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As much as he hated sending her away, at the conclusion of their meal, Jocelynn’s constant shadow since her arrival in Lothian March came to collect her after nearly precisely one hour.

The stern-faced Confessor Eleanor gave Owain a stern look that suggested she realized how close he’d come to robbing Jocelynn of her virtue before they could even be publicly betrothed, but she seemed to know her place well enough to keep her lips sealed about anything she witnessed.

"I’ll begin making preparations to visit Baron Hanrahan with you and the Guild Masters, my lord," Jocelynn said with an overly proper curtsey that nonetheless gave Owain a tantalizing view of her pert bosom as she left his dining room.

"I look forward to being able to help you more now that I can be at your side while you negotiate with the merchants," she said, smiling warmly at him before schooling her features into an expression more appropriate for a sister-in-law than someone who would soon become his bride.

"We shouldn’t tarry, my lady," the raven-haired confessor said as she stepped smoothly between Owain and her young charge. "Young Lord Owain may be your brother-in-law, but so long as your ’sister’ is in the Summer Villa, idle tongues may give rise to inappropriate rumors if you linger too much."

"Confessor Eleanor is correct as always," Owain said, visibly adjusting himself and giving the clergywoman a polite nod. "I have other business to conclude this evening, Sister-in-law, so I’ll leave you in the Confessor’s capable care rather than walking you back to your chambers myself."

For a moment, Owain stood in the hall, admiring the way the elegant blue dress Jocelynn wore clung to her retreating backside before spilling in waves at her feet as though she were a native goddess returning to the sea from which she came.

"Soon," he muttered under his breath as he returned to his chambers.

"But rushing would only spoil the feast before she’s ready to be devoured," he said, shaking his head and walking quickly to a wash basin to douse his head in cool water before he let thoughts of her ripening body drive him to distraction.

There was work to be done tonight, and thoughts of women would only distract him from doing what needed to be done as quickly as possible.

Half an hour later, a refreshed Owain Lothian paced in his chambers, awaiting the arrival of two of his knights.

While there were many people he trusted to see his will done or even to fight beside him against demons, there were few he could trust to execute his will without questioning his intentions and even fewer that he could trust to keep their mouths shut when it mattered.

Whether or not these two truly qualified.

.. well, tonight’s discussion would provide a fitting test to see if they could truly fill the shoes of their predecessors.

Ever since Jocelynn had left, he’d turned things over in his mind again and again as he replayed every word she spoken during their dinner. The more he paced and the more he thought, the more he trembled with the desire to lash out at his traitorous father or his scheming brother.

His father had warned him in the past but, Owain had never once considered that the old man would actually strip him of his position as the heir.

Each time his father had warned him, he’d put on a show of obedience or crushed another demon village, returning with trophies and glory to satisfy the old man’s desire to recapture his own glory days.

It had worked every single time in the past, so why was the old man digging in his heels so badly this time?

The answer had to be that his backstabbing brother had made a move he hadn’t seen coming.

It was bad enough that Loman rode in on top of the relationship that Owain had begun to cultivate with Liam Dunn, swooping in after Owain helped the Dunn heir apparent to raise his army for a summer campaign and stealing the glory that would have been Owain’s if he hadn’t been sent away to Blackwell County.

But Loman’s deeds seemed to be greater than just a single summer campaign against the demons.

Jocelynn had been very clear that Loman had been seen making the rounds with the eastern barons and the knights who had once served their father in the last war.

The snake hiding within priestly vestments seemed to have no shortage of ears to whisper in since Owain left for the coast.

"Tommin," Owain realized, slamming a fist into the opposite hand as he recalled the looks that had passed between his conniving former guard and his usurper of a brother. "I don’t know what that bastard said, but I know he’s had a hand in whatever turned Loman into someone who would snatch the throne from me. "

A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts before two men he’d come to know quite well over the past several months entered his chambers.

Sir Hugo Hanrahan still didn’t seem to have grown a spine, hunching slightly away from the portly figure of Sir Rian Aleese next to him even as they entered the room and knelt before their lord.

The entire time they’d been stuck in Blackwell County, when they weren’t mired in the endless and often circular negotiations with the Guild Masters, both Sir Rian and Owain himself had attempted to whip the bastard Steward into shape, but even after months of practice, he still wasn’t fit to march in battle against the demons.

His mind might be keen and sharp, and his head for figures remained impeccable even after taking countless blows from Sir Rian’s wooden sword, but as a knight, Owain still found him contemptably lacking.

"You can stand," Owain said with an offhand wave as he dropped into a plush, overstuffed chair and looked at the two men. "This won’t take long. Hugo, I need you to buy something for me," he said, tossing a bag stuffed with gold sovereigns and a few loose jewels at his steward.

The pouch represented two years of earnings from his own estate, taken from the strongbox kept in his chambers, but at the moment, for what he wanted, he would spend thrice as much and still wouldn’t wince at the cost.

You could never put a price on revenge, and when that betrayal came from within your own family, no amount of gold was too much to see betrayal repaid swiftly.