"Kiss the ring 'o Dame Sybyll Hanrahan, and help me put an end to the usurper's line!"
Sitting on the floor and struggling to take deep breaths, Sir Carwyn stared at the signet ring bearing the seal of the Hanrahan Barony, blinking several times in confusion. Dame Sybyll Hanrahan? When had the Hanrahans ever produced a woman who could be awarded the title of a knight? And she claimed to be Baron Ian Hanrahan's cousin?
But she was a vampire! How could a vampire be related in any way to one of the noble houses of the Kingdom of Gaal, much less the one he was pledged to serve?
Sybyll's demand left Carwyn stunned and confused but it drew exactly the opposite reaction from Hugo.
"No, you can't," Hugo said, scrambling around the dinner table to put himself between the vampire and the fallen knight. "Don't do this to him," Hugo said. "He, he's a good man who won't compromise his oaths. If you have a problem with my father, or a problem with me, then, then take it up with me."
