The King's Warrior by Donna Fletcher

Author:Donna Fletcher
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Medieval
Published: 2016-09-12T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Verity sat listening to the women talk, her thoughts more on her husband than what the women were chatting about. He had been gone when she woke along with the sun that surprisingly had risen and shined for a while before clouds settled in once again. She knew he had returned and slept beside her, his scent fresh on her and on the sleeping pallet. She had thought she would find him in the feasting hall, but he was not there and neither was Egot.

“Is it true, Verity?” Wilda asked.

Verity turned to the woman. “Is what true?”

“She pays no mind to gossip as should you,” Ethra scolded.

“We should know who our King will wed,” Wilda argued.

“I know nothing of the woman who is to be Queen,” Verity admitted and nor did she care. Her heart went out to the woman. It would not be easy for any woman to be wed to King Talon.

“If he does not get this one with child, there is a chance he will be King no more.”

“Hush your foolish mouth, Wilda,” Ethra warned. “We are loyal to the King.”

Wilda threw her shoulders back and her chin went up. “I only say what others have said.”

“What others?” Verity asked, knowing Wrath would be interested in finding out who spoke unfavorably of the King.

Wilda’s eyes turned wide and she looked from Verity to Ethra back to Verity.

Verity caught the slight shake of Ethra’s head, a clear warning for Wilda to remember who she spoke to—wife to Wrath, the commander of the King’s personal guard—and to mark her words well.

Wilda rubbed her arms as if a sudden chill had settled over her and she avoided looking directly at Verity. “I do not remember. Maybe it was someone passing through our land.”

“That is odd. Ethra told me that no travelers have stopped here recently,” Verity said, casting a smile at Ethra.

“I heard it a while ago,” Wilda was quick to say and jumped up off the bench. “I have chores to see to.”

The other women quickly joined her, leaving Verity alone with Ethra.

“Should King Talon be concerned with the loyalty of the Ancrum Tribe?” Verity asked, thinking Wrath would have asked the same himself.

“It goes without question that the Ancrum Tribe is loyal to King Talon and always will be. Before Talon became King, my husband fought in endless battles alongside him and shed much of his own blood for him. My husband will forever be loyal to King Talon and will forever fight beside him to make certain he keeps the throne.”

“You think King Talon will lose the throne?”

“We are Pict and proud of it and we want to make certain that descendants of our King always rule this land.”

“Surely if the King does not father a child, another Pict King of King Talon’s choosing can be appointed.”

Ethra shook her head. “Not a King with the noble bloodline of King Talon. His lineage goes back to the first Pict who watched over these lands. His ancestors’ blood runs pure and deep in these hills, lochs, mountains, and rivers.

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