Page 20 of The Tempest
“It is,” Payne said. “Ye can tell Lord Exmoor that my mother dinna come tae Blackchurch tae cause trouble. She came tae give me news.”
“What news?” Creston asked.
Payne sighed faintly, not particularly keen to repeat what he’d been told, but there was no way to avoid it. “That my fatherdied,” he said quietly. “That was what she came tae tell me. I’m now the Earl of Lismore.”
Creston and Cruz seemed to stand up straighter at the news. “Truly?” Creston said, amazed. “You’re an earl?”
“That’s what she tells me.”
He didn’t seem thrilled about it. Both Creston and Cruz could sense it. “I am sorry about your father,” Creston said. “Of course that was not easy news to hear.”
Payne shook his head. “Nay, it was not,” he said. “I loved my father. He let me do what I needed tae do in life. He never made me feel guilty that it took me away from him even though I was his heir. He was a good man.”
“You have my sympathy,” Cruz said, grasping Payne’s arm in a show of support. “We’ll relay the news to Exmoor.”
Payne simply nodded and the pair turned away, preparing to head back to Blackchurch, but Payne stopped them.
“There is more,” he said, thinking about everything he’d been told or see over the past few hours. He finally shook his head. “Maudie brought me a bride.”
Cruz and Creston looked at him in shock. “A bride?” Creston repeated. Then he looked even more surprised, as if a thought had just occurred to him. “The woman that hit you in the face! Was it her?”
Payne looked at him. “Ye saw that?”
“We all saw it,” Creston said. “You know that Cruz and I were not the only ones hiding in the trees. Our Blackchurch brethren would not stay behind and joined us in our vigil. We were all watching when the woman hit you in the face.”
Payne put a hand to his left eye, which was starting to bruise a little. “As my da would say, she crowned me with a glorious fist,” he said, fighting off a grin. “Aye, that was the woman. Ye’ll not believe who she is.”
“Who?”
“Princess Maria Astria Julia, daughter of Sancho of Portugal,” Payne said with some irony. “A genuine princess, lads. Maudie captured the ships she was traveling in, and at first she thought tae ransom her back tae her father, but when my da died, she thought she’d be a better wife for the new earl. A royal bride for the Earl of Lismore.”
Creston and Cruz were sincerely shocked. “God’s Bones,” Creston said. “A princess? Here?”
Payne nodded. “That will bring an entirely new host of problems tae Blackchurch,” he said. “Ye know we remain neutral in all things, and we canna let the King of Portugal think we’ve sided with pirates or are holding a political prisoner. But I dunna want ye tae tell Exmoor this. It should come from me.”
Creston held up his hands in surrender. That was a bit of information he would gladly keep to himself and let someone else take the responsibility for.
“We’ll simply tell him that Bloody Maude came to tell you about your father,” he said. “We’ll tell him that Medusa’s Disciples are no threat.”
Payne nodded. “Tell him that, but I canna vouch for the pirates who have set up camp in the woods behind the Black Cock,” he said. “Ye may want tae keep Blackchurch locked up while they’re here tae avoid any… misunderstandings.”
“Agreed,” Creston said. He knew what the man meant—pirates would always be pirates, on land or at sea, and they didn’t want any of them wandering into the Blackchurch compound uninvited. “We’ll go now.”
“Tell him not tae worry.”
Creston wasn’t so sure that was the truth, but he didn’t contradict Payne. He simply nodded. “Shall we return on the morrow?” he asked.
Payne shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “I’ll come back as soon as I can, but for now, I want tae spend a little time with my mother and brothers. I’ve not seen them in years.”
It was completely understandable. Creston and Cruz waved a farewell as they turned for their horses, tethered behind the livery across the street. Payne watched them go, thinking that he really didn’t want to return to the alcove where Declan was. At least, not at the moment.
There was someone even more combative than his brother that he wanted to see.
He only hoped he would survive their second encounter.
*
Maybe fighting backreallywasfutile.
