Salvi had grabbed for John’s other arm, yanking it backwards, and John barked a growl at him, shook him off with a hard jerk. “Ishall,” he snarled at Salvi. “This vile man isowedthis death. Did you not witness what he sought to do to mymate,who bears myson?!”
“We heard,” Tristan said, his voice low and soothing, his hands still tugging at John’s arm, his black claws sunk into John’s skin. “We know. But you must not kill him. You shall thus break our treaty. The captain shallnevermake you Priest, after this.”
“This alters naught,” John spat at him, though his grip on Lord Kaspar’s neck seemed to have loosened slightly, allowing Lord Kaspar to renew his wild flailing. “The captain shall never make me Priestnow!”
But beside Tristan, suddenly, there was — Simon. Towering over all of them, and glowering down at Lord Kaspar’s thrashing form with palpable loathing. “Captain may,” he said, his deep voice flat. “If Skai ask. But John rage at me for sitting onrock, when hekillstinky little man? Skaineverask, after this.”
That seemed to finally catch John’s attention, his narrow eyes angling toward Simon — and when Tristan yanked John’s arm again, he abruptly released Lord Kaspar, hurling away his coughing, staggering form with vicious force.
“Foul, cheap, selfishfool,” John spat at Lord Kaspar’s back. “You shall never touch Rosa or frighten heragain. She ismine, and she hasbestedyou, and you shall doallthat she asks!”
Lord Kaspar’s teetering, shuddering body had turned to face the orcs, his visibly trembling hands buttoning up the front of his trousers. “I’ll call the guards and soldiers,” he gasped. “I will have you allkilled.”
“No, you willnot, Kaspar,” said another voice, smooth, clipped. And when Rosa whipped her head around, following Lord Kaspar’s astonished eyes, there was —Lady Scall. Standing in the aisle with her hands on her hips, her expression one of utter, merciless disdain. And wait, had she been hiding in the back room, too? With Tristan, and Salvi, andSimon?!
“I have heard far more from you than I would have preferred to,” she said to Lord Kaspar, in frigid tones. “I shall not countenance an unwarranted massacre under my nose, and certainly not at the behest of such a scheming piece ofscum. Why I ever entertained a marriage proposal from the likes of you, I cannotfathom.”
Lord Kaspar had begun speaking, babbling words no one was listening to, and Lady Scall raised a cool, imperious hand. “Silence,” she snapped. “And you shall agree to all Rosa asks, in compensation for yourreprehensiblebehaviour toward her. Atonce.”
For an instant, Lord Kaspar blinked at Lady Scall with something almost like awe — but then his eyes flicked back toward Rosa, and she could see the rage kindling, stoking, flaring. “I willnot,” he hissed. “After everything I’ve done for her, thispeasantused me, and lied to me, and betrayed me with anorc” — he cast a baleful, hateful look toward John — “and now she has the audacity toblackmailme?!”
John was again trying to escape Tristan and Salvi, who at some point had again latched onto each of his arms, but Lord Kaspar didn’t even seem to notice, taking two lurching steps toward Rosa. “You willneverbe a student or a scholar,” he said to her, grating, triumphant. “You will never step foot in a libraryagain. Without me, you will end up living impoverished on thestreets, suckingcockfor your supper!”
Rosa was backing away again, toward the safety of the bookshelf, and she blinked at the sound of John laughing, hard, grim, almost diabolical. “She shallnot,” he spat. “She shall be kept fat, and happy, and content. She shall run her own library, and pursue her work as a scholar, and write as many treatises as she pleases. She shalldestroyyou with every page from her pen. She shallforeverbe known as the saviour of countless women’s lives, and the fair, clever mother of the last of the Ka!”
The words rang through the room, firing a strange, twisty ripple straight to Rosa’s groin. And though she could vaguely hear Lord Kaspar speaking again, it sounded dim, garbled, and her eyes were only held to John’s cruel, beautiful, furious face.
“You are afool, to speak such lies,” John continued, every word sure, strong, fierce. “We all know the truth of this. You had a kind, clever, eager woman, who seeks to obey and please with such stunning sweetness, and who boasts mayhap the deepest throat in therealm. And you spoke false to her, and truly frightened her, and trapped her here as yourservant. You allowed her to become chilled and gaunt and weak. You taunted her with true learning, but all the while kept this just out of her reach, and instead claimed her good work as your own. You did not even listen when she spoke of how to protect your own pricelesslibrary. You ought todrownin your sheerdisgrace.”
John had wrenched out of Tristan and Salvi’s arms as he’d spoken, and he took a sharp step closer to Lord Kaspar. His taut, muscular body looming tall and powerful over Lord Kaspar’s cowering, suddenly small-looking form.
“You shall meet her terms,” John growled, extending his hand toward Rosa, clawed fingers outstretched. “Or you shall yetdie.”
No one seemed willing to argue this time, not even Lord Kaspar, and Rosa’s eyes were caught on John’s hand. Reaching toward her, waiting, in a silent but steady offer —
And in a jerky, twitchy movement, Rosa took it. Lurching toward him, and finding herself abruptly clutched tight against him, her back pressed to his warm familiar chest, his hands spread wide and protective against her waist.
This close she could feel his heartbeat, thundering strong and reassuring into her back, and she felt herself sag into it, into the warm, wonderful, fundamentalrightnessof it. Of her mate, here. Holding her, keeping her safe in his arms, even as he eviscerated her greatest enemy with his truth.
Tristan and Salvi had both begun to advance toward Lord Kaspar, their claws and teeth bared, and Rosa’s whirling brain pointed out just howlittleLord Kaspar looked. Even Tristan, who in Rosa’s thoughts had somehow once seemed small, towered a full head over him, and Rosa could see Lord Kaspar’s answering shiver, his eyes darting up and around, lingering desperately on the closed front door.
“We shall not allow you to leave,” Tristan said, his voice oddly frightening in its smooth, biting certainty. “Not until you comply.”
“You cannotdothis to me,” Lord Kaspar spluttered. “You’re breaking your owntreaty!”
This time it was Salvi who laughed, showing his sharp white teeth. “We are not, youhelvítis ógeð,” he said, “and you know it. Now stop wasting our time, and get the fuck on with it. Unless you truly want to be forever known as” — he reached down and snatched up one of Rosa’s strewn-about papers — “‘the cruel, careless, and callous despoiler of countless naive women.’”
Lord Kaspar’s body was angling toward the door, a hunted expression flaring across his eyes. “No one will believe the word of aninsanepeasant woman overme.No one!”
“Oh, I beg to differ,” interjected Lady Scall, who’d continued to watch all this with chilly disgust, her arms crossed over her chest. “I think the public will be very curious about these revelations.Especiallyif they are widely known to have originated with another member of the nobility, who has agreatdeal of firsthand knowledge upon this particular subject.”
A choking noise escaped from Lord Kaspar’s throat, his eyes now gaping at Lady Scall’s hard face. “You would not,” he said, “publiclyendorsethis.”
“Iwould,” replied Lady Scall, with finality. “I have not taken kindly to your dedicated pursuit of my hand in marriage, under such thoroughly fabricated pretences. You are an absent father, a false scholar, and acheat.”
The rebellion kindled again in Lord Kaspar’s eyes, and his lip curled, his mouth opening to speak — and then went slack again, because this time, it was Simon striding toward him. His steps heavy, menacing, his massive body towering over Lord Kaspar as he purposefully cracked his huge knuckles, one by one.
“Fool man too proud to learn,” he said, his voice deep with scorn. “Or too stupid. Enforcer shall better teach.”
