by Syme, R. L.
He waved them away and they raised their spears to attention, looking around the empty hall. The lights had nearly all been extinguished. Two plump lords lay in their plates, across one of the giant tables from each other, a dog atop the table between them, licking at the leg of meat one had discarded in his slumber. The dais was empty, as were the chairs near the giant fire.
The two guards that should have been at attention at the other two doors were asleep as well, two leaning back against the wall and two resting against each other.
“Where is the Sheriff?” Aedan’s breath came in quick bursts as blood pumped through him with fierce speed.
“What happened to your head, sir?”
The soldier mistook him for a knight and Aedan would have corrected him, but for the time. He must get to Anne. Save the lady he put in harm’s way. He never should have let her tend to the man, whether or not she knew him.
“The captive. William Campbell. He escaped. Took the lady Anne with him. We must wake the Sheriff.”
The two guards exchanged a nonchalant look. Morons.
“You haven’t heard.” One of the men set his spear butt on the ground and leaned against it. “The lady’s mother caught him about to escape and brought her daughter and the man back to the Sheriff’s court.”
Aedan looked behind him and took a step back to the massive door, then slumped against it. Heavy as it was, it kept swinging back until it hit the wall and his body pitched right along with it. The jolt of pain that accompanied the cease of motion made him wince.
“Should we call for a healer?”
Aedan gave a short shake of his head. “No. Tell me what happened.”
“Whenever the man bested you,” he stopped so he and his compatriot could share a good chortle. Aedan planned to take his pound of flesh if the laughing continued, but either their amusement was short-lived, or they saw the involuntary flash of his teeth. “Well, whenever he escaped, he managed to get up to the south stair, near the entrance. Countess de Cheyne was on her way to her room and her guard overtook the man.”
“And Anne?” Aedan drew in a breath. Not Anne. Why did he insist on calling her Anne? “And Lady de Cheyne, the daughter? What happened?”
The other guard stepped forward. “Are you sure you’re not in need of medicine, brother?”
Aedan burst away from the door and slipped his hands around the idiot’s throat. “What the hell happened to the daughter?”
The choking man lost his sense of mirth and his eyes rounded. “She was rescued. Nothing happened to her.”
Releasing his grip on the fool, Aedan dropped his hands to his knees and bent over. Thank you, God. If anything had happened to her… Aedan was already living down one grave. He couldn’t stand another.
“She’s safe?”
The guards exchanged another look. “She’s in her room, being watched over by two of the Sheriff’s guard.”
Aedan collapsed back onto the door and a laugh burst through the pain. What a fool he’d been. Of course someone would be here looking out for her. She was, after all, a guest of the Sheriff, and she would be well cared for.
He could put her out of his mind.
“And the captive?”
The choked guard stepped back into line, as though they were reporting to a superior officer and Aedan waved his hand again. He was only a paid soldier, now. Paid for services rendered. No need to stand at attention.
“I see you’re recovering,” boomed a familiar voice to his side. Aedan looked up to find the Sheriff sweating in the doorway, smirking down at him.
“I woke to find the captive and the woman gone,” he explained. “I came to report but you’d gone.”
That wasn’t the complete truth, but it was as much as the man deserved. His reputation hadn’t been lost when he took this position, and no amount of title would make Aedan show deference to this pig, regardless of purse strings.
“Well, I hope they’ve filled you in.”
Aedan nodded. “I assume since the captive was recovered, he’s now in the dungeon.”
“Yes.” The Sheriff wiped his hands on his trousers and smiled. “It would seem that the Lady Anne did her duty in stitching the man’s wound, for he was fit enough to attempt escape. Still, the Countess de Cheyne was most helpful in returning the escapee.”
“Excellent.”
“So I’ve given her your fee.”
Aedan nearly stopped breathing. “You’ve what?”
“Well, not just your fee. But in addition to the bride price, I’m paying the bounty into the dowry.”
Aedan stiffened against the door as shock gave way to burning anger. “You’ve given away my fee?”
The Sheriff’s laugh stoked the fire of Aedan’s growing anger. If he didn’t need his freedom so much, Aedan might have gutted the pig where he stood. Instead, he held his breath, hoping the pain would thrum some sense into his head before he let his anger overtake him.
“Technically, you let the man escape. Head wound aside, he was in your custody and nearly kidnapped an innocent woman in addition to gaining his freedom once more. The way I see it, if the Countess hadn’t stopped him, he would have been back with Moray, burning cities and killing the King’s men.”
Aedan could think of a list of the King’s men he’d like to kill himself. It was a list of one. The lout stood before him, sweating like a mating sow and giggling like a chit.
He wondered how long it would take the Sheriff to slowly bleed to death from a gut wound.
“I need that money,” he finally said, through gritted teeth.
The Sheriff grunted. “Then you shouldn’t have let the man escape.” As much as he could muster it, the pig leaned over his massive gut and down near Aedan’s face. “I have a feeling you were doing a good bit of gawping at a pretty face instead of doing your duty and watching her patient.”
At his sides, Aedan’s hands fisted of their own accord and he had to do his best at counting the stones between him and the Sheriff’s guards to keep his anger at bay.
“Surely a ruined face like that can’t get you much in the way of pleasure, short of paying for it.” The Sheriff continued to blather, spittle spewing from his fat lips and landing on Aedan’s exposed skin. “I’m sure you had a good leer at the Lady Anne, and I’ll consider that your payment for losing the fool Scot.”
“I’m a Scot, too,” Aedan growled.
“Could have fooled me.” The Sheriff stood and laughed, his belly jiggling with each short burst. “Any man who would sell his soul as you have has no right claiming anywhere as home.”
The truth of the words chilled Aedan to his very heart. While a fat, greasy bastard, the Sheriff was right. Aedan had no right to claim any loyalty, not when he took gold coins for capturing his countrymen.
He was no Scot. He was a soulless sword. For hire.
“So you’ve given away my bounty.”
“That’s right.”
“And I imagine, since you’re down here telling me this and not up with your Countess, that there’s something else you’ve got for me to do.”
“Actually, I’m finished with the Countess for now.” The Sheriff patted his belly. “A right pleasing woman, that Countess de Cheyne. So pliant. But no, it’s her daughter I have plans for this evening. Since she is, now, mine to do with as I will.”
Aedan counted his breaths. One. Two. Three. Don’t kill the swine. He isn’t worth your freedom. Or your sister’s. Remember Brighde. Four. Five. Six.
“But I do have something for you. You two, help him over to the table so we can talk like men.” The Sheriff signaled to the two guards, who dragged Aedan to the chair next to one of the sleeping lords.
As they sat, the dog scampered away, the remains of a cooked bird’s carcass dangling from its mouth. The Sheriff started picking at what was left of the leg near the sleeping lord’s hand. Aedan hoped he caught some disease from the foul dog and died a thousand deaths.
“You.” The Sheriff pointed at one of th
e guards. “Get the cook up here to clean this table. And round up some men to take Lord Creighton and Lord de Montfort to their chambers. They’ll make for better hunting partners tomorrow if they sleep in their beds and not in their cups. And get this one something for his head.”
“Yes, sir.” The two guards parted ways, one toward the open door and the kitchens, the other toward his comrades asleep at the other doors.
The Sheriff grabbed Aedan’s arm.
“Mark my words, son. I didn’t give your money lightly. But I need the Countess to be in good spirits for what I have in store for her, and the reward just sweetened the pot. I know you’re counting on this purse, and I have another task for you.”
As much as Aedan’s stomach roiled at the thought of helping this man again, he knew he didn’t have a choice. He only had two more weeks before he was sworn to return to his father with one hundred pounds, and he was still short, thanks to William Campbell.
Against his better judgment, Aedan nodded and leaned in, catching an unfortunate whiff of the Sheriff’s filth. “Whatever you have for me, I’ll take it.”
He swallowed hard and readied himself for the worst.
*****
Anne woke to rustling in the hallway. She pulled her covers back and slid from the bed, careful not to wake her sister. Perhaps the silent guard had dispatched his friend and would now speak to her. He’d been trying to communicate something, that much she would bet on, but he had said nothing.
Something had been roiling inside ever since the announcement of her marriage to the Sheriff. She couldn’t decide which was worse, the knowing or not knowing.
She opened the door to find an empty hallway. The guards who had so carefully deposited them, and been ordered to stand the night watch were gone. None had replaced them.
The hallway was dim and silent. Whatever noise had woken her was curiously absent.
Anne closed the door and glanced back to where Elena slept in the low firelight. The cool floor should have frozen her feet, but instead, felt good. She’d been flushed all night, between thoughts of Aedan Donne and an over-hot fire. She walked back to the bed.
No, certainly, it was the over-hot fire. A promised woman couldn’t have thoughts about another man. It just wasn’t done.
Another rustling in the hallway startled her. Perhaps these were the ghosts Elena had been worried about, for all the rooms around them were empty, and the hall was long enough in both directions, they couldn’t disappear before she could catch them.
She scurried to the door this time. Elena moaned and turned over in the bed and Anne nearly went back to comfort her, but she had to know what was happening in the hallway.
Perhaps it would be Aedan, come to take his leave. No matter how inappropriate the thought, she still entertained it.
The half-smile that she wore in preparation for her new friend’s presence quickly soured at the sight of Simon Alcock. His face was flushed and his breath heaving as he leaned against the wall outside her room.
But it was the leering smile that slid onto his face like dripping grease when he looked up to find her. “I thought you would be awake. Your mother said you weren’t much of a sleeper.”
Anne hid her body behind the door to keep him from continuing his overt gawping. “You’ve come from my mother, then?”
“I have. We have come to… an understanding, you might say.”
A slick of fear spread over her. “An understanding?”
She stuck her head around the door and looked both directions down the hall. Not a soul. Either he’d dismissed the guards or sent them elsewhere. Perhaps he was no longer concerned that someone would try to kidnap her. Or that she would no longer try to escape. Or…
“About the wedding.” He hiccupped and for the first time, she could smell the rotten, drunk breath he belched from across the hall. The force of it sent him careening back against the opposite wall and Anne relaxed.
He was so drunk, he might pass out right in front of her.
“What about the wedding?” she asked. “I’m sure you know, it’s highly inappropriate for us to be talking like this without a chaperone in the middle of the night.”
The Sheriff barked a laugh and spread his arms. “There’s no one to see.”
Anne took a step backward, her heart thudding. “My sister is here, sleeping. I could wake her with one scream.”
“Ah, but you won’t, will you?”
“I will.”
“And when they come, who will they believe? The Sheriff of Berwick, or the daughter of a whore Countess who sold her daughter for the price of her new home?”
With each word, he seemed to come closer, until he’d crossed the hall, stepped into the doorway, and crossed every inch between them. Anne couldn’t move.
Her mother may have, indeed, given her away for a high-priced dowry, but she wasn’t his yet. They had only been promised.
“I don’t want to frighten you, girl.” The Sheriff swayed on his feet, his shadowed face ghoulish in the half-light of her bedroom.
Anne relaxed. “You didn’t frighten me. You just startled me.” She crossed her arms when she saw his eyes lower to her chest and fix there. “I should be getting back to sleep.”
“You want to know how much your mother sold you for, my girl? Do you want to know what you’re worth?”
She stiffened, forcing a sweet note into her voice. “I’m sure it was a fair price, my Lord.”
“It was a lark, in the end.” He leaned against the door as another hiccup took him into it. “Much less than I expected. I guess it’s been hard to find a husband for a girl with a mad sister. Even… even a pretty one.” Simon Alcock reached for her and caught her by the hair.
At first, he just smelled it, and Anne thought to indulge him until the guards returned, but it wasn’t long before he hiccupped again and dragged her hair with him when he swayed backwards. Only there was no door behind him and this time, when he stumbled back, he took Anne along with his momentum.
She crashed into him and he into the wall and he laughed like the drunk ox he was.
Anne tried to pull away from him, but his steadying grip on her shoulder turned rough. He turned her to fully face him and gripped both shoulders.
“Well, now we’re here and I’m ready, I’m not sure that I want to wait for our wedding night for the bedding.”
Heat rose in her cheeks and she struggled against his powerful hands. He laughed.
“Well, at least you are the virgin your mother promised. I would hate to pay all this money after all this persuasion and get some harlot with a bastard in her belly.”
Anne tried to push him, but he pressed his weight against her ribcage and she wasn’t even sure she could get up the breath to scream. Her heartbeat clamored inside and she looked frantically for her guards. None came.
He lifted her chin with one fat finger. “That was why I waited so long, you know. Your mother was so keen to find you a husband, and with you having such a nice, ripe body, and being such a pretty thing, I was sure she was after a cuckold to say he’d fathered another man’s baby.”
Through gritted teeth, Anne mustered as much sweetness as she could. “And what changed your mind, my lord?”
His hand was suddenly on her breast, grasping roughly at her as though pain was his aim and not pleasure. “Your belly didn’t round, and then when you so nicely helped to capture the last of the renegades, I couldn’t resist.”
Anne wanted to scream, to push him away, to kick and claw at every inch of him, but what could she do? Who would help her? Her mother had basically sold her to him for his devices. Her guard was nowhere to be found and if she woke Elena, the evil man might turn his attentions on her as well.
That would never happen. Not as long as Anne lived. She’d be the sacrifice before she let anything happen to her sister.
He roughened his grip as she tried to struggle against him. “I wouldn’t have taken you if your mother hadn’t promised a virgin.” His stink enve
loped her as he covered her whole body. “My last wife was unfaithful to me.”
Anne sucked in a breath. She’d heard stories of the Sheriff’s wife who had fallen from the tower of her castle before he had been appointed to this position.
The rumor was that the fall hadn’t killed her.
“You will never be unfaithful to me.” The pig bent down on her and bit the skin of her neck. She squealed and tried to wriggle away, but he held her so forcefully against the wall. “Don’t scream, my girl.” He bit harder and her breath stuck in her throat. “You’ll learn to love the pain.”
When his face came back into view, he had a touch of red on his lips. Her blood. Oh Lord. He still had ahold of her arms, so she couldn’t move to find out if she was really bleeding, but the evidence seemed clear.
He licked his lips and then kissed her, the slimy slick of his mouth grinding into her and drawing more blood. A wave of sickness tore through her. She struggled, but he only laughed at her. “Your enthusiasm for me is endearing, lass.”
With a growl, he went for her neck again, and just as she felt his teeth tearing her skin again, she also felt him pushing her shift up. He fumbled with his pants and Anne looked up and down the long hallway again, begging someone to come upon them.
“Let me just sample these goods. See what I’m getting for this fool’s ransom I’ve paid.”
Anne cast one last glance around and felt her whole world implode in fear. No one was coming for her. No one would care. Her mother wouldn’t stop the Sheriff from taking what was his, and if she tried to wake Elena, she risked her sister’s virtue as well as her own.
With pain throbbing in her neck and disgust in her throat, Anne closed her eyes and prayed for someone to save her.
Chapter Five
Anne couldn’t remember how she got back to her bed, but when she woke, sore and hollow, the next morning, the memories of the Sheriff assailed her anew. Tears soaked her cheeks as she recalled the dark moments of her first encounter with a man. Her whole body ached in agony.
Elena’s poking her shoulder nearly drove Anne to screeching cries, but her simple-minded sister giggled when Anne wouldn’t look at her. The thought that stabilized her erratic heartbeat was that at least her sweet sister remained untouched.