Guardians of the Keep: Book Two of the Bridge of D'Arnath Read Online Free Page A

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    small table, offering him the glass of wine that sat on the table. Inevitably, the man would refuse the wine.
    The tenant would inquire politely after the health of the lord’s family. We were always “quite robust,”
    even when my mother was so weak from her last illness that she had to be carried up the stairs at the end
    of the day. Then my father would inquire after the health of the tenant’s wife and his parents and the
    progress of his children, each of them by name, and ask whether the man needed new tools or a new
    goat. After a suitable time, the tenant would stand and bow, and, almost as an afterthought, offer his
    coins to his lord. My father would salute the man and wish him a good season, then turn his full attention
    to the next man and begin the dance again.
    When Tomas and I got restless and speculated between ourselves on the dire consequences to the
    state of the universe should one of the tenants actually drink the glass of wine, our mother whispered that
    we were being disrespectful. For many years, I believed that she meant we were disrespectful to my
    father—a terrifying prospect that instantly corrected my behavior. Only later did I understand that our
    behavior was disrespectful to the tenants, who fed us, clothed us, and kept us in comfort in return for the
    use of the Comigor land and the protection of its lord.
    When my father was away on campaign, my mother sat at the little table with Tomas and me beside
    her. Tomas had been awkward the first few years after his coming of age, when our mother was dead
    and our grieving father too drunk to do his duty, but he had grown into it. Until my banishment from
    Comigor, I had sat with him as always. To change the practice had been unthinkable.
    I entered my sister-in-law’s bedchamber in great disturbance of mind. “Did you rest well,
    Philomena?” I said.
    Philomena’s aunt lurked glowering on the far side of the bed, half hidden behind the bed-curtains. The
    duchess’s attention remained focused on her mirror. “I don’t know what was in my head this morning,
    Seriana,” said Philomena, smoothing a strand of her hair. “I should have told you to go immediately. My
    husband didn’t want you here and neither do I. I’ve only your word that he sent you.”
    “You may accept what I say as truth or lies. But your son has a right to know how his father died,
    and there’s no one else to tell him of it.”
    “For all I know, you may have killed Tomas yourself,” said Philomena, more from annoyance than
    conviction. “You were married to a sorcerer and conspired with traitors. My husband caught you at it
    and called down the law. You’re probably here for revenge.”
    “I told you, I hold neither you nor your child responsible. Tomas is beyond knowing, so vengeance
    has no purpose. Nothing will bring back my son.” I pulled a small gray silk bag from my pocket and laid
    it on the bedclothes in front of Philomena. “I brought this for you. It’s not dangerous.” I smiled at the old
    woman, who had backed away from the bedside as if the little pouch might conceal a snake.
    From the bag Philomena pulled out a lock of Tomas’s red-brown hair tied with a green silk thread.
    She twined it about her fingers thoughtfully.
    “Let it make peace between us,” I said. “If for nothing else than this—your son is the Duke of
    Comigor. I’ve brought him the Comigor signet ring. I have no child to rival him, and I’m not likely to. This
    is the house of my father and his fathers before him for thirty generations. I’d not see it destroyed for
    pointless revenge.”
    “I think that’s what Tomas was most angry about,” said Philomena. “That you would do what you did
    and risk bringing ruin to this decrepit pile of rock. I never understood it.”
    My conviction that Tomas had been controlled by the Zhid, the ancient enemies of Karon’s people
    from the magical world across D’Arnath’s Bridge, was unsupported by physical evidence.