Read Online A Glimmering Girl by L. K. Rigel - Free Book Online

be concerned about me,” Ross said. “I’ll stay out of the way.”
    There was no sleeping below where the stench of crew and cargo was no respecter of walls. Ocean breezes made the deck a much pleasanter place. Ross leaned against the rail and drew the cold salt air into his lungs. The stars were going out, and the distant shore was a black silhouette against the morning sky.
    They were barely underway, less than half an hour out from Barfleur and still close to the Normandum coast, but he was going home at last. His heart was heavy with longing—longing to see his father, his country, even to see Rozenwyn.
    Now, here on the deck of the Vengeance , away from Sarumen and all Norman schemes, he could admit some things to himself. His eyes were dead tired of the holy land’s dry landscapes. His soul was starved for the green hills of his own country, Dumnos, land of mist and rain.
    He was sick of war, sick of fighting, sick of death. Lord Sarumen appeared satisfied with their crusade, but to Ross’s mind it had been a disaster. So many men lost to senseless killing. So many more to disease or putrefaction. So much loss. Evil done in the name of good. Ross was thirty years old, and he felt ninety.
    He’d lost his faith. He had no real religion. He’d certainly lost his innocence.
    The holy land itself was a lie—not the monolithic bastion of depravity told of in song and saga. The East boasted intellectual curiosity and amazing beauty, if a different beauty than that of the West. Mystical art and practical inventions—like the one he carried in his cloak’s pocket.
    Not long now, Rozenwyn .
    Ross could no longer see clearly the young woman he’d left behind. She had brown hair and hazel eyes. She was short. He’d known her but three years, from the time her father came to Tintagos Castle to serve his father. Ross hadn’t thought to have Rozenwyn’s picture made, and after years of other faces, hers was no longer available to his memory.
    She’d wanted to marry, and he’d resisted because he didn’t love her. But she had the right to want marriage. She was a knight’s daughter and deserved the same respect as any lady—though she’d given him her virtue.
    Still, it seemed unchivalrous to hold that against her.
    He had told himself that his father would disapprove the match, that the baron would want a noble-born lady to bear his grandchildren. In truth, Lord Tintagos was more likely to object to the lack of love in the match than the lack of rank. Ross smiled at the thought. His father was an eccentric man.
    That’s partly why Ross had gone with Sarumen, to put a great deal of space between himself and his eccentric father. Well, that had been achieved. And now he wanted to find his way back to the bond between father and son. He’d wanted his father to respect him, to appreciate him. Instead, he’d come to respect and appreciate his father.
    But with or without Lord Tintagos’s blessing, if Rozenwyn still wanted him Ross would marry her. He still didn’t love her—not with the grand, passionate love his parents had had and that he’d always expected to find. But he had missed her good humor and her kindness. He had discovered while away from her that he liked her.
    It seemed no small thing that a man should like his wife.
    “Good morning, sir,” said his ever-cheerful squire.
    “Braedon.” Ross turned away from the rail. “You couldn’t stand the smell either?”
    “It’s bad down there.” The lad smiled shyly and ran a hand through his unruly brown curls. “Look, sir, the captain’s asked me a favor.”
    “Is that so?”
    “To plead with you to come away from the rail and go below.”
    “Like hell. What, too afraid to ask me himself?”
    “Aye, I believe so. He says it’s for your safety. He says the gale is getting worse, and—great gods!” Braedon stared past Ross, his face drained of color. “Sir, is that… it’s the White Lady !”
    Ross spun around. “Great gods