Read Online The Greater Challenge Beyond (The Southern Continent Series Book 3) by Jeffrey Quyle - Free Book Online

ask, before his father waved him off.
    “So what are your plans now?” Goala asked Hope instead.
    “I want to go home to the palace.  I figured Grange could escort me there, since he’s my Protector,” she smiled between words and bites of food, as she tried to sample every dish that had flowed to the table during the conversation.
    “Is he a good fighter, then?” Skore asked.  “Did you see him fight?”
    “No, we were never detected while we escaped, and so he never had to fight.  But he’s pretty good, he told me,” she asserted.
    “Will you have his child?” Oehla asked, shocking the room into silence.
    “Well, I mean,” the young man put down the tumbler of ale he had been drinking.  “With all this talk of marrying and breeding and all, I just wondered what the two of you did in the wilderness together all those nights.”
    “That’s rude,” Grange couldn’t prevent himself from saying.  He pushed his chair noticeably back from the table.  “She’s a lady and I’m a gentleman.  We did nothing of that order.”
    “I apologize for my son,” Goala said immediately, as he stared at Oehla.  “He didn’t phrase the question well.
    “We’re just glad you’re here,” the uncle said to Hope.  “And we’re glad you’ve brought her safely to us,” he said to Grange.
    “Now, I’m sure that after your long day, you’d like to return to your rooms and get some rest,” he said.  He motioned to a servant, and an attractive girl entered from the shadows of the hallway.  “Here is Morine; she’ll escort our guest to his room,” Goala stood and motioned for the serving girl to come next to Grange.
    “We’ll take Hope back to her room, and chat along the way,” he added.  “Please lead on, and enjoy your evening in our home,” he said to Grange.
    “Come with me,” Morine said to Grange. 
    He turned and bowed to Hope.  “I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked the question as much as he stated a fact, feeling a strange sense of uncertainty about what was going to happen next.
    “Most certainly, Knight Protector!” Hope smiled at him.
    Morine led him back through the halls of the castle to his room.  When they reached his door, she stopped and knelt down to pick up a wine bottle and two glasses that had been left in front of his door.
    “The castle is offering you its fullest hospitality,” she told him with an odd smile, a forced expression it seemed.  “Shall we go in and drink a toast to your arrival?”
    “”Thank you,” Grange prevaricated, feeling both exhausted, and reluctant to invite the girl into his room.  “I could go to sleep this instant without a drop of wine to drink.”
    “This is from the best vineyard in the region.  You owe it to the Earl to at least try a glass,” Morine pressed.  She boldly opened the door.  “I’d like a chance to hear about your adventures, besides,” she added with another forced smile.
    Grange followed her into the room.  She opened the wine bottle and set it on a side table after filling the two glasses.  “Here’s a toast to your arrival,” she told Grange in a soft voice, after she handed a glass of wine to him.  She stood close, and when she raised her toast, her face was just inches from his.  He raised his own glass, and following a soft clink of the ceramic goblets, they each took a sip of their wine.
    “Drink up,” Morine insisted as she stepped back.  “We want the lord to know that we appreciate the gift of this wine.”
    Grange politely took another sip of the wine, and as he did, Morine reached over and tipped the bottom of the goblet higher, so that the ruby red contents gushed forward into Grange’s mouth, while some flowed onto his cheek and dripped down onto his chin.  He desperately gulped down the liquid in his mouth to overcome the deluge.
    “Forgive me please!  That was just too tempting,” Morine said contritely.  “Here,” she lifted the bottle and poured more into Grange’s