WolfeBlade: de Wolfe Pack Generations by Kathryn Veque (reading an ebook txt) 📕

a basin against the wall, dry heaving because he was so hungover. It was dawn on a surprisingly clear winter’s morning, the storm from the previous evening having cleared out sometime during the night. After a couple of particularly nasty heaves, Merek turned his head to look at the pair.

“God, what?” he grumbled. “Now? Can it not wait?”

“Nay, my lord, it cannot,” Lukas said. “We have something of a mystery on our hands that is… concerning.”

Merek gave one final heave before wiping his mouth and turning for his clothes, thrown in a heap on a chair.

“What is concerning, Lukas?” he asked. “And why is de Wolfe here?”

“Because he was the one who brought it to my attention, my lord,” he said. He passed a glance at Andreas before continuing. “What do you remember of last night, my lord?”

Merek paused, tunic in hand. “Last night?” he repeated. “When?”

“In the feasting hall?”

Merek paused. “I was in the feasting hall?”

That answered Lukas’ question. It was as he’d told Andreas – the man hardly remembered anything after a drinking binge.

The knights entered the chamber and shut the door.

“My lord, your companion, Giddy, left late last night,” Lukas said quietly. “Andreas saw her ride from the stables. She has not returned.”

That brought some awareness from Merek. He looked around the chamber as if he hadn’t noticed she’d been gone. Puzzled, he looked at the knights.

“She left?” he asked.

“She did,” Lukas said. “Did you send her away?”

Merek frowned. “Of course not,” he said. “Why would I do that?”

“I do not know,” Lukas said. “When evaluating a situation, one must eliminate the possibilities one at a time. So, you did not order her away?”

“I did not.”

“Then she left of her own accord,” Lukas said, looking around the chamber. “Is anything missing? Did she steal something and run off?”

Merek didn’t say anything for a moment. He pulled the tunic over his head, clumsily, moving slowly and aimlessly around the chamber. He went to a table that contained a clutter of things, pulling forth a metal box and peering inside. Then, he closed the lid and wandered back over to the bed, sitting heavily.

All the while, Lukas and Andreas were watching him, waiting for an answer, but Merek didn’t seem too eager to provide them with one. In fact, after his initial flash of emotion at the disappearance of the woman who had been his constant companion for months, he didn’t seem to be showing any reaction at all. He was simply sitting on his bed, staring off into the dim chamber.

Lukas and Andreas exchanged curious glances.

“My lord?” Lukas finally said.

Merek turned in his direction but he didn’t look at him. “She did not steal anything,” he said. “And she did not run off. She simply returned to where she came from.”

Lukas and Andreas looked at each other again, this time in puzzlement. “Did you know she was leaving?” Lukas asked.

Merek shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “But I knew she would at some point. She was not meant to stay.”

Lukas was becoming frustrated with the man’s answers. He moved around the bed so that he was standing in front of him.

“My lord, please tell us what you know,” he said. “There was a time when you used to confide everything in me, but that all stopped when that woman came around. You stopped speaking to me as if I had done something to displease you. I am yours to command, my lord, and we have had an excellent relationship for ten years. I am only trying to help you and you know that, so if there is something you know that you are not telling me, I wish you would simply come out with it.”

Merek looked up at him. After a moment, he smiled weakly. “Dear Lukas,” he said. “Always trying to do the right thing. Always willing to help me even if I cannot help myself.”

Lukas nodded. “Of course, my lord,” he said sincerely. “That is why I am here. I am your devoted knight. Will you not tell me what you know about everything?”

Merek grunted and looked away. “Everything,” he muttered as if disgusted with the very word. “There was nothing you could have done. I was as curious about her as she was about me. I knew her presence here was not a good one, but I let her stay. It is difficult to be so lonely.”

Lukas was quickly growing exasperated. “Who is she?”

Merek was still looking at the floor. “She’s really gone, is she?”

“She is.”

Merek scratched his nose. “I had been expecting it,” he said. “You want to know everything? I suppose I shall tell you. There is nothing you can do about it now, anyway. Giddy was not a gift from an ally, Lukas. She was sent by John de Soulis to spy on me.”

Lukas’ eyes widened and he looked at Andreas, who also appeared surprised. “What?” Lukas finally hissed. “How do you know this?”

Merek sighed heavily. “It is my belief that it goes back to something that happened several months ago,” he said. “You know Harman the Wise, of course. The physic from Deadwater. He came here months ago to tell me that he overheard John and Nicholas de Soulis speaking of getting their hands on the infant my daughter delivered in order to fulfill some sort of prophesy. They wanted the child and they wanted my daughter. They even wanted Harman to smuggle the child out of Falstone and give it over to them, but he refused. He came to me instead to tell me so that I could protect both my daughter and the child.”

By this time, Andreas was standing next to Lukas, his features dark with rage. “And what did you do?” he growled.

Merek looked up at the very big, very tense knight. “I did nothing,” he said. “My daughter was in London and the child was not here, so I did nothing. I sent Harman away and I’ve not seen him since. There was no reason to do anything,