The Lion of the North by Kathryn Le Veque Read Free Book Online Page A

my brother’s wife. I will seek you out later.”
    The smile faded from Warenne’s face. “Do not worry over me,” he said. “Le Bec and I will do what needs to be done. Your most important task is to tend Lady de Wolfe. She will need your comfort.”
    Atticus closed his eyes, briefly, as if dreading what was to come. “Did I tell you that Titus asked me to marry the woman?” he said, looking to the shocked faces around him. “On his deathbed, he told me he could not bear it if his wife married another man. He made me promise to marry her and take care of her. I am not entirely sure how the woman will react to such a thing. I am not entirely sure how to tell her.”
    Warenne, with a young wife of his own, wasn’t unsympathetic to the sensitivity of women, especially in a situation such as this.
    “Be honest,” he told him quietly. “This is a trying situation and anything you tell the woman is bound to shake her under the circumstances, so it is best if you are simply honest with her. Tell her everything and allow her to become accustomed to her new future. You may as well get it all over with at once.”
    Atticus nodded with some resignation, knowing that de Winter was more than likely correct. There was no use in delaying the inevitable. As he opened his mouth to reply, he was cut short by a great wailing coming from the big, brown-stoned keep of Alnwick.
    All three knights turned to see Lady Percy, her women, and her children exiting from the keep, being directed towards the wagon that contained the earl’s body. The wailing was coming from Lady Percy’s women as they wept over the death of the earl. Atticus watched the group as they made their way over to the wagon, now positioned against the inner wall along with several other wagons bearing bodies.
    “Kenton,” he said, his jaw flexing unhappily. “Make sure they do not disturb my brother’s body in their grief. Take Titus somewhere quiet and safe. I am sure Lady de Wolfe will want to view her husband without an audience of Lady Percy’s foolish women about.”
    Kenton nodded. He was already on the move. As Warenne directed his horse over to the left side of the ward, towards the stables where his men were gathering, Atticus headed for the keep in search of Lady de Wolfe.
    The wailing in the courtyard irritated him greatly. Truth be told, it grated on his already brittle composure and he tried to block it out as he mounted the retractable steps to the keep. Alnwick was an enormous complex of walls, two baileys, outbuildings, stables, and a keep that was more a series of buildings than one solid structure. Atticus entered through the main entry, emerging into the cool and dark entry that smelled heavily of smoke.
    From the chaos of the bailey, it was oddly still in the keep. There was a hall directly in front of him, one that serviced the family at meal time when they weren’t feasting with guests, and Atticus could see servants milling about in the dim expanse of the hall. He entered the two-storied room, stopped the first servant he came to and asked where Lady de Wolfe was. The servant couldn’t tell him but he found someone who could. According to a kitchen servant, she had just come from Lady de Wolfe, who was huddled in her chambers.
    With heavy steps, Atticus made his way to the third floor of the building, heading down a corridor that took him to the north side of the complex. This was where visitors were usually housed, where he intended to put de Winter, and he headed for the door at the end of the corridor that had belonged to his brother. Had. Atticus braced himself as he approached the big, oak panel set within a dogtooth arched doorway.
    He lifted a fist, hesitating a moment, before knocking softly on the door. Receiving no immediate response, he knocked again, louder. This time, a woman on the other side shouted at him.
    “Go away,” she bellowed.
    Atticus cleared his throat softly. “It is Atticus, Lady de Wolfe,” he said. “Will