Page 24 of Lucas
“Hello, Mother.” Lucas bent and kissed her cheek.
“I’m sorry about Rosalynn. She’s such a precocious child I don’t know what to do with her half the time.” Kathryn Maynard held out her arms, but the child held tight to Lucas.
“She’s not bothering anyone. I should have known not to turn around. Obviously, I need the distractions to help with practice.” He waved her arm away when she attempted to take her daughter a second time. “I’ll take her back to the house. I need something to eat before I challenge Marcus again.”
“You need to train while you’re hungry,” Marcus yelled over his shoulder as he picked up his armor and walked off.
“Yes, I know. In battle conditions, no one knows when their next meal will come.” Lucas stared after his brother, trying to remember when he’d become such a hard man. Being the oldest was never easy, especially with their father.
“Let me take her. Your father will be home soon.” She worried her hands as if they couldn’t settle unless she was holding something.
“Don’t worry so much. Let me spend time with my sister. I want to pick some apples from the orchard. How about a nice apple tart for dessert?”
His mother glanced around then nodded, giving a last look at her daughter. “That should temper your father’s mood. But don’t be too long.”
“Yes, Mother.” He kissed her cheek and turned away, Rosalynn’s head resting on his shoulder.
Once his brother and mother were out of sight, Rosalynn’s head popped up. “Can we play hide and find?”
“Can I hide first?”
“No, silly. I hide, and you try to find me.”
He chuckled. “Of course.” He’d barely set her down before she took off. “The orchard, remember?”
“I know.” Her voice filled with childish annoyance. She ran with abandon, stopping to pick up a wildflower here and there.
They spent an hour in the orchard, and he returned to the manor with a full basket of apples and a sleeping sister nestled in his other arm, her head on his shoulder. His father’s stallion wasbeing led to the stables, and Lucas detoured through the kitchen, handing his basket to an excited cook.
He rubbed his hands together. “I thought I’d have to ask one of the gardeners to bring me a bushel. You’re too good to me.”
“Nonsense. But you better save me an extra tart.”
“For you, always.”
Lucas took the back stairs to the nursery and laid Rosalynn on her bed, covering her with a light summer quilt.
He heard the yelling before he reached his father’s study. Magnus Maynard was in another one of his foul moods. Nothing new there, and Lucas would catch hell for pampering his sister. He didn’t care. Sisters were meant to be pampered. At least, that was how young girls in the Houses of his friends were treated. But their House leaders weren’t as strict as his father, who always seemed to have something to prove.
“There you are. From what I hear of your training, you would do better with more time on the practice field than playing nursemaid to your sister.” Magnus poured wine into a goblet and drank half of it down.
Lucas glanced at Marcus, and though he caught a flinch from him, his brother showed no other emotion. Brian, his other brother, wouldn’t meet his eye. Lucas sighed. Being the youngest male in the manor seemed to be a curse. His brothers had almost thirty years of battle training over him, yet he was supposed to be their equal. Until he could best one of them, his father would never give him a rest.
“I can do both.”
“That’s the job of a governess. Is that where you’ve set your sights? To be a babysitter.”
“You know as well as my brothers my goal is to be cadre.”
His father laughed, and after taking another long drink of wine, he choked, beating his chest to clear his airway. “Youmight be useful to another House someday, but cadre? I can’t think of a House that would take on a bookworm.”
His brothers didn’t dare glance at him. He didn’t have to read minds to know they thought the same thing. It was the early nineteenth century, and knowledge in the art of war, politics, and the economy would be just as important if not more so than who had the strongest army. But his father would never see that.
“Spending time at the Renaud libraries is not wasted time. And a strong House leader will recognize the importance of knowledge as well as might for a strong cadre.” Lucas stood his ground as his father whirled on him.
The strike was expected, as was the power behind it, and while Lucas staggered back, he didn’t fall.
Though his face was red with anger, Magnus laughed. “Well, at least you can stand on your own two feet this time. I suppose that’s something.” He turned to Marcus. “Double his training until you’re satisfied he can defend the House with honor.” He flicked his fingers at Lucas.
