‘You said that you were fostered at Beaumont,’ Sir Edward began.‘Is that where you trained to fight in our style?’
Balor didn’t truly understand why the man would ask such a question.‘It was,’ he answered.‘I stayed there for seven years.’
‘But you weren’t there as a young child, were you?’Gerald remarked.‘Your mother sent you there when you were older.’
How did he know such a thing?And why would he care?
Balor’s jaw tightened.‘I was eleven.’Far too old for fostering, since most children were sent away just after they learned to walk.
He didn’t know how his mother had arranged his fosterage, since there were no family connections.
Unless therewasa tie to his true father’s family.A sudden wariness caught him at the thought.
‘He sent you to find me, didn’t he?’Balor guessed.‘My true father.’He leaned back on the bed, grimacing at the pain.It unnerved him to even think of it.In the dim light, he saw the men exchange cautious glances.‘I don’t care if he did or not.I’ve no wish to see the Norman soldier who turned his back on my mother and me.’
Orla had claimed that she’d loved the man who had fathered him, that it hadn’t been an attack at all.Regardlessof whether the Norman had loved his mother in return, Orla had been forced to wed Fergus after they’d been abandoned.She’d lost all courage, becoming a shadow.She’d claimed her indifference was to keep Balor safe.
But he couldn’t forgive her and simply let go of years of hurt and suffering.Not now.
The older man’s stare grew intense.‘Have you ever asked yourself why your mother sent you so far away for your fostering?’
He already knew what the knight was implying but refused to consider it.Instead, he kept his expression neutral.‘Because she wanted me far away from Fergus.’
‘She could have sent you across the sea, and it would have been far enough,’ Sir Edward said quietly.‘Instead, she sent you farther away, to be fostered with your father.’
Balor gave a shrug.‘If that was her intent, it came to nothing.No one ever spoke of fathering me.’
‘Your father didn’t know who you were until you left your mother’s ring behind on his desk.’
Silence hung between them, and his pulse quickened at the knight’s words.The revelation sank around his shoulders with the weight of disbelief.No.Such a thing was completely impossible.
How had Orla ever fallen in love with a Norman earl?How would she even have met him?From what he understood, his mother had never been to England, had never left Éireann.But the ring must have been a gift from Lord Beaumont—one she had kept for twenty years.
He leaned back, staring up at the ceiling.‘Are you trying to tell me my father was the Earl of Beaumont?’
‘He is, yes.’
A hollow ache caught his gut, a blend of regret and bitterness.Would anything have changed if he’d given the earlthe ring sooner?Would he have known what it was to have a father?More questions rose up, but Balor dared to voice the most important one.‘Did he know she bore him a son?’
The knight shook his head.‘No.But a servant saw you put the ring on his desk.After the earl found it, he demanded to know who had put it there.When he learned it was you, Lord Beaumont sent us to find you.’Sir Edward paused a moment then added, ‘And bring you home.’
Home.
Dunmalus had never really been a home.It was where he’d lived, where he’d endured the chieftain’s years of hatred.
It was strange to imagine that there was another place where he might belong.Uncertainty sharpened within him, and an invisible heaviness seemed to bind across his chest.Balor remembered how proud he’d felt when he’d seen Lord Beaumont watching him fight.When the man had offered a nod of approval, something within him had shifted.He’d wanted to please the earl, to demonstrate his newfound strength and skill.
And now, to learn that Lord Beaumont was his father?Balor didn’t know how to feel about it.
‘How did they meet?’he asked.
‘The earl travelled to Éireann on the king’s orders, the year before you were born.He met your mother near her family’s lands.He stayed there for a time, and she later saved his life during a raid,’ Sir Edward continued.‘She sent him away by boat, and because of her bravery, he survived.’
The knight’s confession seemed like a lie.His mother had always been hesitant—not at all the sort of woman who would step into battle and save a man’s life.But she’d paidthe price, hadn’t she?That might have been why she had retreated into herself.
A thousand questions caught in Balor’s mind, circling and spinning, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak.Instead, he stared up at the thatched roof above him, realizing that none of it mattered.The truth was Orla had left her family’s lands, married Fergus, and had never told Beaumont about his bastard son.
She’d told Fergus that she’d been violated, letting everyone believe a lie.And Balor didn’t know if he could forgive her for that.
