The Green Knight (Space Lore Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

the conclusions he came to made him feel any better.

8

    “Your name?” Vere said to the man standing over their table.
    “Baldwin, My Lady.”
    Fastolf snorted with laughter. Traskk and A’la Dure looked at each other and then at Vere, wondering who the person was that had been sitting in a bar with them for the past six years.
    “If you value your health,” Vere said between gritted teeth, “You won’t call me that again. I’m not your lady or your anything else.”
    “My Lady!” Fastolf said in between gulps of his drink. “My Lady, My Lady!”
    Vere sighed. “See what you’ve done,” she said to Baldwin. “How do you know my father?”
    “I’m one of his physicians.”
    The side of Vere’s mouth curled up as a thought made her look back at Morgan. “And how did you know about the attack at Troy?”
    The other woman raised her chin and jutted her shoulders back. “I was Hotspur’s top lieutenant.”
    Those at the table who knew of Hotspur—and the reputation he had earned as an ambitious and bloodthirsty officer rising through the ranks of the CasterLan Kingdom—groaned, and Morgan’s chin immediately dropped lower than it had been before she bragged.
    Baldwin said, “I swore not to tell anyone about your father’s health. But oath or no oath, I can’t let his only daughter go without knowing what’s happening.”
    “And what do you expect me to do now?”
    “Wait,” Fastolf said. For a rare moment, his attention was on something other than drinking, stealing, or laughing. “You mean you really are the person these two”—he motioned at Morgan and Baldwin—“say you are?”
    Baldwin seemed utterly baffled by the reactions of the people around him. A’la Dure said nothing, but furrowed her eyebrows and looked around for someone to explain what all of this meant. Occulus was the only one who looked like he wasn’t surprised by anything that had happened around the table.
    Morgan smacked her palms against the table and said, “We’re wasting time. We have to get going back to Edsall Dark.”
    “Everyone, calm down,” Vere said, looking as though she needed to heed her own advice. She glanced at Occulus for help but the old man only leaned back in his chair to see what fascinating turn of events might occur next.
    Baldwin said, “Well, you have to come see your father. And you have to—”
    “Don’t tell me what I have to do. I don’t have to do anything,” Vere said in a tone that no one, not sage advisor Occulus nor best friend A’la Dure nor giant reptile Traskk would argue with.
    Fastolf belched and said, “You have to have another drink!”
    Vere smiled. “Okay, I guess there is one thing I have to do.”
    “This is absurd,” Morgan said as Fastolf walked behind her to get another round. “The future of the CasterLan Kingdom is drinking her life away while the Vonnegan Empire prepares to destroy it.”
    When no one else seemed as outraged as she was, Morgan picked up an empty glass, then brought it down on the table, smashing it to pieces. Flecks of glass sprayed everyone else at the table, causing Traskk to growl and make his tail sway back and forth under their chairs.
    Dismayed, Baldwin looked at everyone gathered around the table. This wasn’t at all what he had expected to find upon leaving his post in search of the missing CasterLan heir who, as he watched, was covering her face and groaning. The future of their kingdom was not looking very bright.
    “Give me some time to think,” Vere said.
    “We don’t have time to wait around,” Morgan said.
    “Damn it, I said let me think.”
    Morgan was on her feet, ready to swing across the table at Vere. Vere did the same. Both of them had fingers curled into loose fists and were ready to dive across the table at the person who was infuriating them.
    Traskk gave a soft hiss and both women reluctantly backed down.
    “What do you think?” Vere said to Occulus after flexing her fingers to get the tension out of