Page 10 of Retribution

CHAPTER FOUR

Westminster Palace

“Let me put your minds at ease. I have no intention of disbanding the Six.”

The words came from a tall man with fading yellow hair, dark eyes, and big hands. Edward, King of England, was that man. He and the Guard of Six were in his apartments, of all places, and not a formal meeting chamber or audience chamber. Edward had wanted to greet them informally, so they’d been summoned to his apartments for a conversation that started out oddly congenial. Edward wasn’t particularly known as a congenial man, but at this moment, that was exactly how he was behaving. That had the Six on their guard a little, unsure which direction the man was going to go.

So far, there was no direction except straight ahead.

The king’s most recent comment confirmed that.

“We are honored to be of service to you, sire,” Aidric said steadily. “We realize you are a different man from your father and the Guard of Six was formed by Henry, for Henry. A new king usually means change.”

Seated on an elaborately carved chair with lions for legs, Edward shook his head. “Not really,” he said. “At least, not with me. Your role will remain because it is an important one. Lest you forget, I was in England when the Guard of Six was formed. In fact, I was the one who encouraged my father to seek men such as yourselves for this specialized role. My father was not a warrior, not like I am, so he required men with great swords. You served him with honor.”

He was speaking mostly to Aidric, Britt, and Dirk. The trio nodded their heads in gratitude. “Thank you, sire,” Aidric said. “Of course, it was a slightly different group then. We have new members now.”

Edward glanced over at Stefan, Bennet, Orion, and Gerard. There was a twinkle of humor in his eye as he fixed on Gerard.

“Ah,” he said. “The new blood. And I am sure you are wondering why I’ve brought Gerard into service.”

Aidric glanced over at de Velt also. “It has crossed our minds, sire,” he said with some irony.

Edward snorted. “There is no great mystery to it,” he said, returning his attention to the senior knights. “I know we’ve not had a chance to speak since my return to England, so hear me now. While I have no intention of disbanding the Guard of Six, I do intend that it should evolve. You have been my father’s protectors and you shall be mine, but I am not my father. The threats against Henry were not nearly as severe as they are against me.”

That was the truth and no one could dispute that, but Aidric could see that Edward was leading into something with that statement.

“Then our duties, for you, have changed,” he said quietly.

Edward nodded. “Indeed, they have,” he said. “I am a fighting monarch, Aidric. I have made many enemies in this life. There are many who would be happy to see me dead, including members of the nobility. I am not well liked by some. Your duty to me has grown exponentially more dangerous because of it and I’ve brought de Velt in because he is a former Executioner Knight. He has lived and breathed some of the darkest, dirtiest missions you can imagine. He has done things that a man probably should not do, but he did it in the name of king and country. The purpose of the Executioner Knights is to protect the king from all threats, foreign and domestic, but they do it from afar. You, as the Guard of Six, protect the king at the source. You are the last line of defense. Gerard is here to expand your reach. He is here to think like a spy and an assassin while you are here to think like protectors because this is what I need. Protectors. Can you work with him?”

Aidric and the others looked at Gerard, who hadn’t changed expression. He was simply looking at Edward. But what the king said in relation to Gerard made a good deal of sense.

“Of course we can, sire,” Aidric said. “We will work with him gladly. But I am in command. Just so he understands that.”

Edward nodded, glancing at Gerard. “He does,” he said. “But you will listen to him, Aidric. If the man comes to you with intelligence or advice, you will listen and you will heed him. Is that clear?”

“It is, sire.”

“Good,” Edward said. Then, he sighed wearily. “I must say that I am not looking forward to the feast on the morrow. Every ally, every enemy I’ve ever known, will be in attendance, welcoming me home to England, so it should be an interesting evening.”

Aidric’s mouth twitched with a smile. “You’ve faced less conflict on a field of battle, I would imagine.”

Edward grinned. “You speak the truth,” he said. “As I said before, it will be an interesting evening. And you should be prepared.”

“Anyone we should watch out for, in particular?”

Edward looked at Gerard, who took that as his cue to speak. “A few,” he said. “Baldwin Wake and Nicholas Seagrave, to name a couple. They were both de Montfort supporters, both lost property after Evesham, but Wake, in particular, is trying to reconcile with Edward. At least, we think so, but it could be a ruse. However, any Executioner Knights who have had contact with him have described him as being genuinely repentant.”

The Six were listening seriously, all of them. “What about the marcher lords?” Britt asked. “Mortimer and de Clare? They are still the king’s enemies from what we’ve heard.”

“They’re staying to the marches these days,” Gerard said. “Mortimer is the more volatile of the two, but he seems to be behaving himself. And I have not been made aware of either of them attending the feast tomorrow.”

“Then I have a question for you, Manny,” Orion spoke up, unable to remain out of the conversation. “Who is not behaving themselves? Who must we be aware of? Surely the assassin knights have heard rumblings?”

Gerard looked at him. “There have been rumors,” he said. “There always are.”

“Manny?” Edward said, interrupting them. “Who is Manny?”