Swords and Shields (Reign of the House of de Winter) Read Online Free

destroy homes, and piss in the middle of the church so that everyone can see what a terrible son you have raised. The blame will fall on you and you will be branded a horrible mother.”
    Now it was Devereux’s turn to fight off a grin. “You vile creature,” she hissed. “I should have sold you to the gypsies when you were a child. I had the opportunity once and I let it slip away. I was a fool.”
    Devon burst out in soft laughter, watching his mother reluctantly grin. He went to her, still keeping the sword out of her reach as he hugged her with one arm and kissed her forehead. “I love you very much, Mother,” he said. “I am glad you did not sell me to the gypsies. But I truly believe you should not force Drake into doing something he desperately does not wish to do.”
    Wrapped up in one big arm, Devereux gently pushed Devon away. “I understand your concern,” she said. “But I am afraid he has no choice; Baron Rothwell is expecting him to wed his daughter, whom he has brought to the cathedral on this very day. Lady Gabriella Summerlin is a lovely girl and will make a very fine wife. Moreover, if Drake does not marry the lady, we will have the lords of Rothwell down upon us. They own half of Lincolnshire. This will be an excellent marriage, Devon. Drake must understand that.”
    Devon sighed heavily. “But he does not want to be married.”
    “It is no longer his choice.”
    Devon knew that, especially since there was a contract involved. The lords of Rothwell were a powerful bunch and if Drake didn’t marry the woman he’d been contracted to marry, it would go very bad for the Earldom of Thetford. Devon’s father, Davyss de Winter, was the Earl of Thetford and a very powerful man with tremendous connections to the crown. This would be an advantageous marriage all around. But only if they could get Drake to the cathedral.
    “Very well,” Devon said, sounding resigned and unhappy. “I will look for him again. Where is everyone else? Where are Papa and Denys and Dallan?”
    He was asking about his father and remaining brothers, all on the hunt for Drake. Satisfied her resistant son was finally seeing reason eased Devereux’s stance somewhat. “The last I saw, they were combing the hall and stables,” she said. “Your father said something about going into the storeroom. Go back upstairs and see if you can locate him. Go quickly; time is growing short.”
    Without another word, Devon turned and headed back up the stairs. But he held his sword up in front of him, In spite of his mother’s reassurances that Drake would not try to kill him, he wasn’t so sure.
    Better to be safe than sorry.
     
     

     
     
    Davyss felt like an idiot.
    Well, not so much an idiot as a man being forced by his wife to do something he very much did not want to do. Well did he remember being forced into marriage by his own mother and it had been a humiliating experience. But the marriage had turned out to be a loving one and he adored his wife more than words could express, but he still remembered that shameful situation when his very powerful mother had forced him into the union he well remembered how much he had resisted. Now, oddly enough, he found himself doing the same thing to his own son.
    Davyss was dressed in battle armor as he looked for his eldest son because he knew, as the rest of the family knew, that Drake would not be taken easily. Drake was intelligent and powerful and, Davyss thought, a much better knight than he ever was, although that wasn’t exactly true. Davyss had been legendary in his younger years, wielding the ancient sword of his forefathers. The weapon was called Lespada and it was something Drake now carried as the eldest de Winter son. Therefore, that made him more formidable. The men who wielded Lespada were not men to be taken lightly.
    Down in the storage vaults of Norwich’s mighty keep, it smelled like dirt and cold-stored grain. It was a scent that made Davyss’ nose itch. The dirt