Page 48 of The Tempest
“How was lastevening? Rough?”
The question came from Sinclair as Payne made his way onto the field as the sun began to rise. Today, he was scheduled for swordplay with Sinclair’s class because his own class was transitioning into Ming Tang’s teachings and they were with him this morning. That freed Payne up to assist Sinclair, who was the master swordsman of Blackchurch. Assisting one another in their respective classes was usual for the trainers, helping to cross-train every warrior who came onto their fields.
Not strangely, Payne wasn’t feeling much like training this morning.
Sinclair’s question made him grin.
“The whole damnable day was rough,” he admitted. “Though I’ve not seen any of my family in ten years, no one has changed a bit. Not my mother, not my younger brother, and certainly not my middle brother. Not him.”
“What is wrong with your middle brother?”
Payne snorted softly. “Declan is his name,” he said. “He’s still the same idiot, but a dangerous idiot.”
Sinclair chuckled. “You do not get on with him, then.”
Payne shrugged. “I would if he were any less of a greedy bastard,” he said. “But Declan has always wanted what I have. And it hasna changed.”
“What does he want now?”
“Everything,” Payne said. “My title, my lands, my money. Everything I’ve rightfully inherited from my da.”
Sinclair shook his head. “What title?”
Payne smiled weakly. “I’ve not spoken tae anyone but St. Denis and Creston and Cruz since meeting my mother on the road yesterday,” he said. “I forgot that I’ve not even spoken tae ye about what’s happened.”
Sinclair shrugged. “We figured you’d tell us when you were ready,” he said. “You know we were watching from the woods yesterday when you met up with the pirates.”
Payne laughed softly. “So I was told.”
“We saw a small figure hit you.”
Payne pointed to his purplish left eye. “That?” he said, laughing. “A love tap.”
“Quite a tap, I’d say.”
Payne couldn’t disagree. “True,” he said. “What’s happened is this—my father died recently and my mother came tae tell me that I’m now the Earl of Lismore. The person ye saw hit me yesterday was, in fact, my bride.”
Sinclair’s eyes widened. “Yourbride?”
Payne nodded. “Aye,” he said. “Ye’ll not believe this, but she’s a daughter of King Sancho of Portugal. My mother captured her off the coast of Aragon, and when my father died, she decided that I needed a princess for a wife. I married her this morning.”
The second bit of stunning news in as many minutes. Sinclair was astonished. “A royal bride?” he said. “Payne, that’s astonishing. And you… now you’re the Earl of Lismore?”
“So it seems,” Payne said. “Quite honestly, I’m still overwhelmed by it all. That was not what I was expectingyesterday when my mother came tae call. But that is what has happened and I have much tae think about now. A future tae plan.”
Before Sinclair could reply, Fox and Kristian made an appearance. They came to help with the swordplay class, like Payne had, and Sinclair blurted out all that Payne had told him before Payne could even get it out of his mouth. He watched Fox and Kristian’s expressions when they realized the big Scotsman in their midst was not only an earl, but had taken a royal wife. Kristian grabbed him by the arm.
“A princess for a wife?” he gasped. “You?But you always swore to me that you would not marry until you were too old to stand!”
Payne snorted. “I know.”
“You told me you would have several wives because you would need all of them keep you warm in bed!”
“If she does her job right, one will be enough.”
Kristian started laughing, as did Sinclair, but Fox remained stoic. He was the serious one out of the group, a man who had grown up in a royal household and had been a royal knight before he came to Blackchurch. He didn’t seem at all jovial about the situation. In fact, he seemed quite concerned.
“Let me understand these facts as they have been presented,” he said. “The woman you married is a Portuguese princess who was a captive of Bloody Maude?”
