The Death Dealer - The Complete Series by Katie Roman

Author:Katie Roman [Roman, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2018-10-31T00:00:00+00:00

Five

Jack remembered Gillam from his childhood. The man was all hard muscle, height, and strength; the human equivalent of a draft horse for Duke Robert of Escion. He wasn’t exactly bright, but he did everything Robert asked and that made him incredibly valuable. Make sure the mistress is well paid off? Gillam did it. Mule died in the fields? Gillam would take up the plow. Put a bag over Robert’s eldest son’s head and cart him across Glenbard in the dark? Gillam made sure Jack had the itchiest bag over his head.

The two men sat alone in a personal library. Jack guessed they were probably in the old castle, maybe in the library of one of the four remaining magistrates. Before Gillam removed the bag, Jack heard the bells from the temple of Ciro, ringing loud and clear. They weren't the large bells of Kamaria's temple. They only rang so clear on Golden Road, and unless Robert bought his own private chamber in the temple dormitories, they could only be at the castle.

Jack read from one of the tomes that detailed histories of the Cesernan monarchy while torches blazed with light and a fire roared in the stone fireplace on the far wall. Jack would have liked to sit closer. His fingers were cold and they could do with a bit of warmth from the fire, but Gillam had tied his ankle to a chair on the far side of the room, as far from that glorious fire as was possible.

“Gillam?” Jack asked when the silence had stretched on for too long. The men had sat for hours, saying absolutely nothing.

The burly man cleaned his fingernails with the tip of his dagger. He looked up, gray eyes dull, placid stupidity painted on his face. “Yes, Jack?”

“Remember when you used to help me climb into the apple trees in my father’s orchard?”

“I told ya, the sweetest apples grew on the top branches.” He rubbed his bald head.

“I miss those days, Gillam.”

“Aye, me too, Jack.” Gillam lowered his eyes. Poor man was so entirely owned by Robert, he didn’t know how to refuse even the cruelest of demands. Jack shook his head and returned to his book.

Time continued to stretch on. Jack felt like he was being dragged into the gaping maw of a beast; a beast named Robert Mullery. His head eventually began to sag, his eyelids growing heavy. He didn’t know how long he dozed, but he woke with a start when the door to the library opened.

Robert stood there with a bandage over his hand, and for one wild moment, Jack hoped a wild dog had bitten him. “Rise, boy,” his father instructed.

Not one to ever argue with his father, Jack rose, tugging the chair along with him. Robert nodded to Gillam and the brute got up and left quietly. Robert said nothing, but silently appraised Jack. “He is as ready as he will ever be, Your Majesty,” he finally said, although they still appeared to be alone.

Your Majesty? Jack thought, and on instinct, he knelt.

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