14. Baron
BARON
Ilocked Laurel into the pillory outside the castle gates the next morning, just as the Austrians were due to leave.
Laurel had suggested the public stocks in the village, where she would have had things thrown at her and been mocked, but I put my foot down.
No one was going to treat Laurel like that, not if I could help it.
Instead, there was a one-man pillory off to the side of the castle’s entrance.
It was discreet enough that most people would never know she had been there, but also right along the path the Duke and his son would take as they left.
When Leopold came to the end of the drawbridge, I stopped him and his entourage.
He looked dreadful. He had cleaned the blood off his face, but both his eyes were swollen, puffy, and bruised purple and black.
He had a fat lip and his nose was now slightly crooked.
He would never be quite so handsome again.
I issued Leopold a formal apology and showed him how his offender was being punished.
Leopold smiled smugly, dismounted, and walked toward us.
It gave me immense satisfaction to see him limp with every other step.
Laurel’s head and hands protruded through the holes on the near side of the frame and hung down in shame.
Leopold pulled Laurel’s hair back to get a good look at her face.
Laurel kept her eyes downcast. He glanced back at his father, as though seeking confirmation that this was indeed the girl he had spent the entire previous day with.
His father gave a small nod, and Leopold cuffed her sharply across the head.
Laurel cried out piteously and I clenched my fists to prevent myself from punching Leopold into next week.
“She’ll be whipped?” Leopold asked, the relish evident in every syllable.
“Naturally,” I answered. Leopold’s leering grin widened, and he returned his focus to Laurel. He hit her again, even harder this time. Once more, Laurel cried out. My hands began to shake and I was an instant away from stepping between Leopold and Laurel when the duke spoke up.
“Remember Leo, you’re a gentleman,” he said mildly from behind me. “Whatever this woman—” he spat the word, “did to you, we’re above it. You need not sink to her level. The sheriff will attend to her punishment.”
Leopold looked reluctant to leave now that Laurel was confined and at his mercy.
I saw his fingers twitch, as though they were just itching to strike her again.
I would kill him if he did. “My lord, please know that this matter is a top priority. I plead with you to accept our utmost apologies for the actions of one rogue servant girl. I assure you that she will be severely punished, and her position here has already been terminated.”
“Good, good,” Leopold said nastily. “When will the whipping be?” It could not have been more plain that he was willing, even eager, to watch it happen.
“In two days,” I said.
Leopold’s shoulders sagged. “Two days?” he asked incredulously. “So long! I can’t wait that long.”
“I like to starve offenders before whipping them,” I said casually.
I spoke with the same vicious spite I had heard in my father’s voice hundreds of times and though the words tasted foul, I let them continue anyway.
“I want this girl to spend the next two days and nights waiting. Every time she feels the pangs of hunger, she’ll know that they’re nothing compared to what’s coming. ”
Leopold nodded thoughtfully.
“Remember: the best punishment is one of the mind,” I said, then lowered my voice conspiratorially. Leopold leaned closer to listen. “Injuries heal. But fear lasts for a lifetime.”
Leopold looked at me with new appreciation, as though I had just revealed myself to be a man of excellent taste. I inclined my head. Leopold returned the action and finally, he and his entourage were gone. The instant he was out of earshot, I bent down to ask Laurel, “Are you all right?”
“Fine. For all his bragging about his prowess with a javelin, he hits like a girl.”
I knelt to examine her better and discovered blood dripping from her mouth. “You’re hurt!”
“It’s nothing,” Laurel said casually. “Don’t be a mother hen. This is part of the job.”
I made to unshackle her from the pillory, but Laurel shifted as much as the pillory would allow. “Wait. Give it a few more hours.”
“You can’t mean that.”
“Absolutely I mean it. If he gets suspicious and comes back, he needs to find me here.”
At her request, I waited until mid-day before I finally released her.
Since it would have looked too suspicious to stay beside her the entire time, I went about my regular duties, though I accomplished very little.
Every report blurred before my eyes and every conversation dragged on too long.
My thoughts kept returning to the castle entrance, to the sun climbing higher, and to Laurel locked in that blasted pillory because she was too clever and too stubborn to do anything halfway.
By the time I got back to release Laurel, the back of her neck was sunburned.
“Sorry,” I said quietly as I lifted the upper part of the frame.
Laurel pulled her head and hands free and rolled her shoulders.
“Don’t apologize. I was the one who told you to put me there.
Now, I need to hurry and clean before Agnes makes you put me back in the stocks.
Unless you were serious about terminating my position, that is.
I take it that was just for Leopold’s benefit? ”
I nodded and she glanced up at the towering wall behind me. “There are guards over there. You better start shouting at me now.” She bowed her head in perfect imitation of a servant with a broken spirit.
I yelled for the better part of five minutes, then sent her back inside with orders to double her workload. Laurel let tears trickle down her face as I shouted. Dale had taught her well. She left the tear streaks on her cheeks as she returned to the servants’ quarters.
I tried not to think about what might have happened if Leopold had gone straight to Prince John instead of me…
If Leopold had insisted that I whip Laurel in front of him…
If she had been unable to defend herself the night before…
If someone had discovered that Laurel was not really Isabella… All of this was far too precarious.
I didn’t like it. I didn’t like how many ways this could go wrong, or how easily one careless word could put Laurel in chains for real.
I didn’t like pretending to punish her and I despised myself for letting Leopold hit her.
I hated standing between her and danger while pretending to be the danger myself.
But seeing Laurel in her element—with her on our side, it almost made me feel like we had a chance to win.