For The Dark Lord, he showed him that respect.
For his father, he showed him that love.
Farewell, Papa…
CHAPTER ONE
September
Year of our Lord 1222
Berwick
On the bustlingcity center of Berwick, an armed escort bearing the colors of black and red, with a fearsome boar on the center of the standard, made its way down High Street towards Woolmarket Street. There was a carriage in the midst of the escort, heavily fortified and also painted black and red, while several knights rode the perimeter. It was a large collection of knights for such a small escort.
But some of those knights were from Berwick.
Cole de Velt was one of them. Commander of Berwick Castle, he had received advanced word that his mother and youngest sister were heading into Berwick to go to the merchants along Woolmarket Street. He and his brother-in-law, an enormous and powerful knight by the name of Anteaus de Bourne, were waiting for the de Velt escort as it crossed the bridge near the castle. He hadn’t seen his mother or brother, Julian, in a while and greeted his brother amiably as he met the escort.
These days, it was anyone’s guess if Julian would be amiable in return, but he was.
Fortunately.
Cole, an enormous man with the same dual-colored eyes that all of the de Velt men had, grinned at his younger brother by eighteen months. They had an excellent and close relationship, something he treasured, but he also knew that over the past few years, Julian had changed somewhat. Gone was the quiet, efficient, and somewhat under confident knight.
Replacing him was a man with a heart of stone.
Not that Cole blamed him. Julian still hadn’t gotten over the death of their father, something he blamed himself for, every hour of every day. In the days following that terrible event, Julian emerged with a massive guilt complex. He was convinced that he had been the cause of Jax’s death and nothing anyone could say could convince him otherwise. Something in that sense of responsibility had knocked the warmth out of him, a warmth that Julian had always had. He had been the gentle brother, the kinder brother, but no more.
Something had changed in him on that terribly and dark day.
Even as Cole greeted him with a smile, Julian hardly met his eyes.
But that was normal.
As they rode into town with normally quiet Anteaus keeping up a steady stream of chatter to Ashton de Royans, who had accompanied Julian, Cole found himself looking at his younger brother. All of the de Velt sons followed the same physical structure that their father had– they were enormous men, though each had varying talents and physical attributes. For Julian, though he was shorter than his eldest and youngest brother, it was his strength that sent him apart. The man had the strength of Samson. His brothers would tease him that even his muscles had muscles. He was a physical specimen of perfection, a knight of the highest order who had worked very hard for that physical perfection. He was fair, much like Cole was, with theirmother’s dark blonde hair, which Julian shaved on the sides of his head while leaving the top a little longer.
But his eyes…
That was where Julian stood out. He had the two-colored eyes that all of the males in his family had and almost the exact same splash pattern that his father had, only instead of having a muddy brown left eye and a half-brown right eye, the brown color of Julian’s right eye was pale, very nearly the color of a topaz. That bright green burst was still very prevalent in his left eye, so big that it nearly covered the entire eye. Looking at the man, a first glimpse would make it seem as if he had one topaz-colored eye and one green eye.
It was an interesting look on an uncommonly handsome young knight who was, unfortunately, quite self-conscious about it. For that very reason, Julian had always had difficulty looking men in the eyes. Not because he was shifty or ill-mannered, but simply because he knew how he looked.
Unthoughtful men and women had commented on it enough times.
“How goes it at Pelinom these days?” Cole said, simply to break the silence between them over Anteaus’ chatter to Ashton. “How are the harvests coming along?”
Julian’s focus was on the roadway ahead. “Well enough,” he said. “I’m setting aside about a third of it for you and your garrison. You should be well-supplied through the coming winter.”
“Thank you,” Cole said. “Cori will be pleased to hear that. She also says I do not do enough for you in return, so if you’d like me to send loads of fresh fish your way, all you need do is say so.”
Cole was referring to his wife, Corisande, a woman his world revolved around. Julian cracked a smile.
“I hate fish,” he said. “You know I hate fish.”
“I know you do, but Mother does not.”
Julian made a face. “She has the cook bake fish and it stinks up the entire castle,” he said. “She will not let me ban fish, but I will not make it easier for her to cook it by accepting your loads of fish. Think of something better to send me.”
