Chapter Eleven #3
Ellice and Courtly turned to see Kellen standing in the entry, dripping from the rain. He didn’t seem drunk in the least. In fact he seemed furious and lucid. He yanked the door shut behind him and stomped into the room, glaring at Courtly as if she were his worst enemy.
“Answer me,” he boomed. “Do you love him?”
Courtly had never heard her father speak to her like that and she had to admit that he was frightening her. He didn’t look like the same father she had known all of these years. He looked different, edgy, like a man possessed. It was a struggle to maintain her courage.
“Aye,” she replied steadily. “I do. He is a kind, generous man and you had no reason to deny him his marriage proposal. Why did you do it?”
Kellen’s teeth were clenched with rage as he faced off against his daughter. “You will not question me,” he snarled. “I will do what is best for you, even if you are too stupid to realize it.”
His fury had Courtly’s dander up. “I am not stupid,” she fired back at him. “You have no earthly reason to deny Maximus’ suit. He is a good man from a good family. What would possess you so? Why would you want to make me lonely and bitter for the rest of my life?”
Kellen’s jaw flexed, indicative of his level of emotion. “You are too stupid to realize when your father is protecting you,” he said. “You have no sense at all, girl. Maximus de Shera has bewitched you somehow. What else has he done to you? What personal favors have you granted him?”
Courtly wasn’t exactly sure what he was asking but she knew that she didn’t like what he was possibly implying. “What do you mean?”
Kellen took a step towards her, his dark eyes blazing. “Whore favors, girl,” he growled. “What whore favors have you granted him?”
Courtly lashed out and slapped her father across the face, so hard that the man’s head snapped back.
He staggered back a step as well, startled that his beloved Courtly should actually strike him.
For a brief moment, it occurred to him just what he had accused her of and he was remorseful, but only for a moment.
Immediately, his anger and suspicions swamped him, stronger than before, because he was sure that he was correct.
She had granted the man favors. He looked at his daughter, his eyes wide with shock and outrage, as Ellice moved to stand between the two.
It was a surprising move by the woman who usually kept well away from her brother and nieces when it came to family business, but in this case, she was taking a stand. She had to. She pointed a finger at Kellen.
“You will not touch her,” she threatened. “Get out of here, Kellen. Go back to your room and leave Courtly alone. You have no reason to accuse her of such things. You are a foul man with a foul mind.”
Kellen’s venom focused on his sister. “This is none of your affair, Ellice. I would advise you to move out of the way.”
Ellice refused to move. “I am not moving,” she said. “If you want your daughter, you will have to go through me to get to her and I promise you that I will not make an easy victim.”
Kellen stood there looking at his sister and his daughter, his expression wrought with turmoil.
He was beyond furious at this point. He was flirting with the edge of madness.
Courtly was rebelling and Ellice, of all people, was siding with her.
There was only one thing to do. He had to remove his daughters from Kennington.
He had to get them away from Ellice and away from Oxford in general. They had to leave.
“You are a wicked, bitter woman,” he muttered to his sister, backing away towards the entry door.
“I should never have brought my children here. I knew you were a bad influence on them but I am only coming to realize just how bad. I am sending my daughters back to Trelystan tonight and if you stand in my way, I will kill you. Is that clear?”
Courtly let out a shocked gasp. “Papa!” she cried. “You would send us home in this weather? How can you do that?”
Kellen roared at her. “Silence!” he said.
“St. Héver will return you home this very night. God damn de Montfort, I must remain here because of his foolish gathering, but I will trust St. Héver to take you home. You will obey the man, Courtly, or I will give him permission to beat you. Is that clear? I will have him beat Maximus de Shera right out of your head!”
Courtly didn’t say a word, she was afraid to. She looked to Ellice, however, who was rooted to the spot, between Kellen and Courtly, watching her brother as he staggered out of the hall and back out into the rain. When the heavy door of the hall slammed shut, she turned to Courtly.
“I can hide you,” she said to Courtly. “Come with me.”
Courtly was still reeling from her father’s words.
In his current mental state, she couldn’t be sure that he wouldn’t carry out his threat against Ellice.
She went to her aunt, grasping the woman by the arm gently.
She’d never done that before. She’d never even really touched her aunt before, but at the moment, she felt closer to the woman than she ever had.
In this moment of darkness, there was a ray of light.
“Nay, Auntie,” she said softly. “If you do, he will punish you. I cannot let that happen.”
Ellice was softened by Courtly’s tender touch although she would not admit it, not even to herself. She liked to think of herself as hardened to any emotion, but she really wasn’t. Like anyone else, she craved a human touch.
“You heard him,” Ellice said. “He is going to send you and Isadora back to Trelystan tonight.”
Courtly sighed. She loathed the mere idea.
“I have no choice,” she murmured. “If he sends me and my sister back home, then mayhap he will cease this madness that he has suffered over the past day. Mayhap he will calm down and become himself again. The situation with Maximus has seemed to drive him right to the brink of madness.”
Ellice began to feel a sense of desperation on behalf of her niece. “If you return to Trelystan,” she said softly, “chances are that you will never see Sir Maximus again. Are you willing to risk that?”
Courtly gazed at the woman, her eyes filling with tears.
She simply couldn’t fight them off as Ellice reminded her of the heart and soul she had left back at The One-Eyed Raven.
Her features crumbled and she sat heavily at the feasting table, right in the same spot she had sat the night before with Maximus at her side.
She remembered that night clearly, word for word, and her hand moved over the seat next to her where he had been.
She could still see him sitting there, strong and proud. The sobs came.
“I have no choice,” she wept quietly. “If I do not do what Papa says, he will take it out on innocent people. He may even take it out on you or Isadora. I could not live with myself if he harmed all of you because he was angry with me.”
Ellice was moved by her tears. She remembered another young girl, years ago, with similar tears where it pertained to Kellen de Lara.
Ellice had been so very young when Kellen had chased her last suitor away, a man she had loved.
God’s Bones, but she remembered those tears.
She remembered the pain. Courtly’s sorrow cut her deeply.
“Then you are giving up,” she said hoarsely. “You are letting your father win.”
Courtly shook her head, wiping at her cheeks. “I am doing what I must in order to save those around me,” she said. “If something must be sacrificed in all of this, I would rather it be me than Maximus.”
Ellice watched her niece quietly weep, each tear driving the nails of grief deeper and deeper into her heart.
She had so wanted to help Courtly so the woman would not suffer the same lonely life she had, but Courtly was convinced that she had to obey her father in order to keep those she loved safe.
It was the truth, in fact, and the noblest sacrifice Ellice had ever seen.
She felt so very helpless because she knew she couldn’t help Courtly.
But she knew who could, perhaps the only person in all of England who could.
“Where is Sir Maximus?” Ellice asked. “Where is he staying?”
Courtly wiped at her nose. “In Oxford,” she sniffled. “At a tavern called The One-Eyed Raven. Why do you ask?”
Ellice avoided the question. “When he discovers you missing, he will come here. You know that.”
Courtly shrugged. “I asked him not to,” she whispered. “I told him not to come after me.”
Ellice snorted. “Do you think he will listen?” she said, glancing up at one of the tall, lancet windows at the top of the room when the lightning flashed overhead. “He is more than likely on his way here.”
Courtly looked up at her, disturbed by the suggestion. “I asked him not to,” she repeated, with concern in her tone now. “He must not come, Auntie. It will be a horrible situation if he does.”
Ellice nodded, pretending to agree. “Aye, it will be,” she said. “Mayhap… mayhap I should go and warn him not to come.”
Courtly stood up, her expression eager. “Will you?” she asked hopefully. “I know the weather is terrible, and I would not ask this of you under normal circumstances, but I am afraid of what Papa will do if Maximus comes for me. Papa might even try to kill him.”
Ellice was indeed thinking of riding to warn Maximus, but not for the reasons Courtly was concerned with. Ellice had her own plans.
“I will ride into town and speak to him,” Ellice said. “He must know not to come. He must know… what is happening.”
Courtly nodded her head, deeply thankful for her aunt’s selfless attitude. “Please, Auntie,” she begged softly, “Please go to him. I will be forever grateful.”
Ellice waited until Isadora returned with warmed wine before leaving the hall and heading to her chambers to don clothing that would be somewhat resistant to the terrible weather.
She’d spent so much of her life feeling worthless and restless that to actually have a purpose fueled her with confidence and new hope.
She was going to ride to find Maximus de Shera, that was a fact.
But it would not be to warn him not to come to Kennington.
It would be to tell him that Kellen was sending his daughters back to Trelystan.
Her suggestion would be that Maximus should intercept that escort and take back what rightfully belonged to him.
Kellen, who had to remain in Oxford because of de Montfort’s gathering, might not know for weeks or even months that his daughters had been taken by Maximus de Shera.
By the time he found out, Courtly would be Lady de Shera and Kellen would be too late to do anything about it. Aye, it was a brilliant plan.
For the marriage Kellen had denied his sister those years ago, Ellice would finally make her brother pay.
She would have the last laugh.