Kathryn Le Veque
Authors: Netherworld
Netherworld
A Medieval Romance
By Kathryn Le Veque
Copyright 2014 by Kathryn Le Veque
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Printed by Dragonblade Publishing in the United States of America
Text copyright 2014 by Kathryn Le Veque
Cover copyright 2014 by Kathryn Le Veque
Map illustration copyright 2014 by Kathryn Le Veque
Other Novels by Kathryn Le Veque
| Medieval Romance: The White Lord of Wellesbourne The Dark One: Dark Knight While Angels Slept Rise of the Defender Spectre of the Sword Unending Love Archangel Lord of the Shadows Great Protector To the Lady Born The Falls of Erith Lord of War: Black Angel The Darkland Black Sword The Wolfe Serpent The Whispering Night Netherworld Unrelated characters or family groups: The Dark Lord The Gorgon The Warrior Poet Guardian of Darkness (related to The Fallen One) Tender is the Knight The Legend Lespada Lord of Light The Questing The Dragonblade Trilogy: Dragonblade Island of Glass The Savage Curtain The Fallen One Fragments of Grace Novella, Time Travel Romance: Echoes of Ancient Dreams | Contemporary Romance: Kathlyn Trent/Marcus Burton Series: Valley of the Shadow The Eden Factor Canyon of the Sphinx The American Heroes Series: Resurrection Fires of Autumn Evenshade Sea of Dreams Purgatory Other Contemporary Romance: Lady of Heaven Darkling, I Listen Time Travel Romance: The Crusader Kingdom Come Note: All Kathryn’s novels are designed to be read as stand-alones, although many have cross-over characters or cross-over family groups. Novels that are grouped together have related characters or family groups. Series are clearly marked. All series contain the same characters or family groups except the American Heroes Series, which is an anthology with unrelated characters. |
Dear Reader,
This book was part of the original “The Collection of Beginnings”, which was an anthology of the first three chapters of several novels that I had started but had yet to finish. I asked readers to go to my website and vote for the novel they would like to see completed, and NETHERWORLD was the top pick for the first month of voting. Therefore, I pushed another novel that I was planning on completing aside and finished NETHERWORLD instead. It’s time for Keller de Poyer’s (a secondary character in THE WHISPERING NIGHT) story to be told, and it’s a hell of a story.
That being said, this novel is dedicated to my wonderful readers who take the time and effort to read and voice opinions about my novels. Without you, none of this would be possible. I am deeply grateful to you all!
Thank you!
Love,
Kathryn
Table of Contents
”… but when a mountain foot I reach’d
The valley, that had pierc’d my heart with dread,
I looked aloft, and saw his shoulders broad,
And I entered into the Netherworld….”
~ Excerpt from Dante’s Inferno
PROLOGUE
October, Year of Our Lord 1197
Nether Castle, Powys, Wales
The blow to the jaw sent Gryffyn reeling.
Sprawled on the rough oak planks of the great hall, Gryffyn shook the stars from his eyes and looked up to see the big English knight moving in for another blow.
Keller had fists the size of a man’s head, but Gryffyn was fast. He managed to roll out of the way and leap to his feet although his balance was off and he ended up bashing into the corner of the hearth. But Keller was coming in for another blow and Gryffyn threw himself to his left, away from his sister’s enraged husband. He knew, by the look in the man’s eye, that he meant to kill him.
Gryffyn tried to lash out a fist at Keller, but the knight was just too fast and too strong. Keller grabbed Gryffyn’s fist, twisted, and ended up snapping his wrist. Gryffyn fell to his knees, screaming in pain as Keller stood over him in a huffing and furious stance. His dusky eyes were smoldering with fury.
“So you have been hiding here all along, waiting for the proper moment to strike,” Keller hissed. “You are a coward of a man, d’Einen - a wretched and vile coward. Now that I finally have you, I intend to do what should have been done long ago.”
Holding his wrist, Gryffyn glared at Keller with eyes as dark as obsidian. “If I am a coward, then you are a fool,” he growled. “You cannot stop me. Nether and everything in it belongs to me, including my sister!”
It was the wrong thing to say. Keller reached out and used his fist to hammer on Gryffyn’s broken wrist, sending the man into howls of pain. But Keller was immune to it. His focus was both deadly and intense as he watched Gryffyn squirm.
“She is my wife now and I swear, by all that is holy, that you shall never lay another hand on her again,” Keller rumbled. “I knew someone was beating her but she would not directly tell me who it was. For all of the pain and humiliation you have cast upon her, she still protected you. God knows why, but she did. How long was this going on before I came, d’Einen? How long have you been beating on helpless women to make you feel more like a man?”
Cradling his wrist against his chest, Gryffyn was in a world of hurt. “You bastard,” he grunted. “You come to my castle in all of your haughty, conquering glory and marry my sister because my weak and foolish father made a pact with the Devil.”
Keller’s eyes blazed. “William Marshal has nothing to do with you taking your fists to your sister.”
“You only married her to gain a castle. Do not act as if she means something to you!”
“It does not matter if she means something to me,” Keller was struggling not to wrap his hands around the man’s neck, although he knew, eventually, that it would come to that. It was just a feeling he had. “She is my wife and I will protect her. I will tell you this now, Gryffyn d’Einen, so there is no misunderstanding. If you so much as look at her in a hostile manner again, I will run you through. Make no mistake. If you touch her again, I will kill you.”
Gryffyn wasn’t used to being questioned or disciplined. He had always done as he pleased. Deep down, he was a spoiled little boy with a spoiled little mind. With a growl, he propelled himself off the floor and charged Keller with all of his furious might. Keller easily reached out a massive fist and caught Gryffyn on the side of the head, knocking the man silly. Gryffyn fell on his bad wrist, collapsed in a heap, and began to bellow.
Keller gazed at the man, not at all sorry for the pain and suffering he was feeling. Had Keller possessed any less self-control, the man would be wallowing in a pool of his own blood. He deserved all of the justified agony and more. In fact, Keller was purposely making the man suffer. He wanted him to feel the pain he had inflicted upon Chrystobel, and upon his family, for untold years. He wanted Gryffyn to feel the humiliation and hurt. As Gryffyn writhed in agony, Keller turned to his wife.
Chrystobel had managed to crawl over to the hearth and now sat propped up against the wall, her dark eyes wide with shock. Keller’s appearance at the most opportune time had been startling enough, but watching her husband pound her brother was a vision of violence and retribution that she never thought she would live to see. Gryffyn was finally subdued and Keller was the reason, protecting her as he had sworn to do. He was a man of his word, English or no. The realization was almost more than she could bear and she gazed at the man, seeing him through entirely new eyes.
This wasn’t the same knight she had met the day before, the man who had shown little to no warmth. That Keller de Poyer was an efficient, humorless man who, she was sure, had viewed her just as he viewed Nether Castle; as an acquisition. The big knight with the wide shoulders and enormous hands hadn’t treated her with anything more than polite respect until this moment in time. Having seen Gryffyn preparing to pounce on her was all Keller needed to unleash his fury against the man, as if Chrystobel meant something to him. As if he was protecting something dear. It had been a truly awesome sight to behold and she was still quite stunned by it all.
As his brother-in-law moaned on the floor several feet away, Keller had eyes only for Chrystobel. She was such a lovely creature. He’d known that from the moment he had first laid eyes on her. But the pain in his heart from a love lost had prevented him from seeing beyond his fear. Fear of feeling, fear of opening himself up again. Chrystobel was a beautiful angel he had never expected to know and now, he could feel himself relenting. He could feel himself warming, perhaps willing to open himself up again. The very moment he had saved her life was the moment he started to let himself feel something.
He crouched down beside her as she sat against the wall, his rugged face, worn by the years and the weather, creased with concern.