WolfeStrike (De Wolfe Pack Generations #2) - Kathryn Le Veque Page 0,53

clean down the middle, leaving a big bald strip right down the center of his head.”

Blayth looked at him in surprise. “I did that?”

“That is what I was told.”

“That does not sound like me. I would not do anything like that.”

Tor snorted at that lie because everyone knew that Blayth had a wicked sense of humor. “Not much, you wouldn’t,” he muttered. “Alec’s punishment went on and on until Kieran finally came to beg for his son’s dignity. God, I’m surprised he married Katheryn after that. In any case, mayhap that was why Alec was so eager to return the favor with Steffan.”

“Alec can be quite formidable when roused. I have seen it.”

“That’s what you were hoping for.”

“I was.”

They shared a laugh at Alec’s expense as they walked across the compound, but Tor found himself sobering at the memories of his grandfather, the great knight William de Wolfe. It was difficult not to think of the man when reflecting on the remembrances of the past, good or bad or hilarious, as the case may be.

“It’s things like this that I wish I could tell Poppy,” he said, glancing up into the crystal-blue sky. “About Steffan, I mean. I wish I could tell him all about it and hear him tell me that what we did was justified. Sometimes I still cannot believe he is gone. I thought he would live forever, Uncle Blayth. I truly did.”

Blayth’s smile faded as he thought of his father, the greatest knight the north had ever seen. His memory of his father was so deep that not even the terrible head injury could take it away completely and although the vast majority if his memories of his father were gone, some remained. There had been a special bond between them, one not even death could break.

“He lived a very long time,” he said after a moment. “He was so very old, but still, you are not alone in your wish. We wanted him to keep on living. I think, in the end, that he just wore out. It was his time. I miss him, but I am grateful for the time we had with him.”

Tor’s smile was gone completely by that time, remembering the day he’d been told of his grandfather’s passing. “There are three events I remember very plainly in my life,” he said, feeling the pangs of sorrow claw at him. “The first event is the day I was told that Jane had passed away giving birth to my son. That sticks in my mind as if it only happened yesterday. The second event is the day we received word that Bonny had passed away, four months to the day after Poppy died. The third is, of course, the morning I was told of Poppy’s death. I was at Castle Questing at the time, you know.”

“I know.”

“It was dawn and I was heading out to my post,” he continued, seeing that morning vividly in his mind. “I was not quite to the door yet when I heard my father call to me. He was on the steps leading to the upper floors and as I went to him, I could see that he was weeping. I thought something had happened to Avrielle. It never even occurred to me that he was weeping for Poppy.”

Blayth patted the big arm that was still around his shoulders. “Poppy went the way he wanted to go,” he said. “Not in battle. Not in great pain. He simply went to sleep and never woke up. Mother was with him. He was in her arms. That was exactly the way he wanted it – with her, on his own terms.”

They were nearing the hall but talk of William always upset Tor, one of the very few things that did. Although he had loved his grandfather, Paris, very much, the bond he had shared with William had been special. That day five years ago was engrained in his mind as if it had only happened a few moments ago.

“I suppose I should be grateful for that,” Tor said after a moment, feeling tears sting his eyes. “I remember running up to his chamber and Matha was sitting there, still in her bed clothes, her arms around him. And she wasn’t weeping… she was just sitting there, looking at his face, and when I came into the chamber, I will never forget her expression. As if she was… joyful. I cannot explain it any better than that. I must have made