The Consolation Prize (Brides of Karadok #3) - Alice Coldbreath Page 0,42
along with an untouched wheel of cheese.
“There you are!” he breathed a sigh of relief. “We came out of the passage to find you missing!”
“Hardly that, Otho. I merely did not wish to remain in that room with a pile of corpses. Can you blame me?”
He murmured at that and turned to survey the room with a disgusted expression. “This room isn’t much better,” he pointed out.
“Well, true,” Una agreed. “Now I have packed us some victuals, I will come and wait for you in the dining chamber. Have you gathered the spoils now?”
“Nay, for there is a good deal of it,” he said shaking his head. “Your husband is still dragging out sacks even now.”
“That much?” said Una a good deal startled.
“The villains must have benefitted from the previous good name of the place,” he said. “Here, let me carry that.” Una passed over the bag of food and led the way through into the next room.
“You did not bring down your brandywine,” Otho remarked. “Shall I fetch it for you?”
“No, brother, for it makes my head swim. A few sips sufficed.”
Otho looked troubled. “You should not call me that, you know. I am aware I slipped first, but that was in the heat of the moment. Now I am to be your attendant, you must not address me as such.”
“Otho—”
“If you hold any regard for me, you will respect my wishes, Lady Una,” he said with emphasis.
She sighed. “You were the only one of my siblings I held any affection for. It seems very hard that I am now expected to deny the bond.”
He looked shocked. “What of Forwin?” he spluttered, mentioning their older brother.
“I heartily detested Forwin. He was a vile bully, the most like our father out of all of us.”
Otho’s color drained. “You should not speak thus, Una. It is not right.”
“We both know it to be the truth. He was cruelest of all to you and Umrey.” He flushed at this. “I’m sorry, Otho,” she said gently. “But I will no longer mince my words and pander to lies and blatant falsehoods.” She paused, but he did not speak. “If you wish to join our household, you had better get used to how things now stand.”
He pursed his lips and ran his fingers through his close-cropped hair. “Aye,” he said throatily. He glanced her way meeting her eye squarely. “It does not bother you, how this husband of yours besports himself above? The light of avarice burns in his eyes. He cares not how evilly this treasure was amassed. He means to have it.”
Una faced him squarely. “Otho,” she said seriously. “You were a soldier in our late army. You know how that army was supported in the last stages of the war. The looting of churches and the stripping of shrines—”
“That was done for pure necessity sake!” he burst out, turning bright red. “Not for personal gain.”
“I doubt that mattered much to the poor friars and abbots who were thrown to the ground and trampled.”
“No men under my command—”
“Maybe not, but you forget that I also was dragged around with our father’s forces and let me assure you, I saw many atrocities. It was not merely holy places that were sacked. Crop stores were also stolen from villagers. I saw the death of many men merely trying to defend their livelihoods and feed their families.”
Otho looked away, swallowing painfully. “You should not have been subjected to such sights.”
“I? And what of the wives who were left to pick their dead husbands out of the mud? I think they suffered more than I did.”
“Don’t, Una,” he burst out. “In times of war, many wicked things happen that would never occur in times of peace and plenty.”
“Peace and plenty,” Una said bitterly. “Our father did not care one whit for his subject’s well-being, and you know it. All he cared about was conquest and fame. If he had been content to sit in his throne at Menith, his people would have known peace and plenty, but that was not good enough for him. He wanted the South.”
“He wanted to unify all Karadok,” Otho corrected her.
“Well, it is now unified,” she told him lightly. “So, in a way his greatest wish was granted.”
“Under the Argent King’s standard!” Otho burst out.
“Yes, indeed. King Wymer’s golden lion defeated the green wyvern, and the sooner you accept that Otho, the better your life will be.”
“Is that how you really feel?” he asked incredulously.