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Shade turned to her left at the familiar and anxious voice. “Mum?”

Her mum and Rawlin walked out of the woods, their horse trailing behind them.

“Good, Lord, more bad news,” her mum said incredulously. “Terrible news was received this morning. The battle is done. Lord Torrance has been victorious against Clan MacLeish. Chieftain Ryland is close to death, and Lord Torrance intends to send a band of mercenaries to Clan MacLeish to keep what is left of the clan from retaliating and oversee it until he can travel there and claim the clan.” Her eyes filled with sorrow. “Ula sent word. She pleads for your help to save Chieftain Ryland, though she made no mention of Caleb. What more bad news can there be with the fall of Clan MacLeish, the chieftain close to death, and dead bodies at the abbey again?”

Rawlin spoke up. “The return of The Monk.”

The two clerics and Shade’s mum gasped.

Brother Peter, his breathing having eased, said, “A bit of hope and joy in a sorrow-filled day. Shade called you mum, know that your daughter was joined in marriage this day with a good man.”

“You are wed?” her mum asked, clasping her hands close to her chest and a smile spreading across her face.

Quint turned, having avoided looking at Shade’s mum and her step-da. “Aye, Shade and I are wed.”

Before any congratulations could be offered, Rawlin cried out, “Good, Lord, nay! Say it is not so.”

“Rawlin!” Shade’s mum admonished.

Rawlin shook his head adamantly. “Nay! Nay! Nay! It cannot be. Shade has wed The Monk!”

CHAPTER 11

“You’re wrong, Rawlin, he cannot be The Monk,” Shade’s mum said. “Shade would never wed such a cruel man.”

“She didn’t know,” Quint said, seeing that Shade had turned pale and stood staring at the ground. He wanted to reach out and take her in his arms, remind her of the man she knew not the man who was a stranger to her, but he thought it was better that he didn’t, at least not just yet.

The other cleric spoke up. “The marriage is not valid until it has been consummated. It can be annulled.”

“NAY!” Quint said so strongly that all but Shade jumped and stepped back several paces. “Shade is my wife, and she will remain my wife.”

Shade heard the talk going on around her, but the voices were muffled as if they were at a distance, and she was straining to hear them. All she heard clearly was that she had wed The Monk. But how could that be? Quint hadn’t said a word about being the notorious Monk. Why hadn’t he told her who he was? Why had he kept the truth from her? And how had she fallen in love with The Monk? She hadn’t. She had fallen in love with Quint. But he was The Monk. How did she ever make sense of it?

“That is Shade’s decision to make,” her mum said, seeing her daughter wasn’t speaking up for herself. “Shade, do you want this man as your husband now that you know who he is? Shade. Shade, do you hear me?”

“Shade,” came the soft whisper near her ear and then the tender touch of a familiar hand.

“Quint,” she said and turned her head, her lips nearly grazing his cheek.

“You’re all I need,” he whispered.

She was about to lie her head on his shoulder when her mum’s screech stopped her.

“Shade! You don’t have to stay wed to him.”

Rawlin called out, “Disavow the marriage and?—”

Quint didn’t let Rawlin finish. “Never will she disavow our marriage.”

The cleric with Brother Peter was quick to speak up, though there was a tremor in his voice. “You desecrated Coggshall Abbey when you viciously murdered our fellow monks and desecrated its hallowed halls again when you murdered more men. You never answered for the deaths of those eight monks, so now you will answer for the deaths of these men.”

“I answer to no one,” Quint said with a vicious scowl on his face and a powerful tone to his voice that only a fool would dare challenge.

Shade’s mind was clearing and hearing her husband being wrongly accused she defended him. “Those ten men were evil men. They intended to kill us after we sought shelter at the abbey during a vicious rainstorm. Quint made sure they didn’t.”

“What is his excuse for killing eight of our fellow monks?” the cleric demanded. “And his reputation suggests he went right on killing, in battle and randomly. He has an evil heart, and his evil will destroy you.”

“Let us save you from him,” Brother Peter said and stretched his hand out to her.