A Time of End Read online

  A TIME OF END

  A Medieval Romance

  By Kathryn Le Veque

  Book Four in the Executioner Knights Series

  © Copyright 2019 by Kathryn Le Veque Novels, Inc.

  Kindle Edition

  Text by Kathryn Le Veque

  Cover by Kim Killion

  Edited by Scott Moreland

  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

  The Centurion

  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.

  Alexander de Sherrington, the man affectionately referred to as “Sherry” by his friends, is off on the gre
atest adventure of his life… and his target is Lady Christin de Lohr.

  Lovely and vivacious, Christin is as headstrong as her mother but born with her father’s innate sense of politics. She fostered in the finest homes and proved herself to be smart, intuitive, and calm under pressure. Unbeknownst to her father, William Marshal recruited Christin into his network of spies and even as she serves a de Lohr ally, the House of de Winter, as a lady-in-waiting for Lady de Winter, she completes missions at The Marshal’s directive.

  Enter Alexander de Sherrington.

  He is intrigued with the beautiful new spy, and he and Christin are thrown together due to necessity. But Alexander soon realizes there is something very special about the daughter of Christopher de Lohr. As a romance blossoms, King John has his own plans for Christin – marrying her to his bastard son to undermine Christopher’s power.

  The only one who can stop the marriage is Christin herself.

  Join Alexander and Christin, Christopher and David, and the rest of The Marshal and de Lohr allies in this epic adventure of intrigue and romance that pushes the bonds of trust between allies. It’s Medieval Mayhem in 13th Century England!

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Kathryn Le Veque Novels

  About the Book

  Author’s Note

  Hic Finis Dat Deus (God Ends Here)

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Epilogue

  About Kathryn Le Veque

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  I’ve got to say… I love me some Sherry!

  Finally – his story is here. And his leading lady? None other than Christin de Lohr.

  This book is set between the last chapter and the epilogue for Starless, Book 3 in the Executioner Knights series, and what a story it is. The Executioner Knights series is growing by leaps and bounds, with so many awesome knights who are part of William Marshal’s spy ring. I originally wrote about the spy ring in the novel The Whispering Night, and then in Lord of the Shadows, so it’s been a lot of fun to expand on that particular aspect of England’s political underground.

  If you’re wondering why my original spy from The Whispering Night, Garren le Mon, isn’t in any of these books, the reason is simple – at the end of his story, he fled to France, so he’s over in Gascony while all of these adventures are going on.

  But back to the tale – for those of you keeping track of the de Winter aspect of this series as it ties into another novel, High Warrior, I have to explain something – we have two Daveigh de Winters. The first Daveigh was mentioned in the novel High Warrior, and I only mention this because the hero of that novel, Bric MacRohan, has also made appearances in the Executioner Knights series.

  Bric serves Daveigh de Winter of Narborough Castle, while Daveigh’s uncle, also Daveigh de Winter (and the brother of Daveigh’s father, Davyss de Winter the First) is the garrison commander at Norwich Castle and the father of Lady Delesse de Winter, who was mentioned in Godspeed as having broken Dashiell du Reims’ heart. We met Delesse, briefly, in The Mountain Dark, Book 2 in the Executioner Knights series. For those keeping track, Davyss de Winter – hero of Lespada – is the son of Grayson de Winter, half-brother of Daveigh de Winter of Narborough Castle. They both share the same father, Davyss I.

  Confusing, I know, but those de Winters really aren’t original when it comes to names. They’re all named after each other – Davyss, Hugh, Grayson, and Daveigh. That’s what you’ll see the most of. In fact, a heroine in the Reign of de Winter series even comments on it. You can actually find the House of de Winter family tree on my website.

  Back to the House of de Lohr – I’ve never fully outlined the children of Christopher and Dustin, but we know they had a bunch of them. The first time I gave a full accounting was in A Blessed de Lohr Christmas, so here it is again:

  The children of Christopher and Dustin:

  Peter (Christopher’s son with Lady Amanda)

  Christin

  Brielle

  Curtis

  Richard

  Myles

  Rebecca

  Douglas

  Westley

  Olivia Charlotte (the future Honey de Shera)

  Now, aside from the de Lohr family, lots going on in this story. William Marshal has spent the past few years in and out of England, mostly in Ireland, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that he and John were at odds, and also because some English lords were trying to take over his Irish properties. In this story, he’s only recently returned home again, back to serve John.

  Something else to note – this takes place about four years before Lord of the Shadows, and Sean de Lara once again plays a fairly major role in this book. I’ve loved writing the Executioner Knights series and one of the reasons is because we get to see Sean in action over the years and why he was called Lord of the Shadows. We also get to see some poignant scenes between Sean and his brother, Kevin.

  No pronunciation guides in this book because there are no odd names (surprising, I know!). Castles such as Norwich are real, but Lioncross is fictional. This is such a fun story, so enjoy it. I know I did!

  Hugs,

  HIC FINIS DAT DEUS (GOD ENDS HERE)

  Year of Our Lord 1211

  Ramsbury Castle

  Seat of the Duke of Savernake

  The target was on the move.

  This night was the culmination of intelligence, of rumors and whispers. A miasma of information had swirled for months like the fogs that often settled in during the winter – thick, like stew, masking the ingredients therein. It was the night when the information had finally become clear and spies from William Marshal’s stable would catch the double agent who had been carefully cultivated, lured into believing this was the night when all of France’s dreams would come true.

  William Marshal’s men had been clever. The agent was an English nobleman, one Lord Prescombe, with ties to the French king. He’d pretended to ally himself with William Marshal, offering his army and money to help the English king, John, regain his properties in Normandy. John had lost Normandy some time ago but had spent the past year building up money and ammunition in order to take an invasion force over the channel and gain back what he believed was rightfully his.

  But the French king, Philip, wanted those plans.

  To catch the French spy, this night of nights had been created.

  It was a feast that would live in legend for years to come. The Duke of Savernake, Edward de Vaston, was a great supporter of William Marshal and the host of the event. The Savernake army was one of the largest armies in Southern England with the exception of the Earl of Canterbury’s army. David de Lohr, the Earl of Canterbury, shared the distinction along with his brother, Christopher, of having one of the largest and best-equipped armies in all of England.

  Armies that William Marshal depended heavily upon.

  In fact, both Christopher and David de Lohr were at the great feast tonight, meant to celebrate the marriage of the heiress to the de Vaston dukedom, Lily, to a somewhat minor but wealthy nobleman named Clayton le Cairon. That was the premise, anyway. The truth was that Lily and Clayton had married the month before, so this celebration was conveniently late.

  But it h
ad been a perfect excuse for William Marshal to call together his network of spies in the hunt for the French spy. Along with Christopher and David de Lohr, other notable agents included Alexander de Sherrington, known as Sherry to his friends. If there was ever a perfect agent, Alexander was it. The man was the perfect combination of knightly skill, experience, and intelligence. He was also the most deadly assassin in The Marshal’s arsenal, a man who preferred to work alone but was no less comfortable leading a contingent, which he was now.

  A contingent of some of William’s finest agents.

  Also at the top of that contingent were Maxton of Loxbeare, Kress de Rhydian, and Achilles de Dere, the original Executioner Knights, men with great and vast reputations that had been established in The Levant with Richard’s Crusade. All three men had settled down and married since their return to England, and Achilles had brought his wife, Susanna, who had been an agent for William Marshal before marriage and motherhood had taken priority.

  Even as William looked over the enormous great hall of Ramsbury Castle, he found satisfaction in knowing Susanna was once again primed for action. She was one of his best. In fact, she was playing the proper wife even as her husband and his friends were pretending to become drunk. William saw Susanna remove Achilles’ drink on more than one occasion, which gave William a good laugh. Achilles was a big, fearsome knight, but it was clear who was in charge of that relationship.

  Along with Maxton, Kress, and Achilles was Dashiell du Reims, the commander of the army for the Duke of Savernake and an agent for William when he was needed. He sat at the same feasting table with the original Executioner Knights, and Susanna, along with Bric MacRohan, the commander for the Narborough Castle’s de Winter armies. Bric was Irish to the bone and one of the most frightening, most deadly men William had ever known.

  Another perfect assassin.

  The Marshal’s group rounded out with Sir Kevin de Lara, Sir Cullen de Nerra, and the eldest son of Christopher de Lohr, an outstanding young knight by the name of Sir Peter de Lohr. Peter came into the service of William Marshal a few years before and was already one of The Marshal’s best agents, much to his father’s distress. Peter was smart, cunning, talented, and deadly. But he wasn’t the most talented spy in the de Lohr family. That title went to Christopher’s eldest daughter, and Peter’s sister, Christin.