Shadow Raiders

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Sir Henry Wallace sat at his ease in his favorite chair-carved wood with a straight, rigid back and a worn rose-colored cushioned seat-in front of the fireplace in his bedroom. The servants had closed the heavy curtains that covered the mullioned windows and snuffed the candles and then quietly withdrawn, dismissed for the night. The fire provided the room’s only light. The flames glowed warmly on the burled walnut of the headboard of the bed in which his young wife lay sleeping. She was seven months pregnant with their first child.

His gaze lingered on her fondly. She lay on her side, her hand resting on her swollen belly. Her brown hair strayed out from the lace nightcap. She was small, and was almost lost in the bed with its huge, ornately carved headboard and heavy, fringed tapestry curtains. She was faintly smiling; her dreams were pleasant. Lady Anne was no great beauty. With her brown hair and large brown eyes, small form, shy demeanor, and thin, winsome face, she was considered dull and mousy. And, indeed, “Mouse,” was Henry’s pet name for her.

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