CHAPTER EIGHT
Gareth walked with his brothers, Kendrick, Godfrey and Reece, and with his sister, Gwen, into the huge castle hall, packed with hundreds of the king’s men, who milled about in an agitated way. The small group of them were ushered through the crowd, as knights from all provinces of the Ring reached out to offer condolences as they went.
“We loved your father, sire,” said a knight to Gareth, a burly man he had never met. “He was a great king.”
Gareth did not know these men—and did not care to know them. He did not want their sympathy. It was a sympathy he did not share. Now that he had time to reflect on it, to let the reality of it sink in, he was glad his father was dead. His father had never held any love for him, and while the night before Gareth had initially been torn
