Page 81 of The Darkland

“That is not my concern. My concern is with my family and my holdings.” Lionel was coming to realize how harsh he sounded simply by Spencer’s expression. He was not a harsh man by nature; in fact, he didn’t like to take a stand of any kind. He was fairly passive. After a moment, he took a deep breath and cooled. “Kirk is an excellent knight, Spencer. I admire him a great deal. But he has his choice of women. I do not. This… this is my last chance, lad. When I die, the House of le Vay dies with me and this I cannot abide. I have to do what I can to remedy the situation before it is too late.”

Spencer’s brow furrowed, caught up in le Vay’s passionate speech. “What do you mean before it is too late?” he asked. “You speak like a desperate man. If you want to marry so badly to have another son, I am sure there are many women who would be more eligible than a minor baron’s second daughter.”

Le Vay shook his head firmly, rising from the stool. He gathered his fine robes up around him to keep them off the floor. There was agitation in his movements.

“But it would take time to find such a woman,” he said. “Lady Mara is here, now. I could marry her today without delay.”

Spencer was growing increasingly baffled. “My lord, I have never heard you express importance in another marriage,” he said. “I do not understand your sudden interest.”

“It is not sudden. It is something I have been thinking of for some time.”

“But I do not understand why…?”

Lionel cut him off. “Because Imust,” he fired back with more passion that Spencer had seen from the man in a long time. “Time is running out.”

“What time?”

“Mytime,” Lionel insisted, his words overlapping Spencer’s question. When he saw the look on Spencer’s face, he realized how abrupt he had come across. He backed down, but not entirely. He put a hand to his chest, gesturing to himself in an impassioned plea. “My time, Spencer. The physic says I do not have much longer to live. When I die, the House of le Vay dies with me. Now I see a chance to save it and I cannot let it slip away.”

Spencer sat in stunned silence for a moment. “You are dying?”

Lionel nodded. Suddenly, he wasn’t so passionate. He was exhausted. He returned to his stool and sat heavily. After a moment, he sighed.

“You know that I have not been feeling my best as of late,” he said quietly.

Spencer was very concerned. “For at least a year,” he said. “The physic said it was infirmaries of old age.”

“That is because I told him to tell everyone I was simply feeling my years and nothing more,” he said. “It would seem that I have a mass growing in my belly. It has affected everything about me from my eating to the ability to relieve myself. I do not wish to get into graphic detail but suffice it to say that the mass has grown so much that it is affecting my ability to walk. Soon, I will be crippled and soon thereafter, it will kill me. Whatever it is grows swiftly. The physic thinks it is a cancer.”

Spencer was horrified. But he also understood now why le Vay was so anxious to marry and produce a son before he was unable to move at all. It made perfect sense. After a moment, he simply shook his head.

“My lord,” he said softly, “I do not know what to say to all of this. I take it that Lady Lily does not know?”

Lionel scratched his head. “She does not,” he replied, subdued. “I do not want her to know. She will be a mess, mourning me before I have even passed on. I do not wish her final memories of me to be those of sadness.”

“She will find out soon enough if this cancer overtakes you.”

“Then we shall confront the subject at that time. But until then, not a word to anyone.”

“I swear it, my lord,” Spencer assured him. He eyed the man as he sat on the stool, brushing the dust from his robes. “But I still do not believe marriage to Lady Mara is wise.”

Lionel looked up from his robes. “Why not?”

“Because Kirk loves the woman,” he said softly. “She loves him. Would you ruin her life simply to satisfy your own wants?”

Lionel’s jaw ticked, causing his jowls to quiver. “She is young,” he replied. “I will die soon and all of this will be hers. Kirk can have her when I am finished with her. Meanwhile, I would have you deliver a missive to Edmund when you are feeling better that I accept the terms of betrothal.”

Spencer’s first instinct was to refuse but he knew he could not. “If I must, my lord.”

“You must.” Lionel rose unsteadily from his stool, eyeing the knight on the bed. “For now, I do believe I will attend Lady Mara and explain the course her future is about to take.”

Spencer met the man’s gaze, his disapproval evident. He simply couldn’t help himself. “Would you like me to go with you? She may need comfort.”

Lionel paused by the door. “Let me make this clear, Spencer; from this day forward, the Lady Mara is my betrothed and you will cease any notion you ever entertained where it pertains to her. You will behave perfectly and act perfectly towards her, or I will throw you from the castle myself. Is this in any way unclear?”

Spencer didn’t rise to the obvious challenge. In truth, he had no choice. “It is, my lord.”

Lionel’s gaze lingered on him, cold as ice. “Good,” he muttered. “Spencer, do not pretend that your reaction to this betrothal is on Kirk’s behalf, for it is not. It is simply because you are jealous that I now possess what you wanted. It is envy, pure and simple.”