Winter of Solace (The Executioner Knights Book 5) Read online

  WINTER OF SOLACE

  A Medieval Romance

  By Kathryn Le Veque

  The Executioner Knights Series

  © Copyright 2020 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 Best Is Yet To Be

  De Wolfe Pack Generations:

  WolfeHeart

  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

  Dark Warrior

  The de Lohr Dynasty:

  While Angels Slept

  Rise of the Defender

  Steelheart

  Shadowmoor

  Silversword

  Spectre of the Sword

  Unending Love

  Archangel

  A Blessed de Lohr Christmas

  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

  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 Mountain Dark

  Starless

  The Promise (also Noble Knights of de Nerra)

  A Time of End

  Winter Solace

  Lord of the Shadows

  Lord of the Sky

  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.

  When Caius d’Avignon is sent north at the request of a relation of William Marshal to help in a dispute between neighbors, he couldn’t have imagined how his life would change.

  Caius is one of The Marshal’s premier knights, a man who served in The Levant with many of The Marshal’s agents. But he had one distinct difference – he’d been branded The Britannia Viper by the Saracen commanders for his hard strike. There is no one fiercer in battle. Therefore, William Marshal has great confidence that Caius will solve the situation – if not by diplomacy, then by the sword.

  But Caius is caught off-guard by the situation when he arrives. The Marshal’s relation is an unscrupulous and cruel man who has all but decimated his neighbors and demands they be destroyed. When Caius speaks to the neighbor, the first thing he sees is a woman of astounding beauty.

  Emelisse de Thorington is that woman.

  Caius is drawn into the feud whether or not he wants to be. He comes to discover that The Marshal’s relative is wicked and has harassed a noble family for years while telling William Marshal something quite different. The man is a thief and a liar.

  But Caius can’t tell The Marshal that without jeopardizing his relationship with the man or jeopardizing the safety of The Marshal’s niece, who is married to him. There’s also the not-so-small fact that he’s fallen in love with the strong but battered Emelisse.

  Will the seasoned knight choose love over his career?

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Here we are – Cai’s story, finally!

  Britania Faybr.

  The Britannia Viper.

  The House of d’Avignon is a relatively new house in my world. We first saw it pop up in Devil’s Dominion in a secondary character, and then in Vestiges of Valor when that was the heroine’s maiden name.

  Originally – a very long time ago – it was the name of the hero in ShadowWolfe before it was ShadowWolfe – way back then, when I wrote the first ten chapters and put it aside for twenty years, the hero’s name was Curtis d’Avignon and the name of the novel was originally Walls of Babylon – which I liked so much, I used on another de Wolfe Pack novel. Curtis was replaced by Scott de Wolfe and the story was rechristened ShadowWolfe.

  Crazy how that all works, eh?

  But I digress. I’m really excited to have a d’Avignon now heading up his own story because it was one of my original houses, and as I was writing this book, I kept saying to myself – Self? Wow, this is a hell of a story!

  On to some super-fun trivia. A young William de Wolfe makes his appearance in this novel and we find out who he was named for. William was something of an unruly youth, as has been hinted at in some of the de Wolfe Pack books. Things about William and Paris and Kieran and the trouble they got into in their youth at Kenilworth Castle. I loved tying the House of de Wolfe into this series in this book because Edward de Wolfe – who has thus far been removed from William Marshal mostly – makes an appearance as the Earl of Wolverhampton.

  Much of this story involves a place called Hawkstone Castle – that’s the prize. Although the castle is fictional, the location is not. Hawkstone Hall really does exist (it’s a boutique hotel with a history dating back to the 15th century) and it sits on lands called Hawkstone Follies, which is the basis for the holdings described in this book. It’s a very cool place to visit in real life and you can Google it to see what it’s all about – limestone caves, hiking, monuments, and other awesome things. It also has a tearoom named after my heroine’s brother – or is it the other way around? In any case, Caspian’s Tea Room exists. But to be perfectly transparent, it’s really named after Prince Caspian in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe because the story was inspired by the Hawkstone Follies.

  Since this is an Executioner Knights tale, I usually try to include several of the EK knights in the opening scene, and a few throughout the story. Not all of the EK knights can be in all of the stories. In this case, Maxton of Loxbeare, who has been removed from a few books in the series, makes a strong secondary character in this tale, which I love. We also meet a couple of new EK knights – Morgan de Wolfe, who is a cousin to William and a nephew to Edward, as well as Gareth de Llion, the son of Bretton and Allaston from Devil’s Dominion. Gareth makes a brief appearance, but it’s a good foundation to establish his character. He’s the grandson of Ajax de Velt (The Dark Lord), so you just know he’s going to be a badass.

  Now, the standard pronunciation guide to help you navigate the names:

  Emelisse – our heroine. The closest pronunciation I can come up with is Emma-liss (which my Spellcheck kept trying to change to “Emulous”. HUH????????)

  D’Avignon – DAV-in-yawn (“a” in dav – as in the word “at”)

  So, curl up with a good book – this one – and enjoy Caius and Emelisse’s epic tale. As I said – it’s a hell of a story!

  Hugs,

  House of D’Avignon motto

  Fides et virtute

  “Faith and Courage”

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Kathryn Le Veque Novels

  About the Book

  Author’s Note

  Epigraph

  Cave Percutiens Viperae (Beware the Strike of the Viper)

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Epilogue

  Author’s Afterword

  Excerpt from By The Unholy Hand

  Excerpt from The Mountain Dark

  About Kathryn Le Veque

  CAVE PERCUTIENS VIPERAE

  (BEWARE THE STRIKE OF THE VIPER)

  PROLOGUE

  Year of Our Lord 1213 A.D.

  The Pox Tavern, London

  “The next one is going to take him down. He cannot take another one.”

  “How much do you wish to wager?”

  “Whatever you wish. I know I am right.”

  “You are wrong. This man is holding his own against Cai, who can drink a man into the ground. He’ll go at least one more round.”

  “A pound says you’re wrong.”

  The pair shook hands. In the noisy, crowded common room of a smelly tavern filled with the vomit of humanity, it was one wager in a night that had literally seen hundreds of them. Sir Bric MacRohan, a massive Irish knight and Sir Kevin de Lara, a powerful English knight, had just made the bet regarding one of their comrades. Their faith in their brother-in-arms’ alcoholic abilities had them placing wagers against the man’s opponent.

  Sir Caius d’Avignon was that man.

  A mountain of male flesh with a vast and mysterious propensity towards holding his drink better than most, perhaps because of a hollow leg that everyone spoke of. Or perhaps it was just his great size that quickly dispersed whatever drink he managed to consume. Whatever the case, Caius was able to better hold his drink than most men in England, so if there was a wager to be made regarding such a thing, Caius was the man to bet on.

  Which is exactly what Bric and Kevin had done.

  Caius sat at a table with a warrior from the House of de Wrenville, with Bric and Kevin on one side of him and three more comrades on the other. Bric passed knowing glances across the table with Dashiell du Reims, heir to the Earldom of East Anglia, and Peter de
Lohr, son of the Earl of Hereford and Worcester. They were cousins, each a powerful knight in his own right, but they, much like Bric and Kevin, were supervising not only the drinking game, but the two knights who were supplying the drink.

  They were newer knights to the spy ring of William Marshal.

  But their newer status did not diminish their skills in any way. Even the newer knights held an elite status that separated them from the rest of the rabble. They all served the House of Marshal – William Marshal to be precise. Caius, Bric, Kevin, Peter, Dashiell, and newcomers Morgan de Wolfe and Gareth de Llion were part of the stable of specialized knights, warriors, assassins, and spies for England’s greatest warrior and statesman, as were a few of the men standing on the other side of the table.

  Morgan was the one who had started this whole thing. He was a de Wolfe, from one of the finest fighting families in England, and held the de Wolfe air of battle about him. He was nothing to be trifled with. I’ll wager your man cannot outdrink Caius, he’d said, and the next they realized, there was a drinking game between Caius and the de Wrenville knight.

  But it wasn’t any knight. There were whispers that it was the de Wrenville heir himself. But it was of little matter. The man could drink and that was all anyone cared about. Since The Pox catered to the many nationalities of men coming in from the sea, they had a better selection than most of cheap to fine ales and wine from far and exotic places.

  The drinking game had started because de Wolfe had purchased a bottle of Portuguese wine that had such a punch to it that within two cups of the stuff, he was fairly drunk. It was delicious wine, warm and strong, and everyone else who’d had it was also well on their way to being sotted except for Caius. He’d laughed at his fellow knights and their inability to hold their wine and de Wrenville men from a few tables away heard him. One thing led to another and the contest was on.

  Four bottles of that powerful wine sat on the table between Caius and the de Wrenville heir and three of them were empty. They were starting on the fourth, but the de Wrenville heir was so drunk that he had to hold on to the table to keep from falling over while his men held the cup up to his lips.

  Money was flying fast and furious that the next drink would topple him.

  “You shall not win,” de Wrenville said, spittle dripping from his lips because in his inebriation, he forgot to swallow. “Have my men not told you that I can outdrink anyone? No man can defeat me.”