Chapter 17 #3
‘No,’ Mordred said, and Lamorna’s heart almost exploded. What on earth was he doing? Panic seized her as one of the men stepped forward – she could see the faded glyph between his eyes. A Witchfinder. ‘But rest assured, you and your god want the same things I do.’
‘And what is that?’ Mark demanded. His face was hard, but with a subtle shake of his head, the Witchfinder halted.
‘Magic under tight control,’ Mordred said.
‘And you’re the one who is going to control it, I assume?’
Mordred nodded. ‘I am, with the help of your Sheletari friends.’
Mark laughed. ‘I could have you bound—’
‘No, you couldn’t,’ Mordred said, gesturing to Elaine. ‘I believe you are familiar with the Red Sisters, Mark of the Sacellum?’
Mark’s cheeks mottled with outrage as he noticed Elaine. ‘What is that doing here?’
Lamorna frowned.
‘Elaine is my guest,’ Mordred said.
‘That doesn’t answer my question.’
‘I have a question for you,’ Lamorna said loudly, swallowing her fear. She could not stay silent any longer, and she did not like the way this man was glowering at Elaine with his nasty eyes and tight mouth. ‘What are you doing here?’
Instead of answering her, Mark turned to Mordred. ‘Who is this? You let her speak with such insolence? You let her demand answers of men? Of her betters?’
‘He doesn’t own me,’ Lamorna snapped, heat rising in her cheeks. Mark reminded her too much of Ulrian Tregarthen, with his red robes and cropped hair and poisonous mouth. How she’d like to make him kneel on broken glass. ‘I’m not his property.’
‘You remind me of my wife,’ Mark said. ‘She couldn’t keep her tongue behind her teeth.
’ There was an unspoken threat to his voice that made Lamorna’s stomach tighten and her skin prickle and want to crawl from her body.
She wondered what had happened to his wife, and what woman would be foolish enough to marry a man like him.
One who would not have had a choice. She grit her teeth, determined not to let this man see her emotions.
She would be cold, like him, like all of them because she was coming to understand that if she truly wanted to play Mordred’s game, she had to play by the rules of men.
She had to be like them, or worse than them.
She lifted her chin and looked Mark in the eyes.
‘And where is your wife? I would like to meet her.’
‘She isn’t here. She ran off like a common whore with the first man who looked at her.’
‘What a pity,’ Lamorna said lightly. ‘But a woman’s intuition is a powerful thing. I’m sure she had her reasons for leaving you.’
Mark went redder than his cloak. Lamorna smirked.
Mordred chuckled. ‘Lamorna has a voice of her own and, as you can see, she is happy to use it. Why would I ever want to silence her?’ He let one hand come to rest on her leg, just above the knee.
‘You’re here because you have nowhere else to go.
You’re not a warrior. I don’t need you at all. Remember that.’
‘But you want my Witchfinders,’ Mark countered.
‘I do,’ Mordred concurred. ‘But let me make something perfectly clear to you. I have met men like you before. Small men who think they are more important than what they are. If you don’t keep your opinionated tongue to yourself, I’ll cut it out and then let Lamorna remove your hands and whatever other part of you she has taken a dislike to.
If you think your Sheletari will come to your aid, you’re mistaken.
Most of those men were once my people and they would not have forgotten that, despite what you and the Sacellum have turned them into. Do we understand one another?’
Mark’s eyes burnt with anger, but he inclined his head. Lamorna smiled.
‘You’ll be given a place to sleep,’ Mordred said. ‘And you’ll be fed. But beyond that, don’t presume to think you hold any value to me.’
Mordred called one of his men forward and whispered to him.
The man left and did not return for a long while.
Lamorna kept her eyes on Mark, enjoying the fact her very presence was making him angry and uncomfortable.
She’d hoped Mordred would turn them away, but she understood well enough.
He and Mark were sparring for power, and she wondered why men felt the need to play such games, why they didn’t say what they wanted.
After Mark and his red robed friends were led away, Lamorna exhaled a shaking breath. ‘I don’t like him.’
‘I can tell. To be truthful, neither do I, but battles aren’t so easily won without allies, Lamorna,’ Mordred said. ‘I thought you understood that by now.’
‘I understand that you want men who will be loyal to you, who share your belief, but Mark will do neither of those things.’ Lamorna glanced at Elaine. The Red Sister had not said a word, and Lamorna wondered what she thought about having these men here. ‘Why ally with them?’
‘It’s not for them, believe me. I know better than most the harm they have caused Magic Wielders,’ Mordred replied. ‘The harm they have done to my people.’
Lamorna’s gaze shifted to the doors. ‘You mean to betray them?’ she asked.
Mordred shook his head. ‘I mean to offer them a place in the new world. It may not be what they have now, but they will have their lives, and for that, they will be thankful.’