Ruby - Book 1 (Daughters of the Dagger Series) by Elizabeth Rose Read Free Book Online Page B

she might try to escape. She’d never been so
humiliated in all her life.
    His people cheered him on as they crossed
the drawbridge and made their way into the castle courtyard. His
entourage had already returned to the castle before them. Lord
Sheffield’s demon squire with the twisted arm greeted them at the
portcullis with a slight bow. She felt like she was entering the
devil’s lair. Heavily guarded, she surveyed the amount of soldiers
atop the battlements and the small army of knights with weapons
awaiting his arrival near the gatehouse. She’d have a hell of a
time slipping away with all these eyes watching her.
    Lord Sheffield dismounted and reached up to
help her down. She noticed the dried blood on his lip and prided
herself for biting him when he came to seek his pleasures. She
ignored his offer of guidance, and slipped off the horse herself in
one swift move. She looked around his home, noticing the grandeur
of the keep and the courtyard, even larger than her father’s
estate. But her father was an earl. Shouldn’t his dwellings best
this one? Obviously he was well liked by the king and rewarded
greatly. Either that, or the demon lord probably claimed his riches
from each of the three wives he’d murdered. She wondered how much a
dowry they’d each left behind.
    He had an orchard inside the inner bailey as
well as a stable, a bakehouse and his own blacksmith right inside
his walls. There was a well and small herb garden next to what
looked to be the kitchen, and across the knight’s practice yard she
could see the kennels for his hounds and the mews for his birds of
prey.
    There were many people occupying his
courtyard that was lined with the finest of cobbled stones. An
alewife walked by followed by a man carrying a barrel over his
shoulder. Several children chased a stray dog near the kennels and
the tinkering of metal was heard from inside the blacksmith’s barn.
Lords and ladies nodded to each other as a jester tried to
entertain them by walking alongside while juggling small palm sized
bags filled with sand.
    Servants rushed through the courtyard with
baskets of bread, and she saw a merchant showing his wares from the
back of his cart.
    A strolling minstrel walked through the
crowd playing a small flute, bringing a light-hearted tone to the
surroundings. Everyone here seemed to be in high spirits. Everyone
but her, that is.
    She sought out her handmaiden, Oralie,
standing near the cart that held the dowry her father had given
with his acceptance of her marriage. The cart still dripped with
water, and broken wooden barrels and torn dirty bolts of cloth were
stacked in a pile atop it. She moved to run toward her handmaiden,
but Nyle reached out, putting his hand on her shoulder, holding her
steady.
    “You’ll go nowhere until I allow it,” he
told her.
    “Lord Sheffield, you’ve finally arrived.”
His squire rushed up, taking the reins of his horse.
    “Locke, have you managed to collect all my
dowry?” His concern painted his words.
    His squire’s face darkened as he shook his
head. “I’m afraid the coin as well as many of the weapons were lost
at the bottom of the lake, my lord. The earl was kind enough to say
he’d have his men try to collect the goods and bring them to you,
but it doesn’t look promising.”
    “Damn,” he spat. “And how about the
rest?”
    “The grain and spices were scattered over
the courtyard, my lord. The chickens and goats ate most of it
before we could retrieve it.”
    Lord Sheffield just shook his head. “And the
jewels and bolts of silk?” he asked.
    “We were attacked by bandits as we traveled
on the road by night, trying to make it back quickly, my lord. The
guards managed to scare them off before they took everything, but
there were many of them and few of us, and the darkness of the
night kept us from tracking them. I thought it best not to pursue
the chase, knowing we had Lady Ruby’s handmaiden with us. The
guards agreed and so we brought her