The Rogue by Claire Delacroix

Author:Claire Delacroix
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2013-12-10T22:00:00+00:00

* * *

You are surprised by such hostility? I cannot imagine why - you would not if you knew all of the tale. Ada had coldly contrived for my sister to lose her love and had no remorse for her deeds, even less for the pain she had caused. Whatever Ada held against me was nothing compared to that initial crime.

Even in the bracing air of the morning, I could see Mavella’s stricken face once again. I saw again the light leaving her eyes as her beloved Alasdair deliberately turned his back upon her before all of Kinfairlie. She had never been the same - and it was Ada’s fault. The past clung to me like cobwebs, keeping me from the riddle I had to solve for Tynan’s sake.

I turned away from the sound of chopping wood, not being anxious to meet Arnulf - and strode toward the sparkling sea. The sky was clear on this day, the wind cold.

The empty horizon disheartened me in that moment. It seemed that I could not succeed in this endeavor, not with so few answers and so many questions. Who sent the summons to Merlyn? It might have been the earl and it might not have been. There were probably fifty noblemen within a day’s ride of Ravensmuir who might have afforded Avery’s relics, most of whom were secure enough to have held their title five years before.

I recalled Ada’s veiled reference, though she too yielded little solid. She might have meant a spiritual better, a monk or hermit or nun or bishop, or a nobleman. I heaved a sigh, knowing there was a vast nunnery at North Berwick and two or three monasteries close at hand. Who knew how many other solitaries and priests dotted the countryside?

And even if I began to speak to all of them, I would not know what to ask them. My determination faltered before such obstacles, and my gaze fell upon the crumbling chapel, isolated upon the tiny jutting point.

Perhaps it was time I sought greater assistance - or at least renewed strength - in my seemingly impossible task. Perhaps it was time that those at Ravensmuir attempted to solicit divine favor.

Indeed, our fortunes could not be worse.

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