Chapter 142: Owain’s New Knights
It was late in the day at the Lothian castle when Owain gathered several of his new companions to welcome Lady Jocelynn Blackwell to Lothian March.
For several days, Owain had struggled to contain his growing impatience with the delays in his future bride’s arrival. Every carrier pigeon that brought word of a washed-out bridge, a bad storm or some other setback on her journey just made the time he spent waiting more unbearable.
Under his father’s orders, he had gone to each of the western barons seeking support to hunt the demons responsible for slaughtering Sir Broll and any trace of the mysterious ’Lynnda’ or the missing kitchen boy ’Ollie.’ In order to secure the support of those barons quickly enough, he’d made a number of promises and concessions.
Now, as one day of delay had turned into two, and two turned into four, he cursed the promises he’d made and the price he’d paid when it turned out to be completely unnecessary.
Standing next to him in the courtyard, Sir Rian Aleese looked positively smug. The portly man was built much like the boar that adorned his green and white shield, with a pronounced underbite and a jaw that resembled a hunting hound’s.
Despite his poor looks and his frequently crude demeanor, he had secured an appointment as one of Owain’s new personal guards, replacing the fallen Sir Broll as a permanent member of Owain’s staff.
Rian’s older brother would likely be the next Baron Aleese within a few years and the old Baron had been almost eager to see his younger son taken away where he couldn’t cause trouble with the succession in upcoming years.
To his other side, the hawk-nosed and blade-thin Sir Hugo Hanrahan at least managed to look refined and dignified. As Owain’s new Steward, Sir Hugo was poised to rise far above the station he should normally have been entitled to.
Securing his services had cost more than almost anyone else, but Baron Hanrahan insisted that his bastard son be given a proper title and the ability to found his own family line so long as he served well.