Page 128 of The Champion

Stryder truly didn’t understand the man’s reasoning or his unwarranted hatred. “And you hate me because of that?”

“I hate you for many reasons.”

“Yet you send me your child to raise?”

Damien tightened his grip on the chair. “I will see you duly compensated for all his expenses.”

“I don’t want your money, Damien. Nor do I need it. I only want you to leave the boy alone and not toy with his emotions or his mind.”

“Have no fear there. I will stay completely out of his life. Tell him his uncle died. It’s all he needs know.”

Stryder nodded. “I just have one last question.”

“And that is?”

“How much do I send to Fatima’s master to buy her freedom?”

Damien cocked his head.

“It’s how I knew it was you, Damien. Besides the medallion the boy carried, there was also the matter of his appearance here from Outremer. It would take someone very important to get the two of them to England without harm. You should be more careful.”

Damien didn’t acknowledge his warning in the least. “Why are you keeping Fatima?”

“Because Alexander loves her and he needs someone around him he knows. You, of all men, must understand what it feels like to be a stranger in a foreign land, where no one understands you when you speak and you have nothing but strangers around you.”

Damien looked away. “I will take care of her master.”

Stryder nodded, then turned to leave.

“Wait.”

Stryder watched as Damien left him and went to his bed chambers. A few moments later, he came back with a carved, wooden knight the size of a man’s palm and handed it to Stryder.

“Tell Alexander that Edward has missed him.”

Stryder frowned at the toy and Damien’s vague message.

This time when he turned to leave, Damien grabbed his arm fiercely and held him in place. “Don’t raise him to be the fool I was, Stryder. You make him grow up to be a decent man.”

Damien released him and strode back to his bedroom without another glance in his direction.

The double doors echoed ominously before Stryder heard them lock.

Now that was an interesting encounter...

Stryder still didn’t know why Damien had sent Alexander to him, nor why it was so important to him that Stryder keep the child and raise him.

Sighing over the oddness of it all, he left the room and made his way to the kitchens.

Rowena stood off the side while Swan played with Alexander. For a man who said he wanted nothing to do with children, it hadn’t taken him long to become friendly with the boy.

“All right, Alexander,” he said as Alexander held up two celery stalks. “Here comes the fireball from the trebuchet.” Swan held an extra-large radish in his hand, spinning it as it fell toward the celery stalks and Swan made noises simulating fire and flying arrow sounds. Not to mention the sound of men crying out for help from the falling radish, or rather “fireball.”

Alexander laughed as Swan knocked the celery stalks over.

“Oh, my head!” Swan picked one celery stalk up and trotted it over the tabletop like a man limping. “It’s on fire! Ow, ow, ow!”

Alexander laughed harder.