Page 30 of The Knight’s Reward

“Come,” Toren said. “Most are already here in the hall.” He greeted the other men, raised his hand for a stable boy to take their mounts, and began to guide them toward the main keep, but Bryce shook his head.

“We go to the training yard first.”

“Tell Lady Juliette,” Toren said to the boy who’d followed them. A squire, presumably. “I will be along soon. First—” he turned back to Neill, “—I shall test my skills against the man they say cannot be bested in the joust.”

“Or,” Bryce added, looking more than a little proud, “with a sword. Your reputation has reached the border, brother.”

“I wonder how that came to be?” he said, one corner of his mouth inching up. His sister, Emma, wrote to him often, and she’d told him that their brothers bragged of Neill to nearly every person who’d listen.

Bryce shrugged. “You were always the quickest of us, brother.”

As they walked the length of the courtyard, servants and guests alike stopped to stare.

“Are they always so reverent of their chief?” Neill asked as they skirted the stables. He glanced inside. No sign of Kathryn.

He hadn’t realized both Bryce and Toren had stopped. He turned and cocked his head at their shared expression of disbelief.

“Does he really not know?” Toren asked.

“Apparently not. Though Neill was never one to boast, like other Waryn men.”

“You mean like you,” Toren teased.

Teased.

It was odd to see the two like this. They’d gone from bitter enemies to brothers-in-law who had obviously forged a close bond. What else had happened while he was away?

“I was talking of Geoffrey,” Bryce said.

“I know.”

Neill cut in. “Will someone please explain what the two of you are going on about?”

“They aren’t looking at their chief, Neill,” his brother said. “They are looking at you. I told you, your reputation has reached the borderlands. I assumed you would be accustomed to such a reaction.”

He sighed. In truth, he was, though Neill had not expected it this far north. Which meant he would be challenged at every turn. He’d been hoping to avoid that.

Immediately contrite, knowing he should be grateful for his skills and the respect they afforded him, he smiled at the pair.

“Shall we see if I can uphold my reputation, then?”

Bryce slapped him on the back.

“I’ve no doubt you will do so, against all others. But I know your weakness and mean to exploit it. Come.”

This would be interesting.

Chapter 10

Brockburg Castle was large, though not large enough she could escape notice for long. With so many guests, most would assume she traveled with another party. But avoiding Neill, his men, and the Scottish lord warden was another matter. Even though it had been nigh on two years since she and her father dined with Douglas, he’d no doubt recognize her.

Her plan was simple.

Find Bothwell and interrogate him about her father. Although she had no notion of what she’d do after that, she meant to focus on her goal until she saw it through. Would he have seen someone from the English court, perhaps, that may have raised suspicion? Was that why her father had advised her not to return there if something happened to him? It seemed the last person to speak to him would have as many answers as any.

Sitting on the hay bale behind Brockburg’s handsome stables, Kathryn tore at the piece of bread she’d received from the kitchen. Luckily, it was a separate building from the main keep, and acquiring the food had been a simple matter. She’d asked for a piece of bread for “her lord,” and none had thought to question her. She looked very much like a servant, of which there were plenty mulling about for the council.

You are a servant.