PROLOGUE
The year was 1709, the monarchy was under threat, and the queen’s advisers worried. Danger came from many different quarters, and something had to be done. A council was formed by Anne, Queen of Great Britain, and she gathered ten of her most powerful nobles. Men she trusted to pledge their allegiance to her and none other. Each was given a ring, the gold band forged from goblets said to be used by William the Conqueror in 1066 when he won the Battle of Hastings and took the throne. The men would protect the ruling monarch, and the council would be known as Alexius.The Defenders.
Over the years their numbers would grow as members would be enlisted for courageous acts undertaken or loyalty to the throne. Others inherited the position. Brothers, cousins, all united in their quest.
Veritas scutumtibi erit would be their pledge.The truth will be your shield.
CHAPTERONE
“We are to leave in one hour, Theodore.”
“Yes, Uncle.”
The man gave him a look that suggested Theo could be something stuck on the heel of his polished leather boot and not a grieving nephew. Someone who carried his blood but he’d never met until the week after his parents were murdered.
“Be sure you are ready.”
Theo nodded, and his uncle walked from the room, closing it behind him with a decisive snap.
Theo loathed him. His father’s brother, and now his guardian. A man who felt he should be the new Lord Montgomery. Not some thirteen-year-old boy who had very little knowledge of the world he would one day walk in.
Tall, overbearing, and pompous, his uncle was everything his brother had not been. His father was the best man Theo knew; his uncle was the worst.
A year had passed since the day he’d found his parents brutally murdered. A year of hell. A year that had changed Theo into someone he no longer knew.
He was becoming his uncle. Cold and emotionless. But it was either that or walk into the lake he and his parents had rowed all over and let the water take his pain away. Let it stop the deep, aching grief that was relentless and threatened to destroy him.
His father and mother would have been ashamed had he done that, so Theo had learned to cope. He’d shut himself away from everything he’d once loved.
And now, for the final act, he would leave the only home he’d ever known. His uncle was sending him to Eton. Away from his family’s staff, the people who cared for him. Away from Iris, his friend. Once, he’d spent his days with her here, riding or playing.
He hadn’t laughed with her in a year. Theo didn’t think he’d ever laugh again.
He opened the note she’d sent him and read it once more.
I have not seen you in many months, but I can feel your grief. Yesterday I learned you are to attend Eton and can only imagine your pain at leaving the home you love.
Hold your memories close. Know always that your parents loved you with all that they were. They taught you to be strong. Never forget those lessons. Stay strong, and one day it’s my hope the pain eases and we meet again. Know that I am your friend, my dearest Theo, now and always.
Iris xx
He’d seen her from a distance but not spoken directly to her in a year. But she’d written to him every week, and he’d read each word carefully. He’d then folded the notes and placed them in a small chest under his bed.
Theo never replied because he didn’t know what to say. If he spoke of his loss and the suffocating grief, he may never put himself back together. Never be able to get out of bed and be the cold, hard boy he’d turned himself into to survive.
He’d been mourning his parents for a year, and now it was finally acceptable for him to leave his house. Iris had tried to visit with him. Tried to get inside over the past twelve months. Theo’s uncle had not allowed it. He’d spent the year being a prisoner in his own home. Walking in the gardens was acceptable, but little else.
Thankfully, the staff had not allowed his uncle to intimidate them. They’d come to his rooms to play cards and bring him food. Had it not been for them, his life would have been hell.
But now he was going away. It was almost a relief. Finally, he could leave here. This place held so many wonderful memories that were now all destroyed. Shattered by senseless murder and his emotionless uncle.
He’d heard his uncle talking to the magistrate. No one knew why the late Lord and Lady Montgomery had their lives ended so brutally in their beds. But one day, Theo would find who had done it and make them pay. Vengeance had burned and smoldered into a hard determination inside him.
He looked at his bed. Under it was something he wanted no one to see. Something he’d uncovered when he’d walked into his parents’ rooms and found them dead. He could allow no one to find it. Theo knew it would be safe here until he returned.
Someone would pay for what happened to the two people he loved most in the world.
A tap on his door had Theo looking around his room one last time. A place that had become his prison when once it had been anything but. He didn’t have any tears left and wasn’t sure he’d ever cry again.
