Free Fragments of Grace (Prequel to the Dragonblade Trilogy) by Kathryn Le Veque Page A

he neared the keep.  “Sometimes dreams can
seem very real. I have had a few of those myself.”
    Chloë gazed at him, her mind
becoming more lucid and wondering if he wasn’t correct, when she noticed how
close they were to the keep.  The terror quickly returned and she began to
struggle.
    “Nay,” she tried to push herself
from his arms. “I am not going back to that chamber.  I am not going in there
ever again.”
    He came to a halt. “Easy, lady,”
he admonished softly. “Do you want to sleep with your sister, then? Perhaps she
can chase your fears away.”
    She shook her head emphatically. 
Then she burst into tears and lay her head on his shoulder, weeping pitifully.
With a heavy sigh, Keir continued on in to the keep, feeling her arms tighten
around him as they entered the dark, musty entry hall.  As he mounted the steep
spiral stairs, they came upon Michael and Lucan descending.  The knights backed
up so that Keir could come up to the third level.
    “How is Lady Cassandra?” Keir
asked.
    Michael nodded. “Sleeping like
the dead,” he said. “Everything else is secure.”
    “Did you check Lady Chloë’s
chamber?”
    “We did,” he said, eyeing Chloë
with her face buried in Keir’s neck. “Nothing to report. Is Lady Chloë well?”
    Keir lifted his eyebrows. “Bad
dream,” was all he would say. “I am retiring for the night. Send hot water up
to my chamber.”
    Michael and Lucan watched him go,
exchanging puzzled expressions before going along their business.  It seemed as
if Keir was retiring for the evening with the lady in his arms, but it wasn’t
up to them to make that judgment.
    Up the stairs, Keir reached the
level that held the children’s chamber as well as his own.  He glanced into the
children’s chamber, seeing that it was dark and vacant. Certainly nothing to
become hysterical over.  He took Chloë into the master’s chamber and quietly
shut the door.
    She had stopped sobbing by this
time, her head on his shoulder as she sniffled faintly.  Keir went to set her
down on the bed but she balked, holding tightly to his neck until he gently
coaxed her into letting go.  He set her on the big bed as he proceeded to
remove what armor he had on his body.
    “When I was a wee lad growing up
in Northumberland, I used to have an imaginary big brother,” he was making idle
chatter as he pulled off his helm and mail hood. “When I was sent away to
foster, the older boys would pick on me. I told them that my big brother would
get them if they did not leave me alone.”
    Chloë sat on the bed and
sniffled, looking pale and exhausted as she watched him pull off his mail coat.
“I did not imagine the girl. She was really there.”
    He shrugged, not wanting to fight
with her when he was attempting to show understanding. “I am not saying you
did,” he said. “But sometimes, dreams or imaginary friends can seem very real. 
Mine was very real to me at the time.”
    Chloë could see where he was
leading with this and she didn’t want to argue with him, either.  She had her
opinion and he had his, so she picked up on the next subject. “Were you an only
child?”
    He shook his head. “Nay,” he told
her, placing the mail on a rack near the door so the chain could dry out. “I
have an older brother, Kurtis. In fact, Kurtis should be arriving at Pendragon
in the next few days. He is on an errand for his liege and sent word of his
impending visit. I would be pleased to introduce you to him.  We also had a
sister but she died when she was young.”
    Chloë watched him fumble with his
tunic now that the mail was off. “I had a brother but he died when he was young
as well,” she replied. “It has only been Cassandra and I.  Father hopes to make
an advantageous marriage with both of us but he wants to marry Cassandra off
first.”
    “Why?”
    “Because she is the eldest,” she
said. “It would be humiliating for me to be married before her.”
    “Does she have any