CHAPTER 13 AN ATYPICAL APPROACH
Eric and Katarina returned to the castle after having consumed their weight (or in Kat’s case, double her body weight) in hearty tavern food and fine spirits.
As the couple strolled through the front doors, nodding to the guards who bowed to them, the pair continued idly chatting about Kat starting to wield a dagger while sword fighting, when Poppy shuffled up to them. The young maid was wringing her hands and glancing around. While she was successful in keeping her expression calm, both Kat and Eric could see something was stressing out the maid.
“Your Highness, my lady.” Poppy curtsied hurriedly, then double-checked their surroundings, making sure no one was within earshot before leaning closer to the redhead. “Lady Nathalie has requested you go to your father’s chamber.”
Kat raised an eyebrow, then glanced at Eric, who shared her look of confusion. “Is everything alright?”
Poppy gave a small, strained smile and nodded her head.
The redhead could tell there was no use in asking her maid any further questions, and so she set to making her way over to see her father, though feeling baffled about why Lady Nathalie was also involved.
Eric, while still not feeling completely comfortable with Fin, followed his wife out of curiosity—and in case there was going to be a fight between them she may need his support for.
By the time they reached the house witch’s chamber, Kat could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she tried to brace herself for whatever she would find behind the door …
Was her da angry that she’d missed the lunch he’d prepared?
Did he have something else he needed to say about her marriage to Eric?
Or was it just that Kraken was less moody after a good nap and was willing to try talking to Pina again?
Letting out a long breath, Kat raised her hand and knocked.
Eric reached out and gave her other hand a quick, comforting squeeze as they waited.
Then the door opened a crack, and Lady Nathalie appeared.
The look on the woman’s face wasn’t one Kat had ever seen her wear before, making the redhead balk.
“Err … Lady Nathalie? Is everything alright?” she heard herself ask as she noticed the pink in the Troivackian woman’s cheeks and the suspicious shine in her eyes.
“Ah, yes. Sorry to worry you, but … I gathered you may wish to be a part of … Well … this.” The noblewoman opened the door, and revealed …
Kat’s jaw dropped.
“What … the … fu—” Eric started to speak but was promptly cut off.
“ASHOWAN!” Faucher called out with a roar, the teacup in his hand waved out and sloshed a suspiciously clear liquid as he summoned Kat forward.
The man’s face was red, his posture crooked, and partially sitting in his lap, with his arm around Faucher’s neck …
Was Finlay Ashowan.
“Greeeg, sheee’s now, got a dif’rent name, sso I’m ASSHowan,” the house witch slurred with a smile.
Faucher bobbed his head dramatically while raising his teacup to his mouth and draining what little liquid had remained in it. “Right, right. But, yooou’re Fin tooo me. Or Your Grace.”
Kat and Eric shared amazed glances before Kat looked to Lady Nathalie, who had come to be in her current state because she hadn’t been able to stop laughing.
“They’re drunk off their arses,” Kat whispered while a smile climbed her face.
Eric was still at a loss for words as the two men continued drunkenly rambling and then burst out in a bar song that apparently Fin didn’t know the words of but still tried his best to sing along with Faucher’s off-key baritone.
Both Kat and Eric watched without saying a word while Lady Nathalie closed the door behind them.
“Conrad was wondering why Greg hadn’t returned after the meeting, and so I came to check on them and found … this.”
Finally able to look away from the comical scene of her stern and stoic teacher singing with her father more or less in his lap, Kat addressed the noblewoman.
“Has Faucher ever been like this before?”
The question made Nathalie’s hysterics begin anew.
It was the first time Kat had ever seen Lady Nathalie do such a thing so openly, and she found that it made her seem twenty years younger and captivatingly pretty.
“Greg? Like this? Not at all. I have to say … I’d heard that your father had a peculiar effect on people, but I … I was not prepared for it.”
“Oyy!” Fin called out suddenly toward his daughter and Eric. “You two!”
Fin gradually pushed himself up off Faucher, and after stumbling briefly, fixed his bleary gaze on the couple.
“Hi, Da,” Kat greeted with a wave.
Eric didn’t say anything, and instead moved his hand to his pocket and clenched it into a fist.
Fin closed his eyes and opened them wide again; evidently, he was having trouble focusing on his daughter and son-in-law.
Seeing this, Faucher also rose to his feet, though even he had to hold out a hand to find his balance before directly facing his student.
“Ashowan … or … Lady Kat, you … you come from good stock. Your father is—hic—surprisingly, a reasonable man.”
Kat blinked and looked at her father, who proceeded to clasp a hand on Faucher’s shoulder. “An’ this man … is mos’ impressive. Though I can’t believe that uh … that uh … he’s got so many dogs!”
Lady Nathalie already had her face dropped to her hand, her shoulders once again trembling.
“Right. Faucher, I’m surprised you let my da sit in your lap,” Kat observed wryly.
Her teacher pointed an unsteady finger at her. “You … will tell no one. He fell.”
“I will tell everyone. I don’t care if he had happened to break an ankle and landed there! Everyone in this castle should know by morning.” Kat grinned.
“Ashooowan,” Faucher began with a growl before his knee started to give out and Fin was forced to catch him by wrapping his hands around his waist.
“You two make a darling couple.” Eric eyed Fin borderline embracing the military leader, though the prince still had yet to crack a smile.
Kat noticed this and quickly deduced just how harsh of a discussion he and her father must have had earlier …
Faucher halfheartedly pushed Fin away as Lady Nathalie moved over to her husband, at last composed enough to lend her assistance.
“Come, Greg. I’ll take you back to our chamber and— Oop!” Faucher’s weight proved to be too much for the slender woman whose knees buckled almost instantly. Kat stepped in to help, throwing her teacher’s other arm over her shoulder.
“Ah. Dear old Greg, come along!” she cheered with a brilliant smile.
“Don’t call me that,” Faucher murmured, his eyes already fluttering.
“I’m hauling your drunken arse to bed, so I get to call you what I want!” his student informed him as they made their way out of the chamber. A warming of Kat’s aura helped her carry the man as his wife pulled free to try to regain control of herself as she once again began laughing.
Once the two women had closed the door behind themselves, leaving Eric and Fin alone, the jovial mood drastically cooled.
“You know … my mother did always say you brought out the unexpected sides of men when you drank together. Though I hope you realize the irony of me finding you in this state,” the prince informed the house witch with his head tilting over his shoulder.
“Your mother … wass a great woman. The firs’ night … The night of the ten fountains, your father—”
“Woke up to a parade of people informing him of his antics under my mother’s directions,” Eric finished the story he had heard countless times before.
“Yes.” Fin gave a melancholy smile, his eyes growing lost to fond memories.
Eric turned to leave.
“I’m sorry.”
The words made the prince freeze.
Eric turned to stare over his shoulder at the house witch after swallowing with difficulty. Fin was already leaning heavily against the armchair Faucher had just vacated, and his gaze was glassy.
“You’re just saying that because you’re drunk.”
“I’m not. I wass … uh …” Fin rubbed the back of his neck sloppily. “I was goin’ to do it tomorrow … but. Saw … Ssaw you now.”
In his pocket, Eric felt his nails dig into his palm. “Guess I’ll see if that’s true by tomorrow, then.”
The prince left without another look back.
After hastily exiting the chamber, he stood perfectly still, and closing his eyes, did his best to settle down his emotions before moving again.
He hadn’t been ready to see Fin so soon after their last discussion.
Feeling the incredible urge to drown his sorrows in copious amounts of moonshine, Eric forced his mind instead to other matters …
Matters like Duke Icarus.
I better go talk to Eli. He must be scared given that they’ve locked him up in a secret location in Vessa … I wonder if I should take Kat with me to meet him.
Eric felt his thoughts settle to safer topics, away from his vices, and the tension in his chest loosened a little as a result.
Yes, facing his former friend again could wait until tomorrow. For the time being, there was a mountain of work to be done.
Kat stood and stared.
It was the second time that day she was too astonished to speak.
The king had requested her to take the names of the women interested in learning self-defense for him to present to his council to discuss the possibility of their participation.
However, Kat had not been anticipating a packed corridor filled with noblewomen and serving girls to greet her.
“Well … you certainly made an impression,” Broghan Miller voiced faintly at her side while holding a board with parchment, an inkpot, and a quill he’d balanced on top. He looked down at the lone piece of paper he had brought.
“I think … I’ll need more paper … and we might need someone to help us, or we’ll be taking names past suppertime.”
Kat swallowed and nodded. “Maybe see if Sir Cas or Lady Dana wants to give us a hand.”
“Lady Dana is standing in line.”
“Ah … Faucher is going to kill me.”
“Probably.”
“Given that you’re supposed to protect me means that he’ll have to go through you first at least.”
Broghan fell silent.
He had forgotten about that detail …
“I’ll go see if Ball or Herra want to join. I know the two were training for Joshua’s match later, but this could be good to take his mind off that.”
Kat nodded without taking her eyes off the eager faces before her. “Maybe see about getting chairs and tables as well.”
Broghan inclined himself to her and handed her the clipboard. “You get started. Hopefully I’ll be back before you fill up the page.”
Looking to her personal guard, Kat accepted the materials, though her mind was still struggling with the sheer volume of women in front of her.
As he strode away, the redhead returned her attention to the women who all straightened their shoulders as though trying to stand out, all their eyes bright.
“Err … Right. If you all could line up two at a time along this wall in case anyone needs to pass by—” The scuffling and flurry of Troivackian furs and dresses was a small whirlwind that startled Kat back into silence until the women had reformed themselves and all stared ahead at her expectantly.
“Uh … Thank you.” Kat cleared her throat. “Alright, the first two come up, and I’ll take your names.”
The two women who stepped forward were obviously nobles. The one in a lilac-colored dress that she covered in a rich white cloak lined with snowy wolf fur was eyeing the redhead rather intently.
“My name is Lady Selene Icarus.”
Kat’s eyes snapped up from the page in front of her.
The young woman was pretty. Wide, light brown eyes, a beauty mark above her left eyebrow, an oval face, and long, straight black hair. She was quite tall and broad shouldered for a woman, to the point where even Kat felt slight by comparison.
“Is your father aware that you’re here … ?” Kat asked while trying to hide the hesitancy in her voice.
“Oh, I’m not here to sign up, I’m here to tell you that I’m not going to give up on Prince Eric becoming my husband.”
The woman beside Lady Selene reared back to stare at Selene as though she had just pulled a weapon out.
Evidently the two did not know each other.
Kat’s jaw dropped, and she stared at Selene while barely resisted the urge to laugh.
“Er … well … I’m currently married to him, so that might be a bit of a snag to your plans.”
“I don’t think you’ll last long.”
The woman at Selene’s side began to back away from the scene, obviously not wanting to become embroiled in a possible fight.
Kat couldn’t help it, she chuckled, though she tried valiantly to stifle it quickly. Selene raised a haughty eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest.
“I bet he only married you because you crawled into his bed and your father made him do it!”
Kat started laughing again. This time she couldn’t stop.
She wasn’t even sure why it was more funny than it was enraging to her … Perhaps it was the young woman’s unabashed approach, or how assured she seemed of herself.
However, Selene was becoming a mite more upset in light of Kat’s reaction.
“You aren’t saying I’m wrong. You’re just laughing like a fool.”
Unable to stop herself, Kat thrust the board at the young woman, making her grasp it instinctively.
This freed Kat up to continue laughing hysterically.
Perhaps after days of horrific stress, her mind had finally snapped, but her hands were on her knees as she doubled over, still squawking.
She knew she should put the woman in her place, but she first had to stop laughing.
“You really are—” Selene started to say something, but Kat held up a finger as she at last composed herself enough to stand straight while dabbing the corners of her eyes.
“Hoo … that was … Wow. You sure are something.” Kat grinned at the noblewomen, who glared at her before rolling her eyes.
“Tell you what, Lady Selene.” Kat took a step closer, her golden eyes shining a little brighter, making the noblewoman back up. “I won’t report your disrespectful conduct just now to your parents, and perhaps even the queen if, and only if, you yourself sign your name on that there sheet in your hands.”
Kat was prowling forward, her smile, while not intending to be menacing, was intimidating all the same.
“I-I would never sign! This is— Oh!” Selene’s back was against the castle corridor, and to her left the crowd of women who had gathered to sign up to learn self-defense stood silently watching.
“Take a moment and think about what would be worse … upsetting your father … or getting exiled and possibly charged with slandering foreign nobility … followed by most likely upsetting your father.”
Selene opened and closed her mouth, her hands beginning to tremble.
Gods, I know Rebecca Devark had indicated the duke’s daughters weren’t the brightest torches in the castle, but I didn’t know they’d bethis dense …
Duke Icarus’s eldest daughter snatched up the quill from the board, scrawled her name, and hurriedly pressed the materials back into Kat’s hands before stalking away with her cheeks burning red.
Kat, while still smiling, waved at Selene’s back before muttering under her breath, “I get the feeling that I’m not finished dealing with that woman …”