Dark Deceptions: A Regency and Medieval Collection of Dark Romances(119)

She fled as if the devil himself had just made a request of her. Both Keller and William watched her race off with some astonishment. Wellesbourne turned to Keller.

“What in the world did you say that would make her run like that?” he wondered out loud. “She was so….”

“Fearful,” Keller said before William could finish. He thought on her odd reaction a moment before putting it out of his mind. Women, as he’d always known, were strange creatures. He didn’t understand them. He downed a healthy swallow of wine, lingering thoughtfully over the rim. “So what do you think of the place?”

Wellesbourne turned his attention away from the spooked lady to the hall around them. “Impressive. But where is Nether’s liege?”

Keller scratched his face and shrugged. “Who knows?” he had more wine. “The man did not greet us when we arrived. Unless he is dead or incapacitated, I am not sure what his excuse is.”

“Do you suppose he’s hiding?”

“Bad manners either way.”

Wellesbourne pursed his lips. “No matter what deal The Marshal made with him, I still say we should be on our guard.”

The sentence wasn’t yet out of his mouth before they both began to hear a great commotion, rising in the distance like a storm. It wasn’t long before everyone in the hall heard it also and the servants began to scatter. Keller and William turned in the direction of the hall entry, waiting for the storm to announce itself.

It wasn’t long in coming.





Chapter Four





The entry door suddenly blew open and slammed back on its hinges as a big man with blond hair and piercing brown eyes entered the room, bellowing loudly for wine. The servants, already in a panic, fell over themselves to fulfill his request. He slapped a woman who handed him a half-empty goblet, insulted that it was not completely full. As another woman rushed forward to fill the cup, the man continued across the floor towards the dais. His expression was both curious and hostile as he eyed the strangers seated at his table.

Keller and William instinctively rose to their feet as the man approached. It was a bit of an odd standoff as the young man came to a halt next to the table, his gaze openly inspecting the two knights. They gazed back steadily in return. After a moment of intense dissection by both parties, like dominant cocks preparing for a fight, the young man finally removed his rain-soaked cloak and tossed it off to the nearest cowering servant.

“I am Gryffyn d’Einen,” he announced. “Who is de Poyer?”

Keller didn’t like the man’s manner or stance from the very second he entered the hall. There was something arrogant and vain and dark about him. Although handsome and tall, there was something about the man that sang of distaste. Keller couldn’t put his finger on it but he could sense it. It put him on his guard.

“I am de Poyer,” he replied. “Is Trevyn d’Einen your father?”

“He is.”

“Where is he?”

Gryffyn cocked an arrogant eyebrow. “Indisposed at the moment,” he sat down, eyeing the knights when they continued to stand. “Do you intend to eat standing up?”

Wellesbourne emitted something of a disapproving growl, looking to Keller for a reaction. Keller’s only reaction was to slowly sit, his eyes riveted to the brash young man. Servants began falling all over themselves in an attempt to serve Gryffyn before anyone else.

“So,” Gryffyn was the first one at the table to receive a meal in spite of the fact there were guests. “You are to be my sister’s husband, are you not? Then there are things you should know about her. She is sassy and willful. She is also quite disobedient. I hope you are prepared to beat some sense into her.”

The more Gryffyn talked, the more Keller didn’t like him. “She has shown none of those qualities since we have become acquainted,” he replied evenly. “But you, on the other hand, have so far displayed all of that and more.”

Gryffyn stopped shoving bread into his mouth and frowned terribly. “What do you mean?” he demanded with his mouth full. “We have only just met.”

Keller gazed steadily at the man. “Neither you nor your father were in the bailey to greet us when we arrived. That, my lord, is a serious breach of hospitality. We have been here over two hours and you’ve not shown your face until now. When you do, you slap the servants and show a complete lack of courtesy to your guests by eating before they have even been served. More than that, you slander your sister in front of a roomful of strangers. Does this clarify my statement?”

Gryffyn stopped chewing. His face was lined with outrage, his mouth pressed into a thin, hard line.

“You have little room to speak of bad manners serving a man who is a murderer and a thief,” he snarled. “You are here because William Marshal wishes to conquer Wales, so you’ll steal my lands and call it a treaty and rape my sister and call it a marriage. It is not I who have shown appalling manners but you and every man like you.”

By this time, Wellesbourne was on his feet and seriously considering thrashing the young Welshman. George and Aimery had also heard the last part of Gryffyn’s slanderous speech and were posturing furiously, awaiting the word to move forward and pounce. But Keller remained seated, his eyes fixed on the young man. He had no intention of moving a muscle.