Scold's Claim

by Marie Hall

  "I am not small," Io almost shouted.

  "You are a tiny little bird. You should be thanking me for saving you from this beast." Alexander went on.

  "Alex," Xavier sounded like he might be trying to warn his brother but the man went on.

  "What would possess you to take a woman you could so easily crush? I am surprised she is not covered in bruises just from your presence."

  "Alex." Again Xavier tried, but the buffoon wasn't hearing it. It was too much, Io stepped up, and with all her might, slugged the man in his gut.

  "I am not weak. I am not small," she shouted then spun and ran for her room.

  "Io," Xavier called even though he knew Io wouldn't stop.

  "For heaven's mercy," Alex grunted as he held his belly. "What was that?"

  "That was my wife defending herself as she is want to do these days," Xavier said with a wry smile.

  "Your wife? You did not jest with me?"

  "I did not," Xavier confirmed holding his hand out. His brother took it in a firm grasp and shook it the way he always did. To show his superior status as older brother.

  "You found that one on your own?" Alex asked as he followed Xavier up the steps into the house.

  "The king put us together. But I am very pleased with the match," Xavier said.

  "Are you? She seems more temperamental than what you like."

  "Charlotte caused that," Xavier explained as he led the one sibling he was closest to towards his cabinet. "She had plans for me to wed another and made her dislike of Io well known." He wasn't sure how much he wanted to say to his brother as it was this man who would be taking control of their mother. He'd have it be Alexander's will, uninfluenced, that was done.

  "She was not pleased you wed a royal?"

  Xavier tripped over his feet as he followed the large man through the door. He was fast to turn and close it behind them. "Why do you think this?"

  "Xavier, I have but to look at her once to see she is from that blood line." He took a seat, and Xavier took the time to gather his thoughts as he poured them each a drink.

  "Io is my wife, that is all she is." Xavier tried to hold the lie, but his brother was not a stupid man.

  "Xavier, you are far too high in his majesty's esteem that he would give you anything less than… what is she a cousin?" The man took a sip and Xavier felt his assessment roll over him. "A sister, my, my."

  "Alex, please." Xavier stopped before he found himself following old habits and begging his brother for favor.

  "You did not tell mother?"

  "I have not told my wife." Xavier sat and again tried to think through what he'd confess and what he'd keep safe in his own knowledge.

  "She does not know she is royal?" Xavier shook his head. "There is a reason you have told no one, not even mother."

  "There was an attempt on her life some years ago, the king kept her hidden until he turned her over to me. As for Charlotte." Xavier leaned back, and with a sigh, he retold the story. For his eldest brother, his second father, he held nothing back. Not his failures, not how close Io came to death, not even the loss of their child was omitted. "She cost me my first child, Io's health and…" Shaking his head he finished. "I denounced Charlotte. I denounced her as kin before a cardinal of Rome. I will never again give her recognition, shelter or pardon. For all she cost me, all she cost Io. I am not ashamed to say I wish her dead in truth."

  Alex was silent a long while, but then he leaned forward and set his hand on Xavier's arm. "Then she is dead to you. And well a good life you might now share with your little wife."

  "Thank you," Xavier said as relief washed over him.

  "That is if you do not squish her," Alex said, causing Xavier to look up sharply and see him wink.

  Xavier spent a good while with his brother, and not until the man left the hall after the meal, which Io refused to attend, did Xavier seek out his wife. He found her in the small alcove that looked out over her garden.

  "Why must your family hate me?" she asked before he could even sit down.

  "My family does not hate you?"

  "They find me unsuitable," she persisted.

  "Io, I think you feel the burn still from Charlotte's scathing opinions. Alexander does not find you unsuitable at all."

  "He said—"

  "He teased," Xavier cut in. "And it was not even you he teased. It was I. He has taken every opportunity to inform the world I am a manner-less, graceless, clod. That I only have feet for stomping and—"

  "That is not true," Io said, aghast at the very idea.

  "Io, it is not but said in jest. What he said today he has said to me so many times. And truth, it is a wonder I was given someone as soft and delicate as you. I thought it would be true I would wed a cow or a sow," Xavier said and tried to charm her with a smile. She wasn't having it.

  "I am not small and weak," she pouted.

  "Weak you are not. Woe anyone who might think you are. I could, though, make an argument for small." She punched his arm, and despite the ripple of pain it caused, he laughed. "He meant no insult, Io. Not to you anyway."

  "Are you certain? He will not protest. He approves of our match?" She scooted closer and turned to lean against him.

  "He is very happy for me, us," Xavier confirmed, but then set her away from him. "But it would matter not if he was enraged by it. He has no say. I need no one's approval, save yours, to be your husband."

  "I do not want the whole of your family to hate your wife, Xavier. You have lost so much and—" She again tried to lean on him. He held her away.

  "My family loves you, Io, as much as I do. My family is not restricted to kin. It is hardy blood I consider when I consider those I call brother." She was still looking at him like she believed nothing he said. "And even should every man I care for this minute suddenly disapprove of you," he said and forced her to look him in the eye, "it should be enough that I love you. Why is that not enough for you, Io? What do you need more than to know I love you?"

  "You say this thing to me, Xavier. You say it often, but I do not understand your meaning. What is it you say? You love me? I do not understand?"

  Xavier was struck dumb; he could think of nothing to say. He could tell, though, Io wasn't lying. She really didn't know what he meant. Scrubbing his hands over his face, he stood and paced away, then back. "Io, how can you not understand?" Then it struck him. "Has no one in your whole life said the words to you? No one? Ever?" She shook her head at him.

  "I am sorry, Xavier I… I." Tears welled. "I have offended you."

  "No, no, Io." He sat down and pulled her against him. "No, you have not offended me. I think my heart is breaking for you, though. I have never heard something as sad as this. That you cannot conceive of love? I thought your refusal to believe in home was a tragedy. This, well it is a crime I think." He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed. "I love you. It is most simply my inability to live without you, but it is more." How did one make someone understand the concept of love? If she never put the word together with everything he told her all the time, all he tried to show her? But she had to understand it. Because while she never said it, he knew she loved him. It was the shared madness she often complained or teased him about. The madness, that was it. "Io, you do know love. You know it. Do you not remember telling me… it was so long ago, but I know you will remember better than I, and I remember it so well." He again set her away from him. Taking hold of her chin he held her eyes. "We were traveling back, almost home and we'd fought or something, and you were so sad. I remember you cried all the time and I finally asked you to tell me what grief consumed you. You said you were mad; your mind was gone. You couldn't understand for all the hurt I caused how you could still want me close. That for all the pain having me around caused, it was nothing compared to the pain when I was gone from you. Do you remember?" He knew she did.

  "That was after I had gone into the tavern and… after you punished me for… It is true, even when you are harsh, I cannot wish you gone. It is wo
rse when we are apart than anything you might do to me. You say this is not madness but love?"

  "Well…" Xavier wouldn't have quite said it that way, but he knew she was starting to understand it now. "I suppose love is a bit of madness, but it is also a great joy and blessing. It is a comfort. It is what makes all else worth trying to have." He stopped and looked around then back at her. "It is what makes this house a home, Io."

  "How is this?"

  Home, another concept Io didn't fully grasp. "Io, these stones." He set his hand on the wall. "The casements, the cushion, the tapestry." He touched or pointed to each one. "These things make a house, you know this. Accept it. But home is what one returns to. It is what one seeks to get back to." She nodded. "But it is the emotion which makes this a home. Your home." She blinked at him. "There are many homes for many people. For some they say home and mean the place they were born."

  "I do not know the place," she started, and he held his hand up to stop her.

  "For others home is the place they are at the moment. A traveler may say I am headed home and mean nothing more than he is heading back to the tavern he is staying in. This," he paused and again set his hand on the wall. He gave it a few pats. "This is not my home, Io."

  "What?"

  He smiled. "It is not here I want to return to each day." Taking her hands in his, he raised her arms until they formed a circle. With his finger, he indicated the space within that circle. "This, this space here is my home. Your arms are where I find comfort and safety. I might return to this building every day at sunset, but I am not home until I am here." He pulled her forward and forced her arms around him. "I can be in this house or in a ditch, or even in the middle of the sea, but if I have you near, if your arms are around me, I am home." He took a deep breath when she tightened her hold. "You are what I return to. What I will always come back to. Wherever I am, I am home only when I am in your arms. It is this way for me because I love you." He felt her head nod against his chest. "It is a great concept, Io, I will take no offense if you must think on it awhile to understand it. It will occur to you when you are ready. I only need you to know so you do not fear every time someone says something critical to me about you that I will change my own opinion of you. It will never make me stop wanting and needing you."

  "Yes, Xavier," she said and tucked herself against him. "I am your home and you love me. I believe you."

  "We are strong together, Io, I will never abandon you."

  "Nor I you," she said then reached so he might kiss her.

  "My sweet goddess," he breathed before claiming her lips to seal the promise they made.

  Xavier watched as Io leaned in and gave his brother a hug. They shared words, and given Io's smug look and his brother's bark of laughter, they were the same sharp, but not unkind words the two shared the whole week. One more hug and Alexander turned and headed to where Xavier stood holding his mount. The wagons with Sabrina's belongings were already on the road. Only because of Io and her unwillingness to give up on the hope Xavier would change his mind about Charlotte, did they now know the woman had gone south to wait over the border for her eldest son to escort her to the forks. Past that, Xavier didn't care where she would end up.

  "Well, brother," Alex said, taking the reins. "You will not be so long in visiting."

  "Io is not good at travel, you must come here," Xavier said a little saddened by the fact he might not see the man again for years.

  "She is amusing enough I shall make the effort."

  "I would be much pleased. You will always find welcome."

  "You have taken a fine woman to wife, do not be unkind to her," Alex said with a grin. "Do not smother her when you roll in your sleep." Xavier shook his head and laughed. "I will say nothing about her line. It seems to bear no importance to her, or what she means to you."

  "Thank you," Xavier said then gasped as his brother took him in a crushing embrace.

  "Father was always so proud of you. I know he'd be proud of her and happy for you. You were always his favorite son. I can say easily I am proud to call you brother." Alexander stepped back, turned and mounted. "Be well, Xavier," he said then lifted his hand to wave once at Io before spurring his horse through the gates.

  Xavier stood and stared after him for a long time, only looking away when he felt Io slip up beside him.

  "Xavier, what did he say to you?" she asked pressing against him. He could only shake his head for the lump in his throat. "He said something, you cry?" She reached up and brushed at his face.

  "He said… he said he knew father had been proud of me, that he would be proud I took you to wife."

  "Ah, Xavier. Is it so hard to believe? You are the very best man I have ever known. I am proud of you, proud to be your wife. There is no other for me save you."

  "There is no other for me, Io," he said, and taking hold, he lifted her so she was above him looking down. "You are my life, my love, my very own scold. A goddess I will worship forever."

  The End.

  Marie Hall

  Marie Hall is a romantic with an imagination and she uses those skills to both entertain and inform.

  Because of her love for the written word, she spends her days (and a lot of nights too) creating characters in setting and situations the reader will hopefully love and believe in.

  Writing erotica, historical and contemporary, allows her to reach a broader audience. Focusing on the complex dynamics of a dominate/submissive relationship, with love and respect as a main theme.

  Marie uses her degree in history to add facts about the time periods she writes and blogs about those facts from time to time. When she is not writing or blogging she spends time with her family, her husband of more than twenty years and her adult daughter. Mostly, though, with her little four legged fur-child, Tuck. They spend time enjoying the contrasting landscape of Western Colorado. With his high reaching, jagged and rough peaks and its soft sloping valleys it is the perfect setting to sit back and think up stories to tell.

  Please take the time to enjoy a book. Books open doors in life, takes you to places or times you may never have known and lift your spirit.

  Be Safe,

  And as always, READ ON!

  Don't miss these exciting titles by Marie Hall and Blushing Books!

  Historical Titles

  Warrior's Scold - Worship Series Book 1

  Royal Scold - Worship Series Book 2

  Scold's House - Worship Series Book 3

  Runaway Scold - Worship Series Book 4

  Scold's Conquest - Worship Series Book 5

  Scold's Claim - Worship Series Book 6

  Contemporary Titles

  No Sugar Added

  Anthologies

  Lords & Ladies

  Connect with Marie Hall:

  www.cynsitywriting.org

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