Chapter Seventeen #2
Marian was still advancing on her but she was no longer running.
She was simply stalking her, pointing fingers.
“Look at you,” she hissed. “All the time you spoke of friendship, you were seducing my husband behind my back. And when I think of how you accused me of infidelity! You were bedding my very own husband!”
Isabeth was backing into the wall of the great hall and Marian came too close. She was crowding her, threateningly. Terrified she was about to be hurt, Isabeth lashed out and slapped Marian across the face as hard as she could. As Marian staggered, Isabeth slipped towards the hall entry.
“Leave me alone, you vile creature,” she said. “Go away and leave me alone!”
Marian was still reeling with the slap but she managed to regain her balance and pursue Isabeth into the hall.
Unfortunately for her, Isabeth had time to grab an iron fire poker and, for the second time in her relationship with Marian, was forced to defend herself.
Wisely, Marian came to a halt when she saw the poker.
She remembered what had happened the last time.
“Do you deny it is my husband’s child?” she said. “You accused me of being a whore, but you are the whore!”
Isabeth was more in control now that she had something to defend herself with.
“Though it is none of your affair, I will tell you so that you cease your mad accusations,” she said steadily.
“This is my dead husband’s child. It is not Ronan’s.
But I know the child in your belly is not his, either, so I would assume that, yet again, you carry another man’s child? ”
Marian’s eyes widened. “You dare accuse me of such things?”
“I am not accusing you of anything,” Isabeth said. “I am stating a fact. That child you carry is not your husband’s.”
Marian’s indignance grew. “I will have you severely punished for saying such things.”
Isabeth had had enough. She had no idea why Marian was here, or why she had even come, but she knew she wanted her out of Ravenscar. She jabbed the poker in Marian’s direction.
“Get out,” she hissed. “Get out before I bash your brains all over the floor. You come into my home, threaten and accuse me, and expect that I will not respond? You are quite wrong, Marian. Get out before I kill you.”
Marian let out a shout of outrage. “Now you are threatening me!” she cried. “I have witnesses! You have threatened to kill me!”
“Marian! Isabeth!”
Ronan was suddenly in the doorway, followed by Millicent, his father, Randolph, Christian, Odo, and several servants. When Marian saw him, she shrieked and ran towards him.
“She is trying to kill me!” she said. “Save me!”
She came too close and Ronan put up a hand to keep her at arm’s length but he ended up accidentally pushing her into Blayth, who caught her to keep her from stumbling. Marian began to wail as Ronan went to Isabeth.
“Are you well?” he asked, greatly concerned. “Did she hurt you?”
Isabeth shook her head, tossing aside the poker with trembling hands. “She did not,” she said. “But she came running towards me in the courtyard, screaming that I was carrying your child. I believe she was going to hurt me.”
Ronan shook his head in exasperation, holding up a hand to both calm her and beg her patience as he turned to Marian.
“What on earth are you doing here?” he asked, not at all happy to see her. “You were told never to return, Marian. Why have you come?”
Marian was indignant and distressed. “I came because you and that… that woman are carrying on behind my back,” she said. “You sent me away and now I know why. Because you wanted to fornicate with your friend’s widow!”
Ronan could see, in that brief statement, that Marian had been told what her father had been told. Spies within the de Wolfe ranks, spies loyal to de Grey, had told the same tale to both father and daughter. Realizing that, he sighed heavily with disgust.
“So you come all the way to Ravenscar to make accusations?” he said.
“Marian, you have had dozens of lovers since we were married and I’ve never once accused you of anything.
Therefore, your outrage is greatly misplaced.
You have no right to accuse anyone of anything when it comes to infidelity. You have set a perfect example of it.”
“She’s pregnant, Roe,” Isabeth said softly. “Is it your child?”
Shocked, Ronan looked at Marian as if the woman had completely lost her mind. “Is this true?” he said, incredulous. “Are you pregnant again?”
With the focus on Marian now, she began to cower.
As she struggled to answer what was not a difficult question, soldiers were gathering at the entry to the great hall to see what the commotion was about and Gaspard picked that moment to wander into the crowd.
He moved up towards the front, trying to stay inconspicuous, but Millicent, who was on the fringe of the group, caught sight of him.
And he was armed.
“Ronan,” Millicent called out. “Watch out for de Maurienne. He plans to kill you. He is the father of the child in Marian’s belly and they want you dead so they may take your fortune.”
Surprised, Ronan whirled around to see Gaspard standing in the entryway.
He was indeed armed, though the sword remained in its sheath.
Blayth and Randolph and Christian were closer to Gaspard, but Blayth didn’t have his sword.
Randolph did because he never went anywhere unarmed and Christian, being young and ready for any fight, was armed as well.
When their attention suddenly turned to Gaspard, the man realized he was in trouble.
Those quiet plans of murder were now in the open for all to hear and everything he feared was coming to pass.
In a panic, he unsheathed his sword, catching Blayth in the arm and as Blayth quickly moved aside, Randolph and Christian unsheathed their weapons and everyone began to scatter.
Marian began to scream.
“Nay!” she cried. “Nay, do not hurt him! Gaspard, run! Run away!”
For a woman who had accused him of being a coward only minutes earlier, she had quickly changed her tune.
But Gaspard didn’t run. Startled, like everyone else was by Millicent’s loud allegations, he surprisingly held his ground as Randolph and Christian circled him.
It was a sudden standoff at the entry to the great hall as all of Ravenscar came to a halt with the drama unfolding before them.
The quiet morning was now verging on a knight fight.
Ronan seemed to be the only one not moving towards Gaspard with a weapon drawn. He gazed at the man with genuine puzzlement before looking to Marian, who was weeping with fear. Reaching out, he grabbed her by the arm and moved towards Gaspard, pulling his sobbing wife along behind him.
“Millie,” he said, his focus on Gaspard. “Tell me what you know.”
“Millie, if you say anything more, I shall never forgive you,” Marian wept. “You are my cousin. You are loyal to me!”
Millicent gazed quite unemotionally at Marian before looking to Ronan.
“I heard them speaking of their plans for you when they thought I was asleep,” she said.
“They had hoped to push you over the battlements into the sea and make it look like an accident. Ronan, I’m very sorry to tell you that Marian has been carrying on with this man since her arrival in London and, I’m sure, well before that.
She is pregnant with what I am sure is his child, although with Marian, it is difficult to know.
She has so many lovers. I’ve always been fond of you and although I’ve never approved of Marian’s behavior, it was none of my affair.
But when she started speaking of killing you, I could no longer remain silent. You must know of their plot.”
Truth be told, Ronan wasn’t surprised to hear any of it.
Perhaps in the back of his mind, he’d always wondered when Marian would try to do away with him and steal his money because the woman’s immorality knew no bounds, so this wasn’t any great shock when he thought on it. But Marian began to shriek angrily.
“It is not true,” she said. “Millie is lying. How can you do that to me, Millie? Why would you say such things?”
Ronan didn’t believe her for a moment. He looked at his father, who took the hint and moved closer to Marian, taking her away from Ronan. That left Ronan free to face Gaspard alone.
And face him he did.
The French knight was taut with anticipation and perhaps a little fear as he met Ronan’s gaze steadily.
He still had his sword leveled, with Randolph and Christian nearby, but his focus was on Ronan.
In fact, it was strange for Ronan to finally be confronting one of his wife’s many lovers.
She’d had so many, men he’d never even met, that to actually confront one of them was something quite odd.
He took a couple of steps in the man’s direction.
“You do realize she will grow tired of you, don’t you?
” he said. “Marian has never kept a lover for more than a year. She grows bored too easily. And the child she carries? It is her fourth. You are the fourth father. I knew the father of her eldest daughter, as he was the son of a de Wolfe ally, but I never met the father of her second child. I was told that he was a priest who was sent to France after the affair was discovered. The third child is the offspring of a stableboy and now, there is you. If you truly thought that Marian would let you spend any of my money after I was gone, you are sorely mistaken. She will discard you quickly and find someone else to entertain her.”
Gaspard didn’t lower the sword. “Mayhap that was true in the past,” he said. “But Marian and I love one another.”
“She has never loved anyone in her life but herself.”
“You will not speak so coldly of her.”
“Why not? I am her husband. I know her better than anyone.”
“Not me,” Gaspard insisted. “She is humorous and her generosity is grand. She would never leave me.”
“You are a fool, de Maurienne.”
Gaspard studied him for a moment before lifting his sword.
“Would you care to test that accusation?” he said.
“Fight me. If you die, I will marry Marian. If I die… well, I shall not die, so that is not a possibility. But first you will call off your de Wolfe dogs. Unless you are so weak that you need them.”
A smile flickered across Ronan’s lips. “Are you sure you want to do battle against me?”
“I challenge you for Marian. If you are not too cowardly.”
That was the second time he’d insulted Ronan, trying to provoke a response, and he received one.
Without a word, Ronan unsheathed the sword against his right thigh.
He was still armed from having taken the night watch, not in full armor as he usually was when he went to battle, but he was protected enough.
Certainly enough in a battle against a lone knight.
Gaspard’s challenge had him taking the offensive immediately.
After that, the fight was on.