Settling into her chair by the fire, she stared at the flickering flames. It had not always been so. Once she’d been filled with hopes and dreams of happiness. Her marriage had been arranged by her father, as was to be expected, for marriage was a serious affair of alliances and wealth. Alicia had not seen her husband Reys, Baron Warran, Lord of Hawkspoint, until her family and their entourage had arrived at Hawkspoint Abbey for the signing of the wedding documents and the blessing of the union by the church.
Alicia rubbed her fingers over the gold band that adorned her left hand, a symbol of her authority here. The weight of it was as heavy as the responsibilities that lay on her shoulders. Hawkspoint was a small, but self-sufficient estate. The land was fertile and good for farming and
