Free Vengeance 02 - Trust In Me by Lana Williams Page B

atrocity.”
    “The guilty will be punished!” Crefton stood upright and began to pace back and forth in front of Nicholas. “He will rot in my dungeon. Damn him to hell for taking my son from me.” Suddenly, he spun to face Nicholas, his bushy brows lowered in fury. “He will be punished!”
    Nicholas waited, but the old lord said nothing more. Instead, he turned to pace the chamber once again, muttering as he went. Nicholas glared at Elizabeth as he tried to rein in his temper. “If you think to deceive me with this act, you’d best think again.”
    “Punished.” Crefton repeated with a decisive nod then stopped and looked around the room blankly.
    “He’s confused. Surely you can see that.” Elizabeth’s large brown eyes begged him to believe her. “He doesn’t even remember that William isn’t here.”
    Crefton tilted his head to the side as though trying to make sense of their conversation. “Izzie? What do you speak of?”
    “You remember William, the knight you brought back from the tournament?” Elizabeth’s tone had changed completely. She spoke to her father as though trying to calm a child.
    He considered the question, but shook his head. “What tournament?”
    Elizabeth closed her eyes for a moment then drew a deep breath as she opened them and looked directly at Nicholas. “My father is not well.”
    Nicholas scoffed. Did she expect him to believe this act? It had to be an act. The alternative was impossible.
    “Truly. Since my brother’s death, he has not been himself.”
    “And you think that matters to me? It doesn’t.” But it did. How could he exact vengeance against Crefton when the man behaved like this?
    “Gregory, my poor Gregory,” Crefton cried. Tears ran down his cheeks as sobs racked his body. “He was supposed to come home.”
    Nicholas braced himself against the old man’s grief.
    Elizabeth put her arms around her father’s shoulder and hugged him tight. Tears in her eyes, she held Nicholas’s gaze. “Lord...de Bremont, I ask you to put yourself in our position – ”
    “Nay. Put yourself in mine. William might be dead by now. Your father’s madness is the only thing keeping me from running him through.” Nicholas glared at the old lord, willing him to stop crying. He couldn’t stand to see his grief so clearly displayed.
    “We pray for William’s recovery,” Elizabeth said.
    “Your prayers are not enough. Last rites were said the day I left to find you.”
    She bit her lip, and for a brief moment, Nicholas feared her tears might overcome her. A dull ache resonated in his chest. He cursed himself that her pain affected him at all.
    Her gaze caught Robert’s, and the steward moved forward to assist Crefton to a chair.
    After watching to make sure her father had calmed, she turned back to Nicholas. “I can only offer prayers and my deepest apology. I beg your forgiveness. We wronged William and therefore you as well. I am so sorry.”
    The shaky ground under Nicholas’s feet shifted. He almost believed her. His plans for vengeance were fading as fast as the faint glimpse of lucidity in Crefton’s eyes. How could this be happening? It wasn’t fair. Not for William. “I demand retribution.” He made certain his voice held none of his own confusion.
    After a pause, Elizabeth said, “I can offer you payment.”
    “Money cannot solve this!”
    “I propose three hundred pounds.”
    “Nay!” he bellowed. His desire for vengeance had never been about money, not even for that large of a sum.
    “Then what?” she asked.
    He ran his fingers through his hair and, without thinking, spoke from his heart. “I want my brother back.” Immediately he regretted his words, knowing he’d revealed too much.
    Silence filled the chamber for a long moment.
    “As much as I’d like to, I can’t give William back to you.” She looked away, her tone much softer. “I tried that already.”
    The reminder of what she’d done made him furious. “I demand that you and