A Dark Champion Read Online Free PDF Page B

married who we were supposed to. Now I have an earl who refuses to take a bride and a strategically placed heiress who would sooner cut off her head than take a knight for husband. There has to be some solution to this.”
    Eleanor sat forward.
    “Nay, Nora,” Henry said as he noted the speculative look on her beautiful face. “Say not what I know is in your mind.”
    She waved his words away with her hand. “They would be perfect together. Who better to guard Our border than Stryder of Blackmoor? He is one of the few whose loyalty is above question.”
    “Aye, and look at what happened when I tried to marry him off to Kenna. The man still hasn’t forgiven me.”
    “That’s because you ordered him to, Henry, and need I remind you that he would have obeyed you.”
    “Aye, but an irate earl in Scotland is one thing. An irate earl sitting entrenched in lands that divide my kingdom in half is an entirely different matter.”
    She drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair and didn’t appear to be listening to him. Typical. Eleanor only heard what she wanted to. “I have known Rowena since she was just a girl. Like Stryder, if you tell her to go right, she will go left. Put them together and—”
    “Rowena will geld your knight, Your Grace,” Lionel said, interrupting her. “She despises all knights.”
    “But there is no woman whose heart is immune to Stryder of Blackmoor,” she countered. “Rowena is awoman and he is not the usual knight. Put them together and I am sure they will suit.”
    Henry narrowed his eyes. “I’m not so sure I agree with you.”
    “You seldom do.”
    He ignored the venom in her voice. “But I would like to see the two of them married. What do you suggest?”
    Eleanor thought it over. “Rowena wants her choice of husband. I say we give it to her.”
    “Are you mad?” Henry asked. “She’ll pick one of those geldings who flock to your skirts. Those mewling minstrels who lack all masculinity.”
    She gave him a droll stare that warned him of her wrath should he continue to disparage those who curried her favor in nauseating droves. “Nay, she won’t. Rowena prides herself on only one thing in life.”
    “Her music,” Lionel said.
    “Aye. As you said, she thinks to start a school.”
    Lionel nodded.
    “Then let us cater to her desires, gentlemen. Tell her that if she can teach a knight to sing in the troubadour contest at the end of the tournament and win it that you will not only allow her the choice of husband, but that you will set up her school.”
    Henry frowned at the idea. “Are you suggesting she teach Stryder to sing?”
    “Aye.”
    Henry shook his head. He knew Stryder well enough to know what the man would say to that. “Stryder will never do such. He despises minstrelseven more than I do. The moment Rowena approaches him with the proposal, he will send her packing.”
    “Not if he is told that at the end of the tournament Rowena will wed the victor.”
    Oh, his queen was evil, and he loved her like this. The cold, cunning politician who was merciless. There were times when Henry thought that Eleanor should have been born a man.
    The plan was brilliant. “Stryder is sure to win it.”
    “Aye, he is. His pride will never allow him to lose the tournament. The only way he can prevent his marriage to Rowena is to sing. In order to sing, he will have to be around her to learn a song and to practice. Once the two of them are together, I predict love will follow its natural course between them.”
    There was only one flaw that Henry could see. “And what if he wins this troubadour contest and Rowena doesn’t choose him as her husband?”
    “I never said it wasn’t a gamble, Henry. But I know I am right and she will pick him at the end.”
    “And again, I say, what if you’re wrong?”
    “Then we kill off whoever she chooses,” Lionel said mercilessly.
    Eleanor made an exasperated noise as if his solution pained her. “You won’t have to. Trust me. I know