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Alice said to Dame Agnes, “If there were no pleasure possible between men and women, can you begin to imagine the strife in the world?”
“War isn’t enough for you, Alice? Men slaughtering men endlessly?”
“That is a good point. If women never received any pleasure, then they would likely slaughter the men. Soon there would be no one left except women. It would doubtless be a better life for us, but the boredom. I am just not certain.”
Dame Agnes smiled and patted Alice’s shoulder. “It is a mystery. However, for us here at Oxborough we will pray that both the lord and the lady continue to see each other through lust-filled eyes, at least until they discover that they quite like each other.”
Hastings watched as Torric slowly walked toward Severin, who sat in his high-backed chair, the chair from which h
e judged local matters, the chair from which he faced a man he knew was cheating him. Gwent stood at his side.
Severin had asked her to come to the great hall to witness what he did. She was pleased that he had asked her. She was gravely disappointed that Torric had proved to be a thief. But she had seen the entries with her own eyes. Years upon years and he hadn’t even made any attempt to hide it. The money was simply removed, no explanation, no reason given.
“Come closer, steward,” Severin called. “I want to show you proof of your thievery.”
Torric, his shoulders back, his head up, walked more quickly to Severin. “I am not a thief,” he said in a loud voice that carried to every corner of the great hall. “What I am is a fool to have remained after Lord Fawke died.”
“Well, you didn’t flee. Now, steward, you will explain these entries you made. They go back many years. I do not understand why you did not even try to hide your thievery. Is your arrogance so great? You never believed that Lord Fawke would question you as I am now?”
Torric looked at the pages of parchment that showed his neatly entered numbers. He swallowed. “I have no arrogance, my lord. Nor am I a thief. It does not look good for me, does it, my lord?”
“I would say that Gwent is itching to hang you by your skinny neck.”
Torric’s hand went to his throat.
“What did you do with all that money, Torric? Is it buried beneath Hastings’s herbal garden?”
“My lord, I swear it to you, to our God above, that I did not take any money from Lord Fawke. Oh dear, I suppose that I must speak now or suffer my own death.”
“It is your best chance to survive this, steward. Make your tale plausible and interesting.”
The steward appeared to be arguing silently with himself. Finally, he looked Severin straight in the eye and said, “Those figures are just as Lord Fawke ordered me to write in the records of Oxborough. I did nothing but what he bade me to do.”
Her father cheated himself?
“That makes no sense, Torric,” Severin said. “There is a small ransom gone from Oxborough. Because this is a wealthy holding, Oxborough has not suffered from the missing funds. But it will not continue. You steal what is mine now. Cease your lies and it will go easier for you.”
But Torric held firm. “Nay, I am not lying. I have never spoken of this before because I gave my sacred oath to Lord Fawke. I entered the figures he told me to. I did nothing more than what he bade me to do.”
Gwent, unable to keep quiet, shouted at the steward, “Stop your lying, you wretched bastard. The Devil’s teeth, I hate cheats and thieves. You will confess your crimes or I will gullet you right here, right now.”
Torric took a quick step back, only to feel the large hand of one of the men-at-arms at his back. “Please, my lord, I’m not lying. The money went south. Every three or four months, Lord Fawke and three or four men took it there. Did you not notice that all those entries appear very regularly? I do not know who lived there or lives there now. Only Lord Fawke knew. His men, if they knew, were sworn to secrecy, as was I. All had Lord Fawke’s trust. None ever betrayed him. None until me, until now.”
“But now he is dead and thus your silence matters no more,” Hastings said, stepping forward. “Why do I know nothing of this holding you speak of, Torric?”
“You knew nothing of the man your father wedded you to, Lady Hastings. Why should you know of this? I swear it to you, I am not lying. I only did what your father ordered me to do. I prayed that you wouldn’t realize that there were funds missing, Lord Severin. But I did realize that only a fool would not readily realize that something was wrong. I know you will kill me, but at least now you know the truth. All the money went to a holding in the south.”
“What is this holding called?”
“Rosehaven.”
“Who lives at this place called Rosehaven? Who would Lord Fawke send money to?”
“I do not know, I swear it.”
“Let me gullet him now, Severin. The little puking bastard will just continue to lie until I do.”
“Nay, Gwent, hold. This is proving interesting. Do we have a mystery here, I wonder? Hastings, have you ever heard the name Rosehaven?”
