{"id":1153,"date":"2019-02-13T12:59:23","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T17:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/read.whitefire-publishing.com\/?p=1153"},"modified":"2020-07-28T17:48:29","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T21:48:29","slug":"the-sound-of-emeralds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whitefire-publishing.com\/read\/the-sound-of-emeralds\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sound of Emeralds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Sound of Emeralds<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

by Rachelle Rea<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What once was blazing hatred has turned to lasting love, but could the union of a wild heart with that of a lady ever result in more than heartache?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the help of an old friend with uncertain loyalties, Dirk inches ever closer to clearing his name. Gwyneth throws her faith into good tidings and the promise of a future as a family. But an old evil comes to call, just as tragedy rips apart a fledgeling truce. Enemies from the past and grief for the future threaten to tear asunder what God had brought together\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the date of Dirk\u2019s trial approaches, his fate and his family<\/a> hang in the balance. Will he be proven innocent of Gwyneth\u2019s parents\u2019 murders or separated from her forever? How much pain does it take to erode a love steadfast?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t

Chapter 1<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Gwyneth<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Godfrey Estate,\nNorthampton, England<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

19 January 1567<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though ours was not the love story<\/a> I would have\nwritten for myself, I would not have had us any other way. For we were us, and\nthat was all that mattered anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That, and Dirk had married me the day before. Now in\nthe darkness of the night, I shifted up onto one elbow to better see him\nstanding in the doorway, his back to me. Someone at the bedchamber door held a\ncandle, its glow glinting off of Dirk\u2019s red curly hair. My whole heart smiled.\nThe sight of him, my husband\u2014Dirk Godfrey, the man who my soul held dearer than\nall others\u2014both calmed and awoke me. I strained to listen but could hear naught\nbut the men\u2019s rumbling voices trickling through our corner of Godfrey Estate\nand back to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He slowly closed the door, the shadows swallowing the\nsoft sound\u2014and I knew he meant not to awaken me. When he turned, I tried to\nread the breadth of his shoulders, the tilt of his head, the light in his brown\neyes. He noticed I no longer slept, came closer, and rested his fists on the\nbed by my side\u2014and I saw that something had snuffed out that light I loved so\nwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are beautiful.\u201d His words feathered across that\npart of my soul that was and always would be his alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My mouth twitched, but a smile failed to form. How\ncould it when he looked so serious, so grave even as those loving words\ndeparted his lips? I slid a hand toward one of his and waited, determined to be\npatient, to resist the temptation to press for whatever darkened his look. Quite\nunlike my usual impetuousness. Pressing my gaze to his, I focused on naught but\nDirk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One long moment passed, then another\u2026 and another. The\ndarkness breathed. The words balled in my chest constricted my ribcage and\nrefused to allow any air to enter my lungs. So I let them out at last. \u201cWhat is\nit?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had expected to be able to draw a breath once the\nwords were free. But the air toyed with me and stayed just out of reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His ruffled sigh fanned over me as he leaned forward\nto claim my lips with his own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheer willpower enabled me to pull away with my hand\nto his bristly cheek. \u201cYou are keeping something from me.\u201d As he did too often.\nA prickle of unease shivered down my back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan I keep it from you a while longer?\u201d His low words\nmet my ear just as his lips met the skin beneath it. That was when I knew he\nwas protecting me from something. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And my heart constricted all over again. \u201cNee.<\/em>\u201d I denied him in Dutch, the\nlanguage my moeder<\/em> had taught me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He put a few more inches between us. Even in the\ndimness of the new dawn, I detected that familiar wolfish grin stretching\nacross his face. That same grin he had given me time and time again, since I\nhad first entered his charge last summer when he had rescued me from the\nIconoclastic Fury rioting across the Dutch Low Countries. \u201cAre you certain,\nwife?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo not use that charming smile on me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI only<\/em> use it on you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He spoke truth. Even so, I raised a brow, moved up,\nand kissed him beneath the chin. His throat moved, and I knew he had given in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnders Revelin has returned,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went still, sinking back down onto the blanket until\nall I could see were the dark shadows dancing across the ceiling. This was my\nwedding night, and Anders had interrupted my joy. The wince claimed my mouth before\nI could beckon it back. The man had once been my friend, a fellow Catholic in a\nProtestant land. He had been the one to take me to the ship that would carry me\nfrom England to the Dutch Low Countries. Then in recent months, he had betrayed\nme\u2014claimed to be assisting me in clearing Dirk\u2019s name of my parents\u2019 murders\nwhen in fact he was persuading neighboring nobles against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dirk joined me in the bed and encircled me then in\narms as strong as stone but so much gentler. I let him hold me, clinging to him\nin return, rejoicing in the fact that we need never be apart again. He was\nmine, and I was his. We were one. Forever. The thought soothed the tortured\npart of my soul ripped open anew at both Anders\u2019s leaving and his return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one time, I had thought if I could just belong to\nDirk, all would be well. Yet here we were, wed and happy, but not without\nworry. And that worry bore a name I knew too well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat do you think he wants?\u201d I whispered into the\nsilence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dirk\u2019s shrug jostled me. \u201cI know not. What I do know\nis that I will never let him hurt you. Trust me on that.\u201d His embrace\ntightened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDoes this mean we can stay?\u201d I knew Dirk\u2019s eagerness\nto be gone from Godfrey Estate had something to do with Anders\u2019s abrupt\ndisappearance. And that our plan to depart the day after our marriage commenced\u2014mere\nhours from now, in fact\u2014hinged on that very disappearance. Because we suspected\nAnders had left in order to inform others of Dirk\u2019s whereabouts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will stay. The danger arrived with his leaving\u2014and\nit leaves with his reappearance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I shifted to look at him. Even without my glasses, I\ncould see him well. I could always see him. The bristle across his jaw that he\nwould take a blade to upon the morrow\u2014or not. The strong brow that spoke of\nmuch concern for his family, for his new wife. The scar beside his right\neyebrow that held a story I still had not heard. Although usually impatient\nabout secrets, I knew the strangest peace about whatever that scar meant. No\nrestlessness beckoned me to ask Dirk about it. Mayhap that was the Spirit of\nGod holding me back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there was something I did want to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo you think Anders is a good man?\u201d Though this was\nour chamber and ours alone, still I whispered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dirk\u2019s hand on my hair hesitated. \u201cDo you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rolling my eyes at his evasion, I decided to answer.\n\u201cI cannot tell. He has stood in an older brother\u2019s stead for most of my life,\nyet he betrayed me when I believed I most needed him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His eyes narrowed. \u201cHis leaving you to the Dutch Low\nCountries?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I shook my\nhead. \u201cNot that. Never that. He turned his back on you, and that means he\nturned on me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAh, Gwyn.\u201d He buried his face in my shoulder and kissed\nme again, giving me the sense he would rather not talk of this\u2014or aught else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are a good man,\u201d I said when I could. He drew in\na breath, caught. Knowing where his haunted thoughts were leading him and\nwanting to stay them, I touched his shoulder. Warm skin corded with muscle met\nmy hand. \u201cNaught could convince me otherwise. You are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pulled a shock of my hair over my face. \u201cPeople can\nbe both good and evil, Gwyn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Content to hide behind the curtain of hair he had\ngiven me, I thought on that a moment. \u201cIs Anders more bad than good?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo more so than I.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rearing out of his embrace, I flung my hair out of my face.\n\u201cYou are wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is true.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My head shook so violently my neck ached. \u201cTruth has\ncome to mean a lot to me\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know it has.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2014and that is not it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His arms wrapped around me once more, effectively\npulling me back down beside him. \u201cIf I am a good man, it is because you are the\ngood in me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before I could even begin to think on what that meant,\nhe swooped down and kissed me. But before I kissed him back, I purposed to one\nday convince him of what I saw: he was a good man. Now to convince the world of\nthat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He awakened me with yet another kiss, and my first\nthought was that I would never tire of them. My second thought was that he did\nnot need to know that, so I squirmed and made to roll to the side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A chuckle rumbled into my ear as my face met his\nchest; I had rolled directly into his arms. The glare I gave him sobered him\nsomewhat, but still that grin I knew so well lingered on his lips. \u201cIt seems\nyou always find your way back to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning away to hide my smile, I looked around; the\nlarge furniture, dark interior, and heavy curtains of a deep russet reminded me\nI slept in my husband\u2019s room now. The chamber I had shared just the night\nbefore with my friend and fellow escapee from the convent, Margried, was\nanother wing away entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I turned to see my husband gazing at me with a mix of\nemotions in his eyes. Love. Wonder, as if he could not fathom I sat beside him\nin his <\/em>bed in his<\/em> chamber\u2014one I had\nnot visited before. Thus, my examining the interior a moment before. \u2019Twas a\ndark room for a man who had brought such light to my life\u2014the light of hope.\nTruth. I shook my head at the incongruity before studying him further. He did,\nhowever, have a past as dark as this chamber. A past that we even now sought to\nreclaim, for he had not murdered my parents, as all England believed he had. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood morrow, wife.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I smiled. \u201cNow that I have married you, do you think people will\nbelieve more readily that you are innocent of the crime I accused you of?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He snorted. \u201cThose are your first words to me on the\nmorn after we are wed?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaning toward him, I whispered, \u201cGood morrow,\nhusband.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a long moment before my mouth was free again to\nsay, \u201cTruth be told, my first words to you on this day were already spoken,\nduring the dark watches of the night.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His hand moved from my hair to my shoulder. \u201cI had\nhoped mayhap you did not remember that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow could I forget?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He nodded, and I knew the exact moment he let the\nburdens he bore land on his back once more. His brow hardened. The fire in his\neyes subsided to a subtle simmer. His lips descended to brush my cheek with a\nfeather-touch. As if to reassure me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A painful ache demanded I reassure him in return, but\nhow? Confidence, that which I had known after he had shut the door hours ago on\nthe news that had shaken me, vanished just that quickly. I knew his wolfish\ngrin, the light in his eyes, his moods so well, but I knew not how to comfort\nhim now. I had the rest of my life to learn him, to know him\u2026. The shadowed\nthought came as a crow to a field: would I ever know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he moved from the bed, I sank back against the\nwealth of pillows. Pushing away the stark question of a moment ago, my mind\ntossed instead with what he had told me all those hours ago. Anders had\nreturned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But why? For what? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I watched Dirk, his back to me, as he attempted to\nbutton his white cambric shirt with one hand while pulling back the curtain to\nthe west window with the other. Sliding from the bed, I tugged my night rail into\nplace until it whispered about my ankles. I stepped around my husband and\nfinished the buttons, letting my fingers linger. He covered my hand with his\nown and tore his gaze from the window. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evading his gaze and the uncertainty in my own soul, I\npeeked at the view but saw naught. \u201cWhat worries you?\u201d I asked, when really I\nwished he would ask the same of me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cNaught in the\nworld worries me this day. This is the first day you are my wife, and I plan on\nspending every second with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My head tilted, torn between how lovely that sounded and\nwhat I knew he did not speak aloud. \u201cSomething does worry you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He raised a brow and leaned in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I leaned back, stubborn, and rolled my eyes. \u201cMe.\nEither you worry you will not be able to spend every second of our first married\nday with me\u2014or you worry for my safety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know me well.\u201d One hand still held mine captive\nat the opening of his shirt, but the other rose and cupped my shoulder. My\nstomach flipped at the dangerous look he was giving me, but my gaze darted to\nthe door. To the memory of him standing there and speaking softly to Cade. To\nwhat lay beyond it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pulled away and ducked behind the dressing screen he\nmust have ordered brought in here. The presence of my trunk behind the screen\nconfirmed that fact. Popping it open, I breathed deeply of the lavender petals Alyce\nhad tucked within its folds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dirk called to me, \u201cShall I ring for food with which\nwe can break our fast? Alone?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stilled, thinking. \u201cWe can go down.\u201d Realizing I had\nnever asked the question burning on my tongue, I finally emerged and froze. Dirk\nwas kneeling before the window, eyes closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time halted. Tears assaulted. My heart shivered. Emotions\nflickered across his face. Joy. Concern. Fear. And something that resembled\ngratitude. He was the handsomest man I had ever seen. Tears pooled in my eyes\nas I watched him give over to God all that lay on his heart. And I knew then in\nmine that I had indeed married a good man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGwyn?\u201d He smiled at me. What I had done was as good\nas eavesdropping, and Dirk was a private man. Would he be angry with me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He held out his hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went to him, daring to hope that whatever we might face\nthis day and for the rest of our lives, we would face together, with the\nknowledge that God held us. I might not have even seen him in all seasons, a\nfull year, yet, but I knew this: he was teaching me how to be a woman of faith\nby being a man of faith. I wanted to show the world how very much a man of\nfaith he was.An innocent one.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n