by Lucy Ashford
‘How am I to know of my brother when you tell me nothing?’
‘You won’t know any more than he tells you himself,’ Louve said.
‘Years in his employ and you won’t share something?’
‘Not if I want to keep my head. Your brother wouldn’t appreciate it. If you’re truly curious, look to yourself for answers,’ Louve said. The fact both were curious and refused friendship, but still held some sense of honour and loyalty, fascinated Louve.
‘Damn you, you know I would be curious about this,’ Balthus said.
‘Your thoughts will keep you well occupied, unlike this hope you talk of. Hope, I remind you, we have no use for.’
Balthus shrugged one shoulder. ‘Hope is better than this wait. I liked the journey here, for at least then we wagered and raced horses. Now I’m just cold out here.’
‘I thought you hated those wagers because you always lost to me,’ Louve said.
‘Everyone lost to you and I hate this wait more.’
‘You simply don’t like paying men when there’s no profit.’
‘Who would? It took us too long to find them all.’
‘We couldn’t use Reynold’s men, and you couldn’t entirely trust your own. We needed many new mercenaries.’
‘Now my pockets are empty. If we could have travelled farther to that estate—’
‘Mei Solis,’ Louve offered.
‘I’ll never remember such an odd name,’ Balthus said. ‘However, if we could have stopped there first, I’d have some coin.’
Louve had a chest of his own, but Balthus was used to enormous sums. Sums which were in abundance in Mei Solis coffers. An estate that was weeks away and in another country. Balthus would have to get used to being poor, which was almost enjoyable.
‘You’ll simply have to suffer with the coin given to me,’ Louve said. ‘We received your brother’s message to come here. Plans change.’
‘We received that message less than a day after leaving Troyes. I’m still not certain if Reynold already possessed the information and was too cowardly to tell us in person.’
Louve couldn’t fault Balthus for trying to get an answer from him, but his tactic was too obvious.
‘Not willing to divulge anything more?’ Balthus sighed. ‘You were different in Troyes. You talked—I think you even smiled.’
He’d been different in Troyes, he’d been different at Mei Solis, but the more risks he took for someone else’s games, the less he found humorous. There was nothing light-hearted about his vow to protect Balthus of Warstone. Facing this dark fortress of death could be his doom as well.
‘If you’re concerned about finances,’ Louve said, ‘I’m certain some of your own great fortune you left behind is inside the fortress.’ Louve indicated with his chin. ‘You could walk through the gates and greet your brother. After all, you are a Warstone.’
‘One Ian tried to kill, so no thank you to your idea.’
‘Ian doesn’t know you know of his treachery.’
‘Still, why would I show up and remind him I’m alive?’
‘Thus, we are left with my original scheme.’
‘Which I disagreed with,’ Balthus said.
‘We are out of any options. The routine of the watch guards is never consistent, and they are frequently rotated. We know they train. Can see their inflicted injuries even from this distance.’
‘Ian must leave the fortress at some point. His wife and two sons aren’t in residence.’
‘Which implies he is a loving father and husband who misses his family. Given your familial history, that’s unlikely. Further, he hasn’t surfaced since he killed the messenger at Reynold’s gates. Reynold is too aware of him now for him to risk exposure. Will you tell me why your brothers are determined to kill each other?’
‘Reynold and I are not,’ Balthus said.
‘You and Reynold aren’t trying to kill each other...yet.’
‘I’ll prove my honesty to him,’ Balthus said.
Louve had his doubts, but then he mistrusted many people, including himself because nothing he had done over many years felt true. He wanted coin to earn something of his own and dreamed of finding a woman to accept him, yet here he was, spying over an impenetrable fortress and scheming to destroy its owner.
‘I am Reynold’s brother in heart and will prove it with my deeds,’ Balthus repeated.
Louve pointedly looked at Balthus’s wrapped hand. ‘Mere words.’
Balthus lifted his left hand. ‘This means nothing.’
‘If so, why do you keep it wrapped? Why not show what your mother did?’
‘The wrapping is a reminder, that is all.’
Another reason why Balthus could only be trusted so far. The pain of the injury should be enough of a reminder. Balthus’s mother, a woman bent on defeating her husband and the King, required her sons to repeatedly hold their left hand over a flame to prove their loyalty.
Which begged the question, one that directly affected him. ‘Is it healing?’
‘If it comes to a battle of swords, it won’t matter if my left hand is healing or not.’
‘Until your sword arm is rendered useless, then you would be useless to me. I care very much how well you fight.’
‘Should we prove ourselves to each other again, Louve? Last time, I was restraining my full skills.’
‘Mere posturing. All I know with certainty was that I was holding back,’ Louve said. ‘I have no knowledge of your skills.’
‘I told you—’
‘It’s not only your sword arm I worry about—I’m concerned you won’t be able to perform the hand signals,’ Louve pointed out.
‘Those are useless,’ Balthus said.
‘Not if we’re stuck in the room, but unable to talk. We may need to divide the room on attack and it’s best to know what we’re doing without letting the enemy know.’
‘The enemy being my family.’ Balthus exhaled loudly. ‘What makes you think you can get into Ian’s fortress?’
‘I was something else before your brother hired me.’
‘Your estate management,’ Balthus scoffed.
Not his estate, but a childhood friend’s. For now, though he had much coin, he needed more for the estate he wanted for his lineage.
‘Disdain it all you want, but my experience will save this wretched mission,’ Louve said. ‘I’m approaching the fortress and asking for work. No mercenaries, no reinforcement. Ridiculous though they might be to any of you, my past skills will be useful.’
He might be a mercenary now, but before he’d only managed another’s estate. He wanted his own; he wanted land. If he kept to that plan, if he remembered what all this intrigue was for, perhaps he’d keep his head.
‘You won’t get to use your skills when they gut you.’
‘They don’t know who I am.’
‘They know!’ Balthus said. ‘They always know.’
Reynold had often argued the same. ‘Fair enough. They know, and they’ll let me in as some form of amusement, or they gut me. But what other choices do we have? None. You can’t go and the rest of the men only know how to swing swords. It will be me who completes the tasks. It always was.’
‘If they let you in and you find work, what then?’
‘I search all the rooms for this mysterious parchment Reynold insists Ian must have.’
‘It won’t be merely lying about, and what happens if it doesn’t exist?’
‘Then we capture Ian and you can torture him for information.’
‘Why am I talking to you? You’re a dead man...’ Balthus exhaled ‘...who shouldn’t be worried about some great treasure no one knows about except Reynold.’
‘We don’t know if no one knows of it. Ian might have already guessed, given he’s got the parchment, and your parents probably
know, too.’ Louve shrugged. ‘If they know of the Jewell of Kings and the parchment and put them together... You appreciate neither Ian nor your family can gain any treasure that can fell countries.’
‘It’s foolish going after treasures,’ Balthus said. ‘What will truly tip the balance is to acquire the legend. We should be pursuing the dagger and jewel, not information. Why can’t you or my brother understand the Jewell of Kings resurfacing has changed everything with the war against Scotland?’
‘Which is why your family wants it and so does the King of England. But the legend only holds if there’s something to support it. Hence the treasure. As much as King Edward believes it is, the gem isn’t truly magical like Excalibur.’
Louve couldn’t believe the weight of the world and his hope of a peaceful life rested on legends, but they did. Over the last years, the Jewell of Kings, a green gem, much compared to Excalibur, resurfaced thanks to the Warstones’ intrigues. The legend was that whoever held the gem held Scotland. Whether true or not, the perception of it was enough to sway everything to King Edward’s side. Since the Warstones wanted more power than the King, they coveted it as well.
But Reynold had studied the gem, which had been hidden in the hollow handle of a dagger, and was certain it had another meaning. Together they’d point the direction to enough wealth to bring all monarchs to their knees. Reynold didn’t want anyone to have any of it. In that, Louve agreed.
‘We must obtain the gem, the dagger and any written words leading to the legend or to any treasure. We’re here to obtain at least the parchment hidden somewhere in Ian of Warstone’s fortress.’ Louve loosened his hands on the reins. ‘We can’t let your family obtain more wealth or power.’
Balthus scoffed. ‘Some stupid legend, some gaudy gem and here we are, breaching a fortress for a scrap of paper, and have no strategy to get out.’
‘I’m to go in as a humble servant. We’re agreed to my plan?’ Louve said.
‘No,’ Balthus said. ‘But we are resolved.’
Copyright © 2020 by Nicole Locke
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ISBN-13: 9781488066092
The Widow’s Scandalous Affair
Copyright © 2020 by Lucy Ashford
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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