Read Choose the Sky: A Medieval Romance (Swordcross Knights Book 2) for Free Online Page B

answered all the same. “Well spoken. Obviously quick witted, though out of her depth at court. Beautiful,” he added, though he was quite sure the king would see that for himself. “Should I have seen more than that?”
    “Perhaps not,” the king muttered. “I did see that Domina does not want to be your bride!”
    “She was furious,” Luc said, “but she covered it well.”
    “And she thought fast! The role of the dutiful daughter...how could I have thwarted such a move, if I’d been serious and not in jest?”
    Luc agreed. “She did not oppose you, she merely diverted you. Excellent defense.”
    Stephen mused, “Imagine what a woman like that could do with an army during a war.”
    “You asked about the defenses of her father’s castle,” said Luc. “You think she has war on her mind?”
    “After meeting her, I’m not sure what to think.”
    “Your grace,” Luc said, “there is obviously something that bothers you about her. What is it?”
    “Her? Perhaps only the fact that she appeared at all. It was Godfrey I summoned, and for a very specific reason.”
    “And that is?”
    Here Drugo interrupted, clearly out of patience with the king’s aside. “Godfrey de Warewic is the likely ringleader of the conspiracy.”
    Luc’s mouth dropped open. “The lady’s father? If he’s the de Warewic I heard about growing up, he took the cross and fought in the Holy Land!” He wasn’t naive, and he knew that not all crusaders were paragons, but something in Luc found it difficult to picture the glorious defenders of Jerusalem as the sort of men to engage in treason.
    “So he did,” said Stephen, “and he’s sworn fealty to me, and my father before me. But he’s been very quiet of late…too quiet for my liking. The evidence of Drugo’s informants points directly to him.”
    “What is the evidence?”
    Drugo pulled out a silver coin, flipping it over his knuckles. The silver caught the light, mesmerizing Luc. “The family of de Warewic has long used the swan as their symbol. It even appears on Godfrey’s seal.”
    Drugo tossed the coin toward Luc. He caught it easily. He looked at the coin’s face in surprise. It showed no king’s head, but instead the image of a swan.
    “When Godfrey came back from the Holy Land, he bore with him spoils of war—the family is known to be wealthy, not in land, but in coin. He had silver and gold struck with the symbol of the swan. But he didn’t use his coins for usual trade, for he prided himself on not needing to do so. He kept them in his treasury in Trumwell Castle.”
    “So why am I holding one?” Luc asked.
    “No fewer than three of the empress’s agents in the west were captured while possessing some of these coins,” said Drugo. “I recognized the sign, and realized the significance of finding them in the field, you might say. Godfrey de Warewic would not spend this part of his wealth on petty purchases. However, he would use these coins as his way of sealing a pact—and if the empress’s people have these coins now, what else are we to assume…”
    “But that he’s made a pact with them.” Luc frowned, flipping the coin over and over in his fingers. “Could it have been something more innocent?”
    “Then he’d use ordinary coin,” Drugo said.
    Luc countered, “Perhaps he’s gone through his ordinary coin.”
    “That gets to the heart of the matter,” King Stephen said. “We do not know enough without speaking to Godfrey himself. Since he has not answered my summons, but sent his daughter instead, he must be playing some game.”
    He looked hard at Luc. “This is my order. I command you to go to Trumwell Castle under the guise of looking at the strength of the castle and garrison. Visit the de Warewic family’s holdings as my emissary. Report what you find.”
    “If Godfrey is a traitor…” said Luc.
    “He’ll be executed.”
    “And the lady?”
    “If she is involved, so will she.” Stephen looked grim. He plainly didn’t