Again, she eyed him for a long momentbefore answering.“He was Orlando, captain of the count’sguard.”
“CountNithard?”
Lara shook her head.“Count Reginald,Nithard’s brother.”
“Nithard inherited fromhis brother, then?”
“In a manner ofspeaking.”
“What do youmean?”
“Count Reginald and hiswife both died of a violent sickness within a day of each other.Their only child, a daughter named Isabeau, disappeared soonafter.”
“Disappeared?”
“They say she walked upinto the mountains one day never to be seen again, that she hadgone mad after losing her parents.”Lara lowered her voice, thoughthere were none to hear her except him.“They say Nithard was madlyin love with Isabeau, his own niece, but she would have none of himbecause he was not only her uncle and married, but she was secretlyin love with another.After Isabeau disappeared, Nithard claimedhis brother’s lands and title and has ruled as countsince.”
“What of Nithard’s wife?”None of the villagers had mentioned a countess to Talon.
“She died giving birth toRavenna.”
The sound of his mother’s screams, thedark red of her unstaunched blood, all rose from the depths ofTalon’s exhumed memories.“Sophie couldn’t save her?”
Lara’s keen gaze held Talon’s as ifshe could see the turmoil his old memories had dug up.“Nithardwould never deign ask help from Sophie the Sixth.”
“Even for his dyingwife?”
“Especially for his dyingwife.”Lara gave a soft snort of disgust.“She’d already given hima male heir and a daughter to marry off.She’d served herpurpose.”
Talon had seen enough of arrangedmarriages among the titled to know how most of them worked, but thecold, calculating cruelty Lara’s tale told of Nithard was a thinghe couldn’t fathom.His father had at least loved his mother andhad grieved her death for years.He shook his head.“To be raisedby such a father.”
“To be judged by such aman.”Lara’s pointed gaze held Talon’s before she turned and headedback toward the keep.
CHAPTER 5
Mallus
Lara
Lara rode between thebrown-haired giant called Tree and a young soldier with dark hairand serious eyes named Dardinel.Captain Guiscard rode ahead ofher, and his second, the blond-haired man from the river namedPhillipe, rode behind her as they made their way east, meeting upwith Sophie on the road in front of her and Lara’s home, a homeLara had been away from for too long now.Agrowing crowd of villagers trailedthem along the way, until it seemed half the province followed themthrough the gates of Oloron Manor, home of Count NithardMidered.
After dismounting, Lara stood betweenher guards, plastering a brave smile on as she thanked all thepeople who stepped up to wish her well, truly grateful to look ontheir familiar faces and hear their concern for her.A few of themeven dared step up to the captain to vouch for her.Imposing in hisvest of mail ringlets, arm bands, and leather gauntlets, with hisshort sword strapped to one side of his hips and his longsword tothe other, the captain was unfailingly attentive and polite,assuring them he knew no ill of her, all the while flexing hisscarred, bandage-free left hand.
Too soon, the captainnodded to Tree and Dardinel, who took their places to each side ofLara and Wolf.Sophie stepped up behind them and Phillipe took rearguard.Like the captain, his men wore arm bands of lacqueredleather and their soldier’s jerkins and breeches rather than theRoman robes of court, each of them armed with waist knives,short-bladedspathas, and longswords, though Phillipe was the only other one towear a vest of mail.After smoothing her best gown of dusky bluelinen with a matching undershift, Lara adjusted her waist belt withthe knife in its beaded sheath the captain had returned to her thatmorning, though not the dagger she usually wore at her thigh, andwalked head high toward the manor house.
Both sides of the wooden door opened,and she glanced back over her shoulder at Sophie, who hadn’t beeninside the manor house for over twenty years now.Lara had nevereven been through the manor gate before.They entered the mainhall, a cavernous maw dank with heavy tapestries and dark, ornatewalls and furniture that seemed to swallow Lara whole.Her heartbeat in her ears and her breath quickened as she gathered herskirts in her hands, ready to make a run for open air and freedom,but Sophie was shaking her head, and a low voice sounded in her earas a firm yet gentle hand gripped her upper arm.
“Lara?”
She looked into the captain’s steadygaze.
“Breathe.”He took a slow,deep breath in, and she did the same, the two of them blowing theirbreath out even slower.They took another slow breath in and outtogether, and another.“Are you ready now?”
She shook her head no.“Yes.”
He held on to her arm until they werestanding before a long table where the count’s stewards werealready seated, with two seats left empty in the middle.Lara beganto shake as a steward rose and announced the count, and her teethchattered as Count Nithard walked in, followed by his son, Ranulf,the two men who hated her most in this world.Four men-at-arms tooktheir positions standing behind them as they took their seats.Lothair, the biggest and burliest, and captain of the guard, stooddirectly behind the count.Wolf nosed her fingers, and she laid herhand on his head.
Lara hadn’t been this close to Nithardsince she was a young girl.His dark hair hung in loose ringletsdown to his shoulders in the Frank style, dyed black with kohl,along with his beard.He wore a burgundy robe with silken hemsembroidered with the black and gold of the house of Midered overhis slight frame, and rings of gold set with onyx and rubies on hisslender fingers.His eyes were so dark in his thin face that theytoo looked black, abetted by the kohl lining his lids.Ranulf, ayounger version of his father, wore a robe of the same colors,though its hems weren't silken, and his fingers adorned with onlyone ring of gold and onyx.The count’s gaze skimmed over Lara andthen fixed on Sophie behind her for a long moment before returningto Lara.He smiled, quick and fleeting and so chilling that shewould have bolted right then but for the captain’s firm grip on herarm.
