Page 11 of Lion of Thunder (De Lohr Dynasty: Sons of de Lohr #5)

CHAPTER TEN

“H e what ?” Dustin gasped. “He is actually… agreeable?”

It was just before sunset at Massington Castle and Lady Hereford had arrived with her two older daughters just as the sentries were switching posts for the coming night. Christopher, having been in the hall, was notified of his wife’s arrival and met her carriage just as it came to a halt in the bailey. Truth be told, he found himself looking her over for war wounds, considering she’d gone to Daventry to do battle, and when she seemed sound and whole, he found himself looking his daughters over. Those two were even more prone to fighting than their mother was, but they, too, appeared unharmed.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

“Aye, he is agreeable,” he told her. “Believe me when I tell you that I am as surprised as you are, but you’ll not have to worry over him in this matter. With that established, I would like very much to know what happened with Daventry.”

Dustin arched her back, stretching her muscles now that she was out of the carriage, but she waved off her husband’s question.

“Nothing happened,” she said. “Cedrica’s mother confessed that it was all a ploy to force Westley into marriage, so he is now free and clear of any impediments that might conflict with his marriage to Ledbury’s daughter.”

“A plot?” Christopher asked in dismay. “You’re serious?”

“Completely,” Dustin said. “But I had several uncomfortable and confrontational minutes with Daventry before his wife confessed. The man is a scheming lout, Chris. He is not a good ally and has little respect for me or for you. He was willing to do anything possible to ruin West’s life, so we must make sure the man is treated as an enemy from now on. He is most definitely not an ally, but an opportunist.”

Christopher’s face hardened. “Thank God you discovered his plot,” he said. “I do not know the man well, and he never struck me as ambitious, but he shall not be on my list of allies from now on.”

Dustin lifted an eyebrow. “Tell him face to face,” she said. “That will give me some satisfaction against the way I was treated.”

“With pleasure.”

Dustin could see he meant it. Her husband didn’t like small-minded individuals, so he was ready to take them to task. He’d been doing it for over fifty years. Smiling, she wound her hand into his.

“Now,” she said, “greet your daughters, for they were instrumental in helping me against Daventry. And then you can take us to the hall and feed us. I am famished.”

Christin and Brielle were standing behind their mother, with Brielle helping Christin with a seam in her cloak that had come undone.

“Lady de Sherrington,” Christopher said to his girls. “Lady de Velt. Tell me what truly happened. Given what I have been told, I suspect that, in reality, your mother took a club to Daventry, but you will tell me the truth.”

Dustin rolled her eyes as Christin grinned. “Mama was fearsome, as always,” she said. “But she is right—Daventry showed little respect for her. Brielle nearly clobbered the man.”

“Ah.” Christopher looked at his tall, blonde daughter. “My Valkyrie returns. We’ve not seen her in some time.”

“You still did not,” Brielle said, finishing fixing Christin’s cloak. “Mama would not let me physically engage the man, so there was no violence. Only spoken threats. But it is over now, and I must say I am glad. Cedrica de Steffan is not someone we would want in our family. She was willing to lie straight to Mama’s face about the situation.”

Christopher waggled his eyebrows. “Then I daresay we are glad everything turned out as it did,” he said. “Now, Westley shall marry Lady Elysande and hopefully all will be well. He seems to have changed his mind quite drastically about her, so she evidently has some appeal to him. Would you and your sister mind befriending her? If she is to be one of us, we may as well start somewhere.”

Brielle and Christin nodded. “She is closer in age to my daughters than she is to me,” Christin said. “But I am happy to do what I can.”

Brielle had her hands on her head, fixing one of the iron pins holding her braided hair in its careful coif. “Speaking of children, I must return to Lioncross as soon as the wedding is over,” she said. “My younger children have been with their nurse since my departure to Daventry, and they have a habit of bending the woman to their will. Armand and Rafe are particularly manipulative. We’ll return to find they’ve taken over Lioncross and all is mayhem.”

She was speaking of her younger sons, both of them under ten years of age, and both of them full of fire. Bright and creative and ruthless—unless their father got involved, and then they were not so brave. But Christopher loved those particular traits about them.

“What did you expect when you married de Velt blood?” he said. “Your children have very unique de Lohr and de Velt bloodlines and their grandfathers are two of the greatest warlords England has ever seen. In fact, Armand looks exactly like Jax, down to the shape of his eyebrows. Of course they will try to conquer Lioncross. I would expect nothing less, and neither would Jax.”

Brielle looked at her father drolly. “Do you expect to get it back?” she asked. “If Armand is just like Jax, then you know he will take it and keep it, so do you really expect to have your property returned?”

“After much negotiation, I do.”

Brielle broke down into soft laughter. “You are a dreamer, Papa,” she said. “But let us speak of something other than your warmongering grandchildren. Has the wedding even been arranged yet?”

“Tomorrow morning,” Christopher said. “You can leave afterward and ward off the conquering army.”

“Good,” Brielle said. “In fact, we should all probably leave. Westley has a new life to begin and will not want us hanging about.”

Dustin was forced to agree. “That is true,” she said, looking at Christopher. “He is going to live here, is he not?”

“It will be his property someday,” Christopher said. “I told him he needed to spend some time here getting to know it.”

“Did he seem agreeable?”

“Not at the time,” Christopher said. “But I think that opinion has changed. At least, I hope it has. Now, come into the hall and I will find you food and drink.”

No one argued with him. They were weary from a night sleeping in the carriage and almost a full day on the road from Daventry. Hungry, the women started to follow Christopher into the hall, but Brielle held her sister back. They waited until their mother and father were well ahead of them, out of earshot, before Brielle spoke.

“How does Papa look to you?” she asked her sister.

Christin turned her gaze toward the elderly couple entering the hall. “No worse than he has lately,” she said. “No better, but no worse. Why?”

Brielle sighed, her focus shifting to her parents as well. “Because,” she muttered, “you know that I brought the children to Lioncross in the warmer weather because Mama wrote to me and told me that Papa was not faring well, so I moved quickly to come.”

“I know,” Christin said quietly. “But let us be honest—he’s not been well for the past ten years.”

Brielle wasn’t comforted by that comment. “I left my husband behind because he could not travel with us at the moment,” she said. “I came running because of Mama’s missive, and when I arrived, it was to Papa looking… exhausted. I do not think he was as bad as Mama suggested in her missive, but he did not look well. He looked worse to me. You live with him every day, Chrissy. You know what I mean.”

Christin nodded. “I do,” she said. “And Mama was not wrong in her missive. Papa has been worse this spring, plagued by terrible headaches and trouble breathing at times. He is a very old man, Brie. He probably should have passed on years ago, but still, he hangs on. Sherry and I have been watching him deteriorate, slowly, simply because of his age. But his mind remains sharp. So does his determination to do what our father has always done.”

Brielle looked at her. “And what is that?”

Christin smiled ironically. “Be our father,” she said simply. “The fact that he is here with West speaks volumes. He is going to oversee this wedding personally, as he has with all of ours. That means that a very old man must travel to see to it, and we could not have stopped him. Thank God it was not too terribly far.”

Brielle shook her head at her father, a man who simply couldn’t stay still when there was work to be done regarding his family. “Small mercies, I suppose,” she said. “But I will admit it has been comforting to return home and see that Sherry is still in command of Papa’s army and men. He takes such a burden off him and has for many years.”

Christin nodded. “Over thirty years,” she said. “Sherry came to Lioncross when we were first married because Papa asked him to. He knew that Sherry didn’t have property or anything to inherit, so he made him another son, really. All of our brothers except for Westley have their own homes and commands, but Sherry… He is married to me, the eldest child of Mama and Papa’s marriage. He was always content to serve at Papa’s side when he knew our brothers had their destinies.”

“But what happens when Papa passes on?” Brielle asked, feeling distraught even thinking of such an event. “Curtis will inherit Lioncross. Will Sherry stay? Will you stay?”

“It is my home,” Christin said, smiling faintly. “I was born there, as were you. All of my children were born there. Curtis has already stated that he does not wish to leave Brython Castle, where his wife was born. He only just reclaimed it, in fact, after living at Monmouth for a few years. Elle is Welsh and their children are half Welsh, so he feels that it is important to remain at Brython for now. Lioncross will go to Sherry and I. It will remain our home and our seat. We will protect Papa’s legacy.”

Brielle didn’t know if she felt better or worse about that. Alexander and Christin had spent all of their marital years living at Lioncross Abbey and Alexander, a very accomplished knight and agent, had remained with Christopher because of his wife. Or perhaps because he wanted to. Brielle was never sure, but Christin made it seem that it was Alexander’s decision.

She wondered if that were really true.

“I hate that we are even discussing this,” Brielle said. “I hate that we have moved into a time of life where our parents are getting old and death is inevitable at some point. Even now, as I look at Papa—he looks exhausted, but he also looks pale. His lips are very pale. He should be resting instead of dealing with all of this.”

Christin lifted her shoulders weakly. “Then let us go into the hall, eat with him, and then force him to rest,” she said as she turned toward the great hall. “If he refuses, we will hold him down, tie him up, and carry him to bed ourselves.”

Brielle chuckled, following her sister into the great hall, where their parents had already taken seats at the dais and servants were beginning to set out the beginnings of the evening meal. The smell of fresh bread and roasting meat lured them like a magic spell, and they were eager to settle down for a decent meal.

But if it was peace they were looking for, this was not the night to find it.

Bad tidings were on the approach.