Page 19 of Midnight Shadow

Terran’s lips curled in disgust. These pathetic people with their dull lives, their mindless duties. He didn’t know them. And they mattered not a whit to him. Life would continue for them just as it had yesterday and the day before that. It didn’t matter to them that Odella had died.

Then his gaze came to rest on a woman standing near the outer gatehouse, holding the reins to her horse. She was staring up at the keep, almost as though she were looking at him. Her brown hair was nearly hidden beneath a sheer blue veil, and her satin dress glimmered in the sunlight. She was a noblewoman. That much was obvious from her dress and the way she carried herself. Who was she? Terran wondered. She looked so lost, so forlorn. She looked as desolate as he felt.

A knock sounded at the door. “Come!” Terran called, annoyed at the interruption.

The door swung open and Terran glanced over his shoulder to see a servant woman standing just inside the door.

“It’s good to see you up,“ the woman began, nervously.

Terran cut her off. “Who is that woman?” Terran looked back out the window, toward the outer gatehouse, his gaze sweeping the area. The boy herding the sheep was still there. The merchant was still there, moving into the inner ward. The woman was gone.

“What woman, m’lord?” the servant asked.

“She’s gone,” Terran whispered, half to himself. He wondered if he’d imagined her.

The servant woman sighed in understanding. “Lady Odella was a good woman.”

“I’m not talking about Odella. There was a woman standing near the gatehouse...” The servant’s patronizing look annoyed Terran, and he waved his hand quickly. “Never mind. What do you want?”

The servant bowed. “They’re waiting for you in the Great Hall, m’lord.”

“With all due respect, m’lord,” Kenric said to Terran, “you need a dowry to save you.”

Terran sat stoically in his judgment chair at the far end of the Great Hall. Here he listened to the seemingly endless litany of peasant complaints, problems, and pleas for assistance. The room was usually brightly lit with torches, filled with servants scurrying about, loud with the conversation of peasants and farmers, but not today. He’d ordered all the torches to be extinguished, had sent the servants away.

Odella’s smile haunted his memories. Her scent followed him wherever he went. She’d been everything to him, his sunshine. Now he hated the sun for reminding him of her. His betrothed was gone, and he was in even more desperate financial straits than before.

How could he have known his own prowess as a knight, his own skill as a fighter on the battlefield, would cause his current financial woes? As his skill and reputation had grown, so had the fear and unease of his opponents. No one would face him on the field of battle. At first, this fear had been a great source of pride, but as the number of men willing to face him quickly dwindled, so had his treasury.

Eventually, he’d been forced to travel to remote provinces to find tournaments where he wasn’t known. By then, his castle had fallen behind in its tithe to church and king.

But he didn’t give a damn. Let the king take this castle. Let him take everything.

“M’lord,” Kenric prompted, looking for some kind of response. “Terran, you’re going to lose Castle Knowles in three months’ time. You need to do something.”

Terran grunted and turned away.

“You need to marry someone with a large dowry to save Castle Knowles. You need a betrothal –”

“I had one,” Terran growled.

“Yes. Well, since that one is... no longer, may I suggest another?”

“No,” Terran snapped. “You insult her memory by suggesting such a thing.”

“M’lord,” Kenric said, approaching him, “I know you loved her. But she is gone and you need to move on. The farms are not producing enough. The peasants are not happy.”

“I don’t give a damn,” Terran growled.

“There’s an easy solution.”

“I know what you’re going to say, and I don’t want to hear it”

“You were betrothed once before,” Kenric said. “From when you were born.”

“I don’t want to hear it,” Terran repeated.

“The Delaney lands are very profitable. They could well support you and your lands. All you need do is marry Delaney’s daughter.”