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Authors: Meagan McKinney
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Trevallyan. You don't love this girl. She's not right for you and you know it. "
"Let's talk about the 'right girl' for me, shall we?" Niall's voice dripped acid. "What is she now? Twelve? Thirteen? Would you have me marry the child and hear her screams on our wedding night? Is that your idea of love?"
"You need to be patient. She will be a woman someday. And when she is, when you win her love, you will see you were waiting your whole life for this one blessed woman. "
"If such happiness is to be mine, why not take her now?" Trevallyan said cruelly. "I'll tell the child about the geis and force her to wed me. "
"Telling her about the geis will get you nothing. You must win her love freely, without bonds and manipulations. If you tell Ravenna about the geis, she'll marry you only to save County Lir from ruin. "
"Ah, yes, the looming fate of Lir, " Trevallyan snapped. "Tell me, if this geis is true, why has Lir not fallen into ruin? Years have passed, and still the geis remains unfulfilled, and yet as you can see all around you, Lir is as bountiful and peaceful as it has been. So where is the truth in your geis after all?"
"Luck will hold until Ravenna is of age. Right now she is just a child and a child cannot give a woman's love. You can do nothing now, Niall. You can only wait. "
"Let this torture end, Father, " Trevallyan said, the old anger seething like snakes in a tarpit. "I've been good to the child. Everything she has, I've been the one to give it to her. Brilliana's daughter would have died had I not taken pity on the child and seen that she lived. Is there no one to take pity on me?"
"You have not been overly generous, my lord. The girl runs with a band of hooligans because the other children look down upon her bastardy. Her face is always dirty, her feet bare. She has but the one small advantage of a tutor, so that she might be educated and keep from becoming like her mother, but that is all. "
"The girl could have more, if she likes. The cost is inconsequential to me. If that is all the child has, blame Grania. The old witch won't take my money except enough pennies for Ravenna's sake. "
The priest sat back in the plush velvet upholstery and released a sigh. "Call off the wedding, my lord. You must be patient. "
"By the time the child Ravenna matures into the kind of woman who would make me a good companion, I'll be in my forties. 'Tis a long time to wait for a maiden who may not want an old man for a husband. " Trevallyan knocked on the trap, his lips a taut, grim line. The driver clambered down. The footman opened the carriage door.
"Call off the wedding, my son, " Father Nolan whispered, making no move to go with him. "You refuse to believe it, but the geis has already proven true. Tragedy will follow you if you wed a woman you cannot love. "
"Take him home, " Trevallyan ordered to the coachman. He turned to the priest who remained within the carriage. "Hear me and hear me well, Father: The child Ravenna is not my problem. " He slammed the carriage door closed and watched it take off down the lane.
Ravenna could barely find Trevallyan's bedchambers in the massive number of castle rooms. There were rooms to display the Trevallyan medieval armaments, rooms for servants, for bathing, even modern velvet saloons for courting, but it took a long climb up a winding stone staircase to the north tower for Ravenna to finally find the master's chambers.
She knew it instantly. The doors were carved with the Trevallyan adder and shield, sending chills through her body. The Trevallyan crest held four shamrocks within a shield that was split with a bar sinister in the shape of an adder, the serpent. St. Patrick had driven all the snakes from Ireland, but the English Trevallyans had symbolically brought them in again in their crest. The Trevallyans had no motto. The crest spoke all.
Taking a deep breath for courage, she opened the doors and peeked inside. The first room was an anteroom, a library actually,
"Let's talk about the 'right girl' for me, shall we?" Niall's voice dripped acid. "What is she now? Twelve? Thirteen? Would you have me marry the child and hear her screams on our wedding night? Is that your idea of love?"
"You need to be patient. She will be a woman someday. And when she is, when you win her love, you will see you were waiting your whole life for this one blessed woman. "
"If such happiness is to be mine, why not take her now?" Trevallyan said cruelly. "I'll tell the child about the geis and force her to wed me. "
"Telling her about the geis will get you nothing. You must win her love freely, without bonds and manipulations. If you tell Ravenna about the geis, she'll marry you only to save County Lir from ruin. "
"Ah, yes, the looming fate of Lir, " Trevallyan snapped. "Tell me, if this geis is true, why has Lir not fallen into ruin? Years have passed, and still the geis remains unfulfilled, and yet as you can see all around you, Lir is as bountiful and peaceful as it has been. So where is the truth in your geis after all?"
"Luck will hold until Ravenna is of age. Right now she is just a child and a child cannot give a woman's love. You can do nothing now, Niall. You can only wait. "
"Let this torture end, Father, " Trevallyan said, the old anger seething like snakes in a tarpit. "I've been good to the child. Everything she has, I've been the one to give it to her. Brilliana's daughter would have died had I not taken pity on the child and seen that she lived. Is there no one to take pity on me?"
"You have not been overly generous, my lord. The girl runs with a band of hooligans because the other children look down upon her bastardy. Her face is always dirty, her feet bare. She has but the one small advantage of a tutor, so that she might be educated and keep from becoming like her mother, but that is all. "
"The girl could have more, if she likes. The cost is inconsequential to me. If that is all the child has, blame Grania. The old witch won't take my money except enough pennies for Ravenna's sake. "
The priest sat back in the plush velvet upholstery and released a sigh. "Call off the wedding, my lord. You must be patient. "
"By the time the child Ravenna matures into the kind of woman who would make me a good companion, I'll be in my forties. 'Tis a long time to wait for a maiden who may not want an old man for a husband. " Trevallyan knocked on the trap, his lips a taut, grim line. The driver clambered down. The footman opened the carriage door.
"Call off the wedding, my son, " Father Nolan whispered, making no move to go with him. "You refuse to believe it, but the geis has already proven true. Tragedy will follow you if you wed a woman you cannot love. "
"Take him home, " Trevallyan ordered to the coachman. He turned to the priest who remained within the carriage. "Hear me and hear me well, Father: The child Ravenna is not my problem. " He slammed the carriage door closed and watched it take off down the lane.
Ravenna could barely find Trevallyan's bedchambers in the massive number of castle rooms. There were rooms to display the Trevallyan medieval armaments, rooms for servants, for bathing, even modern velvet saloons for courting, but it took a long climb up a winding stone staircase to the north tower for Ravenna to finally find the master's chambers.
She knew it instantly. The doors were carved with the Trevallyan adder and shield, sending chills through her body. The Trevallyan crest held four shamrocks within a shield that was split with a bar sinister in the shape of an adder, the serpent. St. Patrick had driven all the snakes from Ireland, but the English Trevallyans had symbolically brought them in again in their crest. The Trevallyans had no motto. The crest spoke all.
Taking a deep breath for courage, she opened the doors and peeked inside. The first room was an anteroom, a library actually,
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