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He did not return last night. It hurts me. I kissed Rumi. It is true. I am still hurt that he stayed away from me all night long. Maybe he was drinking with his men. That is the excuse that I tell myself. For I know he was with another woman. I cannot blame him. I have no right to be angry with him. I need to know if my sister is alive and only one person in the palace knows what Rumi knows. I do not announce myself when I push open the doors to the Princess’s chambers. Her maids are snoring from their pallets on the floor. I walk past them.
I do not expect to find my husband in her bed and it throws me off. I came here to demand answers and I find this? The two of them under the covers holding one another as if they are husband and wife? I look down to find my hand wrapped around my knife. It was not there a moment ago. I walk around to his side of the bed and I pause to watch him sleeping. He looks so peaceful and beautiful that it tugs at my heart.
His eyes open and his hands catch the blade when it comes down toward his handsome face. I am no match for Christian who has me pinned underneath him a second later. His hands are cut, and his blood is wetting my face.
“Stop it, Maeve.” Christian demands softly. “Let go of the fucking knife, damn it. I did not touch her.” He pries the blade from my fingers. “We are still clothed. Look at me.”
I am so angry and jealous that I did not notice until now. He is fully clothed. Right down to his boots. It makes me angrier, because I tried to kill him. She was next.
“I came here to speak to her and we started drinking.”
Christian sticks my knife into his belt before standing up and pulling me to my feet. He keeps pulling until his arms are wrapped around me.
“I fell asleep.” It is a whisper between us. “Nothing happened, darling. I love you.”
“The crazy witch tried to murder you in your sleep!” The Princess yells, now fully awake. “That is punishable by death. I will tell your brother and send a letter to the Cardinal before my ship sets sail today. The witch must be stopped Christian, before she topples your kingdom.”
“You do, and I will be forced to send you to the maker, Victoria.” Christian threatens her like they have not been friends since infancy. “I do not want to hurt you, but you will leave me no choice. My wife and child come before everyone else. Threaten them and you will end up like your lover. I do not regret killing that bastard. Widowmaker was a snake”. Christian sneers. “He climbed into my bedchamber. He touched my wife. I was well within my rights to do what I did. I will gladly do the same to any bastard that lays a hand on Maeve. If you want to place the blame on someone, blame yourself. You should have better warned him about what I would do to him.”
“I did warn him.” She begins to cry. “Nothing was stopping him from seeing her again. He was obsessed with it and there was nothing more I could say. She is a witch Christian. Can you not see that? Men are drawn to her.”
“Call her a witch again and I will cut out your wagging tongue.”
“Threaten me all you want.” She yells at him. “Cut out my tongue. It does not matter, everyone knows what she is. Why else would you bring this old hag here and claim she is your wife? You are under her spell. Seek out the church and ask for their help lifting it.”
“I am under no curse, you, foolish bitch.” He pushes me aside to face off with her. “I would know if she was casting on me. I know when you are casting, and I know that she is not.”
“I do not cast!”
“You tried to strike me down when I was stomping Widowmaker into sludge. Your puny spells are worthless and that is the only reason I have not turned you into the church.” He smiles when she gasps. “Go home, Victoria and stay there. You and your family are banned from my kingdom forthwith. Find a husband and enjoy your life while you still have one.”
“She has come between us now, Christian.” The Princess says sadly. “This witch is cutting you off from your friends and family. Soon, she will control you and your palace.”
“Maeve does not care about power or this palace.” He defends me so valiantly. “It was I who forced her to come here and it is I who makes her stay. She wanted nothing to do with my crown. This is a good time for me to take my leave before you bait me into doing something that I will regret.” His fingers lock with mine. “I am taking my wife to bed, where I should have been last night.”
“You would have taken me, if I had asked.” Victoria spits the words at his back.
“I would have taken you if I wanted you.” Christian laughs. “I made you put your dress back on when you took it off, remember. You were drunk, but not so drunk that you forgot that part. Goodbye, Tori.”
She hurls something that smashes against the door after we leave the chamber. It is her piss pot. He stops and turns me to face him.
“I am not the kind of man that runs to the next woman when my wife hurts my feelings. You need to trust me. I am not the one who goes around kissing other people.”
“It was a mistake.” I say defensively. “I was wrong.”
“But I blame him, not you.” Christian touches my face.
He does not smell like another woman. Had he fucked her, would he not have the smell of her cunt on his hands? And the smell of her perfume on his jacket? Or the smell of her sweat on his body when he holds me? I sense none of that when I bury my face in his chest and hold on.
“How did you know where to find me?”
His question brings me back to my reason for coming here. The Princess will never tell me anything after what happened with Rumi. I am asking her anyway.
“I came to see her. I wanted to ask her what she knows about my sister. If she is alive, I want to know. You owe it to me to find out, so that I can help her.”
He turns and walks back into the Princess’s chamber leaving me no choice but to follow him. This is not what I was expecting, and it makes me more nervous than pleased. I felt the Princess move that cage. All is not as it seems with her. I am not sure, if I want him to kill her. Rumi Widowmaker was a half-caste. If he kills a Princess over me, I will be murdered soon after. If they catch me.
“You cannot walk into my chamber unannounced, Beaumont.” She is not happy to see him back. “Get out of here before I summon my father, and the church forces you to wed me to save my honor.”
“Tell me what you know of Maeve’s sister.”
“Why?”
The Princess is speaking to him, but looking at me like the traitor that I am.
“So that she can spread her curse to her poor sister and kill her off with everyone else she touches? The witch is cursed.”
“Rumi Widowmaker was a trespassing thief, and he deserved everything that I gave him.” Christian says shamelessly. “Any husband that gives a damn about his wife would do the same. If he loved you so much, why was he stalking my wife? I know her, she is no seductress.”
“She does not need to be.” The Princess hates me. “Her kind was made to lure men in to worship and pamper them until they get too old to be handsome, or useful and they cast them aside for another. Witches live longer than leeches.”
“Where is her sister?” He gets to the point. “Tell me where she is, or I will out your family to the church. She is not the only witch being protected.”
“I am harmless.” The Princess hisses. “Lower your voice before someone hears you!”
“You are hardly harmless, bitch. However, you are no match for me.” He reminds her. “I will turn your family over the Cardinal in exchange for my wife. The church has wanted control of your lands for hundreds of years. This will give them cause to invade.”
“And I will tell them about your wife.”
“Tell them. None will believe you.”
He grunts when her knife plunges into his belly. She twists it before she pulls it out. I am in shock. This is not happening again. That is not me screaming, it is her crying that I stabbed Christian. Me.
“You will heal him, and they will know. Or you can run and save yourself.”
She leaves the room with her maids in tow. The power inside me is hot and eager to fill him and take away his pain.
“Do not heal me.” Christian groans. “No matter what happens, you let it be. They will burn you before I can stand on my own. Let me die.”
He has made his final request. Guards pour into the room the way his blood is pouring from the hole that his intestines are escaping through. A man grabs me roughly.
“Unhand my wife.” Christian gasps. “It was the Princess Victoria. She stabbed me in a jealous rage and is fleeing the palace. I want her dead.”
“Stop her!” One of the soldier’s yells to the men in back. “The Princess stabbed the Prince. We need to get him to his chamber. Call the chaplain. He may need his last rights.”
Last rights? How can I sit by and watch him die? I follow the trail of blood that he leaves behind him when the men carry him away. I hold his limp hand once he is on the bed. Then I begin to undress him myself. He is my husband and it is my duty. I groan when I open his shirt and see the gaping hole clearly. Christian will die of infection if he survives the wound.
“I need clean, boiling water.” I tear the sleeves from my dress to free my hands. “Find a needle and thread.” I snap at the man closest to me. “Hurry.”
No filthy hack is touching him, and no priest is giving him his last rights. Ezra pushes through the men to his brother’s side. His eyes meet mine and he understands what he must do.
“Clear the chamber!” He turns to the men. “Get out. Now.”
I concentrate on Christian who is coming to moaning in agony. How great his pain must be. It shakes his body and rattles his teeth. I want to help him. I do. But not until the room is clear. The hot water is here in ten minutes. The aunt tries to push in past Ezra when he closes the doors. He has no problem pushing her back and closing them on her also.
“Maeve.” Christian’s green eyes are bright with pain. “Let me die.” He pleads. “If you do this, they will have reason to come for you and our child. Think about the babe. It is my heir.”
“That is why we need you around to protect us. I know how brave you are, but you are not dying today.” I turn to Ezra. “I need to get him drunk or some opium to knock him out again.”
I jump when Ezra punches Christian on the chin.
“Why did you do that?” I demand angrily. “He is wounded, you ghastly beast!”
“He is sleep, is he not?” The Prince shrugs with indifference. “You have fifteen minutes before he wakes up again, sew him up fast.”
I rinse my hands with spirits and hot water before I clean everything that I will be using. My stitches are sloppy and spaced apart, but they will hold until I can fuse the wound closed. I undress and slip onto the bed with him and pull the quilt up over us before I take him into my arms. His life is draining from him with every gush of blood inside his cut belly and torn guts. My power explodes from me into him. He wakes up gasping for air.
“No.” Christian tries to push me away. I hold on tighter. “They are coming for me, Maeve. You have to let me go.” He moans in pain. “Leave me. Ezra will take you somewhere safe.”
He is right. I need to think about myself and the child that I carry. He is ready to die, and I need to let him go. There comes a time when a woman needs to walk away...but this is not that time for me. Whatever happens when they come, he will save me. My faith in him is stronger than his sword arm. I cradle my husband’s golden head to my chest and I pour my love into him. Maybe it is his time to go and I am tricking fate each time I heal him. Christian deserves to die for hacking, murdering and burning innocents in their sleep. He does not deserve the extra lives that I give to him. These same thoughts plagued me the last time I healed him. My stomach is twisted up with regret, and shame for healing the man that almost killed my name and stole my life away. I am no better than him in some ways.
What am I doing here with him? Why do I give myself to a man like him? I am but a piece of meat in a den of hungry lions. They are waiting for the perfect moment to pounce and tear the flesh from my bones. With the Prince fallen, I am vulnerable prey. I cannot let him die. Who else will protect me and my child? Who will love me the way that he does? Who will I love more than him? I do not want to love another. With all the men out there, I fell in love with the Butcher of Beaumont.
“Me and my men will guard the door.”
I bat my drowsy eyes at Ezra who smooths my curly hair. I am falling asleep. I smile and close my eyes again. I dream the most beautiful dreams when I am casting. My mother is in the clearing waiting for me among the tall grass and wildflowers. I always run to her. She always holds me and whispers, my sweet baby girl. That is what they called me, Beth-Ann and her. Mother is here. William and Charles are standing back near the trees. My heart swells, and I wave at them. They smile and wave back. I look around. Where is Beth-Ann? I want to ask mother, only, my voice is not here. It is frustrating and frightening not being able to speak to her, nor she speak to me. This is the realm of the dead. It shakes me like the fall that I took out of the walnut tree. Beth-Ann, is not here because she is still alive. This is how I felt when I hit the ground. Exactly like this. My sister is still alive, and she is waiting for me. I need to go to her and make her whole again. But for now, all I can do is sit with mother while I heal Christian.
I sit with mother in the grass with my head in her lap as she braids my hair. It reminds me of my childhood and growing up the baby. Mother feels like home and smells like love. Charles and William wave to her. It is time for them to go. I want to cry but my tears were taken with my voice. Please stay. I need you. Mother does not stay, and she does not look back. Mother.
My eyes open wide as I look around in terror. Where am I? The night air is cold on my naked skin. There is no shelter over my head or a stitch of clothing on my weak body. I am exposed to the elements in a filthy pig cart. My body is as limp as a sack of cloth. My baby. Is my baby unharmed? I do not know. I am forced to lay here until I can revive myself. There is a lone driver hunched over the reins. He is not Christian or Ezra. What happened? Why am I in this cart when Ezra promised to watch over us? Is he behind this? Where are they taking me? I am going to die. No one need tell me or threaten me for me to know it. The cart shakes on the rocky road bouncing me around on the hard bottom. Someone left me laying in fresh pig shit. The horrible smell is sticking to my skin and seeping into my open pores. Christian has nothing to do with this. He would never throw me into a pig cart. And he would die before he let me leave his bedchamber naked. The tang of blood is sharp when I bite my tongue. What if he is dead? What if I never see him again? My heart hurts more than my sore body. I was beaten, or worse. Who did this to me? My eyes shoot imaginary daggers into the back of the person stealing me from my husband.
As the night progresses into early morning, I am hoping that someone saves me. My ears listen for the army of hoof-beats that never come. I listen for the deep, commanding voice that I know as well as my own. I want Christian. There is only the eerie silence of the night. The chirping of crickets. The rustle of the wind through the leaves in the trees above. And the roar of fear in my shaky breathing. I am alone. I lay here in pig shit and wait for the sun to rescue me instead. My body welcomes the birth of a new dawn when the first rays of light color the sky. A sigh of pleasure escapes me when my body is bathed in its glow. I am glad they left me naked. The Beaumonts know better than to leave me in the sun if they want me to die. This is the work of heathens who are strange to me. I will have my strength back soon, depending on how long I laid with Christian before we were separated. I need to calm down and let the sun spin its magic on me. There is nothing that I can do to help anyone right now besides myself.
However, I do wonder who is brave enough to steal me from the Prince? Who is bold enough to cross him on this caliber? Who, I ask, is more powerful than he? The Cardinal. My heartbeat quickens, and I begin to sweat in the chilly breeze.
