Chapter Twelve #3
“You bitch!” Thia’s hand went to her bloodied cheek, to the wounds which would undoubtedly leave scars. Peyton, terrified, slipped out from underneath her and attempted to regain her footing.
But Thia was hell-bent on disabling her victim.
She balled her fist and smashed Peyton on the back of the head, but her victim did not waver.
Instead, Peyton tried to scratch her again, unsuccessfully, as she wobbled to stand.
Thia thrust her big hands out to stop her but Peyton knocked them away, breaking free.
On her feet again, Peyton resumed her run down the hall with much less speed and a good deal more staggering. Thia, exhausted and bleeding, charged after her.
Toby suddenly appeared at the end of the hall, his blue eyes gazing at the struggling women with astonishment.
Peyton saw him in front of her and dashed toward him, reaching him a split-second before Thia crashed into her from behind and grabbed a handful of luscious red hair. Screams and grunts filled the corridor.
Toby could scarcely believe what he was witnessing. He thrust his wide frame in between the two women, attempting desperately to unwind Thia’s grip from Peyton’s hair. All the while, Thia continued to slug at Peyton’s head, sometimes making contact, and Toby was beside himself.
“Thia!” he bellowed. “Stop it! You will kill her!”
Thia wasn’t listening to her half-brother. She continued to strike and strike until Peyton turned on her, lashing out with her foot and kicking her in the tender shin. Thia winced and loosened her grip, and Peyton drove her fist squarely into her pug nose.
Thia’s grip relaxed and she fell backward, out of Toby’s grasp. Peyton suddenly found herself free of the vise-like grasp and stumbled away, tripping, and landing on her knees. Toby moved to subdue Thia before she could attack Peyton again.
But Thia would not be controlled so easily. She swung her big fists at Toby, catching him in the mouth. He grunted, but easily reined in the wild woman. Peyton, meanwhile, was so shaken she couldn’t seem to stand. She remained on her knees, trembling and dazed, as Thia resisted Toby’s restraint.
Heavy boot falls sounded down the corridor, the sounds of men approaching from the direction of the grand hall. Peyton did not even look up; she was close to retching, trying desperately to gain a handle on her reeling senses. The first voice she heard was Brian’s.
“God’s Blood! What is going on?” Brian boomed, his big hands on Peyton’s shoulders.
Peyton couldn’t answer him; she began to cry and Brian looked to his frenzy-eyed daughter with shock. “Thia! What’s happened?”
Thia seemed to be losing some of her madness as she realized her father was speaking to her. She ceased to grapple against Toby’s iron grip and focused her small blue eyes on Brian.
“I….I…,” she swallowed hard, struggling for a convincing reply. “She was spying on me!”
Peyton raised her head in a great frenzy of wild red hair. “I did no such thing! How dare you accuse me of subversion!”
Brian looked to Toby, who met his liege’s gaze unwaveringly. “When I came upon them, Lady Thia was in pursuit of Lady Peyton. She has dealt her a serious beating.”
Brian looked to Peyton and attempted to help her to stand, but Peyton was far too shaken to rise to her feet. Instead, she sat heavily on her bottom.
“Peyton, are you all right?” Brian asked seriously, baffled with the entire situation.
Peyton opened her mouth to speak, but sobs suddenly bubbled forth and she buried her face in her hands. “I want Alec!”
Brian removed his hands from his hysterical daughter-in-law and straightened, his hard gaze on Thia. “I would know what happened immediately,” he slanted a gaze at his startled steward. “Find Alec. Now.”
The man dashed off and Brian returned his focus to his daughter. “Answer me, Thia.”
Thia was calming rapidly as she realized the gravity of the situation. It was obvious her father was not going to side with her, instead, choosing to side with the bitch. She flushed mightily.
“I told you, father. She was spying on me and tried to harm me.”
Brian did not believe her for a moment, but he dutifully turned the question to Peyton. “My lady?”
Peyton removed her hands from her face, her gaze hot and angry on Thia. “I wasn’t spying. I was looking for Alec and came across Thia…. in a room.”
Brian’s eyebrows drew together. “And? And what?”
Peyton focused on Thia’s threatening stare, her terror being replaced by sheer anger and disgust. How could she tell Brian what she saw?
She could barely think on it without becoming ill much less repeat the distasteful facts.
As she struggled to find an answer, approaching boot falls distracted her attention.
Nigel and Colin stood in the hall, several feet behind Brian.
Brian passed the men a glance, startled that they had not kept to the comfort of the grand hall, instead, choosing to pursue the sounds of struggle that had lured Brian from their company.
The two were an unwelcome distraction and Brian impatiently focused on them.
“I apologize for the interruption,” he said, although he did not mean it. Tensions were so high that Peyton and Thia’s fight had actually provided him with a break. “’Tis nothing but a ladies’ squabble. Retreat to the grand hall and I shall join you momentarily.”
His request went ignored. Colin strolled forward and eyed the two women, the rake across Thia’s cheek and Peyton’s flushed face. “It appears to be more than a simply tussle, my lord.” Much to Brian’s dismay, his attention focused on Thia. “What’s the matter, my lady? Did she spurn your advances?”
Nigel snickered and Thia tensed in Toby’s grasp, her face flushing a deep, startled red.
Before Brian could lodge a strenuous protest, Peyton struggled to her knees.
“Certainly you only have your own rejection experiences to relate to,” she said breathlessly.
“What occurs between the members of the House of Summerlin is none of your affair, Warrington.”
Colin’s face went taut with rage and he twitched in Peyton’s direction, but his father stepped forward. “Nay, lad. She is Alec’s wife.”
Colin struggled with himself a moment, well remembering the beating Alec had dealt him earlier.
Angry or no, he had no desire to provoke him again.
Instead, he clenched his fists behind his back and glared at Peyton.
Peyton met his gaze unwaveringly, although her head was swimming and her knees were weak.
Somehow, her hatred for him was strength in and of itself.
“Where has your sister gone, Lady Summerlin?”
From one focus to another, the subject had shifted from Peyton and Thia’s fight to Ivy’s whereabouts. Peyton rose to unsteady feet, assisted by Brian. Her eyes were blades of sapphire, deadly and sharp.
“Out of your clutches, you vile bastard. Return to Wisseyham and rot.”
Brian closed his eyes beseechingly a moment, wondering how such a beautiful woman could possess a razor-edged tongue.
Although he would have liked to have said the very same thing, protocol and restraint prevented him from doing so.
His grip tightened on Peyton, preparing to protect her from Colin’s wrath.
But he never got the chance. Much to his shock and Peyton’s as well, Thia tore herself free from Toby and thrust her meaty fist in Colin’s face.
“You heard her, you misbegotten whoreskin,” she seethed. “Return home. You are not welcome here.”
Colin did not flinch as Thia planted herself in front of him, her chubby face threatening. Instead, he smiled humorlessly, a gesture which completely terrified Peyton. “I cannot without my intended. When I return, you will go with me.”
Thia did not react immediately. Then, it was as if Colin had slapped all of the bravery from her body; she staggered back, her eyes seeking her father in disbelief.
Brian, however, was fully focused on Nigel. “That was never agreed upon, Nigel. I never intimated that I would consider it.”
Nigel took his son’s cue and stepped forward, a smug expression on his face. “You were given a choice, were you not? Ivy or Thia. Since Ivy is, shall we say, all but lost, you have apparently made your choice. Thia shall wed Colin.”
“She will not!” Peyton was feeling stronger. It was odd that she should find herself defending a woman who had so recently tried to kill her; however, the common enemy seemed to join them as peculiar allies. No one, not even Thia, deserved such a fate.
Colin turned to her harshly. “This is none of your affair, Lady Summerlin. You told me to stay out of Summerlin concerns and I will demand you refrain from interfering in Warrington matters,” he passed another distasteful glance at Thia before turning on his heel.
“Have the contracts drawn up, Father. I wish to be done with this by the morrow.”
Nigel watched his son march down the corridor before turning his attention to Brian. He shrugged callously. “You made your choice, Brian.” With a lingering glance at Thia, he turned after his son.
For an endless, hanging moment, no one spoke.
Peyton stared at the empty corridor, too shocked and dazed to respond.
As she gazed into the dimly lit hall, a body suddenly appeared, walking towards her and Peyton knew even at a distance that it was Alec.
He was the only man as tall as a god and as wide as a bear, his gait nothing short of a graceful swagger.
Brian’s steward scampered after him as they came into the light.
Alec did not look at anyone but Peyton. He reached out and snatched her from his father’s grip, pulling her into a protective embrace. Peyton, still dazed and shocked, collapsed against him. Only when his wife was cradled in his arms did Alec dare to gaze at his father.
His voice was a growl. “I was told that there was some trouble. I would calmly ask what kind of trouble there was.”