Chapter 279: Between Father And Son
"Will you hear what I have to say?"
Loman’s question hung in the air for a tense moment while Bors Lothian stared at his son as if he was truly seeing him for the first time.
"No," Bors said bluntly. "You’ve grown, son, I’ll give you that. It takes a set of stones to try to blackmail your own father into following your scheme. Maybe the apple didn’t fall as far from the tree as I thought."
"Father, I," Loman started only to be cut short by his father’s fierce reproach.
"No, you sit there and you listen to what I have to say," Bors snarled, pointing an accusing finger at Loman. "Your father asked you a question. Your liege lord, if you still remember what that is, asked you a question. Yes or no, does the Inquisition intend to charge your brother with the crime of magnicide? Will they drag him before the king’s justice and the ruling council of dukes?"
Bors voice grew louder and louder the more he said and his face grew redder and redder from the combination of wine and fury. For a son of his to come to blackmail him, just how weak had he become in his children’s eyes?
"I don’t know," Loman admitted, lowering his head as he felt the full weight of his father’s fury. How long had it been since he’d seen his father this fierce? Since mother died? Or even longer?
"Right now, only a few people within the Church know the truth," Loman explained. "Inquisitor Diarmuid has shared a report with the Inquisition in the Holy City. I know, as does Sir Tommin, and Confessor Eleanor has been assigned to investigate Lady Jocelynn and to ensure that nothing which might have affected her sister comes to taint the remaining Blackwell daughter."
"So what you’re saying is that no one who can make a decision is aware of the truth," Bors said, slumping back in his chair. "No one has made a decision yet. But if they know everything you’ve said, then why haven’t they?"