Chapter 161 - Return To The King's City

By the time they arrived at The King's City Vincent was exhausted and in pain. The sun had long since set and the streets were lit with torches. The air smelled of smoke and the sound of the night insects grew quieter the farther into the city they traveled. 

At the house, some of their servants came outside to greet them and were shocked to see their pirate guards. Ilona, Ian, and their two younger brothers got down from their horses and waited as Vincent and Delaney got out of the carriage.

Vincent forced himself to stand tall although he looked haggard from their journey.

"You can send your men to inns," he told Ilona with a hoarse voice, "I will pay for their stay."

Ilona nodded, eyeing him with concern. She turned to the closest man and spoke quickly in their language. The man nodded and called out something to the others. Together they all headed off. Ilona, Nick, and Jamie moved to get on their horses as well but Vincent was quick to stop them.

"You and your brothers stay here," he said, "Like Ian, you will all be our guests."

Ilona looked surprised, "We don't need to..."

"I will have the servants prepare the rooms," Vincent announced, turning to the house and starting towards it.

Ian's eyes met Delaney's for a moment and the concern was mirrored in both. She hurried to her husband and took his arm, hoping she might be some kind of support. Ian said something to the younger Blacks and they took all of the horses and started back towards the stables with them.

Their butler was waiting for them at the door and was looking just as concerned with Vincent's pain as he was with the pirates that were walking towards the house. When they got close to him, Vincent informed him "Ian's siblings" would be staying with them and three more rooms would need to be prepared. The butler swallowed hard.

"My Lord," he said quietly, "With the pirates staying here... well the servants might be..."

"I don't care," Vincent cut him off, coming up to stand before him and look down on the shorter man, "I am the Duke of Edgewood and master of this house. Whoever I choose to invite into this or any of my other estates is my choice. I will not continue to hear complaints and arguments from my staff about it. You can let the servants know that if they feel so poorly treated here they can come to me for what pay they're owed and they can leave."

The butler paled but nodded. Delaney knew she couldn't let this continue. They would end up losing their staff and struggling to find replacements because of this hatred for the pirates. She needed to do something about this now before things got worse.

"I need to find Ms. Bird," Delaney said quietly to her husband, "I will send Harris up to you."

"Have the butler send them up."

"It's alright Love. I don't want to wait. You go to our room and I will meet you there."

Vincent was too tired to argue so she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and headed down the hallway towards the staircase that would lead to the servants' small dining area. She didn't know exactly what she would say but she knew she had to say something.

As she walked down the stairs, towards the bottom she began to hear talking from below. The servants were discussing the pirates that had ridden up with them as their guards. Someone was saying they didn't understand how the Duke and Duchess could risk their own lives in such a way. Someone else was saying they were more upset that the Adair's would now risk the lives of their servants by bringing so many into their house.

Delaney sighed. She had hoped at least some might have stood up for Ian. After all, he had done nothing wrong himself. It sounded like there was no sympathy to be found for him among this group though. She stepped down into their servants' dining room and cleared her throat.

The servants all fell silent immediately at the sight of her. She was surprised to find it was a cold welcome. The other times she had been in the servants' area they had seemed nervous and maybe in awe of her. Now though they were anxious but there was no awe. Their unhappiness with the duke and duchess was thinly veiled and Delaney could almost feel their contempt in the air. The only people who were not giving her a cold gaze were Harris and Ms. Bird.

"I know you are all very busy," she spoke evenly, "I'm sorry for keeping you from your work but I felt I needed to address the subject of Ian and the other pirates with all of you."

Everyone was quiet but she saw some looking to each other with expressions of uncertainty.

"The Duke himself has decided to let Ian Black and his siblings stay here so you are owed no explanation. Keep in mind that the reason I am here to talk to you at all is because you have all been good and loyal to the Adair family for a long time. Be that as it may, this will be the one and only time we will ever allow our decisions to be questioned without repercussions. That allowance ends tonight."

Delaney felt strange being the one to give this speech. It would have been something better handled by Vincent. He was in no state tonight to address all their people however.

"I understand the pirates invading the beach was frightening. I can assure you there was no one more frightened than myself. My husband was being held with a sword to his neck and is only alive now because of Ian. He saved the Duke and all of us. He stood up to the pirates and risked his own life."

Delaney paused to look at them and she saw at least a few that were looking less angry.

"I must say I am ashamed at how you have been treating him since then. Since coming to stay with us Ian has gotten to know you, ate his meals with you, and become a friend to you. He has never done anything to bring harm to anyone here and he never will. He doesn't deserve the way any of you are treating him. I would hope you would all give that some serious thought."

"My Lady," a footman spoke up, "But what about the others? Now there are other pirates that will be staying here and one is the captain of the very men that would have attacked us. Ian may be good but what about them?"

"They are Ian's siblings," Delaney sighed, "I truly don't believe they intend us any harm and Ian would never allow them to do anything anyway. There are... There are things I can't discuss with all of you but I hope you will take my word on something. The pirates coming to shore was an act of desperation because something truly terrible has happened that they are trying to make right. It is causing them terrible pain and distress. The situation is so dire that Lord Adair will actually be going to the King's court to try to help them resolve it."

Eyebrows raised at this and the servants seemed less angry now and more curious. She realized that talking about what Ilona had done, actually caused her pity for the woman to grow and her anger to ease away some. There was some whispering and Delaney decided this was probably a good place to leave them to their gossip and speculation. She thanked them for their loyalty and told them to go back to their work.

Delaney turned to go back up the stairs and when she came around the corner she walked straight into someone. She stepped back and looked up and was surprised to see Ian himself looking down on her with a serious expression.

"You didn't have to do that," he spoke quietly to her.

"I did," Delaney sighed, "I couldn't let things go on like they were. They would have ended up boiling over and something terrible might have happened. Hopefully, things will relax now so you don't have to feel uncomfortable."

Ian shook his head as he watched her. "Thank you," he said softly, "You have been such a good friend to me. What you and Vincent are doing for us though that's... that's more than we deserve."

"Maybe," Delaney giggled, teasing him.

Ian rolled his eyes and pulled her in for a tight hug. When he let go he took her on his arm and escorted her upstairs to her bedroom door.

"Get some sleep," she said quietly before opening the door, "Tomorrow is going to be an important day."

Ian nodded, "Thank you for everything."