He let go of her chin, but when he did, her pink little ribbon of a mouth curled into a smirk. “You cannot frighten me, you old bear,” she said, adoration still in her tone. Her spirits were, very unfortunately, raised already. “Go tell my cousin that you will take me as your wife, and pay my bride price.” She acted like she was asking for a glass of punch. When she was a girl, she had at least gotten on her knees to beg for her pony…
He straightened and blinked. “No, I will not do it, Wenda. And that's final.” He turned, frustrated, and then rounded back, taking in a softer tone. He didn't want to quarrel with her or make her plight any worse than it was. He sighed and went on, “You know I make this decision for your own good, don't you? Just like I've always done.”
She frowned and nodded, biting her lip. “I understand. It would break my heart to force you,” she assured, but then she grabbed his elbow as he turned away again. “You don't mean to leave? Tomorrow our cousin will announce my engagement. I wish you to be there for me, at the least. I will need your strength,” she beseeched him, clutching her small fingers into his sleeve. “You are the only father I have ever known,” she said, looking at the ground in disappointment.
Talus was beginning to feel guilty for his harsh words, and although he knew he would hate to see her hold the hand of her betrothed, he nodded. “I will stay,” he said, grabbing her hand from his sleeve and curling his fingers through hers. “It would honor me to be there for you, if you have need of me.”
She hugged him—not as a lady, but like the wild-child that she was, swinging her arms around his neck. “I will always have need for you, you old bear,” she said into his tunic, and then breathed him in.
He put his nose into her long, golden tresses and took a breath. She smelt like honey, and wind, and clover. He would miss that smell. “Don't worry, my little sweetling. You will get through this,” he promised her.
She sighed and held him closer. “I know.”
* * *
“Daniel!” Talus still didn't know what this was about, but he did know that if Wenda’s kin didn't snap out of their hatred-filled dream, he was going to find his balls smashed by Daniel's war-hammer while Daniel’s brothers held him down. “Daniel, think about this! You've known me nearly all your life! You don't want to do this.”
“Don't act like you don't know,” Daniel snarled. He was a young man—four-and-twenty—and Talus had never seen this side of him. “She looked up to you! How could you do this to our sister?”
“Do what to your sister? I did nothing!” That being said, he had been woken up that morning by a group of his cousin's close kin trying to beat the living hell out of him. Fists and bruises he could take, but that war hammer was going to hurt, and it had his full attention. “Tell me what's going on!”
“I'm going to keep you from taking advantage of a young girl ever again.”
“What?” Talus asked, sweat pouring down his face.
Thank God, before Daniel could raise his hammer up there was a scuffle at the door and then Nicklaus was there, his sword out in one hand while he pushed Daniel back with the other, ordering, “Cousins! Calm down!”
“Calm! It wasn't your sister that this venomous snake had—” Daniel argued, pointing at Talus accusingly.
Nicklaus looked over at Talus with an apologetic look on his face before he stiffened to order Daniel's brothers, “Release him and leave us.”
“But—!” they all argued.
“Be gone!” Nicklaus boomed. He was normally a jovial sort of man, but his voice was suddenly frightening enough that Daniel grudgingly dropped the war hammer and marched out with his two brothers.
Nicklaus turned to his guards. “Make sure they let off their steam. I will send them word when I'm ready to see them. They are not to hurt Talus without my blessing under pain of death; make that clear to them. Now leave us.” The head of the guard nodded, and soon the bed chamber was empty except for Nicklaus, Talus, and a bunch of broken furniture.
“Sorry about that,” Nicklaus said, offering Talus help to his feet. “I didn't know they had it in them, or else I would have locked them up while I investigated. I came as quickly as I could.”
“Another moment and it would have been too late for my favorite parts!” Talus snapped, but accepted the arm that helped him to his feet. “What's all this about? I gave Daniel his first hound for Christsakes, and he comes in here without warning and tries to devoid me of my most important equipment!”
“It's Wenda. She's… she's a theatrical little harlot, is what she is!” he huffed after searching for the right words to describe the situation. “She came in crying, screaming her head off, her nightgown torn, blood on her thighs, saying that you… that you had your way with her in the night.”
Impossible! Talus' bottom jaw dropped. He was too amazed and insulted to even get out a word.
Eager to fill the silence, Nicklaus continued, “Got everyone all up in arms. The whole castle has been talking about it—hell, the whole village knows by now! Kesper has already declared that he will not marry a sullied girl, whether it was by force or no… Half the castle calls for your head, the other half for your balls.”
“I didn't…!” Talus snapped with frustration, desperate to be believed.
“I know you didn't,” Nicklaus said, passing him a towel. “Here, wipe the blood off your face. You don't think I know you? I've been to war with you. I've grown up with you. I know you like my own right hand. Now yes, it's rare for you to go a full day without filling your bed with some strumpet, but in all the years I've known you, you've never taken a woman against her will. You've never even been tempted, even though your tastes tend to be a bit on the rough side. I know you're not going to start your career as a rapist with Wenda. You're just not.”
Relieved, Talus dabbed at his scrapes and bruises. “Thank you,” he said with a sigh.
“That being said…” Nicklaus sat on the bed. “We're in a position. Even if our physician can prove that Wenda's maidenhead remains—if it remains at all—and even if Wenda comes to tell the truth, she'll be ruined.”
“Let her be ruined, then!” Talus hissed angrily. “How could she betray me this way? She is not the girl I raised! I wash my hands of her!” He still couldn't conceive how such a sweet girl could make such a hurtful accusation towards him. He couldn't believe that she'd gone as far as to slander anyone, let alone him!
Then he remembered her saying, 'I'm quite decided, Talus.' Damn her! Did her stubborn foolishness know no limits?
“Last night she begged me to make an offer for her hand,” Talus admitted, grumbling. “She said it would be done whether I liked it or not, but I thought I had talked that foolishness from her head!”
Nicklaus' eyes widened for a moment with surprise. Apparently unable to keep himself from doing it, he broke into a chuckle. “I didn't even know she was sweet on you! I'd thought she viewed you as a father, or like a brother, at the least… She never looked at you in that manner.”
“She still doesn't. Her plan was that we would have a farcical marriage where she could sleep elsewhere than in my bed,” Talus divulged with disdain.
Nicklaus gave a loud, incredulous laugh. “That is a true testimony to why I don't believe you did it,” Nicklaus told him, an edge of pride in his voice. “You have not, in the whole course of her life, exposed your true sexual character in her presence, or else she would have never thought such a plan might have the slightest chance of acceptance. She doesn't understand you; she's still as naive as a babe.”
Talus limped over to a pitcher of water and poured it into a bowl before staring into a looking glass at his bruised face, split lip, and bleeding nose. “She doesn't want to know me right now, I guarantee it! How could she do something so mind-bogglingly foolish?”
“Foolish?” Nicklaus echoed, confused. “Actually, I have never been so impressed with a girl's genius before. Any girl.” When Talus raised his head to glare at him. Nicklaus said, “Well, she did quite well in
getting out of her arrangement and made it intensely difficult for me to arrange her with someone else while somehow still not debasing the honor of my house. At the same time, she had to attach herself to someone so I didn't throw her into a nunnery, so she pinned herself to you. She knows I wouldn't kill you, but she assumed that I would demand that you at least marry her, since you robbed her of her maidenhead. Eventually, the whole incident would be forgotten, the marriage would smooth everything over, and you would be accepted into my house once again. That is, if her brothers didn't devoid you of your manhood…”
Nicklaus rubbed his chin, grinning, apparently trying to find even more genius in her plan as he mulled it over. “Ha! Excellent strategy, I must commend her. Now I must think as to what's to be done. I am angry with her, Cousin—Lord knows how much gold she's cost me!” he added. “But because she made her complaints so public before my court, I'm forced to walk gently. Dash it all, she knew how to play me well. She knows I would never send you to death in a million years or else she would have never risked such a thing!”
Suddenly his eyes widened and he jumped over towards Talus, ripping away his towel. “Stop cleaning yourself, Talus! I have the most perfect strategy to bring back your good name and standing as fast as you can say 'scandal'!”
“But I have to be covered with blood for this strategy?” Talus asked flatly.
“Yes. In fact, if I were you, I'd roll outside in the mud a little. We'll see how far my dear cousin is willing to go to play this farce…” He rubbed his hands together.
“I wouldn't test her resolve,” Talus replied bitterly. “Apparently she's prepared to go quite far.”
“We'll see,” Nicklaus said, crossing his arms smugly. “We'll see.”
* * *
Wenda wasn't feeling well that morning—her nurses thought that might have been because of her supposed 'rape', but really it was because it had become such a big affair. She'd known it would cause quite a scandal, of course, but she hadn’t anticipated this crunching feeling in her gut.
Was this what guilt felt like? Dear Gods, how did people not die from it? She was certain that she had never felt this horrid emotion in the entire course of her life, and it was miserable!
In any case, she had no time to herself this morning; her nurses would not let her be!
Finally, one of Nicklaus' men beckoned at the door for her, stating that she was required in the main chamber. She swallowed and wrung her hands in front of her nervously and walked out of the room. It seemed very difficult to keep her head up.
She wasn't sure if the walk to the main audience chamber was too short or too long. She felt like she was there too soon, but it had seemed at the same time like the hallway leading towards it was longer than it had been before. Every eye in her cousin's court was on her as she curtsied in front of her cousin and his horrible, sour-faced wife.
“Oh, my dearest young cousin!” Nicklaus cooed and extended his hand to summon her to him. She went to him, trying not to look as awkward as she felt. He took her hand in his own and stroked it gently. “My poor dear, we have so failed with your protection, how could I make it up to you? Besides killing the rapist, of course?”
Her eyes widened, but she couldn't have heard him correctly. Nicklaus would never kill Talus; he was like a brother to him! “Killing him?”
“He must answer for his crime!” Nicklaus boomed so the whole court could hear. “I have no tolerance for the forced debauchery of young ladies!”
She tightened her grip on his hand. “But this is Talus! You would kill him?” He couldn't have meant it.
“I suppose I should listen to what the villain has to say,” Nicklaus grumbled. “Stand aside, my dear, and witness this.” He snapped his fingers at his guards. “Bring out the prisoner!”
Cold water felt like it was flowing through her veins as they waited a moment before Talus was brought in, and when he was, she gasped and moved her fingers in front of her lips. Talus was in shackles already! Not to mention that he was dirty, and his face was battered, bloody and bruised. Even one of his eyes was nearly swollen shut.
She had done this to him! How could she have been so cruel?
How could Nicklaus be so cruel? That hadn't been part of her plan at all! Nicklaus was supposed to protect Talus, not be enraged with him!
She wondered how she could even meet Talus' eyes when he looked at her—he was so hurt, so confused… This was the same man who used to kiss her knee when she had scraped it as a child, the man who had bought her her first pony and taught her to ride a horse. The very man who taught her how to hunt and hide in the forest, even how to handle a rapier although her governess would get so angry with him…
This is how she repaid him?
“You know the charges against you,” Nicklaus announced coldly. “You took advantage of my dear young cousin. She trusted you like a father, and you took her greatest possession from her!”
“My Lord.” Never had she heard Talus speak as formally to Nicklaus as he was now. His voice was a growl. “You must believe me—I would never touch her. I love her like a daughter!”
“Are you calling my young cousin a liar?” Nicklaus demanded, enraged.
Talus was doing just that, because both she and he knew very well that she was, in fact, a liar. But he didn't say it for fear it would spur Nicklaus's anger; Talus just pursed his lips together.
She was suddenly looking at this all through a thick veil of tears, but she hoped that Nicklaus would still just demand that Talus marry her.
“You sicken and disgust me,” Nicklaus growled. “I thought I knew you, Talus. I would have never thought you capable of this. What do you have to say in your defense?”
“That it wasn't me! I couldn't have done it! There must be something wrong with her mind, some confusion—”
Nicklaus snorted. “And now she must be mad?” he asked ruefully, disappointed. “You stop at no ends with your accusations. But because of your past service to this house, I will honor you with a choice—your manhood or your life? You cannot keep both.”
She couldn't see Talus' expression because of all the tears clouding her vision, but she could hear him choke on the choice, incredulous.
“Nicklaus! Please!” she said, crying, grabbing onto his sleeve. “Have mercy on him, he's like a brother to you!”
“Was like a brother to me,” Nicklaus said, patting her hand gently. “If a prized hound begins to bite at the hand that feeds it, then it must be destroyed. That's all we're doing here.” He looked back over at Talus. “Make your choice, or I will make it for you.”
“Nicklaus, see here!” Talus yelled with fury. “I'm innocent, I'm telling you! I did nothing!”
“Manhood it is then,” Nicklaus said, snapping at his executioner and then pointing at Talus, who the guards were having trouble keeping down.
“Wait!” she screamed, launching towards Talus. She slid past the guards and leapt on him, placing her arms protectively around his chest. “Wait, no! No!”
“Wenda, stop these dramatics and stand back so that justice can be done,” Nicklaus demanded.
The guards tried to pull her back, and when they finally succeeded, she turned and got on the ground and wrapped her arms tightly around Nicklaus' boots, screaming and sobbing, “Cousin, forgive me! He didn't do anything! There was no rape! It was a lie! I lied!”
The court gasped.
“Surely you're just being merciful…” drawled Nicklaus. “Why would you fabricate something so cruel about Talus, who’s done nothing but love you since you were just a suckling babe?”
“I hoped that if he shamed me you would force him to marry me.” More gasping. “He wouldn't have done so otherwise. He would never even touch me, let alone against my will. Please believe me, Cousin!”
“Of all the…” Nicklaus stood and kicked his boot out of her grasp. “Unhand him immediately!” he commanded his guards. The executioner put his knife back into its sheath and backed away from Talus. “Unchain him,�
�� Nicklaus continued, and the prison guard scurried over to quickly remove the shackles on Talus' wrists and ankles. “I apologize on behalf of myself and my house, Talus,” Nicklaus told him. “I could have never imagined Wenda to be capable of such treachery.” He looked back at Wenda with a look of deep reproach as he said it.
“Please forgive me,” she begged, tears streaming down her face.
“Silence, girl!” he demanded, and led Talus up towards his chair. “I am not the one you should get on your knees before,” Nicklaus said sternly. “Your life is in Talus' hands. Kneel before him, and hope that he has mercy on you,” he growled to Wenda.
Wenda never rose to her feet—she crawled before Talus, her head near the ground. “Forgive me my trespass, Talus,” she whimpered. “I did not mean any harm to come to you.”
“I forgive you,” Talus growled forcibly.
“I want to see the harlot whipped!” her own brother, Daniel, cried from somewhere in the audience. “Whip and disown her for her shame, Cousin. I cannot look upon her.”
“That's your own brother saying that,” Nicklaus reminded her firmly as if she hadn't already been stung by the words. “Your brother would see you whipped. What say you, Talus? She surely deserves it.”
“No, I would not see her tied to a post,” Talus said, again merciful, dabbing at his bleeding lip. “I have forgiven her crime against me. She's just a child, still a virgin, and she doesn't deserve such a cruel punishment.”
She let out a sigh in relief, although her stomach was still crunched with shame and guilt.
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