Page 95 of The Darkland

Kirk was chewing his lip with agitation. “Christ, what more could there possibly be?”

Corwin swallowed. “Edmund promised to kill Valdine if I told you.”

Kirk stopped chewing his lip. He did not like the look in Corwin’s eye. “Tell mewhat?”

Corwin’s trembling increased. In fact, he was nearly cowering. “But Valdine….”

Kirk took a step toward him. “I shall kill her myself if you do not tell me what more there is.”

Corwin shrank, averting his gaze. When the mortal blow came, he did not want to see it. “It has to do with his plans for Mara.”

As he feared, Kirk went mad. He grabbed the knight, throwing him to the pathway of the battlement. His hands around the man’s neck, he half-shoved him over the edge of the narrow walkway, a two-story drop to the ground below. Corwin gasped with terror, but his fear was nothing compared to the look of murder in Kirk’s eyes.

“Tell me!” Kirk roared.

“Edmund sent a missive to le Vay proposing a marriage with Mara!” he rattled off. “You carried the missive with you when you went to solicit his support!”

Kirk’s mouth went slack, his eyes wide with shock. But the hands remained around Corwin’s neck, nearly strangling him.

“A missive?” His eyes closed as realization swept him and he turned away, releasing the knight. “My dear God… the second missive I knew nothing about. A marriage proposal, did you say?”

“Aye.”

Kirk could hardly speak. “And I carried it right to him.Right to him!”

Corwin scooted away from the ledge, rubbing his sore neck. “Edmund wanted to be rid of Mara because he felt she was a threat to the stability of his Anchorsholme. You had turned against him because of her and Edmund simply wanted to be rid of her.”

“Then why did not he kill her like the rest?”

Corwin seemed to be calming now that he had confessed everything. “It was really Johanne who wanted them dead, Kirk. Edmund simply carried out her wishes. And Johanne wanted them dead because they had shown interest in you. And you, as we all know, belong to her.”

“That does not answer my question. Why did not he kill her?”

Corwin looked away. “Because Johanne was so focused on Micheline’s arrival that she failed to notice the relationship developing between you and Mara. Edmund did not want her to know, and he did not want to risk your wrath by harming the girl, so he chose to send her away. I think the truth of the matter was that he couldn’t bear to harm her because she was so lovely.”

“So he sent her to le Vay?”

Corwin nodded slowly. “You played right into his plans when you asked that she accompany you to Quernmore. Edmund was going to ask you to take her to Quernmore to show off to the old man, but you beat him to it. Once she was married to le Vay, there would be nothing you could do. You would be forced to forget about her, Anchorsholme would return to normal, and the entire episode would be a distant memory.”

Kirk fell back against the parapet, his face glazed with shock. “This is such madness I have difficulty believing it.” He turned to the somber knight. “Why, Corwin? Why did you wait until now to tell me all of this?”

Corwin sat dejectedly at the edge of the walkway. “Fear,” he said hoarsely. “Fear for Valdine. But I simply cannot sit by while Mara marries another man, or Micheline remains a prisoner. It has to end; all of it. Youmustknow.”

“Do you still fear for Valdine?”

Corwin shrugged. “I will trust that you will not permit anything to happen to her. Considering you will be returning to England to stop the wedding between Mara and le Vay, I would hope you would take the time to protect my wife from the wrath of our liege.”

Kirk pushed himself off the wall. Already, he was moving for the ladder that descended to the bailey. Rising on unsteady legs, Corwin followed.

“Where are you going?”

Kirk did not glance up as he lowered himself on the ladder. “To England.”

“Tonight?”

“This very moment.”

Corwin watched Kirk as he dropped to the dirt of the bailey, marching toward the darkened keep of Wicklow like a man with a demon on his heels.