Noble Line of de Nerra
The Complete Set
By Kathryn Le Veque
© Copyright 2011, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Kathryn Le Veque
Kindle Edition
Text by Kathryn Le Veque
Reproduction of any kind except where it pertains to short quotes in relation to advertising or promotion is strictly prohibited.
All Rights Reserved.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
License Notes:
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook, once purchased, may not be re-sold. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it or borrow it, or it was not purchased for you and given as a gift for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. If this book was purchased on an unauthorized platform, then it is a pirated and/or unauthorized copy and violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Do not purchase or accept pirated copies. Thank you for respecting the author’s hard work.
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Kathryn Le Veque Novels
Medieval Romance:
De Wolfe Pack Series:
Warwolfe
The Wolfe
Nighthawk
ShadowWolfe
DarkWolfe
A Joyous de Wolfe Christmas
BlackWolfe
Serpent
A Wolfe Among Dragons
Scorpion
StormWolfe
Dark Destroyer
The Lion of the North
Walls of Babylon
The Best Is Yet To Be
The de Russe Legacy:
The Falls of Erith
Lord of War: Black Angel
The Iron Knight
Beast
The Dark One: Dark Knight
The White Lord of Wellesbourne
Dark Moon
Dark Steel
A de Russe Christmas Miracle
The de Lohr Dynasty:
While Angels Slept
Rise of the Defender
Steelheart
Shadowmoor
Silversword
Spectre of the Sword
Unending Love
Archangel
Lords of East Anglia:
While Angels Slept
Godspeed
Great Lords of le Bec:
Great Protector
House of de Royans:
Lord of Winter
To the Lady Born
Lords of Eire:
Echoes of Ancient Dreams
Blacksword
The Darkland
Ancient Kings of Anglecynn:
The Whispering Night
Netherworld
Battle Lords of de Velt:
The Dark Lord
Devil’s Dominion
Bay of Fear
The Dark Lord’s First Christmas
Reign of the House of de Winter:
Lespada
Swords and Shields
De Reyne Domination:
Guardian of Darkness
With Dreams
The Fallen One
House of d’Vant:
Tender is the Knight (House of d’Vant)
The Red Fury (House of d’Vant)
The Dragonblade Series:
Fragments of Grace
Dragonblade
Island of Glass
The Savage Curtain
The Fallen One
Great Marcher Lords of de Lara
Lord of the Shadows
Dragonblade
House of St. Hever
Fragments of Grace
Island of Glass
Queen of Lost Stars
Lords of Pembury:
The Savage Curtain
Lords of Thunder: The de Shera Brotherhood Trilogy
The Thunder Lord
The Thunder Warrior
The Thunder Knight
The Great Knights of de Moray:
Shield of Kronos
The Gorgon
The House of De Nerra:
The Promise
The Falls of Erith
Vestiges of Valor
Realm of Angels
Highland Warriors of Munro:
The Red Lion
Deep Into Darkness
The House of de Garr:
Lord of Light
Realm of Angels
Saxon Lords of Hage:
The Crusader
Kingdom Come
High Warriors of Rohan:
High Warrior
The House of Ashbourne:
Upon a Midnight Dream
The House of D’Aurilliac:
Valiant Chaos
The House of De Dere:
Of Love and Legend
St. John and de Gare Clans:
The Warrior Poet
The House of de Bretagne:
The Questing
The House of Summerlin:
The Legend
The Kingdom of Hendocia:
Kingdom by the Sea
The Executioner Knights:
By the Unholy Hand
The Promise (also Noble Knights of de Nerra)
The Mountain Dark
Starless
A Time of End
Contemporary Romance:
Kathlyn Trent/Marcus Burton Series:
Valley of the Shadow
The Eden Factor
Canyon of the Sphinx
The American Heroes Anthology Series:
The Lucius Robe
Fires of Autumn
Evenshade
Sea of Dreams
Purgatory
Other non-connected Contemporary Romance:
Lady of Heaven
Darkling, I Listen
In the Dreaming Hour
River’s End
The Fountain
Sons of Poseidon:
The Immortal Sea
Pirates of Britannia Series (with Eliza Knight):
Savage of the Sea by Eliza Knight
Leader of Titans by Kathryn Le Veque
The Sea Devil by Eliza Knight
Sea Wolfe by Kathryn Le Veque
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. You will notice that some series have the same books; that is because they are cross-overs. A hero in one book may be the secondary character in another.
There is NO reading order except by chronology, but even in that case, you can still read the books as stand-alones. No novel is connected to another by a cliff hanger, and every book has an HEA.
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.
For more information, find it in A Reader’s Guide to the Medieval World of Le Veque.
Contents
The Promise
The Falls of Erith
Vestiges of Valor
Realm of Angels
THE PROMISE
A Medieval Romance
By Kathryn Le Veque
Author’s Note
I can hardly believe this book is really here!
If you like old-school Le Veque, then this story is for you. My editor went ga-ga for it. I think this book was about the fifth or sixth full-length novel I ever wrote, all those years ago, but in the chronology of actually publishing it, it’s my ninety-fifth. That’s right – 95! The original title of this story was, in fact, The Promise, but I changed it to Always Faithful at one point for a very good reason – my hero was modeled after my then-boyfriend and he was a Marine. This was a very long time ago, of course, and at the time, the hero’s name was the name of my significant other.
Odd how we remember relationships from so long ago – I remember writing this book as I was entrenched in a very passionate and turbulent love affair (turbulent from my own immaturity), and so much of this book kind of follows those highs and lows in many ways. In hindsight, the Marine was far too good for me, but my memories of him are still fond. In a sense, this book is a tribute to what once was – an intense love affair from long ago that flamed out spectacularly, and one that I have never forgotten.
But I digress. This book, in fact, was written so long ago that the only copy of it I had was on various floppy discs. When those discs degraded, I thought I’d lost the story forever and, in fact, had tried to have those files retrieved before, but not until 2018 was technology such that I was actually able to retrieve about two-thirds of the book. You can imagine how excited I was.
So, I’ve been so thrilled to be able to bring this book back to life. The name of the hero changed (mostly because I already have a hero of that same name), but also because I very much wanted to give Cullen de Nerra his own story and this one suited him so well. I updated it, edited it, filled in the holes that were missing, and it became bigger and better than what it was originally, I feel.
Chronologically, this book takes place eight years after By the Unholy Hand, where you first met the hero, Cullen. He also makes a brief appearance in Realm of Angels as the third son of Val de Nerra (Vestiges of Valor). I loved Cullen so much in By the Unholy Hand and Realm of Angels that I made him the hero for this book because I wanted to tie in to the Executioner Knights somehow. I also managed to work in one of my favorite characters, Sean de Lara (Lord of the Shadows). Sean yet again makes an appearance as a secondary character in a novel but, in this case, the timing and location were perfect. Once again, the Lord of the Shadows is part of the cast, entrenched as a spy in King John’s entourage.
However – because I thought the original book would never see the light of day, be advised that you may see a glimpse of some familiar tropes in this book, storylines and subjects that I used in other novels. I thought long and hard about changing one particular element in this story, but ultimately decided to keep it because it was important to the overall tale. It’s only one element out of a story that, as a whole, is much different from any other story I’ve written so, in that context, I am comfortable keeping it and I think you’ll understand why. I won’t mention what the trope is to see if you can, in fact, figure it out. But if you’ve read most or all of my books, you may get a hint of déjà vu.
Overall, I felt it was very important to present this story as it was meant to be presented and not change too much of it. It has survived over twenty-five years on a floppy, so as a tribute to that long life in the darkness, I tried to keep it as intact as possible and only updated it where necessary. Think of it as an old, historic home – the bones are gorgeous, the detail is grand, but sometimes those things just need a little updating to make it shine again.
But something to note – and this is a big one. There are also some fairly shocking undertones in this novel – again, I’ve not changed very much of the original themes – back from a time when such issues weren’t as discussed or in the forefront as they are now. I shall be blunt – there is a deviant or two in this novel, so be prepared for some unsavory situations.
There is also a brief scene that could be considered an attempted assault. Be forewarned – it’s brief, but it’s there. But please consider the context of the time period – back then, many things that we consider brutal or repulsive today were not considered that way, and the particular scene I mention is not gratuitous. It is a pivotal scene in the book and absolutely necessary as the catalyst for the entire rest of the story, so I left it in but I toned it down. Believe it or not, it was worse as originally written. It is a scene that is an honest portrait of a far less civilized time.
The usual pronunciation guide and the “real” locations versus the “fictional” locations:
Teodora – TAY-uh-dora
Quellargate – KELLER-gate (fictional)
Cerenbeau – SAREN-bo (fictional)
Rockingham Castle – Real
Geddington Castle – Fictional
Blackthorn Forest – Fictional
Fermyn Wood – Real
Villages of Corby, Isham, Weekley, etc. – Real
Rodstone House – Fictional
Farringdon House – Fictional
Westminster Palace – Real
William Marshal – Real
Sean (Shawn) de Lara – Fictional (darn it!)
Everybody else – Fictional
What else can I say about this that I haven’t already said? Sit back, buckle up, and enjoy the ride. I truly, truly hope you do.
Love,
Dedication
I don’t normally do dedications because, with so many books, I’d soon run out of people and things to dedicate it to, but in this case, I am going to dedicate this book to everyone who has had that one love affair that has made them feel passion and excitement they’ve never felt before.
When hearing that person’s name or seeing their face makes you feel as if you are walking on air. We’ve all been there.
And if we’re lucky enough, we hold on to it. If not, we hope that lightning strikes twice and we experience it more than once.
Thank you, KBR, for making me feel it the first time even though I couldn’t hold on to it, but that’s okay – it made me recognize how to hold on to it the second time.
De Nerra Family Motto
Ante mortem animo
(Courage before Death)
PART ONE
SIC INSIPIT (SO IT BEGINS)
PROLOGUE
Year of our Lord 1206 A.D.
Caversham Manor, Berkshire
A demesne of William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke
“Cullen, I am sure you realize that you are not going to Wales with the others.”
“I have assumed as much, my lord.”
“I have something very special planned for you.”
“My lord?”
In the rather bright and well-appointed solar of William Marshal’s favored country property, an enormous knight with blonde hair and dark eyes faced off against a man who was in the latter years of his life.
William Marshal was, in fact, that man.
Tall, with a body that had seen years of battle and conditioning, his yellow-tinged eyes told the story of everything he’d seen in his lifetime. So much warfare, so much hatred, and far too many politics. But like any old war dog or politician, he would never surrender his vocation. It was all he knew. Hence, the strong, young knight standing in his solar.
He had plans for the man.
“As you know, our king has trouble nearly everywhere he looks,” he said. “In Wales, in Scotland, in France, and particularly at home. You know this, Cullen; you helped quell the plot to assassinate him a few years ago.”
“I was a very minor player, my lord.”
William held up a hand. “Nonetheless, you were part of it,” he said. “Even the pope plotted to kill our king and you were part of the contingent that prevented it. The man has more enemies than he can
effectively defend against and fewer allies by the day.”
“Has something more happened, my lord?”
William looked at the knight. Sir Cullen de Nerra was the third son of the High Sheriff of Hampshire, a very powerful man who wielded a great deal of power in the court of the king. Sir Valor de Nerra hated the king, just like most everyone else in England did. But Valor found him a necessary figurehead because to remove him would be to throw England into chaos. John’s only heir was a child so, at least for the time being, they needed the one king they did have, even if he was a troublemaker.
And that was putting it mildly.
William had been involved in the politics of England for fifty years. He’d known kings and kings, and he’d fought for one or all of them at varying times, but he’d never known a more difficult reign. He had knights who served him, men he placed with strategic lords, a network of spies he used to control the winds of politics as best he could.
For de Nerra, he had a particular role in mind even though most of the armies that served The Marshal were heading north because of the current dispute between the Scottish king and John. Cullen expected to be part of that army, because he was first and foremost a seasoned battle knight. But in this case, William needed him elsewhere. He had enough swords; what he didn’t have enough of was competent thinking men.
Cullen had that gift.
“The Earl of Barklestone,” he finally said. “Do you know him?”
Cullen nodded. “Preston de Lacy,” he said. “The last de Lacy of that branch of the family, an extremely powerful man with a big army. He is lord and master over Quellargate Castle in Lincolnshire.”
“He is also one of the major players in a resurgence of rebellion against the king.”
“So I have heard.”
William’s gaze lingered on the man. He was the biggest de Nerra son, born and bred for battle, and William knew that he’d been aching to have his own command for quite some time. Cullen was obedient and followed commands flawlessly, but there was something burning behind those dark eyes that suggested he was hungry for more. More glory, more control, more of everything that would bring him the glory he wanted.