongly and held on with two hands. It was good to feel his brother alive and warm and, for a moment, he nearly lost his composure. It could have so easily gone the other direction. It still might. But for now, Sean was alive and lucid, and this time was precious.
Kevin felt that with all his heart.
“I have been blessed,” Sean said quietly. “I have a beautiful wife and through her, lands and titles. But through Father, I have the Darlington lordship and Trilaterals lordship. I have more than a man has a right to and that is why I summoned you.”
“How can I be of assistance?”
“I want to give you the Trilaterals.”
Kevin’s eyes widened in shock. “You what?”
Sean grinned at the astonishment in his brother’s features. “Before this day is out, I will summon a cleric from Westminster and have the documents drawn up,” he said. “I am gifting you with the Lord of the Trilaterals title that includes the three castles – Trelystan, Hyssington, and Caradoc. They belong to you now, Kevin. I know you will do them proud.”