Miles grinned. “I never expected him to join the army, let alone our army.” He chuckled softly. “We put him through a lot in the beginning. Played cruel pranks on him.”
“Good,” Ella grumbled.
Miles’s grin slipped a notch. “He never reciprocated. He just…” Miles shrugged. “Let us do it. And some pranks were downright…horrible.”
“He killed Edwin. He deserves much worse than pranks. He deserves to be in the ground in Edwin’s place,” Ella snapped.
“You don’t have to tell me. And just because he let us play pranks on him, didn’t make up for what he did.”
Ella nodded in satisfaction. That was the brother she knew.
Miles’s eyes grew distant in memory. “But it says a lot about his character. Much more than I could see at the time.”
She crossed her arms stubbornly. “That he likes pain?”
Miles chuckled softly. “Well, that, possibly. It wasn’t until the battle of Agincourt that I truly understood his character. The fighting was intense. We were overwhelmed, two to one. I was holding off ten of those bastard French. They surrounded me, knocked me to the ground. The next thing I knew, Graden was there. Fighting like a mad man. I joined him, back to back.” He shook his head. “I would have been dead if it weren’t for him.”
“He saved your life?” Ella asked, shocked.
Miles nodded. “Aye.”
Miles would not be here if it weren’t for Dumount. Ella didn’t like that. Not one bit. She scowled. “One brother for another?”
Miles glared at her. “He saved my life. Mylife. I owe him everything. What is mine is his.”
Ella stared at Miles. She remembered the boy who had left to fight the war with King Henry. He had come back a man. A man indebted to a killer. She could understand his thinking, but was far from satisfied with his answer. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “It’s such an archaic thought.”
“Ella! I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him! Surely you can understand that. We’re friends now.”
Ella grumbled. “ThatI don’t understand.” But she did understand how he felt. And she didn’t like it. Dumount had saved one brother and killed the other. She felt a prickling along the nape of her neck and glanced into the Great Hall only to find Graden’s blue eyes locked on her. She narrowed her eyes and lifted her chin. She would never be friends with Dumount. Never. She couldn’t forgive him for killing Edwin. Her jaw clenched tighter.
She whirled back to Miles. He wore a pleading gaze, those large brown eyes imploring. This was not the homecoming she had anticipated. She wanted to be happy at seeing Miles, her only remaining kin, return safely. But there was no happiness with Edwin’s killer in her home. She bowed her head. “So, you have a new friend. Have you ever asked him about Edwin?”
“What is there to ask?”
She was horrified at his answer. “Ask him why he did it? Why he fought with a boy?”
“It was an accident, El. There’s nothing more to ask and nothing to discover.” He raised himself up to his full height and stared her in the eye. “I want you to give him a chance. I want you to attempt to become friends with him.”
“Never,” she hissed. “Edwin deserves better than that.”
“Edwin is gone. And Graden is here. Ella–” He reached for her hand.
She pulled her hand away from his touch. “Don’t ask that of me, Miles. Don’t. I would do anything for you. But not that.”
“I have given him permission to stay in the castle. You will run into him.”
“He’ll be lucky he doesn’t run into my dagger.”
Miles chuckled. “You haven’t changed. Remember the time when we were young that you found the baker’s son…what was his name?”
Ella looked down with a sigh. “Ned.”
“Ah yes. Ned! …grabbing that little dog by the scruff of its neck and spinning it around?” Ella nodded and Miles continued, “I’ll never forget how you raced after him and grabbed his ear, pulling it until he screamed. Remember?”
Ella scowled. “He was hurting that little dog.”
“Do you still have it?”
