The Devil's Daughter (Knight Protector: Black Wyvern Book 4) by Rachel Ford

Author:Rachel Ford [Ford, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-04-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Well,” Gaius said, eyes roving the now empty tables and niches, “first of all, allow me to congratulate you on a job well done, Brocklehurst. Well done, and discreetly done.”

“Thank you, sir,” Antonia said. They were in the Belington tower, in the hidden chamber that had served for so many years as Lady Amelia’s secret house of horrors.

The mess – blood and body – had been cleared, as had the instruments of torture. The shackles remained in place, but the elven woman, Olwen, was long gone. So were the skulls and bones of the Hawk’s prior victims.

“Belington is, of course, quite shaken up about the whole thing, but that’s natural enough, I suppose. You think we’ll be able to count on his discretion?”

Antonia considered for only a moment. “I believe so, yes.”

“Well, he did put the knife in her himself, so I suppose he’s got little choice in the matter. A lack of discretion would hang him before it would hang us. Still, he’s an unpredictable one, is Belington. Full of high ideals and not as much common sense as could be hoped for.”

“No,” she agreed. “But I think you will find he is not quite the same man we knew before, my lord.”

“Well, I hope not. I did not care for the old Sir Belington. Even if he wasn’t the Hawk, that Belington was a damned fool. It was his vanity that got our agents killed, approaching them in the fashion he did. He had to know he was being watched by the Church. Damnit, he’d gone out of his way to draw their attention to him.

“And he has the fool idea to try to join an order that relies first and foremost on secrecy? Not that he had anything of value to offer, except his oversized sense of importance anyway. But then, who would not leap at the opportunity to bring the great Sir Belington, the famed satirist, into their fold?”

His tone made no secret of what he thought of the idea. “And in the process, he tips the inquisitors off to our people – and damned near tanked several high-profile missions.”

“I think he wants – or wanted – very much to help.”

“Yes, well, help is one thing. Assuaging one’s conscience at the expense of others is another.” The prince shook his head. “Still, I suppose I can’t be too hard on the man. He did just lose his wife, in – let us say – most unfortunate and unusual circumstances.”

“You have a gift for understatement, Your Majesty.”

Prince Gaius smiled, a soft, mirthless smile. “I still can’t believe he didn’t see what was under his nose all that time. Oh, I don’t mean that, not really. I do believe it. It just…” He shook his head, his unfocused eyes roaming the empty chamber as if trying find the right words in the shadows of his world, somewhere.

She said nothing.

He sighed, and for a moment, no one spoke. Then he broke the stillness with a change of topic. “Eleven women, you say?”

Antonia nodded.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.