WinterofThorns

by Charlotte Boyett-Compo

  “Get the hell out of here!”

  This time it was a man’s voice he heard then the sound of a loud slap as flesh met flesh, a pained cry, and a door being slammed shut.

  “Fucking whores,” the man grumbled. “Guess they like what you’ve got, son. I’ll try to keep them off you. Won’t be long before the Reivers arrive.”

  Reivers! His mind screamed at him. He was to be turned over to the Reivers. He was lost in the horror of that, struggling to break free of the sludge in which his body lay so he could escape but that seemed impossible. He fought the darkness and tried again to pry open his eyes. Only partially successful, through his lashes he could see a blurred shadow hovering over him before he felt what had to be a sheet thrown over his nakedness.

  “You awake, boy?” the man asked.

  He tried to grunt in answer but couldn’t even do that. He was so tightly under the control of the drug his vocal chords wouldn’t work. Neither could he flinch when rough fingers pushed one of his eyelids up and a bright light was shone into first his right eye then his left.

  “Aye, I can see you are. Well, we can’t have that.”

  Seyzon wanted so badly to resist as his head was tilted to one side and something cold touched his neck. The smell of alcohol told him the cold was an alcohol swab. The fiery sting of the drug shot into his neck told him he was going back to sleep.

  * * * * *

  “I know that bastard in front,” Arbra said. “That’s Jake Stoneway. He was one of Lord Raymond deVille’s men.”

  With her lover sitting astride his black roan, Lady Millicent—her hands expertly controlling the reins—and Jana were in a buggy bound for Caldwell for a day of shopping. Arbra halted his mount as the four riders came cantering toward them. He looked to the four outriders that flanked the carriage. “Stay sharp,” he told them. He moved his right hand to the dagger at his thigh.

  “Do you recognize the other three men?” Lady Millicent inquired, easily bringing the buggy to a stop.

  “One of them is Jonas Ward’s oldest boy but I don’t know the other two,” Arbra replied. He nodded as the men reined in before them.

  “We were on our way to Lavenfeld, milady,” Stoneway said with a respectful bow of his head. “I am afraid I have unsettling news.”

  “What news?” Arbra asked.

  Stoneway’s cold eyes darted to Arbra then returned to Lady Millicent. “I am afraid your son, Lord Seyzon, has been captured by Selwyn rebels.”

  Jana’s hand went to her mother-in-law’s arm.

  “Taken when?” Lady Millicent asked.

  As she listened to the man relaying what had transpired on the road from Wicklow to Lavenfeld, Jana knew he was lying. It wasn’t so much in what he said as in the way his eyes shifted and his lips twitched as he spoke.

  “Was my husband hurt?” she asked.

  “His mount was shot from under him,” Stoneway replied. “The beast fell with Lord Seyzon still in the saddle. We tried to get to him before he was taken but where pinned down by heavy fire from the Reivers.”

  “Was he hurt?” Lady Millicent asked.

  “I cannot say, milady. He was too far away for us to see clearly,” Stoneway told her.

  “You are lying,” Jana said. Both Lady Millicent and Arbra turned to look at her. She shook her head. “He is lying through his teeth.” She leveled her eyes on the man. “Tell us what really happened to Lord Seyzon.”

  Stoneway straightened his shoulders. “With all due respect, milady, I have told you what happened. Your husband’s horse was shot out from under him and he went down with it. His leg was pinned beneath the steed so quite possibly his leg was broken. I believe he was unconscious when he was thrown onto one of his captors’ mounts.”

  “He’s telling only half the truth,” Jana told Lady Millicent.

  “Are you saying I would deliberately mislead you, Lady Jana?” Stoneway asked.

  “I am saying you are not telling all of it. I’ve no doubt my husband has been taken. It is the how and the why of it that you are not being honest about.”

  “Did you have a hand in the Reivers capturing the young lord?” Arbra asked.

  “Most certainly not!” Stoneway snapped.

  “Another lie,” Jana stated.

  “Where was my son taken?” Lady Millicent asked.

  “Near Bixley-on-the-Green,” Stoneway said, his jaw clenched. “Just the other side of the bridge. That is where you will find the lord’s stallion.”

  “The closest town to the bridge would be Tunstead,” Arbra said. “Is that where you took him when you killed his horse?”

  Stoneway stiffened. “I will not sit here and be called both a liar and a traitor!” He tugged on his horse’s reins to turn it. “I have told you what happened and now I will return to Wicklow to inform His Grace.”

  “You do that,” Arbra said with a snort. He crossed his hands over the pommel of the saddle and watched the four men galloping back the way they came.

  “Vindan is at the bottom of this,” Lady Millicent said.

  “Aye,” Arbra said. “It has his stink all over it.”

  “Why would he do this?” Jana asked. Her face was crinkled with worry.

  “To get my son out of his way,” Lady Millicent told her.

  “Seyzon…” Jana began, her voice breaking.

  “He will be safe with the Reivers,” her mother-in-law stated.

  “How can you say that?” Jana asked. Tears were making her eyes glisten. “There is a bounty on his head. A bounty of—”

  “Ten thousand credits,” Lady Millicent finished for her. “Aye, I know, but he is worth more to them alive than dead, Jana. They’ll first try ransoming him to Vindan and when Vindan refuses to pay, they will contact me.”

  She clicked her tongue and snapped the reins, setting the carriage in motion.

  “What are you about, woman?” Arbra called after her.

  “I am going to Wicklow to confront the little bastard who set this gods-be-damned farce into play!”

  * * * * *

  The prince refused to meet with the Lady Millicent for two days.

  Nor would he speak with the Lady Jana though she sent message after urgent message to him.

  He kept the women waiting well into the third day and when time for the evening meal came, they found themselves alone in an informal dining room.

  At a table set for three diners.

  “Where is he?” Jana asked. She sat with her hands clenched in her lap, her lovely face filled with strain.

  “He is biding his time,” Lady Millicent replied. “It is an old ploy designed to unnerve and unsettle your opponent, to give that opponent time to let his imagination run wild with him.”

  “How can he be so cruel?” Jana whispered.

  “To him it is a strategy, sweeting, not cruelty,” her mother-in-law said with a sigh.

  The door at the opposite end of the dining room opened and Vindan entered. His gaze went straight to Jana—held for a long moment—then shifted to Lady Millicent. He inclined his head to her.

  “Are you here to box my ears, milady?” he asked as he came to the table.

  “I should have done that long ago, but I doubt it would have made you any less arrogant or greedy.”

  He put a hand to his heart. “You wound me yet again, godmother,” he said and smiled. “I don’t know how many more times my heart can stand such lacerations.”

  “Give me a dull knife and I will carve it from you so you will no longer need to wonder,” Lady Millicent mumbled.

  “Oh, you are very angry with me this time!” Vindan said, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms.

  “Angry, disappointed, ashamed,” Lady Millicent said. “Mostly ashamed. I thought I had raised you to be a better man than the one you are showing to me this night.”

  Vindan’s mouth tightened. He switched his attention from the older to the younger woman. “And you, milady? Are you just as irritated with me?”

  “Wher
e is my husband?” she asked.

  “Where I sent him,” Vindan stated.

  “To men who have threatened to hang him,” his godmother snapped.

  “You and I both know they will not harm a hair on his fair head,” Vindan told her. He shrugged. “Robbie Bray would no more hang your son than I would, Millie.”

  “No but you would break his arm and leg and kill an animal he helped deliver!”

  Vindan frowned. “I am sorry Zonny was hurt during the chase but that was his fault. If he had not tried to—”

  “What?” Lady Millicent sneered. “Run?” Her eyes bored into him. “He ran because you gave him a reason to. What reason was that, Vindan?”

  “The one I am going to give you now before you say something we will both regret,” he countered.

  “You have set aside his Joining, haven’t you?”

  Jana’s head snapped toward her mother-in-law. “What?” she asked, lips remaining parted.

  “Didn’t you, Vindan?” her husband’s mother pressed.

  “You know I have else you wouldn’t have asked,” the prince answered.

  “You can’t do that!” Jana said. Her hands went to the arms of her chair. “Tell him, milady. Tell him he can’t—”

  “He can and he has,” Vindan said. “And at midnight this night, you and I will be Joined.”

  “No!” Jana shouted and got to her feet so quickly her chair fell over. “I will not Join with you. I am married to Seyzon!”

  “No, dearling, you are not,” Vindan stated. “And he is in Selwyn where he will stay.”

  “This is the wickedest thing you have ever done to Seyzon,” Lady Millicent accused. “It will come back to haunt you as surely as day follows night.”

  Vindan cocked a shoulder. “I gave him time with her then I took her back. He should be grateful for small favors.”

  “Took me back?” Jana said. She was standing beside the table, trembling. Her hands were doubled into fists at her side. “I was never yours for you to take back and I will never belong to you!”

  “You already do and within a fortnight, I’ll have your belly plumped with our first brattling,” he said. “That should seal the deal nicely.”

  Jana opened her mouth then snapped it shut. She shot her eyes to her mother-in-law. “Do something, milady. I beg you!”

  “There is nothing she can do save pay the ungodly ransom Robbie Bray is demanding for Seyzon’s return since he now knows he can’t use him as a pawn to influence me. I doubt milady has the kind of money the border lord requires for her son’s release so he will stay in Selwyn until she has come up with the amount.” He smiled hatefully. “An amount that will take her years to raise.”

  “Go to your room, Jana,” Lady Millicent said softly.

  “Aye, milady. Go to your room. Your ladies are waiting to dress you for the ceremony this eve.”

  “You go to hell!” Jana threw at him and spun around. She ran from the room as fast as her slippered feet could carry her.

  The grandfather clock in the hall ticked away a full minute before Lady Millicent pushed her chair back and got to her feet. Her gaze was locked on the prince.

  “He loved you,” she said. “As I loved you.”

  “Loved,” he said. “As in past tense?”

  “Aye, Prince Vindan. You no longer deserve his love and you have effectively killed mine.” She headed for the door.

  “I still love you,” he told her as she passed behind him.

  “More’s the pity,” she replied.

  “You will be at the Joining,” he said, making it an order. “As my surrogate mother.”

  She turned to face him. “I would rather be boiled in oil than stand at your side while you take Seyzon’s love from him.”

  “Would you rather spend the remainder of your days at Galrath instead?” he suggested.

  Lady Millicent took a step toward him. “Merciful Alel. Is that what you threatened him with?”

  “That and having his lands confiscated as well as him thrown into Utuk Xul,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “All incentives for him to return to Lavenfeld to send Jana to me.”

  “Did you truly believe he would do that?” she asked, astonishment flitting across her lightly-lined face. “Give her up that easily?”

  “I know Seyzon,” he said. “I knew precisely what he would do. I knew he’d run. I told my men to stop him, not let him reach Lavenfeld. If he had, he might have been able to put you and Jana out of my reach. The land?” He shrugged. “He didn’t give losing it a second thought. It was you and Jana and his freedom that were his concerns. As I said, I know him.”

  “You might think you do, Your Grace,” she replied. “A man who has been boxed into a corner can be a very dangerous adversary. He will do things he ordinarily would not to protect what is his. Never put him in a position where he doesn’t give a damn.”

  “Zonny didn’t stand a chance against me. I drew blood this time,” he said. “To the victor, the spoils.”

  “We will see who the victor is once the dust has settled,” she told him. “This is not over. Not by a long shot.”

  “She is mine and mine she will stay!” he called out to her but Lady Millicent did not respond. She left him sitting alone at the dining table.

  * * * * *

  Jana did not go to her room as Lady Millicent had suggested and the prince had all but ordered. Instead, she went looking for a way out of Wicklow Castle. She had no intention of Joining with Vindan Brell. Just knowing he had annulled her marriage to Seyzon sent waves of fury lashing through her.

  Voices from down the corridor startled her and she whipped her head around, trying to find someplace to hide. There wasn’t one. No doors. No alcove. She had two choices—keep walking or turn around. Lowering her head, she decided to brazen it out and continue on in the hopes no one knew she was missing and those coming toward her would not recognize her.

  “Milady,” one of three men greeted her.

  “Milord,” she said, keeping her eyes on the floor.

  She could feel them turning to look at her as they passed and her entire body tensed waiting for them to bid her halt. When they didn’t she let out a shaky breath. Walking faster, she prayed she wasn’t headed in a direction that would take her where she shouldn’t venture.

  For what seemed like hours, she trekked down corridor after corridor. One led to the servants’ wing. Another ended in a series of storage rooms with no access to the outside. Winding down still another, she came to a dead end and wondered why that corridor had been added. Turning from the solid stone wall she gasped.

  “Where did you think you could go, dearling?”

  He was standing in the center of the corridor, blocking her escape. Though his hands were shoved into the pockets of his pants and he looked relaxed, she knew he was far from being so. There was tension in his broad shoulders, in the way he was staring at her, in the tight smile that did not reach his eyes.

  “Did you think I was jesting about the Joining ceremony?” he asked, tilting his head inquisitively to one side. “I assure you I wasn’t. Everyone is assembled and waiting for you.”

  “I will not marry you.”

  “Aye, but you will, sweeting,” he said with a smile. “And you know why you will?” He took a few casual steps toward her.

  Jana backed away but there was nowhere for her to go. The wall was behind her and she knew she’d not get past him. She put a hand to her stomach for nausea was building there.

  “You will, because if you don’t, Lady Millicent will be taken to Galrath come morning and you will be in my bed—with or without an official Joining seal.” He tilted his head in the opposition direction. “Your choice.”

  She had one last card to play and prayed it would not be trumped. She raised her chin.

  “I am pregnant.”

  Automatically his eyes slid to her belly where her hand was pressed then slowly traveled back to her face. “You’re lying,” he accused.

 
“I do not lie,” she stated. “I am carrying Seyzon’s child.”

  The look he gave her brought terror to her heart but then she watched his eyes change. The blue orbs darkened then turned sly.

  “The child is mine,” he said.

  She shook her head. “No. It is my husband’s.”

  “You have no husband,” he said with a growl. “The babe in your belly is mine.”

  “I had a monthly flow between the night at Riverglade and when I went home to my husband.”

  “I don’t believe you,” he said, a muscle clenching in his cheek.

  “Ask Lady Millicent.”

  He sprang at her and before she could react shackled her wrist with his sword hand and jerked her toward him. “It is mine else it will be labeled a bastard!” he shouted at her. He put his face close to hers. “Do you want it labeled a bastard, Jana?”

  That scared her for if the baby was declared illegitimate the stigma would follow him all the days of his life and doors that should open for him would not. Opportunities would be lost. Being called a by-blow—and that would be how the cruelest people would mark him—was a shame she could not place on her unborn child.

  “You’d best think long and hard on it, dearling,” Vindan said. The twist of his lips told her he knew his words were hitting exactly where he was aiming them.

  “Seyzon is the father of my child,” she said and could no longer see him clearly for tears were blurring her vision.

  “No, he isn’t,” he said, tugging on her wrist. “I am and that is what you will tell any who ask.”

  “Lady Millicent knows the truth.” She wiped at her tears with her free hand. That was a lie and she hoped he wouldn’t know that it was.

  “Then you would be wise to have a talk with her,” he told her. “She needs to understand the situation for what it is. Our unborn child’s future depends upon it!” He leaned in until his lips were against her ear. “He will be the future king of Meiraman and no tongues will wag about his right to take the throne when I die.” He tightened his grip. “Now, come. The priest is waiting!”

  As he pulled her along behind him, Vindan’s mind was seething with the news she’d just thrown at him. Once more Seyzon had something he did not but he intended to make sure the man never knew he was the father of the child Jana was carrying. In order to do that, he had to see that Seyzon stayed in Selwyn until the day he died.