Maybe that’s really why he’d been offended in the first place.
Wouldn’tanyman be proud to have War Herringthorpe as a son?
After leaving the solar, he’d gone straight into the kitchen yard because he’d thought Annaleigh might be there. She seemed to spend a good deal of time in the kitchen yard, so he was hoping to find her there, but she was nowhere to be found. The cook was there and his helpers, but no Annaleigh.
War had plopped down on a bench against the kitchen wall and sulked.
Aye,sulked.
He thought long and hard about what had happened. He tried to maintain his indignant stance, but the more he reviewed the conversation, the more he could see that he’d needlessly become angry. War had always prided himself on maintaining his composure in any situation, but he’d failed in this case.
Yet one more failure in an accumulating list of them.
He was coming to think that de Wolfe had simply restrained himself from showing joy or surprise or gratitude in the face of such news because he was waiting for War to display howhefelt. The man wasn’t going to lay himself out there if War wasunhappy about the whole thing and War hardly blamed him for that, but War had taken that restraint as rejection.
That’s what this was all about.
Rejection.
Given the way he’d acted, War didn’t blame de Wolfe for behaving the way he had. War had all but said he didn’t want anyone to know of his association with William. He didn’t even know why he’d said it. His only excuse was that perhaps the truth was that he had expected William to openly embrace him and when he hadn’t, that hurt turned to rage.
As he sat and sulked, he was beginning to feel stupid.
Worse than stupid.
Ridiculous.
He could have just kicked himself. He’d gone in there to ask for permission to court Annaleigh and he’d left with absolutely nothing. He could hardly face Annaleigh with what he’d done, but he knew one thing– he had to apologize to de Wolfe. Even if the man didn’t accept his apology, at least he would have tried. He did the exact thing that Edmund told him not to do and he hoped he wasn’t going to pay the price.
He hoped it wasn’t going to cost him Annaleigh.
Taking a deep breath and forcing himself to his feet, he headed from the kitchen yard. He began practicing what he was going to say to de Wolfe, asking for the man’s pardon. He didn’t even think about bringing up courting Annaleigh again because de Wolfe might think he was only apologizing to gain permission, so that wasn’t going to come up. He was just exiting the kitchen yard when he saw Kieran heading towards the stables.
Hage.
De Wolfe’s second in command and, by de Wolfe’s own admission, his best friend for many years. Kieran had remainedcalm during the dust up in the solar, trying to defuse the situation. But, at that moment, War would not be defused.
Now was a little different.
Perhaps he needed to speak with Kieran Hage first.
He began to follow Kieran as the man headed to the stables. He picked up the pace to catch up with him when he suddenly saw Kieran bolt, straight for the stable yard. Curious, not to mention concerned, War began to trot after him. He couldn’t see the stable yard or the stables itself from his angle but when he came around the corner of the inner wall, he could see everything perfectly.
What he saw had him stopping dead in his tracks.
Kieran was standing a dozen or so feet from the stables’ entry, frozen, but War could see clearly what had the man rooted to the spot. In the entry, he could see some man he didn’t recognize pulling limp and unconscious Annaleigh with him and another man who had a dagger pointed at her chest.
Annaleigh had blood on her face.
After that, War saw red.
He didn’t know who the pair was and he didn’t care, but they were dead men. He had no concept of the situation, of what had happened or why Annaleigh was bloodied, but none of that mattered.
The man named War, bred for battle, emerged full-force.
His first instinct was to run past Kieran like a madman and charge the pair that had Annaleigh, but he was thankfully able to curb the urge. He was seasoned enough to know that doing so would put Annaleigh’s life in danger. He couldn’t even entertain the thought that she might be already dead. In fact, if there was a dagger pointed at her, then clearly she must be alive. He clung to that belief.
She’s alive!
