The Shadowed Princes

Sorcha's Wing contained the most spacious suites in the manor; yet it had remained empty and unused since shortly after the Lycan Rebellion of 997. With all the thanes present, Stone had ordered those suites opened and cleaned. As the rooms became ready, Stone allowed those thanes lodged in temporary quarters at the Lawgiver House to move into the manor for the duration of their stay. He hoped to swiftly have them all under one roof where he and his myn could keep an eye on them. Custom limited each of them to not more than twenty myn-at-arms at a witan. It did not limit the number of myn in their baggage train, such as servants and ladies' maids for those who brought their mistresses and wives.

He made them draw lots to see who got each suite as they became available; which irritated them. To his second in command, Lord Reist Devlin Thane-Regent of Gateshead, this proved awkward when both his father Vertram Devlin and Clennan Doherty managed to land at the manor ahead of the others. Reist experienced misgivings toward the entourages of those two, because some of those 'servants' had the look of housecarles and soldiers. Despite the customary limit, Reist doubted that either of them held any qualms about sneaking in more fighting myn than they were allowed.

The spacious Audience Chamber of Stone's father, Suleahan Redhand, had been re-opened and now served as a gathering place for the Thanes and others. Claw's Great Hall had been relegated to a viewing room for the bodies of the three members of the Redhand family who had died the day of the purge. Reist drifted through the Great Hall toward the three coffins on the viewing platform. Normally, those who died in the winter were not buried until spring. The ground was too hard to dig graves. The dead were simply laid out on the rooftops and preserved by the snow that covered them.

However, Stone had given the task of digging to the gryphons and mages of Lieutenant Jennifer Sherbourne's unit; the latter to thaw the ground and the former to do the actual digging. The graves had been dug and then covered with wood panels to keep the snow out until the day of the funeral. A time had been set for viewing the dead each day. The citizens of Red Wolf started lining up outside the manor doors at sunrise for an opportunity to pay their final respects to the dead chieftain. Claw Redhand had been well loved by the people, if not always by the thanes.

The center of the Great Hall had been roped off into viewing lines. Trestle tables and rough wooden chairs that did not encourage long spells of sitting lined the sides. The looms and spinning wheels that once sat near the huge hearth had been placed in storage; and most of the furniture that had filled the room had been moved to the Audience Chamber.

Tension threaded Reist when he heard Vertram's voice at the far end of the dimly lighted hall. Desirous of avoiding his father, he would have turned around and left had he not heard his wife's voice sharp in reply. He had married his widowed cousin Regina in a move that had been purely political and based on atonement. Her husband and his family had been butchered in the massacre at Gateshead. Thane Cedric Hargrave of Whiteford had then pressed Reist into marrying her to provide a legal protector to Regina and her two surviving cubs.

Regina stood facing Vertram, the color heightening in her cheeks as she spoke. She had put off her black robes of mourning, which startled Reist, and wore a cobalt blue dress that accentuated the mounds of her breasts with a delicate kazamerie shawl thrown over it. She carried the saber that Reist had given her as a wedding gift at her side, hanging from a tooled leather belt. It destroyed the illusion of femininity provided by the dress, but Reist liked it.

"The marriage can be set aside, Regina." Vertram's eyes drifted from her face to her breasts.

It had been twenty years since Reist had laid eyes on Vertram. He noticed, with vindictive satisfaction, that his father had gotten fat. A huge paunch hung over the sword belt worn low on Vertram's hips to accommodate his girth. There would be no more of his youthful shenanigans such as disguising himself as a hunter to stalk a bitch whose father objected to him – with that girth, Vertram was unmistakable.

"It most certainly cannot." Her eyes flashed. "Consummation was duly recorded."

Reist sensed, more than saw, the desperation beneath Regina's words as she floundered in her defense. He decided to put a show on and swaggered to her side with a naughty boy gleam in his eyes.

Regina flinched when he put his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek.

"I wondered where you were, Reggie."

Vertram glared at Reist and then exploded, making him wonder how long that argument had been going on between his father and his wife. "Don't cross me, Reist."

"Why would I do that, Vertram?" Reist tilted his head with a devil-may-care smile.

The thane of Chandler's Rock stiffened. "Show some respect! I'm your father."

Anger wilted Reist's determination to make a game of it. His jaw clenched. "Only because it was your seed that quickened my mother's belly. In none of the ways that count are you my father. Don't expect any familial pleasantries or sense of obligation from me. I don't owe you any."

"I have other heirs, Reist."

Reist shrugged. "I disowned you twenty years ago, Vertram. Enjoy your other heirs. They are all you have." He looped his arm through Regina's. "Come on, Reggie. Jenny has called a meeting in the Blue Room."

He led her upstairs and when they passed the Blue Room heading in the direction of Sorcha's Wing, Regina stopped him and turned to face the door. "Jenny?"

"I lied. I figured that you wanted to get away from him."

"I did. Thank you."

"Why the dress?"

"For the sake of appearances. I decided I should look like a new bride rather than a mourning widow." She lowered her head; an edge of uneasiness lined her mouth. "Jenny suggested it. We've been going through some chests of clothes we found stored – with Stone's permission of course."

When Reist and Stone rescued her from the slavers, Regina had had only the torn dress she had been captured in. Thane Cedric's wife had found a few things that would fit her before they left Whiteford, but Regina needed a wardrobe suited to her circumstances.

Reist kissed her hair again, and felt her flinch. "Reggie, you don't have to be afraid of me. It's only affection. I won't claim my conjugal rights."

He had mounted her only once, which had been on the day of the wedding. The Readers had needed to confirm consummation to prevent the marriage from being set aside by the greedy thanes with their eyes upon the lands and the titles of her children.

"Reist, I'm just…"

"Don't worry about it. The bitches have started gathering in Sorcha's solar to gossip or whatever it is they do. Why don't you join them? I'll show you the side stairs so you don't have to cross the roof."

"Bloody thanes … can't go anywhere without someone to warm their bloody beds."

Reist chuckled. "That's my Reggie. The soul of propriety and outrage."

GODWAR CENTRAL

The Shadowed Princes