Piper (Queen's Birds of Prey #4) - Kathi S. Barton Page 0,20

as well as her thoughts, seemed to calm a great deal. That was when she noticed that Grant had simply put his hand on her shoulder.

“I’m not being pushy, Piper, but you seemed ready to jump out of your skin.” She nodded and thanked him. “No worries there. I’m hoping that when I need it, you can do the same for me.”

Piper must have eaten. Her plate had little bits of food on it, and her fork was dirty. However, she couldn’t tell anyone, if asked, what it had tasted like. The others around her were talking about the summer plans. All she could think about right now was the man beside her. And what he would expect from her.

Not that any of the other men in their family had done that. All three of the others had been there for her sisters but never made demands on them. It was one of the reasons she loved them so much—they treated their wives like they needed. Soft and pampered at times, but letting them do their own thing when that was necessary. It occurred to her then that Grant was older than her.

“You’ve been around a long time.” He told her he’d been born before the king had taken Dante as his wife. “I didn’t know him. I heard a great deal about him. He was a cruel and mean bastard. I don’t think I ever even know how he died. I know it wasn’t Dante that did it.”

“No. She had nothing to do with his death, which I suppose was a good thing. That would have perhaps made the king of the lands come to her sooner. He died in a war, defending his brother’s castle. They were both killed the same day. His brother, I don’t remember his name at the moment, killed his wife and children when it was obvious he was losing the war. I think that is part of the estate Duncan now owns. As the only living descendant of the brothers, he would have inherited those lands as well.”

“It doesn’t sound as if his brother was any better than Dante’s husband was.” Grant said he was right in killing his family. “And how did you come to that conclusion?”

“Had he not taken their lives as he did, quickly and without much in the way of pain, he saved them from being tortured as well as raped. He had two little girls, and they wouldn’t have been spared anything that the person that eventually took the castle would have done to them.” She said she’d not thought of that. “There wouldn’t have been anyone to hide them away either. As you pointed out, he wasn’t much different than his brother. He had no loyal people, such as Dante did. Nor did he have much in the way of ships to send them away. When the brother was killed, the people of the land celebrated for days afterwards. Then I think they too were killed when the man who won the castle took over. Dante made sure the lands were seized back for Duncan some years before her death.”

She noticed that everyone at the table had gone quiet. Looking at Mercy when she asked for more stories, Piper realized that more than they did, Grant would have a lot of stories about living in the castle before and after Dante. Grant smiled at her when she asked him about the other lands.

“They’re still there, as far as I know. I believe they abut this land.” Duncan confirmed that it did, and the castle was still intact. “When your father was brought home to be buried, it was thought he’d been killed by his own men. There are still a few of the old guard left in New Town. When I was younger, I would sit with them, and they’d tell me stories of the cruelty of your father. I won’t tell them if you’d not like to hear them.”

“He was dead before I was born. I know from my mother’s books that he wasn’t considered a good king. Nor did he stop from putting my mother in her place at times.” Grant told Duncan he was sorry for that. “Don’t be. There are ways she got around him, mostly because of her magic. But he was a drunkard too. From what I was told, not only did he drink entirely too much, but—my mom’s words here—he whored around too. Still, he never had a son by