Page 17 of His Noble Savior (Folk of Vale #3)
Richard
The letter from Ellesmere arrived in the early morning. A horde of orcs had raided the town during the night, capturing two dozen young men. Richard scanned the names of the abducted, recognizing Blaise, a farmhand he’d once met. Richard’s heart ached for him—Blaise was Nathan’s age. Richard remembered him as a young man of six feet with a build like a bull. How had the orcs managed to capture him? Blaise would’ve put up one hell of a fight.
The missive added that the raiding orcs were not the same ones who’d lurked in the fields around Ellesmere and held Lilian captive. They looked different, their skin a different shade of green, their hair indigo instead of black. Perhaps another tribe. The orcs took the men, then disappeared with them into the night.
Richard needed Bellerose’s knights. He’d withdrawn the knights he could spare from the front and sent them to Ellesmere, but it’d only been a handful. The women hadn’t been able to deter the orcs from raiding the town.
That those barbarians had progressed north in such great numbers was alarming. Richard desperately needed the Spring Court’s support. He couldn’t protect his people without it. A string of villages lay between Ellesmere and Somerdale, but how long until the orcs stood at the foot of the castle mound?
Without the spring fae knights, he couldn’t secure Somerdale Castle, let alone keep his people safe. He was going to have to marry Bellerose. There was no way around it.
Lilian, who’d accompanied him to his writing room, asked what the message was about, and Richard gave him the broad strokes.
“Go speak with the princess,” Lilian said. “If her interest in you is genuine, she’ll care about your people and offer help.”
“A fae’s assistance never comes free, and I don’t know if I can afford what she’ll ask for.”
But Lilian was right. He had to talk to her. The next raid on Ellesmere or a settlement even further north could happen as early as tonight, and Richard had no means to stop it.
“Go talk to her,” Lilian said and put a hand on Richard’s upper arm. “See what you can negotiate.”
Richard swallowed thickly. Every conversation he had with Bellerose brought him one step closer to his separation from Lilian. “Don’t you want to come? We haven’t been apart for a minute since…”
“My presence might be interpreted as an insult,” Lilian said.
He was right. Richard sighed; he disliked being apart. What if Lilian needed him? What if he started to shake, and Richard wasn’t there to soothe him? He balled his hands into fists. He didn’t want to do this, but what choice did he have? People would die if he didn’t come to an agreement with Bellerose.
They met half an hour later in the castle’s grand drawing room. It was a less intimate setting than Richard’s private chambers, and the proper place to receive official guests and negotiate alliances.
A statue of a woman on a horse, spear raised, stood tall on the enormous stone mantelpiece. She was Richard’s great-grandmother, the first Baroness of Somerdale. On the far wall hung the family sword, a polished, razor-sharp weapon with a jewel-encrusted hilt.
Richard wore a track into the carpet as he paced between bulky chairs and divans. How was Bellerose going to react to his request?
He raised his eyes and begged the Lady to show him a way out, but all he saw was the paneled ceiling. Richard sighed and resumed his back and forth. Light streamed through the windows, blinding him each time he passed them.
Princess Bellerose didn’t knock when she entered. Clad in a delicate pink dress, blossoms sewn into her skirt, she clashed horribly with the room’s rustic interior.
“You have my gratitude for seeing me,” Richard said and gestured toward the upholstered chairs to invite her to sit, but Bellerose remained standing. “Last night, orcs raided a town in the south of my barony and took several young men. As I’m anticipating more of these incidents, I’d like to negotiate the deployment of spring fae knights.”
If Bellerose was taken aback by how fast he cut to business, she didn’t show it. “We can negotiate the number of knights to be put at your disposal after our wedding.”
“I’ll need them sooner than that. As in today.”
“If you’re in a hurry, I suggest we discuss the terms of the wedding now and set a date for the earliest possible time. Assigning knights to you before we’re married is out of the question. The Autumn Court didn’t send knights either until Henry of Stagfield was married to King Malorn.”
Richard blew out air, running a hand through his curls. “Is there anything I can offer you before the wedding that’d sway you? Our arrangement doesn’t have to mirror that of House Aranin and the Autumn Court.”
Bellerose huffed and took a step toward Richard, her long skirt dragging over the old carpet. “That arrangement is the reason why you and I are talking in the first place. Both the Autumn Court and the elves are marrying into House Aranin. I would’ve sought to marry Lady Cordelia Aranin, but she’s very young. I also hear she’s been rejecting all advances. She’s married to her sword, they say.”
“I give you my word to uphold by any terms we negotiate if you liberate knights for me now.”
“Your word?” Bellerose shook her head, taking another step toward Richard, backing him into a corner. “Your word is worthless, human. Unlike me, you aren’t bound by your promises. You could lie from dawn to dusk if you wanted to. No. I want our marriage in place and your castle incorporated into the Spring Court before I protect your family and delegate knights.”
“People are going to die if I don’t station more knights in my towns, if I don’t send an army’s worth of them to the front.”
“Then I suggest you start preparing the wedding.”