Garrett
Chapter 26
Black smoke brimmed the sky, blocking out the bright sun. Red and yellow flames engulfed homes of people who lived two days away from the castle. I stood in the middle of utter chaos, not able to tear my eyes away from the scene. Families dragging their crying children away from the flames, men being carried away, covered in blood, and soot from the ashes of the buildings. A woman sobbing in the arms of another, her clothes torn, blood trickling from her legs.
She was raped.
Clenching my jaw, I ran my hands through my hair. The village was destroyed, people were dead, lives were ruined. It would take months to rebuild.
“Cranfield.” Peering over my shoulder, I watched as John trudged toward me.
With another fucking note.
“It was left with one of the women,” he advised, handing it over to me. The paper was cream colored with a bloody fingerprint on it. No seal, just folded in half. Dreading the contents, I spread open the letter.
Edward steps down. Or more people die.
So that was what they wanted now.
Then what?
My mind spun with possible motives. The Brandon family had sat on the throne for close to a century; the people seemed to love my father. So, I thought outside the country. Romenia had a ruthless King; power-hungry, land-starved, and cruel. A decade back, King Leo Dufour raided Hegnen, one of the most fertile and largest countries on the continent. Greedy for land, he fought against them, waiting to become richer with crops and trade.
He lost.
Hegnen took some of his land in recompense for the loss of their fallen soldiers. Maybe he was attempting to come for ours with a different, silent approach. But King Dufour wasn’t a patient man, so the years he’d possibly wasted didn’t sit well with me.
A Lord, maybe. I drudged through my head the possible men who wanted more power, strong allies, and plenty of money.
“Garrett.” John’s voice pulled me out of my rumination. “What are we going to do with these people?”
“Are there lodgings nearby? An inn or a—”
“One inn, but it won’t hold all these people,” John replied. “The next town is over three days away.”
I bit my lower lip. “Send a man to the castle. Tell my father that we have people coming to stay with us for a little while until we can rebuild this town.” I pointed at the people, all huddled together away from the flames. “I want every able-bodied man to stay here, to help rebuild. The injured, women, and children, come with us.”
John nodded. “I’ll have the men round up any horses we can find, as well as food and supplies. It’s going to be a long journey back for them.”
“I know,” I agreed. “But we’re in the middle of fucking nowhere.” I glanced behind me; nothing but open fields, with a set of woods in the horizon. “And they’re watching us, I’m sure.”
“We’ll see them coming, for the most part,” John voiced. “Until we get to the hills, then we might run into a problem.”
I glanced at him. “How many men did you bring with you?”
“A dozen.”
“How many people do we have here?”
“Hmm...I’d say close to forty or fifty.”
Outnumbered. With women and children.
Shit.
I let out a harsh sigh. “Send the message.”
∞∞∞
I hadn’t seen her in five days. Her red hair between my fingers, the remembrance of her kisses, kept me going through the ongoing week. We arrived at the castle with thirty-two people, with no issues. I was surprised.
No. I was floored.
I was half-expecting us to be slaughtered or captured, but there were no enemies in sight the entire way back. It brought more questions than obvious answers to the burning unknown of what we were up against.
My father was ready for us when we showed up. Women and children were brought to rooms that they never knew could be so elegantly decorated. How much money went into this castle was nonsense, with Cecilia’s bottomless spending limit. It irritated me—embarrassed, even—that people would never live equally when it came to a means of living.
Reaching my own room, I craved a hot bath, but was too exhausted to even deal with washing. I just wanted to sleep. As I tore off my tattered, dirty coat and shirt, my door exploded open, hitting the wall behind it.
“How dare you embarrass me by visiting that whore!”
Ah, yes.
The first problem I was having, before I had to deal with the more important one. Sophia’s pride had been pricked for days now; each one that passed probably sending her even more into a fury. Hence, my poor door.
“And hello to you too,” I replied, my tone flat. I turned on my heel to look at her. Sophia was perfectly dressed in a green gown covered in gold flowers. It was hideous on her, the green too light for her skin tone, blending in with her pale complexion.
“Do you think I’m some stupid idiot that is just going to ignore this?!” she bellowed, clenching her fists at her sides.
“Make it quick, woman. I’m sleep-deprived, so my patience is already wearing thin.”
She stepped closer, her brown eyes squinted. “Mark my words, when we are married, she won’t be welcome in the palace again.”
I couldn’t muster an angry thought, I was so exhausted. This was ridiculous, and what good was it for me to scream at her? She didn’t listen anyway. Let her think what she wanted; what she thought was going to happen, never would. John was already putting evidence together about her nightly activities over the last few weeks.
“Do you think I am jesting, my Lord? She will be exiled!”
“Under whose orders?” I taunted. She was becoming more delusional by the day.
“I had it put into our marriage agreement,” she seethed.
“There is no marriage agreement.” I countered, pulling off my boots.
What had this bitch been up to since I’d been gone?
“My father spoke to His Majesty this morning. It is being drawn up. You should be hearing from your father shortly to sign.”
I wouldn’t be signing a thing, and Lord Chitwood was obviously just as delusional if he thought he could make my father, the King, agree to anything. He was probably just entertaining the idea to get him out of the room. I would talk to him about it later; right now, my comfortable bed was beckoning me.
“I’m sure I will.” I yawned, kicking my shoes off and pulling the blankets back. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I looked at her. “Was there anything else?”
“I don’t want you near her again,” Sophia bit out.
I raised an eyebrow and leaned my arms on my knees, challenging her. “And what are you going to do about it?”
“I already told you. She will be banished.”
“I believe only a king can do that,” I advised. “And my father has nothing but love for Lady Barlow, so you need to come back down to reality and realize that you won’t win this.”
Sophia leaned up against my liquor cabinet. “I win everything. That is what you and I both have in common. We are determined, driven; we’d make a good team.”
“I prefer to choose who I ‘work’ with,” I opposed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a rendezvous with my pillow.”
“We aren’t through speaking on this matter.”
“Can’t wait,” I replied sarcastically. She ignored my tone, huffing and muttering, but left the room. I was deep in sleep before I hit the pillow.