Claire Delacroix Read Free

head.
    “It is a sheep vulture. It is not a noble hunter like the peregrine, the falcon or the gyrfalcon. It is not even of the lesser predators like hawks. The lammergeier is a scavenger.”
    Elspeth could not help but sneer. A lifetime at Inverfyre had made her as discriminating about birds of prey as Gilchrist had been. “The lammergeier feeds upon plunder and carrion. It will not kill its own prey - it prefers to steal a kill from another, or to consume what has been discarded. They are to be reviled.”
    “I have never seen one.”
    Elspeth smiled, for she knew this was not quite true even if her daughter did not. “Do you know how your father died?”
    Evangeline patted her mother’s hand, clearly certain that Elspeth’s thoughts flitted from one subject to another. “He took a fit and fell down the stairs. It is five years in the past, Mother.”
    “And what caused his fit?”
    Evangeline shook her head. “It is not of import. Do not excite yourself with this matter now, Mother…”
    Elspeth held her daughter’s hand more tightly. “A man by the name of Lammergeier - an apt choice on the part of his forebears - sent a missive, offering the Titulus Croce for purchase.”
    Evangeline’s flicking gaze revealed that she did not know what to say. “But the relic is in the chapel,” she began cautiously.
    “No, it is not. We lied to you, your father and I lied to all of Inverfyre.”
    Evangeline sat back, but Elspeth would not be halted now. “The Titulus was stolen years ago. Your father knew that he had failed his people and his forebears in allowing such a theft to occur.”
    Evangeline was curiously aloof, but no one liked to learn that she had been deceived.
    “What choice had we had but to guard our secret closely?”
    Evangeline arched a brow. “Then, surely Father would have paid any price to retrieve the Titulus .”
    “So thought Avery Lammergeier.” Elspeth swallowed. “And the price he set was more, far more, than your father ever could have paid. It infuriated Gilchrist beyond belief, for as a matter of principle he believed he should not reward a pirate to return his own birthright.”
    “Yet still he desired the Titulus .”
    “He believed its return was the sole thing that could save Inverfyre.” Elspeth held her daughter’s gaze steadily. “It is far more cruel to be offered a solution to your failure at a price you cannot pay, than simply to have failed in the first place. Your father’s fury overcame him when Avery wrote that another nobleman would pay double the price he had initially asked.”
    They watched each other in silence for a long moment, Evangeline’s grip tight upon her mother’s hand. “And his fury prompted his mis-step, and thus his fall,” Evangeline said quietly. Elspeth nodded. “You never said as much.”
    Elspeth frowned. “Further, it is the responsibility of your father’s successor to avenge his death.”
    “You will wait long for Fergus to do as much.”
    “I have waited as long as I can. The burden now lies with you. You are the bough, Evangeline, the bough that will bear the prophesied fruit of the seventh son. You must ensure that your son has his due, that the Titulus Croce is here to legitimize that son’s suzerainty and bring prosperity to Inverfyre.”
    “These are the workings of men, Mother. A relic, however holy, will do little to aid in such a goal.”
    “Is that so, daughter mine?” Elspeth spoke sharply as seldom she did. “Tell me then: why are the falcons barren? Nary an egg is there to be found since the Titulus was stolen. The Titulus was granted to your forebear, Magnus Armstrong, by divine favor and brought with him to found this keep. His holding prospered, because he kept his bargain with God. The relic must be here, the grace of God must be upon us, or Inverfyre is doomed forevermore.”
    She fell back against the pillows, exhausted by this tirade. Evangeline looked down at her hands, her expression solemn. Fergus’