A Whisper of Rosemary by Colleen Gleason Read Free Book Online

legs and was tied to a tree. I’ve never seen such carnage. And such torture.” Merle’s jaw tightened. “’Twas a waste and a travesty.”
     
    “ My father?”
     
    Merle took a deep breath, recalling the last time he’d seen Lord Harold hale and hearty. “I would it had not been anyone, but particularly your father. I had met him on two occasions, and he was a very fine man. We talked of betrothing your elder brother to my Maris, but alas, it was not to be. Maris and Bernard did not suit. However, your father did favor the match.”
     
    He sipped to moisten his parched throat and continued his description of the scene. “Your father was dead from stab wounds, yet the bastard had slit his throat as well. Very little blood drenched the ground, so it appeared clear he was dead when his throat was cut. And then…” He rubbed his temples with a forefinger and thumb. “I saw the imprint of a horse’s hoof in the back of your father’s neck. The force appeared to have snapped his spine, and was so strong that it drove his severed neck into the ground. And,” Merle swallowed hard, for this was the worst part. “His face was pulled back to face the sky.”
     
    “ By the hand of God,” Dirick murmured.
     
    Merle looked over and saw that his guest’s handsome face had turned dark and stony, and he wished yet again that he had never come upon such a sight. But there was more. “Your father was not alone. He was arranged opposite another man, their hands joined at the wrist.”
     
    “ By God, I will find the monster.” His vow was soft and hard. “For my father to die unshriven…in such an unspeakable manner….”
     
    “ Nay, he was not unshriven, lad,” Merle told him. “A priest was in my party and gave last rites to your father and his companions.”
     
    “ Praise God for that, at the least,” Dirick said quietly. “Is there aught else, anything that will help in my quest?”
     
    Merle was silent for a moment. “I can think of nothing. The men were divested of any coin and weapons they might have carried and some horses were missing…yet, I believe it was no mere robbery.”
     
    “ Nay. Slaughter is more like. God help the man who did this.”
     
    “ I questioned the nearby villages for news of a roaming party of bandits, but either they were too frightened to tell me, or they saw no one. That is all I can tell you, I am sorry.”
     
    Dirick nodded, and at that moment, there was a knock on the door of Merle’s private chamber.
     
    “ Aye, enter,” he called.
     
    The door opened and a page entered, bearing a folded parchment. “My lord, this arrived by messenger. He was told not to await your reply.”
     
    “ Thank you,” Merle took the missive, and, glancing at the seal, smiled in satisfaction. “Ah, good.” The paper crackled as he opened it to read.
     
    Dirick was torn between banishing the images of his father’s murder from his mind and mulling over them in hopes of finding some answer in the details, somehow. As Lord Merle closed the document, Dirick returned his attention from taking in the details of the small, wood furnished room. “Good news is always well come,” he said with a nod toward the letter.
     
    “ Aye, indeed. ’Tis a message from the man with whom I hope to betrothe Maris,” the man explained. “He and his father Lord d’Arcy should arrive within a se’ennight.”
     
    “ Hope to betrothe?” he repeated, wondering what it was about the woman that kept his brother, and, obviously, numerous other suitors, from laying claim to her many lands through her hand. Dirick was curious in spite of himself. Mayhap she was impossibly ugly—still, few men would turn away the chance to hold as many lands as the Lord of Langumont regardless of what the woman looked like. Or perhaps she was yet still too young. Although it wasn’t uncommon for a girl of eight or nine to be betrothed and then wed when she was fifteen or sixteen.
     
    “ Maris is rather