WolfeLord by Kathryn Le Veque

CHAPTER ELEVEN

He’d spent almost an hour with her.

Scott and Tarraby, whom he knew because the man had served at Castle Questing before he went to Carlisle, spent nearly an hour with Lily. They listened, poked, prodded, and asked questions. Lots of questions, mostly from Scott to Lily, who hadn’t wavered in any of her answers.

And that was concerning.

It was like putting the pieces of a puzzle together. Scott had conferred with Tarraby before they went to examine Lily and Tarraby had been precise in his assessment. In fact, Scott had been impressed with the man’s scope of knowledge, something he’d been acquainted with before, but not to this degree. As he’d told his mother, a pregnant woman was much different from a wounded soldier or a sickly man. It was specialized, something almost always attended to by other women. Midwives had the market cornered on pregnant women, so a male physic was rather unusual.

But this was an unusual case.

The more Scott heard and the more he saw, the more he disliked. He couldn’t contradict any conclusion Tarraby had come to, for he was seeing the signs, too. Most alarmingly, Lily’s pulse was rapid and weak, which could signal internal bleeding. She was cold to the touch on a day that was quite mild. It was the little things that led him to believe that Tarraby was correct in that she had done irreparable damage when she’d fallen in the mud.

And then, there was the child himself.

Tarraby had examined Lily every day since his initial diagnosis and he mentioned to Scott that he believed the child was weakening, too. The movements were becoming less powerful with the child and even Lily had commented that he seemed to be slowing down. That frightened her and they didn’t want her to be frightened, but she’d already made the decision that Tarraby was going to cut the child out of her body in the next few days. She was ticking the days off as they came. Her fear was that she couldn’t wait too much longer to save her child.

That was Tarraby’s fear, too.

But he would let Scott tell his son that.

Jordan had been in the chamber the entire time that Tarraby and Scott were examining Lily. She held Lily’s hand as the two men pored over her, trying to determine if she really was facing such a terrible situation. Jordan was comforting and reassuring, but every so often, Scott would look at her and she could see from his expression that the situation was dire.

Still, Jordan smiled at Lily and spoke of her own experience with pregnancy, nine times, speaking of the joys of it and the aches and pains. It was chatter to distract Lily from what Scott and Tarraby were doing and when they were finished, Jordan kissed Lily’s hand and let it go.

“Now,” she said. “I’ll chase the men out and ye can have a rest for a few minutes while I go tae the kitchens and find ye something tae eat.”

“You don’t have to,” Lily said, laying back on her pillows and looking weary. “Truly, I do not eat much these days. You do not have to feed me.”

“Of course I have tae feed ye,” Jordan said, sounding as if she were scolding. “No wonder ye’re tired and the bairn is sluggish. If ye dunna eat, how are ye supposed take keep up yer strength?”

Lily didn’t really have an answer for her and Jordan’s mothering manner essentially had her whipped into submission. But she was grateful for it. Leaving Lily lying in bed, Jordan followed Scott and Tarraby out of the chamber and down the stairs.

Will was waiting in the small hall below. Sitting at one of the feasting tables, he had his head down, looking at his hands, but when he heard the footsteps, he looked up to see them coming from the stairwell.

“Well?” he asked his father, standing up. “What did you find?”

Scott indicated the seat Will had been sitting in. “Sit down,” he said. “I’ll send your grandmother for food for Lily while you and I speak.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Jordan said, moving to plant herself next to Will. “I saw what ye were doing and I saw the look on yer face. Ye have something tae say and I want tae hear it.”

Scott eyed his mother, resigning himself to the fact that he couldn’t get rid of her, so he sat down opposite his son. Tarraby sat down beside him.

For a moment, he simply looked at Will, trying to find the words.

“You were right to call me,” he finally said. “Before I examined Lily, I spoke with Tarraby at length so I knew why he’d come to his diagnosis. I wanted to see the same things he did so I could understand his reasoning.”

“And did you?”

Scott hesitated a moment before nodding. “I did,” he said with some sorrow. “My expertise is not in women, Will. I can only observe and use my knowledge to make a diagnosis but, in this case, it was difficult. The problem is that we cannot see into Lily’s belly to see what is really happening. All I can tell you is that I have listened to Tarraby and I have understood the symptoms. I can also tell you that Lily’s heartbeat is fast and weak, and the fact that she is cold to the touch is indicative of a weakness of blood.”

Will was listening intently. “What does that mean, weakness of blood?”

“It means that she is bleeding somewhere that we cannot see.”

“You know that for certain?”

“I have seen it before with wounded men. Tarraby also says that he believes Lily is growing weaker as well. Have you noticed that?”

Will shrugged helplessly. “I do not know,” he said. “She has been sleeping a good deal. I suppose I didn’t stop to realize that it meant she was growing weaker, but she must be.”

“That is what Tarraby thinks.”

Will let that sink in. His father seemed to be confirming Tarraby’s diagnosis and he felt sick to his stomach. There was a large part of him that was hoping Tarraby was wrong, but with Scott confirming the diagnosis, it was evident that Tarraby had been right all along. After a moment, he hung his head.

“Then Tarraby was right,” he said. “She has mortally injured herself.”

Scott nodded. “I believe so,” he said. “I am so sorry, Will. Something like this… it is so unexpected.”

“And there is nothing to be done?”

Scott looked at Tarraby, who shook his head. “Nay,” Scott said. “I would not even know where to start. She’s bleeding inside her womb and there is no way to save both her and the child.”

“But we can save one of them,” Will said hoarsely.

“What do you mean?”

He lifted his gaze, looking at his father. “She wants to save the baby, Papa,” he said. “Tarraby said that it is possible to take the child from her. It will not save Lily, but it may save the baby. Now that you’ve seen Lily, do you agree that we could save the child?”

Scott wasn’t sure. He’d never seen it done. After a moment, he simply shook his head. “I do not know,” he said honestly. “If Tarraby seems to think so, then I will trust him.”

Will was feeling such sorrow. Deep, saddening sorrow. There had been hope when his father had arrived, but that hope was gone.

He looked at Tarraby.

“Tell me what is involved in taking the child,” he said, trying to be brave and rational. “And why can you not save Lily in the process? I do not understand why.”

Tarraby could see that all eyes were on him, family members of the young woman with the death sentence hanging over her head. He tried to be as careful as possible when describing what had to happen in order to save the child.

“Right now, Lady de Wolfe is bleeding into her womb,” he said, using his hands to illustrate what was happening. “The nourishment sack has created an open wound that is bleeding. When I cut into her belly to remove the child, all of that blood will escape and more besides. She will bleed far too much before I am able to sew her back up again. There will simply be too much blood loss and no way to replace any of it.”

Will sighed heavily as he got a mental picture of what Tarraby was describing. “Does it matter where you cut into her?” he asked. “Mayhap if you cut on the top of her belly, the blood will not have a chance to escape.”

He was gesturing to the top of his abdomen area, but Tarraby shook his head. “All of the blood in her belly has nowhere to go,” he said. “It cannot go back into the body. If we leave it there, it will simply drain out another way when she is no longer pregnant and the womb no longer closed off. I wish there was another answer to this, but there is not. I am very sorry, my lord.”

“Can we not drain it out and put it back into her somehow?”

Both Tarraby and Scott shook their heads. “I would not know how,” Tarraby said. “It cannot be done.”

Will stared at them a moment before lowering his head again. He’d asked the same questions he’d asked before and was getting the same answers. Nothing had changed. That meant there were no alternatives, but that didn’t stop him from asking one last time.

“And you are certain?” he whispered.

“Aye, my lord.”

“Do you feel the child is in danger the longer we wait?”

“Most definitely, my lord. Already, he is slowing.”

Will grunted softly, closing his eyes briefly. Then, he looked at his hands for quite some time, contemplating what needed to be done, before speaking again. “We must try to save him sooner rather than later,” he said. “But I want to make sure that Lily does not feel any pain when you cut into her belly. Can you make it so?”

Scott could hear the anguish in his voice and it was a struggle not to react. “We have nothing to give her that will take the pain away if that is what you are asking,” he said. “We have nothing to make her go to sleep while the deed is done.”

Will looked at him. “Then just how do you propose to accomplish this?” he asked, growing agitated. “Do you just cut into her while we hold her down and she screams in pain until she bleeds to death in front of us?”

Scott watched his son wrestle with the horror of what he was facing. “A sharp blow to the head will knock her unconscious,” he said. “Do it hard enough and she will remain unconscious until the end. I am sorry I cannot offer anything better than that, but that is the truth of it.”

Will grunted at that brutal solution, raking an agitated hand through his hair. “That is better than letting her bite on a leather strap as Tarraby cuts into her,” he said, upset. “I do not want her to feel anything.”

Jordan, who had been watching the exchange, could see how it had the potential to go badly. Will was growing upset and rightfully so. Reaching out, she put a gentle hand on his wrist.

“Ye’ll knock her out yerself,” she said quietly. “Dunna trust the job to any other man. In fact, dunna tell her what ye plan. Dunna tell her what day. Let her believe she is in control of her destiny when, in fact, it will be ye. ’Tis the merciful thing tae do, lad.”

Will looked at her. “What do you mean, Matha?”

Mathawas what all the de Wolfe grandchildren called Jordan. It meant “mother” in Gaelic and Will had been the first one to use the term. Now, he was using that term in a way that made Jordan feel like protecting him. There was anguish in his tone. She wanted to wrap that enormous man up in her arms and protect him, but she knew she couldn’t. Therefore, she forced a smile at her eldest grandchild who looked like her husband through the eyes, his father through the cheeks, and his mother in the mouth. He was the best of all of them, now having to go through what no man should have to go through.

But he was strong enough.

She knew that without a doubt.

“Lily believes she has several more days until this is tae happen,” she said calmly and quietly. “Can ye imagine knowing that ye only had a handful of days tae live? The closer she comes tae the end, the more upset she’ll be. Ye heard yer da and Tarraby tell ye that the child is growing weaker. If ye want tae save him, then ye canna wait much longer. Pick the day, Will. Mayhap in two days, mayhap in three. Dunna tell Lily. Let her enjoy the day. Take her out of the keep and intae the fields. Let her feel the grass and smell the air. Let her watch Atticus run and play. Let her feel alive one last time. Then bring her back and while her attention is elsewhere, hit her across the back of the head with the butt of yer sword. And that will be the end of it. Let her last memory be one of a beautiful day and of her frolicking child. If that was my last day on earth, ’twould make me happy.”

Tears were streaming down Will’s face by the time she was finished because he knew she was right. He didn’t want Lily being in distress when her self-imposed deadline came. That meant he had to make the decision for her, sooner rather than later.

That meant he had to help ease his wife into the next world.

“Oh, God, Matha,” he said, putting his face in his hands. “Has it come to this? If this was happening to you, would Poppy have the courage to do it?”

Jordan smiled faintly. “There’s more tae marriage than children and politics,” she said. “There’s real love. There’s a love for Lily, as yer wife, as a mortal woman, as someone ye respect and value. If ye love Lily, then ye’ll do it. Ye must help end her suffering.”

Will almost said something, but he bit his tongue. No, he didn’t love Lily the way a husband should love a wife, but he wasn’t going to voice that, at least not to all of them. In the end, it really didn’t matter. But as a friend, he did love her. As a human being, he respected her. She was the mother of his children.

He didn’t want to see her suffer.

“If you think it is the right thing to do,” he said hoarsely, wiping at his cheeks. “I think if she knew our reasoning, she would agree with it. She’s stronger than you know.”

Jordan reached up, wiping an errant tear from his face. “I know she is,” she said softly. “And so are ye.”

“I don’t feel so strong.”

“Ye are,” Jordan said, patting his cheek. With nothing more to say, at least nothing more she could say, she stood up stiffly. “Now, I’m going tae go tae the kitchens and find her something tae eat. And then I’m going tae sit with her for a while.”

With Will’s help, she climbed over the bench and headed out of the keep. Will sat there with his father and Tarraby, thinking of what lay ahead. After a moment, he looked over at Tarraby.

“Thank you for your assistance,” he said. “Know that I am grateful. But I would like to speak to my father alone now.”

Tarraby immediately rose and moved quickly out of the hall. When Will and Scott were alone, Will looked over at his father.

“Thank you for coming, Papa,” he said softly. “Thank you for confirming what Tarraby believes. I know it is not easy for you.”

Scott forced a smile. “Don’t worry about me,” he said. “But, Will… I’ve been through a dead wife before. I did not behave nobly when your mother died. I realize you were fostering at the time and didn’t know all of it, but you do know I ran. I ran away from everything and everyone I knew. I could not deal with what had happened, something I blamed myself for.”

Will nodded. “I remember,” he said. “I was young at the time. I remember thinking that you did not want to be my father anymore.”

A look of pain washed over Scott’s face. “Never,” he said. “You and your siblings are my greatest pride. But I was certain I could have prevented your mother’s accident and, in the end, I simply couldn’t live with the guilt. It had nothing to do with you or your brother or my family. It had everything to do with me and my inability to handle the grief. Now… now, you are faced with something unimaginable. You must save your wife, but in a much different way. But know this… if you want me to be the one to knock her unconscious, I will gladly do it for you. That way, your hands are clean in all of this. You can look your children in the eyes and know that you had no hand in their mother’s death.”

Will looked at his father in shock. “You… you would do that for me?”

Scott nodded, his brow creased with distress. “Of course I would.”

“But why? This is not your duty, Papa.”

“I realize that,” Scott said. “But I spent so many years running from your mother’s death… and you were caught up in my behavior. I wronged you so terribly, Will. You were grieving the loss of your mother and the loss of your father at the same time, and I have always regretted that horribly. To say I am sorry is not enough. Let me do something for you when it comes to Lily. Let me help take that burden off of you.”

Will could see that Lily’s condition had stirred up the embers of grief in his father all over again. Since Scott had reconciled himself to Athena’s death, which was several years after she had died, they’d not spoken of that event. It was one of those subjects to be avoided because of the dark and terrible memories it provoked. And now, Will could see that the fire of grief was starting to flare again in his father, just a little. Reaching out, he grasped the man’s hands and held them tightly.

“Those were difficult years, to be sure,” he said, looking his father in the eyes. “But no one ever blamed you. I never blamed you. You have nothing to atone for, though I love you dearly for wanting to help me. That means more to me than you will ever know.”

Scott was emotional; that much was clear. He smiled weakly. “I want you to know that the offer remains until such time as it is no longer needed,” he said. “I am so sorry you must endure losing a wife, as I did. It does not seem fair.”

Will sighed heavily. “Nay, it does not,” he said. “But… Papa, I want to tell you something I’ve never told you before. I’ve not spoken of it, not ever, but I feel as if I should tell you so you know the situation for what it is.”

“Speak. I am listening.”

Will was still holding his father’s hands tightly when he lowered his head, struggling to come forth with the words.

“I cannot tell Matha this,” he finally said. “To help Lily… to ease her into the next life… is not because I have a great love for her, as my wife.”

Scott looked at him with some concern. “What do you mean?”

Will sighed sharply. “Papa, you know that Chris de Lohr all but tied me up and forced me to marry her,” he said, looking at the man beseechingly. “You know that the moment I showed any interest in her, he was hounding me for a betrothal. I told you that. I am not saying that Chris is a terrible man, because he’s not. I like him a great deal, but he wanted his daughter married to a de Wolfe no matter how Lily or I felt about it and the next thing I knew, I had a wife. There was no time for me to think about it and there was no time for me to fall in love with the woman. Suddenly, we were married and that was the end of it.”

Scott knew that. He knew it all too well. “Marriages are not always love matches,” he said. “You are surrounded by love matches, however, so that is what you know. You think that’s normal. But it isn’t always normal. Your marriage is an excellent one, bringing two major houses together. It is very important.”

Will nodded, struggling through the conversation. “I know that,” he said. “But Lily and I are friends. That’s all we are. I love her, but only as a friend and as the mother of my children. There is no great love match here, Papa. Matha says that if I love her, I will do this… this thing to ease her suffering when the time comes and I shall do it because it is the right thing to do. Not because she is the love of my life and I do this because of my great passion for her. My biggest guilt in all of this is that Lily is dying because of the child I planted within her and I cannot even say I am madly in love with the woman. It wasn’t a child conceived in love and that just makes it so much worse. That makes me a horrible man.”

Scott shook his head as he squeezed his son’s hands. “It makes you merciful and generous,” he said. “It makes you a man among men.”

Will refused to accept that opinion. “You must say that because you are my father,” he said. “But know that Lily and I have never had a love match. She has spent her entire adult life trapped in a marriage with a man she does not love and who does not love her in return. That is no life at all, Papa. It is my fault.”

Scott sighed faintly, watching his son go through the throes of guilt. He remembered those well when Athena died, but for much different reasons. He also remembered his father, among others, telling him that he had no right to feel guilty because the situation wasn’t his fault. He never believed them. Therefore, he knew it would do no good to tell Will that none of this was his doing.

All he could do was to try and soften the blow.

“I will not tell you not to feel as you do,” he said after a moment. “I will not tell you that you should not feel as if you are responsible for the state of your marriage, but I will say this. You made the best of it. You never disrespected your wife or this marriage, to my knowledge. You remained true to her no matter what you felt personally, and that makes you more noble than most, Will. That is something to be proud of.”

Will lifted his head, looking at his hands as they intertwined with his father’s. “Do you want to hear something truly noble?” he said weakly. “Lily is determined to ensure I am happy after she is gone. She feels as guilty as I do about the state of our marriage, so she has selected my new wife. I have tried to refuse, but she is insistent. She wants someone who will be good to me and who will love my children. She says she must know I am taken care of when she is gone.”

Scott looked at him, brow furrowed. “Who is this woman she has selected?”

“Lady Adria.”

That brought some surprise from Scott. “Her lady-in-waiting?”

“The same.”

Scott mulled that over. “I seem to remember that she is quite pretty,” he said. “I think Matha has said that Lady Adria has been a true and faithful companion to Lily, though you would know more about that than I would.”

“She has been faithful and true,” Will said. “She is all of those things. She is a good woman. And… truth be told, if I were not married and never had been married, and I had just met Adria, I might very well pursue her.”

There was a hint in that statement. “But you feel that there is too much history with her? Being close to Lily as she is?”

Will lifted his shoulders. “I do not know,” he said. “She is beautiful and kind, she loves my children, and she is quite faithful and resourceful. She has many good qualities that I have seen over the years.”

“Then if it is what Lily wishes, what is the problem?”

Will looked at him. “That I might find happiness with Adria when I could not find it with Lily?” he said, more of a question than a statement. “That I could not love my wife, but that I could love a woman who was by her side through every hardship and every joy? Those concerns come to mind and the guilt is overwhelming. All I know is that I do not want to be forced into another marriage. That did not go well the first time.”

Scott’s gaze lingered over the man for a moment, trying to figure out where all of this guilt was really coming from. He was coming to the conclusion that it was too much for Will to adequately handle – a dying wife, a dying child, and now being told that he had to marry again immediately after his wife’s death. It was more than the man could take.

But he also knew that Will was a strong man.

He was going to have to draw on that strength.

“Then you have a decision to make,” he said, quietly but firmly. “Either you respect Lily’s wish so that she can die happy and you follow through, or you lie to her and tell her you will and then forget about it when she’s gone.”

Will drew in a long, contemplative breath. “Is it better to lie to her and tell her what she wants to hear? Or is it better to actually do what she wants?”

“That is up to you,” Scott said. “Could you live with yourself if you lied to her?”

Will shook his head slowly. “Nay.”

“And could you live with yourself if you denied her dying wish?”

“Nay.”

“Then you have your answer,” Scott said quietly. “Does Lady Adria know of this request?”

“She does.”

“How does she feel about it?”

“She seems to be more hesitant than I am, but at least she is not running away.”

Scott scratched his head, thinking. “Then mayhap you should spend some time with the woman so you can both figure it out,” he said. “That would be my advice.”

Will simply nodded, giving his father’s hands a final squeeze before letting them go. “Thank you, Papa,” he said. “For your advice, for your skill… thank you.”

Scott smiled wearily. “That is what a father is for,” he said. “Now, I think I would like settle down in my chamber and mayhap even take a rest. We rode hard to get here.”

“Of course,” Will said, standing up. “I will have a servant take you to your bed. I suspect Matha may want to sleep in Lily’s chamber.”

“I am sure she will.”

“Lily will be happy to hear that,” Will said. “And before I forget, Lady Adria’s father is here, also. He is staying in the knights’ quarters where you’ll be housed.”

Scott cocked his head curiously. “Who is her father?”

“Lord Alcester,” he said. “He came to visit, although I do not really know why, but it is not my business. I suppose he missed his daughter, but he came at a very bad time.”

Scott cocked an eyebrow. “Mayhap not so bad,” he said. “Mayhap it is fortuitous if you must ask the man for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Do you know him well?”

Will thought of the conversation he and Adria had earlier about Gar and his ignoble manner. A gambler, a man out to find his daughter a rich husband. A man his daughter was clearly embarrassed about. He lifted his shoulders weakly.

“A little,” he said. “I just wanted to tell you should you see the man and wonder who he is.”

“And so you have. Does he know what is going on with Lily?”

“I’ve not told him and I doubt Lady Adria has,” Will said. “Other than you, Matha, Tarraby, Lily, Adria, and me, no one knows. But I also sent a missive to Chris when I first found out. I knew he would want to know.”

Scott nodded. “Of course he will,” he said. “I feel for the man, truly. His only daughter.”

Will nodded but he didn’t say anything more. Truth be told, there wasn’t anything more to say. With that, they moved out of the hall, each with a purpose now that the heavy conversation was finished. Now, they knew what needed to be done. It wasn’t the best outcome, but an outcome nonetheless.

Life, it seemed, was going to get worse before it got better.

*

“Do you alwaysspend your time in the kitchen yard?”

Adria had been standing with the cook, discussing the stores they had because Lily was unable to attend to the duties that usually fell to her. She was an excellent chatelaine, but given her physical condition, she hardly got out of bed over the last few days much less came down to manage the kitchens and keep.

Therefore, it was up to Adria.

Not only was she tending to Atticus, but she was doing everything else Lily did and she really didn’t mind. Her management skills were excellent, as well. However, when she heard her father’s voice, she could feel herself tensing. He always had that effect on her. Taking a deep breath, she turned around to see him standing behind her.

“It seems that way,” she said evenly. “Given that Lady de Wolfe is unwell, I have taken over her responsibilities. What are you still doing here?”

The cook, sensing trouble, discreetly slipped away, but Adria didn’t notice. She was still waiting for an answer from her father.

He pointed up to the sky.

“The weather has not been cooperative,” he said. “Too much rain and I do not travel well. I am waiting for it to dry up a little.”

“You are purposely delaying.”

“Think what you will,” Gar sniffed. “I did not come to fight with you. I came with some good news.”

“What good news?”

“You may have two possible suitors.”

Adria’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What are you talking about?” she said. “Who?”

Gar seemed pleased with himself. “There are two very fine young knights right here at Carlisle,” he said. “Sir Ronan and Sir Hermes. I have presented them with the possibility of a betrothal with you and now we will see who comes back with the better offer. A little competition is never a bad thing.”

Adria’s eyes widened dramatically when she realized what he was saying. “You did what?” she nearly shouted. When a few of the kitchen servants turned in her direction, she quickly closed the gap between her and her father, lowering her voice. “What did you do?”

Gar was cocky. “I did what I told you I would do,” he said. “If you will not marry de Brito, then you will marry someone else. I do not care who it is, but someone who will be part of our family and part of our fortune. Sir Ronan’s grandfather is the Earl of Warenton and de Norville’s mother is a de Wolfe. They are both part of the family and both part of that wealthy empire. If you marry one of them, your future is assured, as is mine.”

Adria couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She was so angry and embarrassed that she could feel the blood rushing to her face. In fact, fury didn’t even cover what she was feeling at the moment. Had she been any less controlled, she would have punched him straight in the mouth.

“How dare you humiliate me like this,” she hissed. “I always knew you were vile and low, but this goes beyond what I believed you capable of.”

Gar’s jaw ticked. “If you did your duty, as my daughter, we would not be in this mess.”

Adria shook her head furiously. “Not we,” she said. “You. You are the one who has spent all of your money. You are the one who drove the family into poverty. This has nothing to do with me and everything to do with you. You are in a mess – not me.”

Gar did something then that he didn’t normally do. Reaching out, he grabbed Adria by the arm. His fingers dug into her tender flesh as his snarling face focused on her.

“Is that what fostering has done to you?” he growled. “Has it taught you to be disrespectful to your father? Because if that is the case, you are going home with me immediately. I do not care if you do not want to marry de Brito – he is welcome to you. Let him deal with your insolence and I shall pretend I never had a daughter.”

He was hurting her and Adria tried to yank her arm free. “Let me go.”

Gar pulled on her so hard that he snapped her neck back. “Stop fighting. Stop fighting and obey me.”

There was something decidedly dark in her father’s tone. Adria had never heard that from him before, not like that. He often growled and grumbled, but the way he was speaking to her bordered on wicked. But her pause was only momentary.

“Let me go or I will scream my head off and you will have some explaining to do to the knights you have tried to peddle me to,” she hissed. “How are you going to explain damaged goods to them?”

Gar’s eyes flashed. “You have a mouth on you, Wench.”

“And your character is as dirty as a sewer.”

He yanked on her again, trying to pull her with him, but Adria reached out and slapped him across the face as hard as she could. It was enough to cause him to lose his grip and she dashed away from him, out of his reach, and picked up the first weapon she came across. Given that they were near the giant firepit where much of Carlisle’s meals were cooked in the open, there was an array of iron rods used to keep the fire neat. She grabbed the first one she came across and held it up, wielding it like a club.

“Touch me and I will beat you to death,” she snarled.

Gar came to a halt, eyeing her. Their fight was starting to attract some attention and that’s not what he wanted. He took a few steps back.

“Put the rod down,” he said calmly. “You’re causing a ruckus, Adria.”

She didn’t lower the rod. “And you’re not?” she said. “Did you think that I would just let you drag me around? I am not entirely sure you realize this, but I am a grown woman. I have a position and a purpose, neither of which include you. And since you are so insistent in marrying me off so that you can leech money from my husband, I am going to commit myself to the cloister at Carlisle Abbey. I’d rather be a nun than be your coin purse.”

Gar looked at her in surprise. “You wouldn’t dare do such a thing,” he said. “You are not prepared for life in the cloister, you little fool.”

“It is better than life as your daughter.”

Gar realized that he had to rethink his plans. Adria wasn’t making anything easy and that infuriated him. He glanced around, nervously, seeing that some of the soldiers were watching them from the wall walk above. Worse still, a knight was heading in their direction, urged on by the fearful cook. The tall, auburn-haired knight put himself between Adria and her father.

“I am not entirely sure what is happening here, but let cooler heads prevail, shall we?” he said, looking mostly at Gar. But he turned his attention to Adria. “My lady, surely you do not mean to use that against your father.”

Adria didn’t take her eyes off of Gar. “Tell him to go away, Marcellus,” she said. “He is trying to hurt me. I want him banished from Carlisle, never to return.”

Marcellus’ gaze lingered on her for a moment. He’d never seen her in this state before. Adria de Geld had always been the kindest and most mannerly of women, so clearly, she felt threatened.

He turned to Gar.

“Please return to your chamber, my lord,” he said. “Let this situation calm.”

“She is my daughter,” Gar said, agitated. “You will not tell me how to deal with her.”

“I am telling you to return to your chamber. I will not tell you again.”

Gar was quickly becoming humiliated and that didn’t sit well with him. He took a couple of steps back, finally looking at Marcellus and smiling thinly.

“And you, my lord?” he said, almost gaily. “Are you married? I am seeking a husband for my daughter, but she does not seem to want to obey me in this matter. I have offered her to the two other knights here at Carlisle, but you look big and strapping. If you feel as if you can tame her, then she is yours. I will give her to you.”

Marcellus’ expression remained neutral at what could be considered an insult to his own daughter. “Go,” he said quietly. “If you need an armed escort, I will be happy to provide one.”

Gar sighed sharply, realizing the knight wasn’t on his side. No one was. With a lingering glare at Adria, he turned and headed out of the kitchen yard. When he was gone, Marcellus turned to Adria but noticed she was still holding the iron rod. Reaching out, he gently disarmed her and tossed the rod aside.

“Normally, I would not ask what that was about, but it was a fairly public battle,” he said. “It will get back to Will, I am sure. What should I tell him?”

Adria sighed heavily, running a trembling hand over her forehead to push away the stray tendrils. In truth, she was more shaken than she realized.

“Tell him that my father is a bastard,” she muttered, watching Marcellus’ eyebrows lift in surprise that she would use such a foul word. “I called him a bastard and I do not regret it. I am very sorry that he asked you about your marital status. He has debts to pay and wishes to marry me off to anyone who has the means to provide him with any money. He has already approached Hermes and Ronan and I fear that I must find them and apologize.”

He put out a hand to stop her before she could get away. “Not now,” he said. “They’re with some new recruits, so let them finish their task before you speak to them. In fact, you may want to regain your composure before you do.”

That was probably true. Adria put her hands to her cheeks, feeling that they were hot with shame and anger. But she was starting to calm down a little, thanks to Marcellus’ intervention, but that also made her take a second look at him. The last time she’d heard the man speak, he was in Lily’s chamber declaring his undying love for her.

A man she used to think was so terribly noble.

She didn’t think that about him now.

“I’m well enough,” she said stiffly, averting her gaze. “Thank you for your assistance, my lord. You do not have to worry over me any longer. I am quite well.”

“My lord?” he said, grinning. “Since when do you address me so formally?”

Since I heard you speaking to Lily, she thought. But she didn’t elaborate because this wasn’t the time or the place to do it. There was too much happening with her to try and cast stones at someone else, but that still didn’t mean she approved of what Marcellus and Lily had been doing. In fact, it just made her angry at Marcellus, a man who had never been anything but kind to her.

Shaking her head, she moved around him.

“I have duties to attend to,” she mumbled. “I must find Atticus.”

Marcellus frowned as she walked away from him. “Adria? What is the matter?”

She paused, but she didn’t look at him. There wasn’t any answer she could give him, at least not one that she was prepared to.

“Thank you again for your assistance,” she said. “Can you please make sure my father leaves? I want him gone today. I do not want to see him again.”

This time, Marcellus let her go. She was shaken up by the confrontation with her father, so he took that as the reason behind her manner towards him. Her father had embarrassed her by offering him her hand right in front of her, as if he were desperate to push her off onto someone else.

Perhaps that was why she couldn’t seem to look at him.

Turning to the small group that had gathered to watch the battle between father and daughter, he waved his hands and broke up the crowd, heading off to find Will and tell him what had happened.

He suspected that the man might want to know.