The Dark Spawn (Battle Lords of de Velt Book 5)

by Kathryn Le Veque

  Atlas wanted to run.

  They were walking with the crowds in the section that held the food vendors because Corisande, seven months pregnant with her second child, had smelled all of the wonderful smells from the ramparts of Berwick Castle and had asked her husband if they could procure some food. Being that she was with child, and at this stage eating anything she could get her hands on, Cole agreed and took his entire family down into the masses.

  But what fun it had been, so far.

  Corisande’s first selection of the day was a hollowed-out bowl of bread that contained beef and gravy. Cole, Jax, and Julian thought that was rather tasty-sounding, so they bought some as well. Addington and Effington, Cole’s younger sisters, weren’t interested in the food, but Addington in particular was interested in all of the handsome young knights who had come to the games, the joust of which was to begin shortly. So was Gaia, who had found a fast and true friend in Addington. The had been as thick as thieves since they were introduced two years ago. Everyone was purchasing their food before taking it into the lists.

  “Papa, can we please go into the arena now?” Addington begged, holding Gaia’s hand as they leaned heavily in the direction of the lists. “We are going to miss the joust!”

  Jax had a mouthful of beef. “We will not miss anything,” he said. “If you are not going to eat, hold the baby so your mother can eat.”

  Addington looked at her nephew, as adorable as he was, and shook her head. “Nay,” she said flatly. “He likes to kick and I do not want to be kicked in the face. He kicked Gaia yesterday.”

  Gaia pointed to her face where there was a tiny little red mark on her chin. “Look at what he did!” she said dramatically.

  Jax tried not to grin at Gaia’s genuine outrage. “Terrible,” he said, but it sounded insincere. “But I can hardly see it. I think you are safe.”

  Gaia was displeased with that answer and so was Addington. She pointed to her sister. “And Effie said he bit her yesterday.”

  “He chewed on her,” Kellington clarified as she tried to distract the fussy baby by swinging him gently. “His teeth are sprouting. He did not bite her.”

  Incensed, Effington held up a finger. “It is swollen, Mama,” she insisted. “Look how lumpy my finger is!”

  Julian, well-entrenched in his food, snorted. “Lumpy,” he said. “You’d better not let your glorious beloved see that finger. He will cast you aside like a piece of moldy bread.”

  Effington frowned. “At least I have an intended, which is more than can be said for you.”

  The insults were starting to fly. That was usual with the de Velt brood. Three brothers against three lively sisters were normal, the chaos Jax and Kellington had brought into the world but chaos he lived for. Before he could put up a hand to prevent a fight, he heard someone calling his name.

  “Papa! Mother!”

  They all turned to the sound of the shouting to see Cassian, the youngest de Velt brother, rushing in their direction. Kellington gasped and handed the baby to the nearest person, who happened to be Jax. He grabbed his grandson around the torso as Kellington ran to the son she hadn’t seen in over a year. Tall, dark, and handsome, Cassian swept his mother into an embrace.

  “Mama!” he said, kissing her cheek. “I went to the castle to find you, but they said you had come to the games.”

  Kellington squeezed her baby boy. “Let me look at you,” she said, pulling back to study him. Unlike his brothers and father with their straight, dark hair, Cassian had been born with dark, curly hair, which he kept cropped. He had his father’s coloring and eye-color trait, but his features were all his mother’s. “You have grown inches since I last saw you. I did not know the House of de Lohr was coming.”

  Cassian grinned, looking very much like her. “I did not send word because I wanted to surprise you,” he said. “Everyone came, even Sherry, although after marrying Christopher’s daughter last year, he wanted to remain with her at Lioncross because she is due to give birth soon. He does not want to miss it, but Christin insisted that he come, so he is here.”

  Kellington smiled. “I am happy to hear it,” she said. “It has turned out to be a great event, bigger than we expected.”

  It was clear that Cassian was excited about it. “Every great house is here, from what I’ve seen – the Earls of Teviot, the House of de Bourne, de Royans, the garrison at Richmond Castle, the Earl of Wolverhampton, and so many more. I could go on and on. What I did not see was William Marshal’s standard.”

  “He’ll be here,” Jax said, coming up to his son with the baby in one arm. He hugged his son with the other. “He told me that he would attend. And speaking of attending his first tournament, you’ve not yet your nephew, Atlas.”

  Cassian looked at the baby, who looked very much like his brother. But he would never let the man hear that from his lips. “He looks like his mother, thank God,” he said. “A strong little lad. That is a proud thing, Cole.”

  Cole had finished his food so he took the baby from his father so Jax could finish his. “He’ll be on a horse next year, jousting with rest of us,” he said. “’Tis good to see you, little brother. It has been a long time.”

  Cassian looked to the brother he admired deeply. “I’ve missed you,” he said, looking around at his family as Julian came up to embrace him. “I’ve missed you all. It feels good to be home in the north again.”

  “You can always come home, Cass,” Julian said, a glimmer in his eyes.

  Cassian shrugged as if to concede the point. “I know,” he said. “And I will, someday, but right now, Peter and I are having grand adventures. I like it on the Marches.”

  “And you like a certain young lady, too,” Jax said.

  Cassian looked at his father sheepishly. “Brielle is on my mind, I admit it.”

  He was speaking of Christopher’s second eldest daughter, a young lady he’d had his eye on since he first went to serve at Lioncross Abbey. That was the worst kept secret in both families.

  “Get her out of your mind and into your bed, Cass,” Julian said as his mother hissed her disapproval. “I mean marry the woman. What are you waiting for?”

  Jax put up a hand. “A conversation for another time,” he said. “Right now, we have games to attend or Addie and Gaia will have fits. Come with us, Cass.”

  “I will,” he said. “But I must tell Lord Christopher that I will be with you this afternoon so he will not go searching for me. May… may I bring Brielle?”

  Kellington latched on to his arm. “If you do not, I shall be very disappointed,” she said. “Tell Chris that I demand his daughter’s company this afternoon.”

  Cassian grinned. “I was hoping you would say that,” he said, kissing her cheek swiftly. “I will find you in the lists!”

  With that, he bolted off. Kellington watched him go, her eyes alight with the joy of seeing the son she seldom saw.

  “He has grown so much,” she said, turning to Jax. “They are all growing up. Jax, I must have more grandchildren or I shall shrivel away.”

  Jax started laughing. He pointed to Cole, Atlas, and, finally, Corisande with her enormously pregnant belly. “I am doing the best I can,” he said. “I cannot force them to have children any faster, you know.”

  Kellington laughed softly, hugging her husband, the man her entire world revolved around, even to this day. That had never changed since the moment they’d fallen in love. Theirs was an unusual but powerful love story. But once she was finished squeezing Jax, she took Atlas from his father and hugged the baby, but Atlas didn’t want anything to do with her. He kicked so much that she had to set him on his feet, holding his little hands to help him balance.

  “I’m finished with that dish,” Corisande said, rubbing her back because it pained her these days with the belly she had to balance. “I want something sweet, Cole.”

  She’d barely gotten the words out of her mouth when Atlas broke free of his grandmother and started tearing down the avenue as only a toddler ca
n. Kellington and Jax went in pursuit, chasing him down as he screamed. That disinterested Addington, Gaia, and Effington, who were already heading for the lists, and Julian was due to compete in the afternoon, so he turned for the castle to prepare.

  That left Cole and Corisande watching Cole’s parents hunt down a skittish toddler. Cole put his arm around his wife’s shoulders as she leaned into him, drawing strength from his warmth and power as she always had.

  “You know that he runs like that because of the way my father chases him,” she said, grinning when Jax finally grabbed the baby and swung him into the air. “And my brothers. Do you remember their last visit when they pretended that he was a wild boar and chased him all through the bailey, hunting him?”

  Cole laughed at a particularly silly memory. Alastor and the three de Bourne brothers had come for a visit last month, but they’d turned into giddy fools around a baby who only wanted to run. It had been hilarious and shameful at the same time to watch grown men behave like that, but Cole had to admit he was guilty of it, too.

  “I know,” he said. “But given how smart Atlas is, he will be escaping them in little time.”

  “True,” Corisande said as she watched Jax kiss the cheek of the screaming baby. “Moments like this… they seem so surreal to me.”

  He looked down at her. “Why?”

  She shook her head, trying to put her feelings into words. “I don’t know, exactly,” she said. “I just feel like this is a dream. I’m living a dream I wasn’t sure I’d ever have.”

  He smiled, kissing her on the top of the head. “You are the dream,” he murmured. “The best and richest dream a man could ever have, my queen.”

  She met his smile, gazing up at the man she adored with her entire being. Cole de Velt had proven himself a wonderful husband, and exceptional father, and a fine and noble human being. He was everything she could have hoped for and more.

  Their life at Berwick was magical. They were raising their family among the very fields and beaches that had seen turmoil from time to time, and would see again for centuries to come. Cole no longer went on missions for William Marshal, but The Marshal knew he could call upon him and his particular set of skills should he ever need him.

  Once an Executioner Knight, always an Executioner Knight.

  He would always be part of the brotherhood.

  Even now, at this very tournament, he was surrounded by his Executioner Knight brethren – Maxton had come up from Gloucester with Christopher and David de Lohr, Achilles had come up from Hampshire, and Dashiell and Bric had arrived together. As the crowd in the lists roared, Addax and Essien beat down the competition, a fiery return of The Black Dragon and the God of Vengeance from their days of tournaments past. It was a joyful thing to watch, but there was change on the horizon. After this tournament, the Princes of Kitara would be heading to Lioncross Abbey to serve the man who had made it all possible for them, Christopher de Lohr.

  Cole was sorry to see them go, but he understood.

  Life was a constantly evolving thing.

  At this moment, all that mattered to him was his family and the vast and compelling love story between him and his wife that continued to grow. Two people who had once been unlucky in relationships and had suffered through their own private heartbreak finally found a love for the ages in each other.

  It had been a journey, though. Cole had learned that women were often far braver than men were, in ways he could have never imagined. Corisande never knew that he was aware of Gaia’s sacrifice because that was the way Gaia wanted it, and it gave Cole such a deep and abiding respect for his wife’s sister even though she never did learn not to pinch. She lived with them at Berwick these days, but he didn’t mind.

  Anything she wanted to do was fine by him.

  For her part, Corisande had learned that not all men broke their word. Faith was something that she had in Cole, something that would never waver. It was faith and love that only multiplied when their beautiful son, Ajax, was born healthy two months later.

  The circle of life continued and from time to time, Cole thought on Mary and Lucy. He knew that wherever they were, they were smiling down upon him because they’d been his first lesson in unconditional love.

  It was a lesson he’d learned well.

  I did not understand that true love is absolute. It knows no limitations, no boundaries. And this is true love.

  For Cole and Corisande, it was.

  * THE END *

  Children of Cole and Cori:

  Atlas (father of Theodis from WolfeBlade)

  Ajax

  Ophelia

  Silas

  Vivienne

  Sebastian

  Keats

  Kitara “Kitty”

  Elizabetta

  Gerard

  Lucy

  Author’s Afterword: Berwick Castle

  I hope you enjoyed Cole and Corisande’s story. Boy, I love a story with a lot of battles and fights in it, and this one had several. Always so much fun to write.

  So let’s talk a little about Berwick Castle.

  Berwick plays a big role in the de Wolfe Pack series, as William de Wolfe’s son, Patrick, is the garrison commander. That’s well established. Now, about fifty years prior to Patrick taking it over, it belongs to Cole. That means that somewhere during that fifty years, custody of the castle switched from de Velt to de Wolfe, which is fine because they’re allies. We’ll just assumed Jax, or Cole, passed the torch.

  Berwick Castle was really a prize to both the Scots and the English in real life. The reality was that Richard the Lionheart actually did sell it to the Scots to raise funds for his crusade to The Levant, and it was in Scots hands for the entire 13th century when I have it belonging to both de Velt and de Wolfe. The truth of that “possession” is that the castle really did go back and forth between the Scots and the English during that time but, technically, it always belonged to the Scots. Berwick did indeed guard the mouth to the River Tweed, coveted by both countries. There were some even bigger battles there in the 14th century, one of which is depicted in my novel, The Savage Curtain. In that book, the hero – Stephen of Pembury – becomes the garrison commander of it when the English take it. Yet another hero who is a commander of Berwick Castle (about 1333), which means the House of de Wolfe had to lose it in the early part of that century. Since I’m not prepared to address how they lost it, we’ll just say that they did – for now – and leave it at that. I don’t want to think about Patrick losing anything, to be honest. Love my Patrick de Wolfe!

  So – just some fun tidbits about Berwick, but it makes for really interesting reading if you have the time. Simply Google Berwick Castle and see what pops up.

  Hugs,

  Kathryn Le Veque Novels

  Medieval Romance:

  De Wolfe Pack Series:

  Warwolfe

  The Wolfe

  Nighthawk

  ShadowWolfe

  DarkWolfe

  A Joyous de Wolfe Christmas

  BlackWolfe

  Serpent

  A Wolfe Among Dragons

  Scorpion

  StormWolfe

  Dark Destroyer

  The Lion of the North

  Walls of Babylon

  The Best Is Yet To Be

  De Wolfe Pack Generations:

  WolfeHeart

  WolfeStrike

  WolfeSword

  WolfeBlade

  The de Russe Legacy:

  The Falls of Erith

  Lord of War: Black Angel

  The Iron Knight

  Beast

  The Dark One: Dark Knight

  The White Lord of Wellesbourne

  Dark Moon

  Dark Steel

  A de Russe Christmas Miracle

  Dark Warrior

  The de Lohr Dynasty:

  While Angels Slept

  Rise of the Defender

  Steelheart

  Shadowmoor

  Silversword

  Spect
re of the Sword

  Unending Love

  Archangel

  A Blessed de Lohr Christmas

  The Brothers de Lohr:

  The Earl in Winter

  Lords of East Anglia:

  While Angels Slept

  Godspeed

  Great Lords of le Bec:

  Great Protector

  House of de Royans:

  Lord of Winter

  To the Lady Born

  The Centurion

  Lords of Eire:

  Echoes of Ancient Dreams

  Blacksword

  The Darkland

  Ancient Kings of Anglecynn:

  The Whispering Night

  Netherworld

  Battle Lords of de Velt:

  The Dark Lord

  Devil’s Dominion

  Bay of Fear

  The Dark Lord’s First Christmas

  The Dark Spawn

  Reign of the House of de Winter:

  Lespada

  Swords and Shields

  De Reyne Domination:

  Guardian of Darkness

  With Dreams

  The Fallen One

  House of d’Vant:

  Tender is the Knight (House of d’Vant)

  The Red Fury (House of d’Vant)

  The Dragonblade Series:

  Fragments of Grace

  Dragonblade

  Island of Glass

  The Savage Curtain

  The Fallen One

  Great Marcher Lords of de Lara

  Dragonblade

  House of St. Hever

  Fragments of Grace

  Island of Glass

  Queen of Lost Stars

  Lords of Pembury:

  The Savage Curtain

  Lords of Thunder: The de Shera Brotherhood Trilogy

  The Thunder Lord

  The Thunder Warrior

  The Thunder Knight

  The Great Knights of de Moray:

  Shield of Kronos

  The Gorgon

  The House of De Nerra:

  The Promise

  The Falls of Erith

  Vestiges of Valor

  Realm of Angels

  Highland Warriors of Munro:

  The Red Lion

  Deep Into Darkness