WOLFEBLADE
A Medieval Romance
By Kathryn Le Veque
De Wolfe Pack Generations
© Copyright 2021 by Kathryn Le Veque Novels, Inc.
Kindle Edition
Text by Kathryn Le Veque
Cover by Kim Killion
Edited by Scott Moreland
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All Rights Reserved.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
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Author’s Note
Welcome to Andreas’ story!
And… oh, boy!… what a story!
Now, something you may not have realized – Andreas is the second oldest de Wolfe/de Norville grandchild as Troy’s son. William “Will” de Wolfe, Scott’s eldest, is less than one year older. The boys were born close together and we’re going to find out why – at least in Andreas’ case. They were also born, in some cases, twenty years before their cousins. They were the EARLY grandchildren.
I was so excited to realize that Andreas’ story was going to be set back when William and Paris were still alive because he’s much older than the other de Wolfe Cubs who have had their stories told – Markus, Tor, and Cassius. Even though Andreas’ story is the fourth one of the series that I wrote, chronologically, he’s really the first because he’s so much older than the others.
I’ll take any chance I can get to write about William and Paris and Kieran again, so the prologue to this novel is going to be back in the midst of the original de Wolfe Pack. Such bliss! But I digress… the prologue is only the kick-off to a novel that’s really going to take you for a wild and unusual ride, so be prepared to be sucked into this one. The Helm of Shame makes an appearance. Or, as my husband calls it, the Ass Hat. Appropriate!
Now, back to Andreas. He’s essentially the strong, silent type. He’s got de Wolfe on one side and de Norville on the other, but he’s managed to inherit his grandmother Caladora’s quiet personality. He was named Andreas because de Norville males (and his maternal grandfather is Paris de Norville, William de Wolfe’s best friend) always have a Greek name – i.e. – Paris, Hector, Adonis, etc.), and his father, Troy, was named for Paris, so Troy and Helene simply carried on that tradition.
Andreas is actually a fairly common name in antiquity and even up through Georgian times. He has a nickname, as most de Wolfe Cubs seem to have – Dray. We’ve met Tor (Thomas) and Cass (Cassius) in the de Wolfe Cub series, so now we have Dray. When you realize how his name is pronounced, shortening it to “Dray” makes sense – an affectionate term within the family. Drè is actually the Flemish nickname for Andreas – I’m just spelling it phonetically.
I just want to make a mention here of Troy, Andreas’ father, and his mother, Helene. You, as the reader, are going to get some insight into how the two of them met, and they were “together” at a very young age, which kind of makes Troy’s story (DarkWolfe) all the more tragic. I specifically didn’t introduce Helene into this story because I didn’t want to create a greater sense of tragedy. If you got to “know” her, and bonded with her, then that would make her eventual ending more difficult to bear.
Something to note in the “Holdings and Titles of the House of de Wolfe” at the back of this book – you’ll note that this book takes place anywhere from ten to thirteen years before the first three books in the series, so the “holdings” list reflects the holdings as they were at that time. For example, WolfeSword hasn’t “happened” yet, so Cassius de Wolfe isn’t the Duke of Doncaster – yet.
This is a book with a LOT happening in it – lots of little details you’ll want to eat up. Frankly, the Scots borders are getting really crowded now because of so many de Wolfe Pack novels and, of course, everyone has to have his/her own castle. One of the castles that plays a prominent role in this story is a castle called The Hermitage, which is quite a famous place. There were legends (for real) that the family who owned the place was involved in witchcraft, among other things. I’ve (conveniently) used those legends for this story, and the family name and castle. The name, The Hermitage, derives from the old French l’armitage, which means guardhouse. In this book, the castle is referred to as Hell’s Guardhouse.
Good stuff!
What else can I say about this story? Huge highs and lows. There are some very low moments and some very laughable ones. This one is grittier and more brutal than any book I’ve written in the past couple of years, so it’s great to get back to my “battle roots”.
Now, the usual pronunciation guide:
Andreas – On-DRAY-us
Gavriella – Gah-vree-ELLE-uh. Basically, Gavriella with a “v” instead of a “b”
Theodis – THAY-uh-dis
I could go on and on, but I’ll stop here. You’ve
