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

can make the best decision I can for my men and for the House of de Wolfe. Have you been battling de Soulis and we were unaware?”

Lukas stared at him a moment before turning away and returning to the table, where he sat heavily.

Andreas followed.

“Answer me, de Dere,” he said, sitting next to him. “Are my men in jeopardy now?”

Lukas shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “De Soulis has not brought their army against us.”

“Then what in the hell is going on?” Andreas demanded, displeased with Lukas’ evasive answers. “Tell me immediately or I shall take my men, return to my father, and tell him of the situation here. Then you can explain it to Troy de Wolfe when he comes down around your ears for withholding information that may have jeopardized his men.”

It was a threat and Lukas knew it. He scratched his head in a nervous gesture.

“Every fortress has its little secrets, its personal hell,” he said quietly. “We have ours, as well. Nay, your men are not in jeopardy from de Soulis, but what they have done to us is beyond reprehensible. Do I think that whore has been sent by them to further weaken the House of de Leia? Possibly. Anything is possible. My lord, I will explain everything to you, but you must swear to me that you will only tell your father and no one else. If this information got out… it would shame Lord de Leia and his daughter greatly. That personal hell I speak of.”

“You have my word,” Andreas said. “What has happened?”

Lukas took a deep breath. “Falstone has three villages within her domain,” he said, barely audible. “Deadwater, Liddel, and Larriston. Deadwater is the largest, named for the lake to the north that tends to stagnate in the summer. The village is a busy one and a peaceful one. We have never truly had any issues with Scots, although about six years ago, a raiding party passed through. Reivers. But until last year, that was the only real trouble we’d ever had. ’Tis as if we live in a land with secret borders, repelling all evil.”

“Until last year.”

“Aye.”

“What happened last year?”

Lukas pondered the question before continuing. “De Leia’s daughter was in Deadwater with two of her maids,” he said. “She’d been traveling to the village for years without an escort, so this was not unusual. But there was a group of knights in town and they abducted her. She was beaten and violated. When we found her, she could not tell us who had done this heinous thing, but she could identify the brand on one of the horses. She drew it for us and it was a brand we recognized.”

Andreas got the message. “De Soulis.”

Lukas nodded sadly. “Aye,” he muttered. “De Soulis.”

Andreas frowned, distressed by the tale. “And your lord did not seek to punish them?”

Lukas shook his head. “He was so ashamed by what had happened that he did not want to summon his allies, de Wolfe included,” he said. “It was strange… he turned into a man who simply wanted it all to go away. We do not have a large enough army to go after Hell’s Guardhouse on our own and he would not let me summon help, afraid this terrible secret would become public knowledge. And when he realized that attack resulted in a pregnancy for his daughter… God, it was a nightmare. He kept her hidden away as if she had somehow been a willing party to all of it. He was so ashamed of her that when the child was born, he sent the infant away to Edenside and sent his daughter to London. He was trying to erase all evidence of what had happened. He refused to acknowledge anything.”

It was quite a tale. Andreas shook his head slowly. “My father knew nothing of this,” he said in a low voice. “If he did, I am sure he would have told me. I am sure he would have encouraged your father to seek vengeance. What happened is not right.”

Lukas shook his head. “Nay, it is not right,” he said. “And Lord de Leia’s daughter… she is the victim in all of this. Gavriella did not deserve any of what happened to her and her father made her feel as if it were all her fault. But none of it was. That’s the sad part. She’s such a sweet, beautiful woman and now… now, there is no chance she’ll ever find a decent marriage after this, although I suspect that is why de Leia has been keeping it all a secret. He does not want a prospective husband to know.”

It took Andreas a moment to process the name of de Leia’s daughter. Gavriella. It was such a unique name that, surely, there couldn’t be two women with the same name in Northumberland.

Could there?

Andreas didn’t hear much after that. He felt the room rock. In fact, he found himself gripping the table until his equilibrium returned. He was in such disbelief that although he heard Lukas as the man continued to speak, he didn’t really comprehend the words. He just sat there, feeling as if a wall of stone had just fallen on him.

My God…

Gavriella!

When he had returned from London, he’d started his search for the woman he knew as Gavriella, but he’d been starting towards the east. His plan was to ask every priest from Castle Questing to the sea, hunting down anyone who might know of a woman named Gavriella.

But he’d been searching in the wrong direction.

She had been at Falstone all along.

He suddenly felt sick.

Sick enough that he hung his head, struggling with his composure as Lukas rattled on about Lord de Leia and the way he treated his daughter like a disease. What happened to her wasn’t her fault, he’d said.

An assault…

A child…

Andreas remembered thinking in London how Gavriella gave every indication of someone with dark secrets. With something to hide.

Now, he knew why.

He put a trembling hand to his mouth, his