Chapter Twenty-One #2
“William,” he gasped, reaching out to grab William by the arm before he could leave.
Victor put on a show of great pain. “Surely… my God, surely the man will pay for his sins. Not only has he admitted killing your son, your son, but he has been preying upon my wife. I am shattered. The sins this man has committed against both of us must be punished, do you hear? Hage is obviously an animal. Too many years on the sands of the Levant have turned him into something vile and uncivilized. This I cannot tolerate.”
Annavieve had thus far been standing in silent horror behind Kevin, listening to everything that had been said about him.
The admission of killing Salisbury’s son had been shocking but she understood what had happened.
Kevin was not a liar and Adonis had confirmed the accidental death, but that didn’t seem to matter to Victor or William.
Now, Victor was speaking of punishment against Kevin for his sins and when the man spoke of how Kevin preyed against her, as Victor’s wife, she could no longer remain silent.
If Kevin was to be punished for obeying Dorset’s contemptible orders, then she would be punished, too.
Just as Kevin had been given no choice, neither had she. She would not let the man fall alone.
“You cannot condemn the man for following your orders,” she said loudly, making sure both Victor and William heard her.
When Kevin turned around, swiftly, to grasp her with the intention of silencing her, she stepped far away from him and also from Adonis, who was close in proximity as well.
When William and Victor looked at her in surprise, she focused on William.
“I am sorry for your son, my lord. I truly am. But if both Sir Adonis and Sir Kevin say that it was an accident, then mayhap you should believe them. They are honorable men. As for Sir Kevin preying upon me, he has done no such thing. The duke made it very clear that he did not want to marry me from the beginning. The king forced him to do it. In a complete act of defiance against the king and against humanity in general, he ordered Kevin to consummate his marriage for him. He told Kevin to beget me with child so that the duke could claim the child as his own and Edward would think he had done his duty. I cannot have you thinking that Sir Kevin is an unscrupulous man. In this instance, he did what he was ordered to do and so did I.”
William’s eyes were wide with shock, looking to Victor in horror. “Did you do this terrible thing?” he demanded, sickened. “Did you really tell Hage to consummate your marriage?”
Victor was on the defensive. He was furious with Annavieve, so much so that he was gritting his teeth, looking at the woman as if he wanted to kill her on the spot.
He truly did. She was contradicting him and he had no use for a woman who would not do his bidding, especially in front of his peers.
She was standing over by the public toilet whilst Kevin and Adonis were over by the livery corral.
Victor was closer to Annavieve than either of the knights were.
Enraged, he rushed at her and as she tried to move away, he grabbed her by the hair and hit her with a closed fist in the face.
Kevin erupted. He sprinted to Victor, grabbing the man by the neck and breaking his hold on Annavieve.
As Kevin fully prepared to break the man’s neck, William howled and his guards, including Gorsedd and Adonis, rushed to break up the fight between Kevin and Victor.
Annavieve, having fallen to the ground with the force of Victor’s blow, scrambled to her feet.
She, too, dived in to break up the fight, terrified that Kevin was going to kill Victor and, in doing so, condemn himself to death.
Already, he was in considerable trouble for attacking the duke.
She only hoped she could limit the exact measure of trouble he was in.
“Kevin, no!” she screamed, trying to get a hold of the man even as several other men were blocking her path. “Kevin, please! Let him go!”
More hands were on Kevin than were on Victor, pulling him off of the duke, who had managed to get in a good kick to the groin against Kevin.
Still, Kevin pretended as if the blow had never happened.
His hands were wrapped firmly around Victor’s head and neck but Adonis and Gorsedd managed to unwrap the digits.
More Salisbury soldiers managed to pull him back.
Eight men had Kevin restrained while Victor, being helped off the ground by William, was red in the face. Rubbing his neck, he pointed to Kevin.
“He tried to kill me!” he bellowed. “Throw him in the vault! Tomorrow, I will execute him myself!”
It was not an unexpected order. Attacking a nobleman, and especially a duke, was an executable offense.
William, startled and overwhelmed by the evening’s events, tried to plead for calm with Victor but the man wasn’t listening.
With eight men restraining Kevin, Victor went straight for Annavieve, who started to run.
The moment she did so, William intercepted her.
Victor grabbed hold of her arm but William wouldn’t let her go.
“Victor, no,” he pleaded. “Not like this. Let me take her with me until you have calmed.”
Victor was beyond rational thought. His dark, deadly eyes focused on William. “She is my wife,” he growled. “Let her go. You have no right to interfere.”
He was correct. Moreover, unless William wanted to have serious trouble with Victor for the rest of his life, he had no choice. He knew what Victor was capable of and he knew that the man would make his life hell. Sickened, and fearful for the duchess’ life, he had no choice but to release her.
Victor yanked Annavieve away from William, dragging her back towards the meeting house where the feast was still going on.
Annavieve was struggling against the man, going so far as to shove at him, and he slapped her again.
She kicked him. Slugging her hard, she stumbled, and Victor quite literally dragged her down the road and out of view.
William stood there, positively staggered by everything he had seen.
Slowly, he turned to Kevin and the men restraining him.
He could see the utter pain on Kevin’s face at what was happening, knowing that Kevin knew, as they all did, that Victor fully intended to punish Annavieve for her outburst. He might even kill her.
But as her husband, and as a cousin to the king, Victor could do as he pleased. He was beyond reproach.
“Hage…,” William began.
“Please,” Kevin hissed, interrupted him. “Please let me go. He will kill her. You know this.”
William sighed heavily, hanging his head because he could not bear to see the agony in Kevin’s eyes. “You know I cannot….”
“I love her,” Kevin burst, his voice cracking with emotion.
There were tears in his eyes now. “I love her. Is that what you wanted to know? I do. I love her with all my heart. I know you understand love, my lord. You loved your son. I am so sorry I took him from you but it was an accident, I swear it. Please do not let me feel the same grief that you are. Let me protect her. Let me save her.”
William’s tears were back. He could hear the anguish in Kevin’s voice; God help him, he could.
But he was helpless. He had to make a choice; a lifetime of hell from Victor should he go against the duke’s wishes, or a few brief moments sympathizing with a distraught lover.
It was the most difficult choice he’d ever had to make in his life and he had to make the one that was best for him.
It was the most horrible choice for them all.
“Take him to the Lord Sheriff’s home on the next block,” he instructed his men. “The man has a vault we can put him in. I will go inform the Lord Sheriff of what has happened. He will need to know.”
Kevin didn’t go mad with rage at the command but Adonis did.
He was unarmed since he had been attending the feast without his weapons or protection, but he slugged two of the guards holding Kevin and tried to break the hold of the others.
He was struggling desperately to free Kevin as Kevin tried to help him, getting an arm loose and dropping the nearest Salisbury guard with a crushing blow to the face.
Soon, the peaceful prisoner had turned into a raging tempest and a nasty brawl was afoot.
Gorsedd was part of the brawl but, unlike Kevin and Adonis, he was armed.
He had come to the feast as protection for Salisbury.
He was greatly torn between helping Kevin and obeying his liege.
He’d never disobeyed an order in the eleven years he had served him.
His son served the man as a squire; the entire de Bretagne legacy was intertwined with Salisbury.
If he disobeyed his liege at this point, it would mean ruin for him as well.
Much like William, he was faced with one of the worst choices he had ever had to make.
He hoped he wouldn’t hate himself for it in the long term.
When Adonis went after the one of the guards who was holding Kevin by the head, Gorsedd unsheathed his broadsword and, using the hilt, hit Adonis over the head with it.
Adonis fell like a stone. When Kevin looked up with shock and disappointment to see what Gorsedd had done, Gorsedd whacked Kevin on the side of the head, too.
Kevin was dazed but he didn’t go out completely.
A second strike saw him knocked as cold as his friend.
The brawl was over as quickly as that. Salisbury soldiers were picking themselves up off the ground as Gorsedd stood over Kevin and Adonis, feeling sick. Sick and furious. Sheathing his sword, he pointed to the men at his feet.