A Very Medieval Christmas: A Medieval Romance Novella Bundle Read online

  A VERY MEDIEVAL CHRISTMAS

  A Medieval Romance Collection

  By Kathryn Le Veque

  © Copyright 2017, 2018, 2019 by Kathryn Le Veque Novels, Inc.

  Kindle Edition

  Text by Kathryn Le Veque

  Cover by Kim Killion

  Edited by Scott Moreland

  Reproduction of any kind except where it pertains to short quotes in relation to advertising or promotion is strictly prohibited.

  All Rights Reserved.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  License Notes:

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook, once purchased, may not be re-sold. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it or borrow it, or it was not purchased for you and given as a gift for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. If this book was purchased on an unauthorized platform, then it is a pirated and/or unauthorized copy and violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Do not purchase or accept pirated copies. Thank you for respecting the author’s hard work.

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  Kathryn Le Veque Novels

  Medieval Romance:

  De Wolfe Pack Series:

  Warwolfe

  The Wolfe

  Nighthawk

  ShadowWolfe

  DarkWolfe

  A Joyous de Wolfe Christmas

  BlackWolfe

  Serpent

  A Wolfe Among Dragons

  Scorpion

  StormWolfe

  Dark Destroyer

  The Lion of the North

  Walls of Babylon

  The de Russe Legacy:

  The Falls of Erith

  Lord of War: Black Angel

  The Iron Knight

  Beast

  The Dark One: Dark Knight

  The White Lord of Wellesbourne

  Dark Moon

  Dark Steel

  A de Russe Christmas Miracle

  The de Lohr Dynasty:

  While Angels Slept

  Rise of the Defender

  Steelheart

  Shadowmoor

  Silversword

  Spectre of the Sword

  Unending Love

  Archangel

  Lords of East Anglia:

  While Angels Slept

  Godspeed

  Great Lords of le Bec:

  Great Protector

  House of de Royans:

  Lord of Winter

  To the Lady Born

  The Centurion

  Lords of Eire:

  Echoes of Ancient Dreams

  Blacksword

  The Darkland

  Ancient Kings of Anglecynn:

  The Whispering Night

  Netherworld

  Battle Lords of de Velt:

  The Dark Lord

  Devil’s Dominion

  Bay of Fear

  The Dark Lord’s First Christmas

  Reign of the House of de Winter:

  Lespada

  Swords and Shields

  De Reyne Domination:

  Guardian of Darkness

  With Dreams

  The Fallen One

  House of d’Vant:

  Tender is the Knight (House of d’Vant)

  The Red Fury (House of d’Vant)

  The Dragonblade Series:

  Fragments of Grace

  Dragonblade

  Island of Glass

  The Savage Curtain

  The Fallen One

  Great Marcher Lords of de Lara

  Lord of the Shadows

  Dragonblade

  House of St. Hever

  Fragments of Grace

  Island of Glass

  Queen of Lost Stars

  Lords of Pembury:

  The Savage Curtain

  Lords of Thunder: The de Shera Brotherhood Trilogy

  The Thunder Lord

  The Thunder Warrior

  The Thunder Knight

  The Great Knights of de Moray:

  Shield of Kronos

  The Gorgon

  The House of De Nerra:

  The Promise

  The Falls of Erith

  Vestiges of Valor

  Realm of Angels

  Highland Warriors of Munro:

  The Red Lion

  Deep Into Darkness

  The House of de Garr:

  Lord of Light

  Realm of Angels

  Saxon Lords of Hage:

  The Crusader

  Kingdom Come

  High Warriors of Rohan:

  High Warrior

  The House of Ashbourne:

  Upon a Midnight Dream

  The House of D’Aurilliac:

  Valiant Chaos

  The House of De Dere:

  Of Love and Legend

  St. John and de Gare Clans:

  The Warrior Poet

  The House of de Bretagne:

  The Questing

  The House of Summerlin:

  The Legend

  The Kingdom of Hendocia:

  Kingdom by the Sea

  The Executioner Knights:

  By the Unholy Hand

  The Promise (also Noble Knights of de Nerra)

  The Mountain Dark

  Starless

  A Time of End

  Contemporary Romance:

  Kathlyn Trent/Marcus Burton Series:

  Valley of the Shadow

  The Eden Factor

  Canyon of the Sphinx

  The American Heroes Anthology Series:

  The Lucius Robe

  Fires of Autumn

  Evenshade

  Sea of Dreams

  Purgatory

  Other non-connected Contemporary Romance:

  Lady of Heaven

  Darkling, I Listen

  In the Dreaming Hour

  River’s End

  The Fountain

  Sons of Poseidon:

  The Immortal Sea

  Pirates of Britannia Series (with Eliza Knight):

  Savage of the Sea by Eliza Knight

  Leader of Titans by Kathryn Le Veque

  The Sea Devil by Eliza Knight

  Sea Wolfe by Kathryn Le Veque

  Note: All Kathryn’s novels are designed to be read as stand-alones, although many have cross-over characters or cross-over family groups. Novels that are grouped together have related characters or family groups. You will notice that some series have the same books; that is because they are cross-overs. A hero in one book may be the secondary character in another.

  There is NO reading order except by chronology, but even in that case, you can still read the books as stand-alones. No novel is connected to another by a cliff hanger, and every book has an HEA.

  Series are clearly marked. All series contain the same characters or family groups except the American Heroes Series, which is an anthology with unrelated characters.

  For more information, find it in A Reader’s Guide to the Medieval World of Le Veque.


  Contents

  A Joyous de Wolfe Christmas

  A de Russe Christmas Miracle

  The Dark Lord’s First Christmas

  Realm of Angels

  A Blessed de Lohr Christmas

  A JOYOUS DE WOLFE CHRISTMAS

  A Medieval Short Story

  By Kathryn Le Veque

  Author’s Note

  I have had so many readers ask me “when will Scott and Troy come together again?”. Considering I don’t have any more “Sons of de Wolfe” novels planned for the near future, I didn’t want readers to have to wait until I decided to incorporate that into a later novel. Therefore, A DE WOLFE JOYOUS CHRISTMAS was born.

  The short story (and it is short!) revolves around the return of the de Wolfe Prodigal Son, Scott de Wolfe, but also featured heavily in it is James de Wolfe. If you recall your de Wolfe history, James will die in 1282 in Wales, and even I don’t think I can resurrect the man (although never say never). This story is also a tribute to James and we get a brief glimpse into his life, but it’s increasingly difficult for me to write about James, considering what happens to him in the future. Had I known I was going to become so attached to him when he was first mentioned in SERPENT, I may not have let the man fall victim to the Welsh. As Penelope says in SERPENT, “James died in Papa’s arms…” and knowing how attached William is to his children, I’m not even sure I could write that scene without copious amounts of ugly crying.

  But… life goes on, as you’ll see within this short Christmas story. It’s to satisfy those of you who have wanted to see Scott and Troy together again, something that was bound to be somewhat of a miracle.

  So, enjoy the tale. I enjoyed, very much, writing it.

  The happiest of holidays from me to you,

  Kathryn

  The next generation Wolfe Pack

  The Wolfe

  William and Jordan Scott de Wolfe

  Scott (married to Lady Athena de Norville, issue)

  Troy (married to Lady Helene de Norville, has issue)

  Patrick (married to Lady Brighton de Favereux, has issue)

  James – Killed in Wales June 1282 (married to Lady Rose Hage, has issue)

  Katheryn (James’ twin) Married Sir Alec Hage, has issue

  Evelyn (married to Sir Hector de Norville, has issue)

  Baby de Wolfe – died same day. Christened Madeleine.

  Edward (married to Lady Cassiopeia de Norville, has issue)

  Thomas

  Penelope (married to Bhrodi de Shera, has issue)

  Kieran and Jemma Scott Hage

  Mary Alys (adopted) married, with issue

  Baby Hage, died same day. Christened Bridget.

  Alec (married to Lady Katheryn de Wolfe, has issue)

  Christian (died Holy Land 1269 A.D.) no issue

  Moira (married to Sir Apollo de Norville, has issue)

  Kevin (married to Annavieve de Ferrers, has issue)

  Rose (widow of Sir James de Wolfe, has issue)

  Nathaniel

  Paris and Caladora Scott de Norville

  Hector (married to Lady Evelyn de Wolfe, has issue)

  Apollo (married to Lady Moira Hage, has issue)

  Helene (married to Sir Troy de Wolfe, has issue)

  Athena (married to Sir Scott de Wolfe, has issue)

  Adonis

  Cassiopeia (married to Sir Edward de Wolfe, has issue)

  PART ONE

  BRIGHT WINTER SKIES

  Christmas, 1274 A.D.

  The de Wolfe stronghold of Castle Questing

  The snows were fierce along the borders this year. The first snow of the season hitting about a week before Christmas and possibly dumping an entire year’s worth of snow onto the countryside in just a few days. The beauty of it was that the entire land was white, from the trees to the structures to the meadows – a pristine, pure white that, under bright winter skies, was blindingly brilliant. But the dreary of it, if there was such a thing, was that there had only been one pristine white day in the past week, and it happened to be Christmas Day. On that day, the inhabitants of Castle Questing had emerged from the keep for a day of celebration in the snow.

  The first one bolting from the entry to Questing’s keep was eight-year-old Penelope de Wolfe. With her dark braided hair trailing behind her, she dashed out into the snowy bailey and headed towards the gatehouse, while her nieces and nephews and cousins ran out behind her. With children screaming and frolicking under bright blue skies, the day promised to be, at the very least, a noisy one.

  Truthfully, the days past when the snow was billowing out of the sky had already been noisy and crowded inside the walls of Castle Questing. It was a big keep and could easily house dozens of people, but it was at capacity. A wedding was to take place on Christmas Day and not only had the groom’s family come to Questing, but all of the de Wolfe extended family were in attendance as well. Even though some of the families weren’t connected to the de Wolfe household by marriage or by blood, they were headed by men who had served the head of the House of de Wolfe – William – in some capacity over the years, and had faced life and death with the man, so they were therefore considered family.

  It was a grand gathering, indeed.

  This included the houses of de Bocage, Ellsrod, Gray, de Fortlage, de Longley, and Payton-Forrester. More had been invited for this festive occasion, but those were the only families who could make it before the snows hit. With such heavy snow on the ground, they were all bound to their locations, meaning that travel in the north was difficult if not impossible.

  For the coming wedding, which would take place at sunset on this very eve, several of the younger knights had set out for Kelso Abbey to bring a priest back to Questing to perform the wedding mass. William de Wolfe and his Scottish wife, Jordan, were great benefactors of Kelso, so the monks had been more than willing to perform whatever religious ceremonies needed by de Wolfe. Troy de Wolfe, along with his brother, Patrick, brothers Hector and Adonis de Norville, and cousin Alec Hage had set out for Kelso the day before, during a snowy downpour, to bring the priest back to Questing. Although Kelso was a mere ten miles from the de Wolfe seat, in weather such as this, even a simple trip was an effort.

  Therefore, it was the mothers of the young men who waited nervously for them to return – Lady Jordan along with her cousin, Jemma, mother to the Hage knight, and another cousin, Caladora, who was mother to the de Norville brothers – were crowded in Jordan’s solar, which was right at the front of Questing’s keep near the entry door, and gave them perfect views over the bailey and gatehouse. From there, they could see everything, including the children and husbands frolicking in the pristine snow outside. When the snowballs began to fly in the bailey, Jemma, who was seated next to the window, shook her head in resignation.

  “Now, it begins,” she said. “They’re already doing battle outside. They’ll pick sides and before we know it, we’ll have freezing bairns who have been pummeled with snowballs.”

  Jordan was sitting next to her cousin, sewing on a heavy winter tunic for her husband, but she put the sewing in her lap and peered from the window at her cousin’s comment.

  “We canna stop them,” she said in resignation. “The lot of them have been caged up in Questing since the snows started. Now they’ll beat each other tae death with snowballs and we canna stop it.”

  A flicker of a grin crossed Jemma’s lips. “Ah,” she said with satisfaction, as she had spied something out in the bailey. “Now, that was worth waiting for. It seems that Rosie has hit her Uncle Paris in the face with a snowball. Good for ye, lass!”

  She yelled the last four words out of the window, causing Jordan to grin and pass a glance at her cousin, Caladora, who was Paris’ wife. Tall, slender, and red-haired, Caladora was a truly gentle and kind creature, but she was fiercely protective over her proud and sometimes arrogant husband. In fact, in years past, Caladora had been known to slap Jemma over what she considered Jemma’s unreasonable hatred of Paris, but the truth
was that Paris and Jemma went back many, many years. They knew each other very well and had a love/hate relationship as a brother and sister would. Paris taunted, Jemma reacted, and all the world was right when those two were name-calling. Only Caladora didn’t see it that way; she thought her cousin Jemma was rather nasty at times.

  “Rosie is tae be a bride in a few hours,” Caladora calmly pointed out as she sewed on a small garment for one of her grandchildren. “Do ye think she should be outside at all?”

  Jemma was grinning boldly now as she watched from the window as her youngest daughter, Rose, charged her Uncle Paris and sent the man tripping back into the snow. Rose was much like Jemma in that she was tiny, pretty, and very spirited. It was like watching Jemma when she had been a young girl, which was probably why Paris seemed to gravitate towards Rose. Not only did he have the mother to taunt, but now the daughter as well.

  But she loved every minute of it.

  “Let the lass have some fun,” Jemma finally said, glad that Caladora couldn’t see what a pummeling her husband was receiving. “Soon enough, she’ll be expected tae behave as a wife. She’s only seen eighteen years; let her be young a moment longer.”

  Jordan glanced at Jemma, hearing a wistfulness in her tone. “Ye know that James will make her a fine husband,” she assured Jemma softly. “Ye know my lad. He’s the kindest lad of the bunch and he loves Rosie. He’ll not curb her spirit.”

  Jemma’s smile faded as she watched her daughter, now throwing a snowball at her future husband. “Nay,” she said after a moment. “He’ll not. If ever there was a man made for Rosie, ’tis James. He reminds me much of Kieran with his gentle ways. I couldna ask for a better husband for my lass.”

  There was sadness in her voice as she spoke, the worry of a wife in love with a man who wasn’t doing so well as of late. Jordan smiled up at her cousin, grasping the woman by the arm in a supportive gesture when she spoke of her husband. Kieran Hage was the gentle giant among them; he and Paris were William’s very best friends, a bond between them that was closer than brothers.

  Whereas Paris was a proud extrovert, Kieran tended to be quiet and more of an introvert. But there was no one fiercer in battle and Kieran’s strength was unmatched. Yet, he hadn’t been feeling well over the past year and the physic said that it was his heart, a diagnosis that had greatly affected Jemma. She loved her husband with every fiber of her being, a man she could not live without, and his health issue had been a devastating one to them all.