Christopher frowned. “What good would that do?” he said. “I do not know you.”
“But I know you,” Lance said, his eyes beginning to well up. “You are my uncle, my lord. You see, my mother’s name was Edie, and she was a serving wench at The Lion and the Lamb, a tavern north of Bowes Castle. My father’s name is David de Lohr. I am the result of their brief liaison.”
One could have heard a pin drop in that cold, stale cell. Christopher stood up, making a conscious effort to close his gaping mouth, as he looked at his brother. David, however, wasn’t showing as much restraint—the man looked as if he’d been struck on the side of the head with a club. His eyes were wide, his jaw slack, and he ended up grasping the side of the cell to keep his balance. Even Addax and Essien, back by the cell door, were looking at Lance in shock. That, most definitely, wasn’t something they had expected to hear.
No one had.
Least of all David.
After several seconds of genuine shock, David came away from the cell wall and moved in front of his brother, so that he was looking at Lance head-on. Even though the man’s face was bruised from the beating he’d received, the features were nonetheless clear.
David stared at him, drinking it all in.
“You… you are Edie’s son?” he said, his voice full of astonishment.
Lance nodded. “And yours.”
That had David shaking his head in disbelief. He didn’t say anything right away. He simply stood there with his head wagging back and forth. When he finally spoke, it was in an anguished hiss.
“I do not mean to insult you, but how do you know?” he said. “Your mother… I was not the only man she was friendly with, I’m ashamed to say.”
Lance shrugged. “I do not remember her, so your words have no meaning to me,” he said. “My birth name is Nathan Smith, as Edie’s husband was a smithy, but he knew I was not his son. He is a dark-haired, dark-eyed man, and as you can see, I am not. Edie gave me over to de Royans for safekeeping because her husband threatened to kill me. It was de Royans who changedmy name to Lance le Kerque. But Nathan was a son of King David from the Bible, and that is why I bore that name at birth. Because you, David, were my father.”
David was swimming in a sea of denial, paddling frantically, but the truth was that he was starting to drown in the face of irrefutable evidence. “Edie was blonde,” he said. “You are blond and I am blond, but that is not unusual coloring. It could be that you take after your mother and she simply lied that I was your father.”
“David,” Christopher said in a low voice. “Stop. He looks like you. He looks a good deal like Daniel. Surely you can see that.”
David could, but he wasn’t going down without a fight. Denial was turning to anger. “Very well,” he said. “Let’s say you are a de Lohr. What do you hope to gain by telling me? Do you wish to be another son of mine, entitled to an inheritance or money?”
Lance could hear the suspicion in his voice. “Nay,” he said with a sigh. “I can see that this is not welcome news, but it is of no matter. I was hoping to find a family, a place where I belong, but I can see that is too much to ask. Mayhap you can simply give me my freedom from this cell and I will leave you in peace.”
Watching the scene, Christopher wasn’t hard pressed to admit that he was heartbroken by it all. David was wallowing in shock, and Lance wasn’t going to press him. A man, by his own admission, who had never had anyone or anything that belonged to him. No family, no name. He’d told David with the hope of finding that family, but David wasn’t ready to give it. At least, not at the moment.
Perhaps they had to let it all sink in first.
Lance was a de Lohr.
“Lance, you have your freedom,” Christopher said. “You are free to leave the vault, but please do not leave Lioncross. Not yet.This is a complex situation that cannot be solved in a day. You must give us time to come to terms with it.”
Lance simply nodded. He was so disappointed that he was sick with it. Yet another rejection. He didn’t know what he had expected, but he had hoped for a different outcome. On unsteady feet, he walked past Christopher, past David, and came to the cell entry where Addax and Essien were standing. With eyes that were dull with pain, he looked at the two brothers.
“I will take you to the man you seek,” he said. “You may ask him your questions, for I do not know more than what I have already told you.”
With that, he headed over to the stairs, taking them slowly with his beaten body. After what Addax and Essien had just heard, they didn’t push the man. Essien couldn’t even manage to still feel irritated with him. Clearly, Lance had been harboring his own secrets, a heavier burden than most.
They followed Lance up the stairs and into the sunshine beyond.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
They were onthe hunt for puppies again.
After walking in circles in the bailey of Lioncross, Adabella soon became bored and, after her, Ines became bored. Adabella began speaking of her puppy and her sister caught on. Soon enough, they were begging to see the puppies again and nothing Catalina said could distract them.
They were wild for puppies.
Unfortunately, the pony couldn’t compete with the lure of little dogs, especially when Adabella was genuinely under the impression that the puppy Essien had given her was, in fact,herpuppy. It had run off, back into the stable next to the tournament field, and she wanted it back.
No amount of convincing otherwise could distract her.
