Chapter Four
Already, I can see he’s unpleasant.
That was because the man seated across from Emmeline, the one she was to marry, seemingly had no sense of decorum. He’d asked such a blunt question that she wasn’t sure she heard it correctly.
She asked him to repeat it.
“How old are you?”
There it was again, that tasteless demand, and she couldn’t avoid answering it. “I have seen twenty years and six, my lord,” she said steadily. “And you?”
Maximilian had a coffin in one hand and a cup of strong ale in the other. “Older than you are,” he said before he swigged the ale. “Are you are truly that old and have never had children?”
“Nay, my lord.”
“Why not?”
“Because God has not seen fit to bless me.”
Maximilian wasn’t sure what that meant. He took a big bite of his coffin, and gravy dripped out on his chin. “You did have relations with your husband, didn’t you?” he said. “Or did you ban him from your bed because he was so old? Is that why there were no children?”
Emmeline’s patience was becoming increasingly thin at his line of questioning.
“I cannot tell you why there were not any children, only that we had none,” she said.
“Is there anything else you would like to know that I can tell you? Mayhap you would like to know about the mining operations on our lands?”
He swallowed the bite in his mouth. “I have no interest in those,” he said. “As long as they continue to produce and my coffers continue to fill, that is all I care about. In fact, you should know how this marriage is going to work, my lady.”
Emmeline cocked her head curiously. “Work, my lord?”
He nodded as he took another bite. “Understand that I have no interest in being married,” he said.
“This is all my father’s idea. He wants the Bretherdale lands to join with the de Witt lands because it will make for a grand empire for me, but in order to do this, I must marry. Do you understand so far?”
“I understand.”
“And you understand that I did not ask for you.”
“Again, I understand.”
He eyed her. “Then you know I am only doing this to please my father,” he said. “It’s not as if I have a choice in the matter, so I must make the best of it, I suppose.”
Emmeline was quickly coming to see Maximilian de Grey for what he was—petty, selfish, apathetic, and rude.
Her hope for a husband with the polite qualities that Addax had was gone.
The man in front of her didn’t care a thing about her or their impending marriage.
Now she was faced with the very thing she’d feared—a man who didn’t want her and didn’t care if she knew it.
“As I have said repeatedly, I understand the situation completely,” she said, unwilling to be submissive to a man who didn’t care for her feelings.
She’d already had one marriage like that, and was beyond frustrated that she was to have another.
“Since we are being honest with one another, this marriage wasn’t my idea, either.
Your father came to me. He courted me with promises of a countess title.
You see, my lord, Ernest de Witt had no interest in a wife.
That is why we had no children, so my interest in this marriage is to, indeed, bear children.
I want them. Beyond that, and the usual trappings of marriage, I expect nothing.
Just so we are both clear on our expectations. ”
Maximilian stared at her, surprised by such a bold statement.
Then he broke out in a weak grin. “Honesty,” he said.
“How refreshing. Since you are being honest, I will be also. You are too old for me, my lady. I like my women younger. I also like them with blonde hair, as opposed to whatever color you seem to have. And I like blue eyes. In short, I like my women looking pale and angelic, but you are pretty enough, so I suppose that is something. I will give you children, and you will give me an heir, but that is where it ends. This is a business arrangement and nothing more. Are we agreed?”
With each successive word that came out of his mouth, Emmeline hated this more.
She’d taken a stand to rebut his callousness, and now she found herself wishing she hadn’t.
He’d taken her statement and added to it, expecting their marriage to be in name only.
She’d already had that. Everything Maximilian wanted, she’d already had with Ernest. But neither one of them could back out.
That same question she’d asked herself numerous times before this moment came back to haunt her.
What have I gotten myself in to?
It was a sickening realization.
“I hope we can at least be civil to one another,” she said stiffly.
He nodded. “I don’t see why not,” he said. “As long as you do not interfere in my business or shame me in any way, I will be quite civil and generous to you.”
“As you wish, my lord.”
He smiled brightly. “Excellent,” he said. “Mayhap this will not be so terrible after all.”
She smiled thinly. “One can hope.”
He chuckled, pushing his cup of ale toward her. “Let us drink to that, my lady,” he said. “Or may I call you Emmeline? It is my right, you know.”
She simply nodded as she took the cup and drank deeply. She needed it. Just as she drained the cup, Claudius walked up.
“There you are,” he said. “I’ve been looking for you both.”
Maximilian was still beaming. “Here we are,” he said. “Papa, I think everything will work out as you hoped. The lady and I have come to an arrangement that I believe will make us all happy.”
That wasn’t the news that Claudius had been expecting. “Oh?” he said, surprised as he looked between his son and Emmeline. “Then… then this is agreeable for you both?”
Maximilian answered before Emmeline could. “It is,” he said, taking the cup back from Emmeline and realizing it was empty. “The lady and I have come to an agreement. You may put your mind at ease.”
Claudius couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He looked at Emmeline. “Is this true, my lady?”
Emmeline felt defeated. Worn out and defeated. She’d waited two years to discover she was going to have exactly the same marriage she’d had before, and the realization was almost more than she could bear. Looking into Claudius’ hopeful face made her want to cry.
“As he says, my lord,” she said, averting her gaze.
Claudius stared at her for a moment longer before breaking out into a broad smile.
“I cannot tell you how pleased I am to hear this,” he said.
“Truthfully, I thought I would be fighting with Max all the way to the church, but if there are no objections, then let us proceed to St. Andrews and have the priests perform a mass. Let us seal this marriage and be done with it. What a great day this shall be!”
Emmeline didn’t think she had any great days ahead of her now. The fact that Claudius called this a great day was from his perspective, not from hers.
For her, it was a sentence to eternal misery.
*
“He is being married now?”
Addax nodded. “Now.”
Cole’s eyebrows lifted. “Is this to the de Witt widow?”
Addax looked at him in surprise. “How did you know that?”
“Because I saw Claudius de Grey.”
Addax waggled his brows. “Ah,” he said. “Max only told me today. It seems that he has been betrothed for at least two years to a very wealthy widow.”
He was standing next to the pen that the smithies used for the horses they were shoeing, as he’d just brought his steed over because he thought one of the animal’s shoes was loose.
Essien had come with him, but Cole found them as he headed back to the castle to collect his wife, who wanted to see the more advanced rounds of the joust. Now, it was Cole, Essien, and Addax standing at the rail of the pen, discussing Maximilian’s impending marriage.
“Aye, I know about her wealth,” Cole said. “But I did not know the marriage was today.”
“Nor did Max until his father sent word,” Addax said. “It seems that Bretherdale brought the lady with him. He’s not taking any chances on Max trying to back out of this betrothal.”
“He’s forcing it on him, is he?”
“Very much so.”
Cole fell silent a moment, watching one of the smithies come to collect a horse. When the man led a bay stallion away, Cole returned his attention to Addax.
“I was just returning to the castle to collect Cori because she wants to see the champions compete this afternoon, but I will ask her if we may feast tonight to celebrate Max’s marriage,” he said. “Do you think he would like that?”
Addax nodded. “Anything to do with drink and food will please him,” he said. “I am certain that his father will appreciate your generosity.”
“Good,” Cole said. “Then I will discuss it with my wife when I return. But before I go, there is something I must discuss with you, Addax. Es, you will hear this, because it may involve you at some point.”
Essien had been inside the pen, looking at a black warmblood that a knight had turned over in payment for a debt he owed one of the smithies.
“I suspect this has something to do with a mission,” he said, bending over to look at the horse’s right fetlock.
“When you have that tone in your voice, it usually does.”
Cole leaned against the railing. “You are a prophet,” he said, but returned his attention to Addax. “You have not been called into service for at least two years.”
Addax’s dark eyes were steady on him. “You know the situation,” he said. “I spent time in the Earl of Hereford’s ranks and, as of a little over two years ago, was his garrison commander at Wigmore Castle. But then there was the incident involving your youngest brother on the tournament circuit.”
Cole held up a hand to silence him. “I know,” he said. “You did what you were asked to do. You remained in the circuit, watching Cassian until he surrendered his position on the circuit and married Hereford’s daughter.”
“He really didn’t need my guidance.”
“I felt otherwise at the time. And so did Hereford.”
“How is your brother, by the way?”