Read Online Ruby - Book 1 (Daughters of the Dagger Series) by Elizabeth Rose - Free Book Online

need,” she told
him.
    “Fine,” he answered. “Scribe, lend me a
quill and parchment please.” The scribe who’d been recording the
events of the wedding ceremony handed him what he asked for. He
scribbled something on the parchment and held it out for her to
see. “Our wedding bans,” he told her.
    She squinted, looking at the parchment and
reading the words aloud. “Lady Ruby of Blackpool and Lord Nyle of
Sheffield are to be married anon.”
    “Good enough,” he said, handing the
parchment and quill to Locke. “Have this posted on the door right
away,” he told his squire. Then he looked back to her. “Alright,
the bans are now posted.”
    “That’s not the proper way to do it,” she
complained. “It should be posted on the door to the church as well
as the castle and for three Sundays in a row before we’re
married.”
    “I thought we’ve been over this already. You
are far from proper and so it does not matter that we’re not
following procedure.”
    “Well, we need to plan the ceremony and the
celebration to follow. If I’m being forced to marry, then I want a
large wedding with all my family present as well.”
    “Nay. That’s not going to happen.”
    “Why not?”
    The little spitfire was trying his patience
and he didn’t have time for this. He didn’t want to do it, but he
knew the only way to get her to agree to this farce of a marriage
was to scare her into it. And as much as he hated what he was about
to say, he really had no other choice.
    “Because . . . ” he told her, forcing the
words from his mouth. “There is no need for the expense of a large
wedding when we don’t know how long you are going to live.”
    “My lord!” Locke gasped from beside him. And
when Nyle looked at Ruby’s handmaiden, her eyes quickly shot
downward and she stared at the ground. The chaplain was blessing
himself, not once but thrice, and Ruby’s eyes were opened wide as
if she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard.
    “Continue,” he instructed the chaplain.
    “Wait!” She pulled her arm away from Nyle
and when he glanced her way, the fear he thought he’d see there was
really an angry fire in her eyes. “I will marry you in this absurd
way if you insist, but not because of you trying to scare me into
it. I fear you not, my Lord of Death, and if you think I am going
to be the ever-obedient wife then you are sadly mistaken.”
    He knew she was going to be nothing but
trouble and now he was starting to regret that he hadn’t chosen one
of her more soft-spoken sisters instead. But one thing for certain,
whoever had been killing off his wives better stay clear of
her.
    “And,” she continued, and he didn’t bother
trying to stop her. “I will uphold the agreement of my father to
honor this marriage of hell, but only because of him, naught
else.”
    “Are you quite finished?” he asked through
gritted teeth, trying to ignore the astonished faces in the room,
doing all he could to maintain his composure and not reprimand her
for her words and actions. “Because if so, will you please recite
your vows so we can eat?”
    “Yes,” she said and smoothed down her skirts
and looked up at the priest and said, “I regretfully do.”
    “My lord?” said the chaplain shifting
nervously to one foot. “That is not what she is supposed to
say.”
    “Say it right,” he warned her, watching her
chin tilt upward and her hand toss her single braid back over her
shoulder.
    She looked back at the chaplain and said, “I
. . .”
    Nyle cleared his throat at that moment as a
subtle reminder of her expected cooperation.
    “Do,” she finally answered.
    The chaplain let out a deep breath, and
closed his book looking more relieved than even Nyle, that this was
over. “I pronounce you man and wife,” he said. “You may now kiss
the bride.”
    Nyle looked over to Ruby and she was glaring
at him and he knew she would probably slap him if he tried to kiss
her. He was going to forget the whole blasted