Page 269 of Historical Hotties
Domnall had never been as enthusiastic about this scheme as his father had been. He was more rational than Rotri, a man who believed God had played a bad joke on him by making Rhun his older brother. Domnall believed he was due the family fortune, but that was mostly because his father had impressed itupon him. Rotri had wanted it for himself, but knowing that he couldn’t marry his own niece, he would foist that responsibility onto his son.
But the obsession with it all was becoming irrational.
“And what would you hope to discover?” Domnall asked, struggling not to show his impatience. “You have spoken of killing de Reyne, but I will tell you that it is a futile plan.”
Rotri frowned. “Why is it futile? With no de Reyne, Callie will once again be a widow.”
Domnall shook his head. “You are not thinking this through to the logical conclusion,” he said. “If de Reyne is dead, then Callie is once again a prized widow and the king will simply marry her to someone else.”
“But I have a document that says—”
“Father,stop.” Domnall finally raised his voice. “Do you not understand? That document will not hold up. You are simply delaying the inevitable. You know this.”
“I do not!”
“The king is not going to make you a guardian of a grown woman with a large fortune, especially since that fortune now belongs to her husband!”
They were shouting at each other now. Frustrated, Domnall turned away, raking his fingers through his hair, while Rotri sat there and scowled. They often had these little tempests between them but they usually blew over. Knowing that they would never get anywhere if they continued to argue, Domnall struggled to compose himself.
“Father, you seemed to be focused on things that will not help this situation,” he said. “You are fixated on this document. You have started to speak of killing de Reyne, but you must know how impossible that will be. As Peregrine pointed out, he is a Blackchurch-trained knight. You cannot kill him. You cannot force the king to make you Callie’s guardian and you cannot killher husband. Howelseare you going to gain the title and the money? You must think of something else.”
Rotri didn’t want to admit that his son was possibly right. Rotri was a schemer and a dreamer, always the one to come up with a plan. But that wasn’t happening with his niece. What he wanted was slipping through his fingers.
Domnall was correct.
He had to think of something else.
“If there is another way,” he muttered, standing up to pour himself some of that cheap wine. “Ifthere is another way, what would it be? If I cannot gain control of Tamworth through that document or through marriage, how else can I gain it?”
Domnall leaned back against the wall. “You cannot,” he said flatly. “Unless she is going to simply give it over to you, which she is not, there is no way you can gain control of Tamworth.”
Rotri nodded in resignation. But then he came to a halt. His brow furrowed as an idea came to him and, suddenly, he wasn’t so resigned anymore. He looked at his son as if a bolt from God had just struck him, infusing him with the greatest idea of all time.
He set his wine cup down without drinking any of it.
“We must make hergiveit to me,” he hissed as the ideas rolled through his mind. “We must make hergladlygive it.”
“How?”
“A ransom.”
Domnall looked at him in confusion. “What ransom?”
Rotri was onto something. “You know as well as I do that knights are often ransomed in battle,” he said. “I’ve heard of men gaining kingdoms through ransom. It was done quite frequently during Richard’s quest to the Levant. De Montfort did it with Prince Edward when he captured him in battle several years ago. If I could capture de Reyne, the ransom would be the Earldom of Tamworth. An earldom for Callie’s husband.”
Domnall was starting to catch on. “That is possible,” he said. “Though I am not sure she could give you the earldom, not without Henry’s permission. But she could give you the wealth.”
“Exactly,” Rotri said. “We will capture de Reyne somehow and ransom him back to his wife. And given that he is Henry’s Lord Protector, I am certain the king would do anything to ensure his safety.”
“Even agreeing to giving you Tamworth?”
“I may get more than Tamworth,” Rotri said excitedly. “The king may give me anything I want in exchange for his Blackchurch-trained knight!”
Domnall thought on the scheme, which was probably the most feasible one his father had come up with. Instead of focusing on something that was out of his control, like the marriage between his son and Caledonia, he was focusing on something hecouldcontrol. The capture of a knight. True, it wasn’t just any knight, but with proper planning, it could be done.
After a moment, he nodded his head.
“Very well,” he finally said. “We capture de Reyne and hold him for ransom. But the fact remains that we must catch him first. How will we do that?”
