Page 108 of Kingdom of Chains

Gwenore’s chest was rising and falling hard, and Everard looked ready to charge at Hodge.

‘If you come inside, he will never let you go,’ Everard said.

‘Do you think you will be safe here if I ride away? You are old enough to gauge what is going on here.’ Her gaze drifted to Hodge. ‘I am waiting for your reply, my lord.’

He seemed to like that, relishing in the temporary power he had been missing for so long. ‘While I shall miss their company, if they choose to leave and skip dinner, then that is their choice.’

Isabel looked tiredly at Tolly. ‘Would you please escort my mother and brother home?’

He looked understandably torn. ‘Are you sure about this?’

‘Very sure.’ Her eyes returned to Hodge. ‘Please fetch their horses.’

The earl’s lips curled up as he turned and nodded to the waiting guard.

‘Belle, no,’ Everard said. ‘I will stay instead. You take mother, and I will—’

‘He does not want you.’ Her eyes drifted up to the armed guards above. ‘You will go and take care of our mother. Do you hear me?’

He was fuming, but he must have known she was right because he did not object again.

Hodge cleared his throat. ‘Remember, Hampstead Keep is always open to you. You are welcome any time.’

‘I think their social calendar is going to be quite full moving forwards,’ Isabel said dryly.

A few tense minutes passed as they waited for the horses to arrive. Gwenore was wiping at her face, and Everard could not keep his feet still.

When the horses arrived, her mother was helped onto one of them, and Everard snatched the reins of the other but refused to mount. The guard ushered them both through the gate and along the bridge, and Isabel had no choice but to cross it too. She gave her brother a reassuring smile as they passed each other. He was so angry. Maybe at her, or maybe at the situation. It did not matter. Isabel met her mother’s gaze and saw something in her eyes she had never seen before—remorse. No words of any kind were exchanged because there was nothing left to say.

Isabel was comforted by the fact that Tolly was waiting on the other side for them. He would ensure they got safely to Maddock House.

‘Shall we?’ Hodge said when she reached him, gesturing to the castle.

Isabel looked back at the others, watching Everard mount his horse before looking at Tolly. The soldier nodded once, then turned his horse away.

She felt numb from head to toe.

Only when they were gone from sight did she step past Hodge and slowly make her way towards the castle.

CHAPTER 35

It took Blackmane two days to reach Llanelieu. He was stopped at a patrol point along the way, where he spent two hours answering questions about what he was doing, where he was headed, and who he knew. He did try to be patient and give them what they needed in order to feel secure enough to let him pass, but that patience wore thin after a while. Question time finished with two men at the end of two blades while Blackmane calmly explained to the third that if he intended to go on a killing spree, he would have started with them.

‘I would have shot you from that tree,’ he told them. ‘You would never have even known who killed you.’

When the three men were calm enough, Blackmane put away his weapons and politely asked if he could leave. The red-faced men let him go.

While many villages remained abandoned, occasionally he would pass through one where rebuilding was taking place. It was good to see men hammering in fence posts and ploughing fields, to see women hanging laundry, and children playing nearby.

It brought a sense of hope.

He stopped a man carrying a lamb, walking on the other side of the road, and asked for directions to Maddock House. When he arrived there, he found Ita working in the vegetable garden. She rose, dusting off her dress before coming out to meet him.

‘Welcome to Maddock House, defender,’ she said, sounding worn out.

He eyed the uneven thatching on the roof. ‘Any news?’

‘Lady Gwenore and Everard arrived here this morning.’