홈 / History / Where The Lowborn Kneels / Chapter 16: Smoke Over the Estate

공유

Chapter 16: Smoke Over the Estate

작가: eeverith
last update 게시일: 2026-10-29 08:26:48
The storm broke at midnight, a month to the day after the man called Fenwick had come to Vareth Hall.

It came from the west, as the great storms always did, rolling over the river in the bruise-coloured wall which swallowed the stars one by one. The first thunder shook the stable rafters. The second sent the rain, not a drizzle but a roaring, drumming deluge that flooded the yard in the space of a quarter-hour. Stephen lay awake on his cot in the tack room with a blanket drawn to his chin and
eeverith

If you got this far and like it, I urge you to subscribe!!

| 좋아요
이 작품을 무료로 읽으실 수 있습니다
QR 코드를 스캔하여 앱을 다운로드하세요
잠긴 챕터

최신 챕터

  • Where The Lowborn Kneels   Chapter 37: The Woman They Buried

    There were a few strong scents in the cellar. The midwife looked up from her seat as Evangeline entered.It was Thursday, just after midnight. They had walked across the lower city in an hour. Evangeline wore a plain brown cloak she had borrowed off a laundress. Her hair was pulled up and her gloves tucked in her pockets. Dorrie, a tall quiet young woman now, walked a head of her holding a lantern with the shutters down. They had walked through three alleys, dry goods warehouse and a seemingly closed tavern. At the bottom of some slimy steps they arrived at the door, which opened when the right knock was made. Inside was a stout old woman sitting in a cell. She was sitting at a plain wooden table with a single candle burning and a pot of tea cooling by her side.'Have a seat.'Evangeline sat down onto the hard bench. The candle flickered.'Doctor’s daughter.''Yes.''I heard from my Garrick that you gave him a slap across the face in front of everyone.''Yes.''Hmm.' The woman looked

  • Where The Lowborn Kneels   Chapter 36: The Imperial Blessing

    The Palace of Lamps was designed to make everybody feel small when they entered, and it never failed.Sitting atop the capital, the Palace was built in tiers, with roofs made of beaten copper that had turned a dull green with age. The windows glowed with ten thousand lights, all lit by a team of silent servants. Pilgrims travelled from the provinces just to see it. Sometimes they even cried. Although they didn’t cry at the gates, where the White Battalion stood in rows of silent white men, or in the grand courts, where the marble was so shiny that you could see your reflection of your fear.She was walking through the Hall of Seven Lamps, wearing a pale grey silk dress. Her hair was pulled into an elaborate updo, and there was just one green stone around her neck. She kept her head held high.The blessing wasn’t really a big deal. Everybody said that. The Emperor had the privilege of giving a favourable word to engagements between great houses. It cost him nothing, but it tied them cl

  • Where The Lowborn Kneels   Chapter 35: A Bethrotal Announced

    Nobody actually asked.It wasn’t that she was worried about the engagement, or even the stag. It was the fact that nobody had actually asked her what she thought about it during the three days following the hunt. All they had done was send a flurry of letters, visit, congratulate, and have hushed conversations with lawyers. They had ordered her engagement dress, and had a printed announcement ready in the Imperial Gazette.She had found out from the Gazette.It was lying on the breakfast table, folded to the second page, and surrounded by a small black band. ‘With great pleasure His Grace the Duke of DeNova announces the engagement of his only daughter, Lady Evangeline to Commander Denovan Windemere (Hero of the Marrow Road), Captain of His Imperial Majesty’s White Battalion’.She read it three times.Her father was sitting opposite her, folding his napkin into his collar, and spreading butter onto a roll with great care, as if it was some sort of operation. He didn’t even look up. “I

  • Where The Lowborn Kneels   Chapter 34: The Stag in the Fog

    The moor was cloaked in thick white fog during the early morning.Before the hunters had even mounted their horses, the fog had rolled in from the river. The soft grey mist surrounded everything. The heather. The stones. The thin black ridge of the east. When the horns sounded, you couldn’t even see your own stirrup. The horses whinnied and fidgeted. The hounds whined at their leashes. The Duke, his cheeks flushed with colour and a bright smile upon his face, declared it was a fine day for a hunt and the Commander would have to be very lucky.Denovan seemed not to hear.He sat atop his white stallion at the edge of the group, dressed in the same colour as the fog. He sat patiently, his face impassive as the grey mist swirled and dispersed.Evangeline didn’t g

  • Where The Lowborn Kneels   Chapter 33: The White Commander’s Bet

    Denovan Windemere had visited Vareth Hall on seven occasions in five years. Each time, he had looked at the Duke’s daughter once.The look had never been passionate or lecherous. Denovan had never looked at Evangeline with longing or with the calculating glint of a courtier. He’d always looked at her with the cool, professional eye of a man appraising property. The first time she had ever seen this look in his eyes was on the night of her return at the Orangery. As he had risen from the Duke’s table at the end of dinner, he had given her a perfectly executed courtier’s bow, taking her hand and saying: "My Lady Evangeline. Just as I remember."Now he was thirty-two. His brown hair hadn’t thinned and his pale blue eyes remained cool. He was always dressed in white: white coat, breeches, gloves. He had a reputation of being extremely

  • Where The Lowborn Kneels    Chapter 32: The Heiress Reappears

    She reappeared into the world during the spring of her twenty-second year. Everyone was overjoyed.They had missed her. They had never forgotten her. For five years she had been a rumour. An occasional sighting at a temple festival. A shadowy figure in the DeNova carriage. A name on the bottom of a long list of politely declined invites. The ladies of court had whispered that the Duke’s daughter had never fully recovered from the fire. That she had become a recluse. That she was fragile. Some had hinted at much worse.However, on the first week of April she appeared at the Spring Ball of the Duchess of Hale.Her dress was a deep forest colour. It was tight around the waist and flowed in a long, soft train behind her. Her auburn hair was longer and heavier. The deep copper colour caught the candlelight as if it was a bank of flames. It was pulled back into a simple chignon at the nape of her neck. She wore no jewellery except a fine gold chain. She was tall, slim and poised. She glided

더보기
좋은 소설을 무료로 찾아 읽어보세요
GoodNovel 앱에서 수많은 인기 소설을 무료로 즐기세요! 마음에 드는 작품을 다운로드하고, 언제 어디서나 편하게 읽을 수 있습니다
앱에서 작품을 무료로 읽어보세요
앱에서 읽으려면 QR 코드를 스캔하세요.
DMCA.com Protection Status