“Blackchurch.”
There was something so ominous in the way he said it. Considering that Brenton and Myles were trained spies, there was no reason to question what Brenton had just said. Creston stared at his cousin for a moment, realizing this visit wasn’t on a whim.
It was planned.
Something was happening, something bad enough that the Executioner Knights were involved.
It must be very bad, indeed.
“Come,” Creston muttered. “We’ll go to Cruz’s cottage. No one will hear us there.”
Beneath the full moon, the four of them headed for Cruz’s dark, quiet cottage.
That “something” was about to be revealed.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Axen Castle
Sidmouth
Devon
“You didwhat?”
The question came from Randa as she sat in her father’s solar, one that smelled of dogs because the man kept many. At least twelve in the solar alone and an ever-changing number in the hall because litters of puppies were born constantly. He never did anything about the dogs and simply let them have the run of the place.
Randa had hated living here.
“Father, tell me again,” she said when Oscar didn’t answer quickly enough. “What did you do?”
Oscar didn’t like being questioned and he certainly didn’t like Randa’s tone. He had a cup of wine in his hand and found himself staring at the dregs on the bottom of the cup through the ruby-red liquid.
“You are here by my good graces,” he said. “I would not speak so harshly if I were you.”
Randa eyed her father, knowing that he wasn’t beyond lashing out at her, but also knowing that he’d destroyed her relationship with her daughter. It was difficult for her to acknowledge she’d had a role in it also, because as far as Randa was concerned, it was all her father’s fault. He demanded, she succumbed, and Ophelia had suffered the consequences.
But what he’d just told her made her blood run cold.
“You just told me that you had a missive forged,” she said, trying to keep her voice down. “You said it would destroy Blackchurch. Considering that is where my daughter lives, I am naturally concerned.”
Oscar looked at her then. “You should not be,” he said. “In the end, everything will work out in my favor. Lia and her husband will come to live here, at Axen, and I will be able to teach him how to continue my legacy as the next Earl of Sidbury. It’s really very simple.”
Maybe it was, but Randa still wasn’t clear. She’d always known her father to be manipulative, and demanding, but what she’d seen from him since Ophelia’s marriage at Blackchurch was different.
Darker.
Something was stirring in Oscar that she was afraid of.
“Will you please tell me what you have done that will achieve this?” she asked.
Oscar drained the cup down to the dregs. They were in his small solar in the entry of Axen Castle’s keep, the hereditary home of the Earls of Sidbury for over one hundred years. It was a castle built from pale stone that sat atop a rise with the sea to the south and rolling hills to the north. The elevation of the windows in this chamber afforded a brilliant view of the sea, and after pouring himself more wine, he gazed out this window, feeling the salty breeze on his face and watching the gulls ride the drafts overhead.
“Does it really matter?” he said. “All that matters is that, in the end, the situation is as I wish it to be. Nothing less.”
“But you sent a missive to the king?” Randa pressed. “What about? How will this end Blackchurch?”
Oscar thought on that question. “Sometimes, we must do things in life that are not entirely truthful in order to establish the greater good,” he said. “Do you remember when the pirates came and burned half of the town?”
