[The deBurghs 07] - Reynold De Burgh: The Dark Knight by Deborah Simmons Read Free Book Online Page B

family’s heritage. The Sextons, descendents of the church’s original warden, were said to be related to the founder of the village, as well. How could she abandon it?
    ‘Tis your own fault, Mistress,’ Ursula said, in her usual plain speech.
    Sabina frowned. Perhaps the older woman was right. Sabina probably had leaned too heavily upon the servant after her father’s death, subtly allowing him more input into her decisions. But what else was she to do? Eventually, there were none left in Grim’s End except three women and a boy. As the only adult male, Urban had naturally assumed a more prominent position.
    ‘Once you give a man mastery over you, you can never get your own back,’ Ursula warned, as if privy to her thoughts.
    ‘I would hardly call Urban my master,’ Sabina said.
    ‘No, but what does he call himself? That’s the question.’
    ‘I cannot conceive of him calling himself my master,’ Sabina said. Nor could she imagine any man except her father in that role, although Lord de Burgh would appear to be master of just about anything he wanted. Again, her breath caught, and she veered away from such thoughts.
    ‘Urban has simply become accustomed to being the only man in the village, sole counsellor, protector and provider of sorts. It has nothing to do with me.’
    ‘As you say, mistress.’ Ursula bowed her head in apparent agreement, but that phrase always proclaimed the opposite. ‘Still, you can see why he might not take kindly to this stranger’s usurpation of his place.’
    ‘Lord de Burgh is not replacing him. Lord de Burgh is doing us a service, and once that service is done, all will return to normal again,’ Sabina said, hoping it was true. Perhaps Urban could travel to the nearby villages, urging the former inhabitants to return to their homes and bringing new families, as well, so Grim’s End could grow and thrive once more.
    ‘As you say, mistress.’
    Sabina gave her companion a sharp look. ‘And just what would you advise?’ Although Urban had been right to be suspicious of strangers, Sabina was desperate for aid, and this knight seemed the answer to her prayers.
    ‘I would advise us to leave, mistress,’ Ursula said, as always.
    ‘And where should I go, an unmarried woman with little except the land you would have me abandon?’
    ‘There is one who would still have you, if you but knew how to contact him,’ Ursula said.
    Sabina’s head jerked up at this new suggestion, and her fingers tightened upon the brush she was running through her hair. ‘Julian Fabre is dead.’
    ‘You don’t know that for certain,’ Ursula said softly. ‘His own father did not know.’
    ‘He is dead,’ Sabina repeated. She set her brush aside and rose to her feet, signalling an end to that conversation.
    Ursula sighed, but did not comment.
    ‘Our hope now is Lord de Burgh, and I would ask that you treat him with respect,’ Sabina said as she slipped into bed. She could understand why Ursula and Urban were leery of the man, for Lord de Burgh was tall, strong, assured and, well, rather grim. He would make a fittingfoe for the beast, but a dangerous adversary for any person at odds with him. Sabina shivered at the realisation.
    Seeming to guess her thoughts, Ursula slanted her a wary glance. ‘Let us hope that you have not unleashed upon us something more perilous than the dragon.’

Chapter Four
    R eynold lay on his back, put his arms behind his head, and tried to appreciate his comfortable berth. He was at Sexton Manor, in a soft bed with clean linens, a sliver of moonlight shining through the window to cast a pale glow on the small, tidy room. But he could not relax. Certainly, the eerie emptiness of the village and its peculiarities was enough to give even a hardened warrior pause. Would he wake up to discover it was all a dream or find himself roasted like meat on a spit?
    When showing him to his room, the servant Adele admitted that the remaining villagers often slept in the cellar,