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“I am sick of this, Hastings. You have changed again. You have returned to the woman I married. You have not treated me well. You have ignored me. The miracle has ended. I did not muck it up. I do not know why you have changed, but you once more have your shrew’s mouth. If you wish to go back to the way we were, then so be it. However, you will see to me, your husband. My man’s need is great. I would have you now and I will tolerate no arguments.”
“Did you know that the name ‘columbine’ is from Latin and means dove? You see, people believed the plant looked like doves’ heads.”
He was on her in a moment. The pulse was pounding wildly in his neck. Trist wasn’t with him.
“You will force me, Severin?”
“Aye, if I must.”
“What is wrong with Marjorie? Is it her monthly flux or is she tired of you? Are you not moving quickly enough to remove me from Oxborough so that you can wed her?”
He jerked back as if she had struck him. “You are mad,” he said, and ripped her gown from neck to waist. “Don’t speak such nonsense again. I cannot have Marjorie. Fate saw to that many years ago.” He ripped open her shift, baring her breasts.
“You will not force me again, Severin.”
“I will do as I please with you, Hastings.” He picked her up and threw her onto her back on the bed. He was over her in a moment, pulling up her skirts, opening his breeches. He was breathing hard.
She stared up at him and said, “Would you risk harming your child?”
He froze over her. “You carry my babe? A new lie, Hastings, but not a very good one. I haven’t touched you for a very long time.”
“Aye, and surely that is my fault.”
“I have had other things on my mind. Now I want to relieve myself.”
She bucked and heaved, so furious that she wanted to kill him. He lowered his face to kiss her and she tried to bite his mouth. He couldn’t believe that she had tried to bite him. He reared back, forced her legs wide, and came into her hard and deep. She yelled, more with anger than with the pain of it.
“You animal,” she screamed at him, not caring if a servant was outside the bedchamber door to hear her. “I hate you. I wish your saddle had hit you on the head. Maybe everything would be different, maybe—”
He was deep now, pushing against her womb, breathing hard as he heaved over her.
When he reached his release, he froze over her. As she felt his seed inside her, she said, “I will never forgive you this, Severin. You have betrayed me. I would that you never touch me again. Go back to your Marjorie and leave me be.”
“Aye,” he said, heaving and jerking, so spent he could barely speak, “mayhap I will. She always has smiles for me. She always welcomes me, just as she did when she was a young girl. Why did you humiliate her?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Her nose.”
“I did nothing. I did fix her goddess’s nose though.”
“It matters not if you lie to me. Why will you not bend to me again? Why do you compel me to force you? Why will you not smile at me again? Why won’t you let me kiss you or caress you? Why won’t you let me give you pleasure?”
“I did smile at you until she came and you looked at her like a lovesick boy. You don’t care if I smile or if I cry. All you care about is staring at her, riding with her, seating her in my chair. Your desire for her is clear for everyone to see.”
He pulled out of her and stood beside the bed, staring down at her. Her legs were sprawled open but she didn’t care. She watched him straighten his clothes.
“I am with child. If I were not a healer perhaps I would destroy it, for I want nothing from you. Nothing.”
He was over her in an instant, his hands around her neck. “You will not speak like that. It is blasphemy. A man would be justified to kill a wife who killed his child. Ah, but you aren’t with child, are you?” He released her throat and fell onto his back again. He sighed. “Lie no more, Hastings. You know I will go easy with you if you will but bend to me again. You also know I will take you whenever I wish to. That is the way of it. Don’t fight me. There is no need. Smile at me again, caress me with your hands, kiss me in front of our people. There was no reason for you to stop that.”
“Where did you ride with Marjorie this morning?”
“I showed her the marsh just beyond the northern estuary. Why? Come, Hastings, do not be jealous. It doesn’t become you. Let me come to you the way I did before. You enjoyed my body. You yelled your pleasure. Do not continue this madness. I told you, Marjorie was lost to me years ago. It is over. It is done.”
Where had Marjorie gotten that new gown? Rot the woman and rot Severin. “You think it your right to betray me? To have two women in the same keep? Or will another saddle fall upon my head?”
He stared down at her, his face white. He opened his mouth, but she raised her hand to stop him. “No, Severin, no lies. I can bear no more lies.”
