“I do not understand, my lord.”
Devlin’s lips twitched with a grin. “You said you wanted to shake the hand of the man who is doing you a great and important favor.”
Trevor still stared at it. And stared. Then, realization dawned; his eyes widened as he reached out to take Devlin’s big, white hand.
“You, my lord?”
“It would seem so.”
“But… but I do not understand!How?”
“How, indeed.”
“And… and you are agreeable to this?”
“Aye.”
Trevor’s expression washed with one of great pleasure and he shook Devlin’s hand firmly. In fact, he was nearly overjoyed to shake it.
“Then the rumors of your courage are true,” he said enthusiastically. “Youarethe bravest man I have ever met!”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Only thirty-three outof an armada of one thousand men?” de Noble was incredulous. “That is all that survived?”
Standing in de Noble’s fine solar with its faintly smoky air and hide rugs, Victor nodded seriously. “It was a disaster for Kildare,” he said quietly. “Black Sword and his men were waiting for us. The weather was so bad that the ships crashed together as we tried to moor them, essentially breaking them apart. Men struggling to shore were easily picked off by de Bermingham’s men.”
De Noble’s mind ran over that horrifying scenario, men being easy prey for Black Sword’s blood thirsty troops. “But you survived?”
“Barely, my lord.”
De Noble sighed heavily. “Surely Kildare must be aware of this defeat.”
Victor shrugged. “I would not know,” he said. “Unless Black Sword sent him word that the fleet was destroyed, I suppose the man is still waiting for word. It was a little more than three weeks ago.”
De Noble’s gaze lingered on Victor, trying to overcome the terrible news of the shattered fleet. “And what’s this you say about a traitor knight under Black Sword’s command?” he asked. “You asked me if such a man had come here from Black Castle.”
“Did he?”
“Nay,” de Noble shook his head. “We have not seen anyone like that. However, a little more than a week ago, a farmerbrought a woman to us who declared that she was Kildare’s sister.”
That was exactly what Victor wanted to hear. He feigned surprise. “His sister?” he repeated. “How is it possible?”
De Noble perched himself on the edge of his great oak desk. “She said she had been on a ship to witness her brother’s victory over the Irish and evidently washed up on shore when the armada was destroyed,” he replied. “The farmer is the only man from Black Castle’s region that we have seen here. As for the woman, from what you have told me, she is lucky to have survived.”
Victor’s thoughts were immediately riveted to the woman they all knew as Emllyn. “Is she still here?”
De Noble nodded. “Of course,” he said. “We have been providing her with the best of everything, and she and my daughter have become very good friends.”
Victor digested the information but as he did so, something de Noble had said caught his attention. “You said that she ‘declared’ she was Kildare’s sister,” he said. “Do you not believe her?”
De Noble shrugged. “She is fine and beautiful enough, so she is certainly a lady of nobility,” he said. “Is she who she says she is? It is possible. Why? Do you know his sister?”
“I do indeed.”
De Noble’s face lit up. “Perfect!” he said, coming off his desk and heading to the solar door. He opened the panel, shouting to a servant he saw in the feasting hall beyond. “Send the Lady Emllyn to me immediately. Tell her we have a visitor who wishes to see her!”
As the servant set down the broom in her hands, de Noble returned his attention to Victor. “I suppose we shall see if she really is Kildare’s sister,” he said. “Meanwhile, where are the restof your men? You said there were thirty-three. Did you alone escape Black Castle?”
