The Final Redemption by Michael Manning (little red riding hood ebook free .txt) 📕

passed quietly at CameronCastle, and spring had already come again. In all that time I hadnot returned to Albamarl once. The Queen had sent several letters,but I didn’t read them. My rational mind knew my lashing hadn’tbeen her fault, nor her wish, but somehow my heart just couldn’taccept it. It wasn’t Ariadne I was angry with, it was Lothionitself, and since she represented it, I kept her at a distanceinstead.

I did let Peter read the letters, tomake sure I wasn’t missing something earthshakingly important. Oncehe had told me that they didn’t contain any orders or summons, Iburned them. I refused to discuss their contents with him afterwardas well. I wasn’t ready to open my heart yet.

Ordinarily Penny would have been amitigating influence, but in this matter she was angrier than Icould ever be. If it had been up to her we’d have started a civilwar. She had always been somewhat protective of me, but now—she hadprogressed to an entirely new level. I began to avoid any mentionof the capital, Ariadne, any of the nobility—the list went on. Asingle reminder would often trigger an eruption of acid-tonguedinvective from her.

Immediately after our return, I hadused my magic to close the skin over my wounds, but I refrainedfrom healing them. Instead, I let them heal on their own, slowlyand imperfectly, which left a crisscross pattern of scars on myback that mirrored the ones in my heart. Penny urged me to erasethem, but I refused. ”Some things are worth remembering,” was myreply.

We hadn’t told the children, but thetwins had passed eleven years old now, and they were proving to bevery perceptive. I’m sure they discovered the truth at some point,but they never said a word to me about it. I told myself we wouldtalk about it someday, but that day never seemed tocome.

The fine that Earl Winfield had leviedupon me eventually totaled in the hundreds of thousands of gold,one-hundred-sixty-three-thousand and twenty gold, to be precise.Divided up that amounted to something over eight thousand peoplewiped out. I didn’t begrudge them the money at all, although I wasfairly certain that many of those who came forward to claim kinshiphad only the most tenuous of claims.

The sum was enough to bankrupt me andthen some. I was forced to take a loan for twenty thousand of it,on unfavorable terms, in order to pay it in full. Rose hadsuggested I seek a personal loan from the crown, but again, Irefused to approach our new queen.

One bright spot was that CameronCastle, and by extension the town of Washbrook, had received verylittle actual damage. That was good, since I had no money forrepairs. Arundel and Lancaster on the other hand, were in badshape. The people of the three neighboring areas helped one anotherwith the rebuilding, but financially, I had nothing left to assistthem. The most I could do for Walter and the people of Arundel wasexempt him from the taxes he owed me that year. That, of course,made it more difficult for me to pay my own taxes, or even pay myretainers and servants.

Peter urged me to ask the Queen foramnesty from my taxes that year, but again—you can imagine myresponse. The capital needed the money anyway; the fighting therehad resulted in quite a bit of damage to the palace and thecity.

Instead I produced money my own way.There were no active mines on my lands, but as an archmage, it waseasy enough to convince the earth to bring what I wanted to thesurface. From its fiery heart, I brought pure iron, shaping it intobar stock even as it emerged. In smaller quantities, I broughtsilver and some gold as well, molding those into ingots.

It would have been easy enough to turnthem directly into coins, but that would have been a crime. InsteadI sold the metals directly in a dozen different towns. Initially Igot good prices, but within a few trips the market for iron andsilver plummeted, so I stopped. I had made enough to pay my debtsand remain solvent for another year or two anyway.

I later found out that the Earl ofWinfield was heavily invested in several mines, and as a result ofmy efforts, he lost quite a bit of money that year when the pricesdropped. I wished I could claim that I knew before, but it was justa happy coincidence.

Staying isolated became more work whensummer arrived, and with it an invitation.

“What’s this?” I asked Penny when Isaw the ornately decorated envelope.

She grinned at me, “A weddinginvitation.”

I thought for a moment, knowing thatit must surely be someone we were expecting to get married soon. Mymind remained scrupulously blank, and my vacant stare communicatedthe fact to her.

“I know you’re brighter than this,”said my wife. “I’ll give you two guesses.”

Rose? That thought brought an inner twinge of pain.No, that’s impossible so soon, maybe ever. WasElaine seeing someone? Maybe Harold… ThenI remembered that Harold had already gotten married. I felt reliefthat my memory told me that before I guessed his name. Penny wouldnever have let me live that down.

”I can almost see the steam risingfrom your ears,” joked Penny. “Be careful or you’ll getheatstroke.”

I stuck my tongue out at her. “Peter!”I said at last.

Her look was one of utter amazement.“No, and that just goes to prove how utterly clueless you are.Peter isn’t interested in women.”

“Really?” I asked, somewhatsurprised.

She sighed, “This could take allday.”

“Are you sure about Peter?”

“He’s lived with his sister almost theentire time since they joined us. He’s never shown the slightestinterest in anything other than his job and… I’ll stop there, youobviously haven’t noticed much about his personal life.”

Now she was just being mean. I decidedto play even dumber, just to rile her up. “When you say he’s onlyinterested in his job—you mean me, don’t you!”

She stared at me in disdain. Clearly Icouldn’t get any stupider.

“I was joking,” I admitted.

“Should I laugh?” she replied. “Youstill haven’t made a good guess yet.”

“Wait, you said ‘he lived with hissister almost the entire time’, is Lilly getting married?” I wasproud of my deductive reasoning. If Lilly was moving out of theirshared rooms it must mean one