Chapter Ten #3
“Silence!” he roared. “All of you—shut your lips and be silent. I have something to say to all of you, and you will listen or you’ll not like my reaction. Tiberius? Shut up!”
The table went deadly silent in an instant, including Tiberius, who had been drunkenly shouting at his cousin across the table.
But he, and everyone else, looked at Roi in shock and surprise.
Roi was more the silent, steady type, so this dramatic show wasn’t like him at all.
Roi was seething as he looked around the table, and that was clear to everyone.
No one would escape his wrath.
“It has come to my attention that some very unsavory things have been said about my betrothed, and I am going to put an end to it here and now,” Roi barked.
In particular, he focused on Westley. “West, you have been spreading gossip that you have heard from some lowly soldiers about Lady Diara, and I am here to tell you that if you ever repeat it again, I will cut your tongue out. Neither Father nor Mother can save you from my rage if you ever tell anyone again that you heard from some dimwitted soldiers that my betrothed has an unchaste reputation. Do you understand me?”
Westley’s eyes were so wide that they threatened to pop from their sockets. “Roi,” he stammered. “I… I…”
“Silence!” Roi shouted at him again. “You will not defend yourself, because you repeated the same rumor to me. Therefore, I know it to be true. You told Tiberius and Gallus and Maximus, and now Tiberius is going around telling people that I am marrying a whore.”
All eyes turned accusingly to Tiberius, who suddenly took on a look of utter and complete fear. Before he could say a word, his mother stood up from her seat across the table.
“Did you say that?” Honey demanded. A petite woman with blonde hair and an iron fist, she glared at her youngest son. “Do not lie to me, Tiberius de Shera. Did you say such things about Roi’s betrothed?”
Tiberius was in a world of trouble, and he knew it. Gallus and Maximus would give him no support in the matter because, in truth, they’d tried to be somewhat neutral about the situation. It was Tiberius who had run his mouth off.
“Uncle West said so,” Tiberius said, climbing off the bench and backing away from a group of very angry people. “He said she easily spread her legs!”
Westley was on his feet. “I never said that,” he fired back. “I will admit to telling you what I’d heard, but I never said that she spread her legs. I never said she was a whore.”
Tiberius was going down, but he wasn’t going to go down alone. “You said there were rumors that she was unchaste,” he shouted. “It’s the same thing!”
“It is not,” Westley said angrily. “You’re trying to put words in my mouth, and I will not let you do it. You’re the one who is going around telling people she’s a whore—not me.”
Honey had heard enough. She flew around the table and grabbed Tiberius by the ear. Quick as a flash, she slapped him across the mouth—a fully grown knight—and yanked on his ear until he howled.
“I am ashamed of you,” she said, dragging him down the table by the ear until he was within Roi’s range. “Tell Roi that you are sorry and that you did not mean it. Tell him now.”
Tiberius was young. Young, foolish, and defiant. With his mother yanking on his ear and his grandmother heading in his direction, he knew that he was in major trouble. More trouble than his uncle could ever give him. But he wouldn’t apologize.
Not until he’d had his say.
“She was supposed to marry Beckett,” he said, in great pain as his mother tugged. “Uncle Roi has no claim to her. She was supposed to bear Beckett’s sons, and our sons were all going to grow up together. Don’t you see? It’s just not right!”
Dustin reached him and grabbed him by the hair. Between Dustin and Honey, Tiberius was in a world of hurt.
“So you called her a whore?” Dustin said angrily. “How could you do such a thing? You’re a silly, foolish, stupid boy, Tiberius. Can you not see how happy she makes your uncle? That should be your only concern!”
Tiberius was fighting a losing battle. “But she belonged to Beckett!”
“Beckett never wanted her to begin with!”
Dustin hadn’t meant to say that, even if it was the truth.
Most of the family already knew it. She immediately looked to Roi apologetically as a gasp went up, mostly from the women at the table, and all eyes turned to Diara, who was viewing the entire scene with a good deal of horror.
She was living her worst nightmare, slanderous rumors now being brought to light, but Roi had taken charge.
He’d told her that he’d always protect her.
Now was his chance to prove it.
Before Diara could react in any way, Roi spoke.
“Beckett was unhappy with the betrothal, Ty, and since you were close to him, you know that,” he said.
“Why you should continue to state that Lady Diara belongs to him is beyond my comprehension. The truth is that Beckett was very displeased with the contract and had no interest in marrying at all. Stop acting like there was a love match, because there was most certainly not. Moreover, I fail to see how any of this is your concern. You have not only put your nose into business that did not involve you, but you spoke most unkindly of a woman who had never done you any harm. Is that the kind of man you are, Tiberius? A man who harms others and cares not for their feelings? Because if that is who you truly are, then I want no part of you. You are dead to me if that is the kind of man you are at heart.”
Tiberius was feeling quite punished, literally, from all sides.
His mother, his grandmother, and his uncle had publicly taken him to task.
Arrogant as he was, he wasn’t as stupid as his grandmother accused him of being.
His brothers were virtually ignoring him, and Westley had already told him what he thought of him.
He knew he was done for.
He looked at Roi.
“I… I apologize,” he finally said. “I suppose… I suppose things are changing, and I do not like it. Beckett is gone. He was the only one who understood me. And she… she was betrothed to him, and that means she belongs to him and I don’t care what you say.
But I’m sorry I said terrible things. I… I did not mean it.”
Dustin let go of his hair, but Honey didn’t let go of his ear. She dragged him over to where Diara was standing with Dorian cowering behind her.
“Apologize to her,” Honey demanded. “You will never again shame me like this, Tiberius. Do you hear me? Apologize to this gentle woman.”
Tiberius looked at Diara with a mixture of resignation and defiance. He hated apologizing. But he knew he had no choice.
“I apologize, my lady,” he said quietly.
Diara gazed into the face of the young knight who hadn’t been particularly kind to her since she’d known him.
She could have been gracious about it, but she didn’t feel particularly gracious at the moment.
This entire situation had her about as worked up as Roi was, but unlike him, she wasn’t going to jump on the table and shout about it.
She was simply hurt.
“Words,” she finally said. “Mere words, Sir Tiberius. You have been using them against me since we met, so you have simply uttered more words that mean nothing to me. Do you want to know where the source of those rumors came from? Mayhap Westley would like to know, since he has been spreading them so freely. You see, I fostered at Carisbrooke Castle. There were two unhappy and unattractive de Redvers daughters who were jealous of me, and they were the ones who started the rumors, rumors that have spread from soldier to soldier because they like to gossip about the nobles. I never did anything wrong. I was never unchaste. I was pious and obedient, but that did not matter to Lady de Redvers. She spread those rumors happily, hoping it would deter men from me and turn them towards her daughters. Now you know. You have continued a petty woman’s petty scheme. ”
Most of the table heard her. That caused Dustin to grab Tiberius’ hair again and swat him on the behind.
“Out of my sight,” she hissed. “Get out of my sight. I do not want to see your face again until my anger has cooled. Go.”
The last word was spoken imperiously, and Tiberius left the dais, followed by his mother for good measure. Humiliated that his mummy was escorting him from the hall, Tiberius fled quickly. Before he was even out of the hall, Roi turned to the table, but mostly, he turned to Westley.
“You are my brother and I love you, but repeating that gossip against a kind and decent woman makes me ashamed of you.” He turned to the table at large.
“And I am ashamed of anyone who listened to it and did not immediately dismiss it. You have all spent some time around Lady Diara, and I know you have seen what a fine, noble woman she is. She would make any man proud, and I must say, I feel wholly unworthy of her, and especially after this nonsense, she has every right to look at all of you as an undesirable group of in-laws. She has told me that because of your behavior, she wants to go home. She does not want to marry me. But I have begged her to reconsider because I have fallen in love with the woman and would be crushed if she were to leave. Mayhap you all can make up for your horrible behavior and plead on my behalf.”
Dustin was the first one to step up, taking Diara’s hands and looking her in the eye.
“We are not such a terrible family, my lady,” she said sincerely.
“I am so sorry that your experience with us has proven otherwise. We are decent and kind, and we love one another deeply. I would like to think that was where Tiberius was coming from—a place of love for Beckett and Roi. A need to protect him against harm. He simply didn’t go about it the right way.
Mayhap in time you will forgive Tiberius, though I would not blame you if you did not.
But do not punish Roi for a foolish nephew’s loose tongue. ”
Diara smiled faintly, feeling the woman’s genuine heart. And Dustin had a big one. But suddenly, there were two big bodies in front of her, gently pushing Dustin aside, and Diara looked up to see Christopher and Curtis standing there.
Christopher took her hand and held it.
“I am so very sorry,” he said in a deep, quiet tone.
“Please do not judge the entire family by the actions of a few. Westley is a good man. He is loyal to the bone. But he is very protective of his brothers, so I believe it when I say that he was concerned for the woman Roi was to marry. He heard the rumors, and naturally, he should be concerned. But he should not have repeated them the way he did. I hope you can forgive him.”
Diara wasn’t one to hold a grudge by nature, but she was still upset after the events of the day.
She’d been wounded before by gossip, so she wasn’t too keen to trust or forgive those who had tried to hurt her.
Still, she was faced with Dustin and Christopher and Curtis, with Roi still standing on the table and looking at her anxiously.
She knew none of this was his doing, and the fact that he’d stood up to his entire family, just for her, spoke volumes.
He was a man of his word.
“Of course I will marry Roi,” she said, smiling weakly.
“I would not dream of punishing him for something he had no control over. But for the rest… I have been hurt by nasty gossip for years. I am sure that I will forgive in time, but it is a wound that still must heal. Your kindness has helped more than you know.”
Dustin smiled at her, patting her cheek, but Christopher made his way over to Westley, who had the appearance of a kicked dog.
Once his father started talking to him in a low voice, that look only grew worse.
Meanwhile, Christin and Rebecca had moved over to Diara, and Christin went so far as to put her arms around Diara’s shoulders.
It was a very nurturing, protective stance, one that bolstered Diara tremendously.
She looked up at Roi, still on the table, who was now watching his father lecture Westley.
Diara broke away from Christin, though gently done, and went to the edge of the table.
“Roi?” she said hesitantly.
Hearing his name, he snapped his head in her direction. Quickly, he climbed off the table. “I am sorry if my actions upset you,” he said. “But I felt strongly that I had to handle it in that manner. No questions, no confusion. I feel that it was the right thing to do.”
She smiled at him to let him know that she wasn’t upset by it. At least, not once she’d had time to digest it all. “You are a man of honor,” she said. “I am grateful you thought enough of me, of the situation, to take it so seriously. I hope this is truly the end of it.”
“It is,” he assured her, his pale eyes glimmering at her. “I promise you, it is. You can see that everyone is very concerned about it. These are decent people, Diara. They simply had to be reminded of it.”
Diara nodded. “I know,” she said. “And I appreciate it. Do you think they would mind if we supped with them? Or should we go eat by ourselves?”
He chuckled. “Why would we do that?”
“Because you just berated everyone at this table. They may not want to eat with us.”
He simply grinned. “How little you know, my lady,” he said softly. “How little you know.”
He was right.
As the group settled back down, Roi seated Diara at the end of the feasting table and made sure she was served the best of everything available.
Dustin and Christin sat with them, along with Curtis and his sons, and eventually nearly everyone gravitated toward that end of the table.
It was an apology, a salve to her wounded heart, and a show of unity for the future.
That was something Diara had never experienced.
For her, it was a night to remember. For the first time in her life, she was starting to feel accepted.
As if she was part of something bigger, with people who wanted to embrace her.
Rumors or not, it didn’t matter. Roi had accepted her, and they would too.
Odd how these people she had just met were turning out to be more of a family to her than her own.
And she was grateful.