Chapter Eleven #4
“Until Caius receives word from The Marshal, his army shall not move,” he said.
“We are sending word to every Marshal ally along the Marches, telling them not to respond to a military summons from you until this is settled, so if I were you, I would think very carefully about my next move. And let me be perfectly clear about this – if you think to punish Alice because your plan to use her uncle’s army failed, I would think twice before doing so.
If you think to harm her in any way, William Marshal will bring a massive army to your doorstep and raze Winterhold.
The best you could pray for is a quick death, because if he catches you alive, he will ensure your death is as painful and drawn out as possible.
And when he is finished with you, he will find your son and make sure your entire family line is destroyed.
If you do not believe me, look around you – these are William Marshal’s Executioner Knights.
They will destroy you as if you had never existed. ”
By the time he was finished, Covington was pale and trembling with rage.
He was, however, smart enough not to act on it.
He may have been braggadocious and reckless, but he was not stupid.
He knew that, at least for the moment, he was caged.
The man who was always supremely in control of every situation was no longer in control at all, and that was a bitter pill for him to swallow.
“Is that why you brought me here?” he asked through clenched teeth. “To threaten me? To insult me? You could have told me all of this in private, de Wolfe. You did not need an audience to humiliate me.”
Edward grinned, but it was without humor.
“I brought you here so these men would be witnesses,” he said.
“It has nothing to do with humiliating you. You have done that to yourself, over and over again. I had no hand in it. Now, my suggestion would be that you remove your army from Hawkstone until William Marshal decides what is to be done. If he decides to support you, then you will take your army, and his, and defeat Hawkstone. From what I hear, it is no condition to withstand a siege, so a few weeks or months will not make any difference.”
Covington’s jaw flexed. “You seem to think you have the power here,” he said.
“I have my own army. I do not need The Marshal’s, though his support would have been appreciated without sending his minions to insult and undermine me.
His army can sit out in the field and rot for all I care.
I will take the remainder of my army to Hawkstone today along with my prisoner, and I shall force Caspian de Thorington to surrender the keep or I will kill his sister.
This is a private matter, de Wolfe. You have no say in it. ”
Edward remained calm. It was a trait that made him such a good diplomat. “Lady Emelisse has asked for my mercy,” he said, though it was a lie. “I shall grant it. In fact, The Marshal’s army shall be at her disposal, to protect her. I am moving the woman into my protective custody.”
Covington flared. “You cannot take my prisoner in a personal matter,” he said.
“If you do, your allies will know that you superseded your position and took something that did not belong to you. You will jeopardize your alliances with that behavior because it will prove that the Earl of Wolverhampton believes he is above personal issues. You are not the king, de Wolfe. You cannot take my prisoner.”
Technically, he was correct. Edward really couldn’t take his prisoner, but Edward was hoping that Covington would surrender Lady Emelisse if he was forceful enough.
“I will not allow you to kill her,” he said. “Nor will I allow you to mistreat her. If you will not give her to me, then you must make your next decision about her wisely, for I am here and I will defend her.”
Covington was backed into a corner. He was deeply humiliated that all of these knights had heard Edward berate him and push him around, but he also knew that he had little choice at this point. His pride was wounded and demanded satisfaction, but not here.
Not now.
He would do what he had to do to make it out of there alive.
“If I refused at this moment, it would be Hallam’s duty to protect me,” he said.
“Since I do not want to lose a good knight against these trained dogs, I will spare his life and acquiesce to your demands for now. You want the lady preserved for some reason, although you are married, de Wolfe. I have heard your wife is extremely young, so mayhap you simply like younger women and have set your sights on the de Thorington lass. I cannot understand why else you would be so determined to safe a worthless de Thorington life.”
Before Edward could reply, a hand went around Covington’s throat from behind as Caius reached around and squeezed.
He did it before he even realize he had and, suddenly, Edward was out of his chair, removing Caius’ hand and pulling Covington away from him as Maxton and Kevin pulled Caius back, far back, out of striking range.
The Britannia Viper had been silent in his attack.
Startled, Covington both clung to Edward and massaged his neck where Caius had managed to get in a good, strong squeeze. It was enough to truly frighten him, for the knight with the black eyes was perhaps more menacing and dangerous than the rest of them.
He jabbed a finger at the man.
“You want me to show the woman mercy, do you?” he nearly shrieked.
“Then I will tell you this – her freedom for Hawkstone’s surrender.
Take her to Hawkstone and have her convince her brother to surrender the castle and I will let them both go free.
Is that what you want to hear? That is as far as my mercy goes, so do what you must to pry her brother from Hawkstone.
If he refuses, or if she refuses, I will throw her in the vault for the rest of her life and I will purge Caspian de Thorington from Hawkstone with fire.
I will burn the place to the ground and him in it. Do you understand?”
Caius was looking at the man with deadly intentions, but he could also see Edward nodding his head at him, although he was clearly displeased that he’d tried to strangle the man in front of them all. Not that he blamed him, but it was a delicate situation that Caius had made worse.
Caius knew that. It had been an instinctive reaction. He still wasn’t sure what had happened. All he knew was that the man was speaking of Emelisse’s death and something inside him snapped. Innate protective instincts took over, instincts he didn’t even know he had when it pertained to a woman.
But Emelisse wasn’t just any woman.
Taking a deep breath, Caius knew that Covington’s offer wasn’t an unfair one. At least he wasn’t adhering to his original idea of Emelisse’s life in exchange for Hawkstone. More than that, it was a way to get Emelisse out of Winterhold. Once she was out, escape would be a simple thing…
“I will take her to Hawkstone,” Caius said. “And I will take Sir Hallam with me. He will ensure that your wishes are followed.”
He must have said it a little too easily because everyone in the chamber looked at him strangely, Hallam include.
In fact, Hallam appeared somewhat aghast by the suggestion, at least in the way his eyes widened.
Caius saw it but he doubted Covington did.
In any case, it was a way to get Emelisse out of Winterhold.
Perhaps it was the chance they’d been looking for.
While Caius was silently grateful for the opportunity, Covington didn’t quite see it that way. He only saw it as a way to get what he wanted, to save his pride in front of these men loyal to William Marshal. He still had an army.
And he intended to use it.
“Very well,” Covington said. “Ride to Hawkstone and see if you can convince that stubborn bastard to surrender the keep. Meanwhile, I will have the army prepared to march. If Caspian does not surrender by tomorrow, I will march the bulk of my army to Hawkstone and we will resume the bombardment until not a stone is left standing. Make sure both de Thorington siblings know that.”
Caius was growing weary of Covington’s demands. “I will.”
Covington’s attention lingered on Caius for a moment before turning to Edward. “And we can also make it clear to the de Thorington siblings that if they surrender their castle, I will return their father’s corpse to them,” he said. “That will sweeten the deal.”
Edward’s eyes narrowed. “I asked you for his body yesterday so the man could have a proper burial,” he said, grossly unhappy with Covington’s attempts to manipulate the situation. “Where is it?”
Covington stepped away from him, lifting his shoulders as he moved. “We are still looking,” he said casually. “We will look harder if Caspian surrenders the keep. If he does not, I will stop at nothing to locate Rupert’s corpse and happily send it back to them in pieces.”
He was at the door by the time he finished, yanking it open as Hallam stood aside for him.
As Covington stomped through, out into the bright white landscape of the outer bailey, Hallam passed an apologetic glance at Caius before following his liege.
When the door shut behind him, Caius turned to Edward with an expression of pure disgust.
“I am going to kill that bastard when this is all over,” he growled.
Edward snorted humorlessly. He’d seen a lot of spoiled men in his time, but Covington de Wrenville was up at the top. If it hadn’t been so appalling, it would have been ridiculously funny. Fools were always laughable.
But there was no humor to be found in this situation. He looked at Caius.
“Me, first.”