Paula Quinn - Risande Family - 3 by Lord Of Seduction

Author:Lord Of Seduction [Seduction, Lord Of]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-06-04T14:25:03.978000+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

"I want my war." Cedric, son of King Rhys's brother, Owain, stared out over the timber palisade encompassing one of the twin towers of Prince Dafydd ap Gruffydd's fortress. His dark gaze spread over the steep mountain slopes and wooded hillsides in the distance. Gwynedd. He enjoyed a deep inhalation of cool, pine-scented air. So much of the north was still unsullied by Norman invasion. The land here was as wild and as brutal as his dreams. His jaw, lightly dusted with chestnut stubble, tightened. This was where he would make his home after the war. Indeed, he decided he would live in this very fortress once its current owner was removed.

"Rhydderch of Powys and that dolt Prince Amren of Gwent do naught while the Normans slowly advance deeper into Cymru. I understand some of Lord Benevere's men on the central marches have taken Cymry wives. Our enemy is seeping into our lives and our land like a disease." Standing beside him, Prince Dafydd nodded. "Your brother follows their example by marrying a Norman."

"Aye, and after all the Normans have done." Cedric returned his cool gaze to the landscape. "They attacked Ystrad Towi and left Llandovery in ruins before my uncle handed it all over to Gareth. They killed many, and my brother repays them by taking one as a wife."

"Have you forgotten what your man Bleddyn told us?" Dafydd asked him. "Gareth is Wyfyrn. If he spoke the truth, then your brother has killed many Normans."

Cedric's mouth twisted into a smirk. "Wyfyrn, the people's hero who hides behind a helm." He laughed, but the sound was void of any mirth. "He is afraid of the Normans. From the day we first met the king, my brother has preached peace. King William frightened him with his vast armies. That is why Wyfyrn hides. He killed a few Normans because they raped a peasant or burned a few huts down. He does not possess the passion for war, the pride of the Cymry."

Beneath his bushy brown beard, Dafydd's jaw twitched and his lips tightened. "Afraid or not, he snatches life from his victims like a wraith. Are we wise to underestimate a man who held Lord Hamilton of Chepstow captive on his own land, in his own castle, after he decimated the warlord's garrison?"

"Of course not, Dafydd," Cedric assured him, softening his voice. "That is why we have not attacked Page 80

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Gareth's village outright but have meticulously planned his death, along with my uncle's. That is, unless King William kills Gareth before we do."

"Do you think the Norman king will believe the attack on Winchester was ordered by Gareth?"

"Aye. My men carry Gareth's banner. But then, I don't really care whose order he thinks it was. One way or an-other, I will force the Normans onto the battlefield, where I will rid Cymru of them for good."

"Can Bleddyn be trusted?"

"He's been in my service for three years."

"And the other?"

Cedric's lips curled into a grisly smile.

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