Page 23 of The Mercenary

“How awful.” He had mentioned his mother was French, but now that she thought on it, it was the only thing he’d said about her. To abandon your only child . . .

“He was raised by mercenaries, never in one place for long.”

“His father, he is dead as well?”

To her surprise, Conrad shook his head. “Nay. Though where he is, none, including Guy, know.”

How . . . odd.

“I tell you this for a reason.”

She suspected the reason but said nothing, waiting patiently for him to continue.

“Guy says he craves adventure. Indeed, he doesn’t quail from danger. But he is a good man. I’d not align myself with him otherwise.”

Sabine was honored he’d trusted her enough to say so.

“I will try to remember that, my lord.”

“Conrad. And please do. I hope the knowledge brings you comfort in the trying times ahead.”

Trying times indeed. But after the loss of her parents, Sabine felt prepared for anything.

Conrad extended his hand, fist clenched. Sabine looked down at it in confusion.

“My wrist,” he said. And so she gently clasped her hand around his wrist. “Your father gave his life for a cause we continue to fight. You pledged yourself to that same cause. As such, you are a member of the Order of the Broken Blade. Be safe on your travels.”

Sabine did not understand the words, exactly, but she knew from his expression something important had just happened. Guy’s order. Had Conrad really just made her a member?

“I am not a knight,” she said, knowing a bit about such orders.

“Then an honorary member, if it pleases you.”

She tightened her grip as much as was possible around his thick wrist.

“It pleases me very much.”

Conrad nodded.

Sabine dropped her hand.

So intent was she on Conrad’s gesture that she hadn’t realized Guy had joined them. He stood to the side, looking at them with wide, approving eyes.

“Take care,” Conrad said. “She is one of us now.”

For the second time in as many days, Sabine could not think of an adequate response. It had been so very long since she’d felt a part of anything. Reaching for the reins of the horse Conrad had pledged to her, she smiled to the earl.

“I will do my best,” she said, deliberately misunderstanding. “But he promises to be a stubborn one.”

Without waiting for assistance, Sabine mounted easily, enjoying Conrad’s laughter at her insinuation she would take care of Guy.

A ridiculous notion, to be sure. If there ever lived a man who could care for himself, it was her husband, Guy Lavallais of Cradney Wrens.

* * *

“Don’t move.”

Guy knew the bastards riding toward them. He was surprised they hadn’t encountered more of the sort before now. It would take them at least a fortnight to reach Noreham Castle along the eastern coast. In that time, he expected to meet more than one party that would attempt to rob them. Such was the way of travel on these roads. As usual, he’d avoided the most well-used routes, knowing such pathways were favored by the king’s men—and also Lord Burge—but these remote roads carried other dangers.