Home > The Dark Spawn (Battle Lords of de Velt #4)(7)

The Dark Spawn (Battle Lords of de Velt #4)(7)
Author: Kathryn Le Veque

Jax wanted to see if his son truly understood and Cole was aware of that. It was important for the father-son relationship that Cole understood that his father wasn’t being brutal for brutality’s sake. He was doing it with an end result in mind, to protect those they loved and lands they’d worked hard for. Therefore, Cole’s gaze lingered on his father a moment before turning to the screaming, writhing men.

“They are a threat,” he said simply. “Threats against Mother and my sisters, Effie and Addie. If you do not kill them, they may have the chance to kill my mothers and sisters.”

“And not you?”

Cole shook his head. “I can defend myself. What you are doing is defending my mother and sisters. It is defending what belongs to you and what you love, the life you have built. Your family.”

As Jax mulled over his son’s answer, Atreus spoke up. A wise old man, and strangely gentle given the fact that he was as much of a barbarian twenty-five years ago as Jax ever was.

His blue-eyed gaze fixed on Cole.

“Well put, Coleby,” he said, perhaps one of the only people who called Cole by his full name, which was his mother’s maiden name. “The methods of elimination are the same, but back in the day when your father was bent on conquest, the reasons behind these actions differed.”

Cole cocked his head curiously. “How so?”

Atreus gestured to a big, hairy Scotsman who was resisting about a dozen soldiers who were trying to impale him. “See that man there?” he said. “Twenty-five years ago, your father would have destroyed him because he wanted what that man had. It was a method of eliminating a threat to his greed. But now… now he does it to eliminate the threat to what he has. Do you not think that Scots bastard would kill your mother and sisters given the chance? Of course he would. Every man who is part of Fountainhall’s army was already preparing to do just that. Therefore, your father is protecting what he has and, in that aspect, this is not a barbaric end for these fools. It is a just ending to the plans they were preparing to follow.”

Cole nodded faintly. “I’ve spent the past two years learning about these men, sitting side by side with them at a feasting table and listening to them,” he said. Then, he gestured to Addax. “Ad has heard as much as I have, if not more. Truthfully, when The Marshal tasked me with spying on the Scots royal court, it was with the intention of keeping watch over their activities. I did not have any particular directive other than to observe and report. The alliance with the Earls of Orkney… that was a surprise. I thank God every day that I was in the right place at the right time to learn of something that would directly affect my family.”

Jax put a hand on his son’s very big shoulder. “As am I,” he said. “You have saved us, Cole. I am proud of you. I am proud of you all.”

He meant Addax and Essien, something that made Addax smile modestly. “It has been an honor, my lord,” he said.

“What will you do now?” Atreus asked. “Now that your days of infiltrating the royal court are finished, surely you must have a plan for your future. It is not as if you can return to William the Lion. He’ll hang you both if he sees you.”

Cole and Addax grinned. “I do not know,” Cole said honestly. “I assumed I would return to my father’s army to be used whenever The Marshal had the need.”

“And me,” Addax said. “I have found my home with Cole and the House of de Velt, and I do not wish to leave it. My brother and I rather like England.”

Atreus looked to the man with eyes as black as night. “Someone told me that you had spent some time on the Flemish tournament circuit,” he said. “You do not wish to go back to that foolery? It can make you quite rich.”

Addax laughed softly. “I have done many things in my life,” he said. “Spending a couple of years in the tournament circuit was simply one experience. Since leaving my home many years ago, I have had the opportunity to do a great many things. Talent, and the ability to learn quickly, will open up the world to you providing other men feel the same way. I have been very fortunate that the Christian knights have seen value in who and what I am.”

“And what are you?”

“A prince of my people,” Addax said with a twinkle to his eyes. “The son of a king who no longer rules, but a son nonetheless. My father was called Qara Ejder to our people and that is the name I adopted on the tournament circuit as a way of keeping him alive. I was allowed to compete because of the testimony of Count d’Acoz. He explained to the marshals of my lineage and bloodlines. In fact, d’Acoz knighted me himself. He said no man was more worthy of the knighthood than Qara Ejder.”

Atreus was listening intently. “What does that mean?”

“The Black Dragon,” Cole answered for him. “He was known in the tournament circuit as The Black Dragon. And they called Essien the God of Vengeance.”

Atreus’ eyebrows lifted. “That seems both bold and embittered,” he said. “Why should they call him that? Essien has never struck me as being a vengeful man.”

“Because his name, by birth, is Horus,” Addax replied. “Horus is the ancient god of vengeance, a symbol of power to my mother’s people. So when Essien also competed in tournaments or sport, he was known as the God of Vengeance. It sounds much more impressive than The Little Princeling, which is what I wanted to call him.”

Atreus chuckled. “I find your histories fascinating,” he said, but quickly sobered. “I would like to hear more of it when this task is finished. I’ve not had much opportunity to speak with you and I would like to.”

Addax dipped his head graciously, but he, too, realized this wasn’t the place for such a casual conversation. They were at the culmination of two years’ worth of work, a moment of great brutality and great violence.

There would be time enough for introspective conversation later.

“What more would you have of Addax and me, Papa?” Cole asked, watching his father’s men finally gain the upper hand on the big, hairy Scotsman. “Is there something else you would like us to do?”

Jax nodded. “Secure Fountainhall,” he said. “This place is deep in Scottish territory and I cannot spare the manpower to try and hold it, so we are going to strip it and burn it. Take everything of value and burn it to the ground so that it is unusable for years to come. Does Canmore have a wife?”

Cole nodded. “He does.”

“Have you seen her today?”

Cole shook his head even as he looked at the enemies impaled upon the poles that were lining the road. “I do not believe so,” he said. “I have only met her once, a big woman with flaming red hair.”

“Find her and bring her to me.”

“I will,” Cole said. “Anything else?”

Jax nodded. “I will spare one of Canmore’s men to tell people what has happened here,” he said. “Someone must be witness to this great destruction and who brought it about. Select that man and bring him to me along with the wife.”

Cole pulled tight his gauntlets, preparing to carry out his father’s directive. “And where will you be?”

Jax turned his head in the direction of his encampment, his eyes glimmering in the light of the midafternoon sun. He had unique eye coloring, something that only served to enhance his diabolical and ruthless reputation. His left eye was muddy-brown and the right eye, while mostly of the same muddy color, had a huge splash of bright green in it. The man had two different-colored eyes, something he’d inherited from his father and his father before him.

Hot Books
» House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1)
» A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire
» From Blood and Ash (Blood And Ash #1)
» A Million Kisses in Your Lifetime
» Deviant King (Royal Elite #1)
» Den of Vipers
» House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2)
» The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #
» Sweet Temptation
» The Sweetest Oblivion (Made #1)
» Chasing Cassandra (The Ravenels #6)
» Wreck & Ruin
» Steel Princess (Royal Elite #2)
» Twisted Hate (Twisted #3)
» The Play (Briar U Book 3)