WolfeBlade: de Wolfe Pack Generations by Kathryn Veque (top 20 books to read .TXT) 📗

But he also told her that he would come for that child when it was born, so she had to know he’d be coming. He never gave his name, and he was certain she didn’t recognize him, so there was no danger of association with the House of de Soulis. That was key. The child, if it had been born alive, would be at least three months of age by now.

And he wanted it.

He returned his attention to the woman.

“You will go to Falstone and inquire about the women who have given birth,” he said in a threatening tone. “You are the midwife – it is your duty to tend to the health of the women and children in Deadwater and beyond. I want you to go to Falstone and find out who gave birth there. You are to find out everything you can about the infants and do it quickly, because I shall return soon. If you do not have any information for me, there will be consequences.”

As the old woman continued to cower, now with confusion added to the mix, the old physic spoke up.

“My lords,” he said evenly. “I do not know what this is all about, but if you tell me, mayhap I can help. Am I to understand that you are looking for an infant born recently at Falstone?”

The older man turned his attention to the physic. “The daughter of Lord de Leia gave birth sometime in the spring,” he said. “We are looking for that child.”

Harman the Wise was the old physic everyone within a fifty-mile radius of Deadwater used to cure ills, diagnose ailments, or otherwise assist with the good and bad humors of the human body. He knew everyone and everything in these parts, including events like births and deaths, and even madness. He knew the comings and goings, and he knew the families.

And that was why he was trying not to show his fear.

Even though the men hadn’t given their names officially, the mention of the son’s name and the father-son relationship caused him to suspect who they were. Moreover, their soldiers weren’t bearing any tunics, but the horses they had ridden had brands on the rump. He could see them through the open door.

He’d seen them before, in times past.

He knew the de Soulis family.

Wicked to the bone.

He had heard about the incident last year when the daughter of Merek de Leia, Lord of Falstone, had been cornered by a group of unidentified knights. The lovely young woman had been in the village with a pair of her maids, visiting the merchant who imported silk thread, when she was set upon her.

As the story went, because Harman had not witnessed it personally, Lady Gavriella de Leia was caught off guard by the men. When they’d grabbed her and spirited her away, she’d never even made a sound. Everyone knew Lady Gavriella and everyone loved her, and there had always been such peace in Deadwater in spite of the fact that it was on the Scots border, that any kind of violence was unheard of.

And that’s what her attackers had been counting on that.

News of the terrible incident spread quickly. Lady Gavriella hadn’t know her attackers and that she had seen the only identifiable thing they had – a brand on one of the horses. She’d drawn it for her father, which told the man all he needed to know.

The brand for Hell’s Guardhouse.

De Soulis.

It was the same brand that Harman saw now through the open door. Those from the castle known as the Hell’s Guardhouse usually didn’t venture over to Deadwater. They kept to themselves, spreading their filth over the villages closer to them. The father and son pair were known as unfair lords, harsh and terrible, taxing their vassals into starvation to fund their coffers, yet the castle itself was strangely in disrepair. The fear was that they could no longer squeeze blood out of their vassals and had somehow turned their sights on Deadwater and even Falstone. They’d come into Deadwater and had caught Lady Gavriella off guard.

They seemed to know who they were looking for. They’d caught her like a cat in a trap and dashed off with her before anyone really realized what had happened. But someone sent word to de Leia over at Falstone and his men went on the hunt, only to find Lady Gavriella in a livery in the far corner of the village, bruised and beaten and raped.

Therefore, the physic had lied to the pair. He’d seen Gavriella de Leia after she’d been assaulted and raped, presumably by Nicholas from what he could now gather. The young woman had been badly beaten and her innocence taken in a most hideous manner. Nicholas also knew the rape had resulted in a pregnancy, but Harman had been truthful when he said he hadn’t attended the birth and neither had his wife.

But what he couldn’t figure out was why John and Nicholas wanted information on that child.

Perhaps it was time to stick his neck out a little.

“Then allow me to go to Falstone and see what I can discover,” he said after a moment. “They know me and they trust me. I will do this for you, but for my service, I wish to be paid.”

Nicholas started to berate him, but John held out a hand and stopped him. “What do you wish?” he asked.

“How valuable is this information to you?”

John eyed the shrewd old man. “Go to Falstone and find out what you can about Lady Gavriella and her child,” he said. “Return to me with the information and I shall pay you a full pound. Tell anyone what you are doing, or breathe a word of this, and I shall return and kill your wife before your very eyes. Do you understand me?”

The old physic nodded. With a deal reached, he figured the worst of the storm was over, at least for now, so he stood up and shuffled over to his