Dark Destroyer Read Free Page A

threw his hands over his ears. “I cannot say it! Ye… ye came to pleasure yerself where ye would not be seen! Ye wicked, wicked girl! The priest will have something to say about this!”
    It occurred to Lady Mary what her father thought, and it was far from the truth. The man thought she’d come out there to touch herself in inappropriate ways, at least as the church viewed it. She’d done that to herself, of course, but this time, it was a man who had shown her pleasure. She suddenly felt quite ashamed that her father thought she had come all the way out to the barn to pleasure herself and she shook her head furiously. She had to confess everything lest she find herself at the mercy of the parish priest, who was a lascivious and dirty old man. Nay, it would be better for her father to believe she was a harlot rather than a masturbator because, under no circumstances, did she want to face their priest.
    “Nay, Father,” she insisted. “I… I was not alone. There was a man with me. A knight. But he is long gone and you cannot find him. We… we only kissed, Father, I swear it.”
    Her father began to roar again, hands still haphazardly over his ears. “Lies,” he hissed. “No man would sneak away to kiss ye, Mary. ‘Tis time ye realized that. And no man would risk my wrath for the likes of ye. Come with me, Daughter. We will see the priest this evening so he can purge ye of this… this wicked desire ye have. Yer sins will find ye out, Daughter!”
    Lady Mary found herself being hauled up from the hay, being dragged out into the night by her father. She struggled against him, and even pleaded with him, but the man was resolute. His wife having died years earlier, he had been the sole parent to Lady Mary and it was clear he had failed miserably if the girl was out in the barn pleasuring herself and then inventing imaginary lovers to cover her dirty actions.
    As Lady Mary was dragged off to the priest who sent her father out of the room as he spanked the girl’s naked buttocks with a switch, and enjoyed every strike in a most peculiar fashion, Gates was on his mighty steed, riding north through the snowy trees, heading for his army which was, at best, only a few hours ahead of him.
    He’d brought one thousand two hundred and eight-seven men with him back from France, men who served the Lord of the Trilateral Castles, the Earl of Trelystan. Jasper de Lara was a strong supporter of Prince Edward and his wars in France, so much so that he had sent his best knights to France for the past fifteen months. Now, it was their time to return home.
    Riding hard into that frozen night, Gates quickly forgot about Lady Mary and his inability to complete what he had started with her. Instead, he found himself looking forward to returning home again. He knew of several local ladies, at least he had fifteen months ago, and he hoped to see them again. In fact, he hoped to see a great deal of them. Already, he was calculating which lady he would see first. Those were thoughts that made him press his horse even faster.
    It was back to the Marches once more and the hope for continued romantic possibilities.

 

     

~ The Ballad of the Dark Destroyer~
     
    On moonlit nights,
    When Shadows wane,
    The Dark Destroyer lingers in the mist.
    Eyes of flame,
    Heart of steel,
    His love for one woman
    Became his Achilles’ heel.
    Kathi, he called her,
    His maiden fair
    But her heart the Dark Destroyer was never meant to bear.
    No longer eyes of flame,
    No longer a heart of steel,
    The man once known as the Dark Destroyer
    Finally learned what it meant to feel…
    Love.
     
     
     

CHAPTER ONE
     
    February
     
    Lord Jasper de Lara came from a long line of quality knights, men who had fought and died for the crown of England. His own father, Liam de Lara, had fought for both Edward II as a young knight and Edward III for most of his adulthood, and his adopted uncle was none other than the great Tate de Lara, the bastard son of Edward I.