Chapter Fourteen #2
John was watching the man have an emotional collapse.
Not five minutes earlier, he’d come rushing into John’s solar without an invitation and began spouting off both pleas and accusations.
John, however, remained quite calm. With Etienne and Dirk standing in the doorway ready to throw Boothe out on his head, he knew he wasn’t in any danger.
But he was becoming increasingly annoyed.
“Sit down before you fall down,” he instructed the man. “Take some wine. Calm yourself before you tell me anything else because I will not be bellowed at in my own home. Keep that in mind before you speak again.”
Boothe was struggling. He staggered over to a nearby table that contained a pitcher and a few cups and sloppily poured himself a full measure of wine. He took several long gulps before stumbling over to a chair and nearly falling into it.
“I am sorry,” he gasped between gulps. “’Tis only that I have been on the run for two days, ever since my castle was taken. Brian de Luci and my brother have taken it. They threatened to torture and kill me, but I escaped. My lord, I need your help!”
John didn’t believe any of it other than Brian and Gage claiming Septentrion.
That, he was willing to give credence to, but the part about torture and death…
perhaps they did and perhaps Boothe deserved it.
But he didn’t like the fact that Boothe was pretending to be an innocent victim in all of this.
“What do you want me to do about it?” he said steadily. “You repeatedly raided Brian’s lands. You repeatedly tried to confiscate land that did not belong to you. Do you deny this?”
It wasn’t a question Boothe wanted to answer. He certainly hadn’t expected John to start the conversation off by pointing out that his actions had started the entire sequence of events.
“Those lands were always disputed,” he said defiantly. “De Luci has no more right to them than I do.”
“They are Brian’s lands, Boothe,” John said evenly. “He has the maps and the charters to prove it.”
“They are disputed!”
“By whom? You?” John shook his head. “If you have a dispute with de Luci, you should have taken it to the itinerate justice. Just because you raid a man’s lands does not make them disputed. It makes you an aggressor and de Luci has every right to protect his lands.”
Boothe slammed his cup down. “It does not give him the right to take my castle!”
John merely shrugged, silently conveying that he was not supporting Boothe at all. That inflamed Boothe tremendously.
“Then you support de Luci’s illegal action?” he said, incredulous. “You support lawlessness and inequity? I cannot believe you would do this, my lord!”
“Since when does a man not have the right to punish someone who has attacked him?”
The question came from the doorway as Wynter entered. She had pushed between Etienne and Dirk and was now walking into her father’s solar, her gaze fixed on Boothe.
“Well?” she demanded. “Answer me. Since when does a man not have the right to take action against a man who has harassed him?”
Boothe was shocked to see her in the solar. Not only that, but she was also challenging him, which did not sit well. He stood up, outraged, to face her.
“You do not know what you are saying,” he said. “I was discussing this with your father and you will kindly stay out of my affairs.”
“Why?” Wynter said. “You made them everyone’s affair when you came here to shout at my father.
You have spent the past year harassing Brian, including grievously injuring his cousin, and when he finally took action to punish you for it, you claim to be a victim.
Well, you’re not a victim. You got what you deserved. ”
Boothe was unaccustomed to being spoken to in such a way and most certainly not by a woman. His eyes narrowed.
“Go back to your hearth, Woman,” he growled. “Your opinion holds no value here.”
“That is where you are mistaken,” John said. “Her opinion holds a great deal of value, especially when she is right. You have harassed Brian until he finally took action and now you feel as if you have been wronged. Go find someone else to help you, for it will not be me.”
Boothe’s face turned a deep shade of red. His gaze moved back and forth between John and Wynter, his mouth working furiously.
“I told you that my brother had tried to steal my inheritance once,” he hissed.
“Now he is in league with Brian de Luci to take everything from me. Somehow, some way, they are working together to strip me of everything. If you will not help me, I will tell every warlord in Northumberland that you will not assist an ally in time of need. They will know what kind of lord you truly are.”
“And what kind is that?” John asked, unintimidated.
“A lord who will not help a liar and a thief? By all means, tell them what you must. But know my punishment shall be swift. If you thought Brian de Luci was a plague upon you, then you’ve yet to fathom what I shall be against you if you arouse my anger. ”
That gave Boothe some pause. He was struggling to control his rage because it didn’t work on de Thorington.
Nor did his threats. Evidently, nothing he could say would convince the man he was a victim to his brother’s alliance with de Luci.
The Earl of Ashington was quite smug and his bitch of a daughter right along with him.
But Boothe knew how to change that.
If he couldn’t have de Thorington’s help, then he would hurt him where he could.
“Very well,” he said, struggling for calm. “I can see that my attempt to gain your support has come to no end. But it is of little matter. It is really only de Luci I have to worry about. Gage is no longer an issue.”
John frowned. “What do you mean?”
John was looking straight at Wynter when he spoke.
“He was killed during the battle,” he said.
“I saw it with my own eyes. He was felled by archers, so he is no longer a concern. Do not trouble yourself, my lord. I shall find someone else to assist me in regaining my castle from de Luci, as he is the only one I have to worry over now.”
With that, he turned on his heel, a smile tugging on his lips as he headed to the door. Etienne and Dirk let him go, but mostly because they were so shocked with what he’d said that they didn’t know what else to do.
All focus turned to Wynter.
Including John’s. He may not have wanted his daughter to marry Gage, but what Boothe had done was horrifically cruel.
“My dear,” he said quickly, putting his hand on her arm. “It is not true, I am certain. He only said it out of spite.”
Wynter was standing there in a daze. When John squeezed her arm, she pulled away, wandering towards the lancet windows that overlooked the bailey, stumbling as she went. She couldn’t seem to remember how to walk.
“Possibly,” she finally said. “But it is equally possible that he is right.”
She went down before John could say another word.