“I said you may leave.”
She curtseyed and scurried from the room. He watched her leave, admiring the view and wondering if she could alleviate his boredom better than the French whores could. The truth be told, he was bored with everything these days. Still a young man at his twenty-six years, he had toured Europe, seen his father die, and now stood as baron of a small village of idiots. Only one thing kept his amusement—his torment of the Camerons.
Joseph took the glass of wine again and had a deep drink of it. Standing before the mirror, he watched the scarred man pulling the Cameron trash out of the room. He turned his gaze back to his own reflection, turning his head this way and that.
“Tell me, my dear; do you think I’m losing my hair?”
An Opportunity for Resentment
By Jesse V Coffey
Chapter Excerpt
Lord Joseph stood over the ruined chair and gave a look of disgust at the boy’s body. “The Camerons, all alike. Stubborn to the end. It won’t carry them this time.”
He reached a hand out to the boy’s head and caressed the hair, running his fingers in it. “Yes, so stubborn,” he murmured to himself. “There was a time . . . long ago . . . when you and I . . . .”
The fist closed and he jerked the unconscious head backwards and sneered down into the face. He had to resist the urge to spit on it. “Untie the cretin, dump him in the streets. Let his dear papa tend to the family trash.” He released the head and turned away from the sight.
As his order was being carried out, Joseph approached the Vicar, “You have your articles. Keep them safer put away and this will not happen again.”
“You . . . you did that on purpose,” the vicar stammered. “You hate the Camerons. Why?”
Joseph smiled and the vicar was removed from the room. He fished out five gold coins from a dish on the table and slipped them into Sarah’s hand. “Thank you, my dear. That will be all. You may leave.”
“Oh, please, my lord—”