Page 20 of Midnight Shadow

“I don’t want another wife.”

“Delaney is trying to betroth her to another. Go and claim your rights. It will save your castle.”

“Perhaps you didn’t hear me. I don’t want any other woman.”

“You can grieve out on the cold ground, or you can grieve in your own nice warm castle. It doesn’t matter to me, cousin. This is an easy way out.”

Terran’s lip curled in disgust. “Delaney would never give her to me, not after what I did. Not with so many others vying for her hand.”

Kenric smiled. “I’ll take care of everything. You’ll have the Lady Bria’s dowry to save your lands.”

Terran couldn’t care less. All he wanted was Odella, and he couldn’t have her.

“Your time is running out,” Kenric reminded him. “I know the thought of marriage is repulsive, but there’s no other solution. I will handle Delaney’s daughter for you.”

Terran grunted and leaned back in his chair. “Do whatever you want.”

Kenric bowed and moved out of the room.

Bria quickened her step and walked down the road toward Knowles Village. Her hand was wrapped tightly around the reins of her horse, her palms wet with nervous perspiration. Damn him. Damn Kenric for being so evil. No one else made her tremble this way.

No one else you know is a murderer, the voice inside her reminded.

“Excuse me, m’lady.”

Bria glanced up to see a peasant hauling a cart filled with dried-out corn and rotten, worm-infested apples.

“Would you like to buy some of my fruit?” the man said.

Bria looked away from the horrendous fruit to stare at him. His brow was slick with sweat, his face reddened from exertion. He had a dark purple bruise on his forehead. “Where’s your horse?” Bria wondered.

The man shifted nervously. “Well, I...” He squared his shoulders. “I owed taxes and one of the tax collectors took my horse as payment.”

Bria scowled. Knowles’ men. His evil was spreading everywhere. “If you have no horse, how will you work your fields?”

The man opened his mouth to reply, but promptly shut it. His shoulders sagged in defeat. “I... don’t know. I will do what I can.”

“Shouldn’t you be working the fields now?” Bria wondered.

“Yes. But Lord Knowles just raised the taxes, and I need more income. My wife is working the fields, and I’m trying to sell this fruit. She would have done it, but she can’t pull the cart.”

Bria glanced back at the towering castle behind her, the fortress of Terran Knowles. Home of the ogre who refused to see visitors, but taxed his people to death. This was what Mary was talking about, she realized, what she must have experienced day after heartbreaking day. This was why she’d charged to the rescue of Widow Anderson.

Bria reached down to the belt at her waist and untied a small leather purse. Without a second thought, she handed it to the man.

He took the purse, shook it to hear the jangle of coins, then looked inside. “You want corn or apples?”

“I don’t want any of it.” Bria moved to step past him.

“But, m’lady,” he objected, “surely you want something in return.”

“Keep it,” Bria replied. “It’s the least I can do for you and your family.”

The man’s eyes widened. “God bless you, m’lady. God bless you!”

Bria wished she had more to give to the poor man. She wished she had enough to take care of the entire village. They needed someone to watch over them, someone to protect them, someone to take a stand against that ogre Terran Knowles and Randolph Kenric and all of the other men under their command, she thought bitterly. What they really needed was a Midnight Shadow they could call their own. She sighed a tired sigh. If only her grand hero wasn’t a figment of her imagination. If only the Midnight Shadow were real.

Chapter eight