An Oath Of The Kings (Book 4) (14 page)

A relentless, harsh clanging brought Kiernan abruptly out her exhausted sleep. “What’s happening?” she asked, already jumping off the cot.

“Oh, no,” whispered Tilly.

“What is it?”

“The bell,” she whined in a terrified voice as she swung her legs off the bed and slipped into her dirty dress. “It means there’s going to be a flogging.”

Fear stabbed at Kiernan as she dressed and went to stand in the aisle with the other women lining up before the door.

“Hurry, now!” Marian, the matron, shouted. “The Duke has a show to put on! Don’t give him what he wants. No crying now.”

The women moved ahead sluggishly, clearly not eager to witness the event. A public flogging wasn’t anything new to Kiernan. Although, infrequent, she had seen a few in her life growing up in Nysa, and they never got any easier to watch.

When Kiernan arrived at the door, she grabbed Marian’s arm. “Who is to be punished?” The question earned her a glare, though she didn’t know why.

“Could be anyone for any offense,” the matron answered. “The Duke enjoys a perverse love affair with the whip. But, if I had to guess, I would say it was your very own, Cael Trathen.”

“Cael?” she asked in a panic. “He did nothing wrong!”

“Brought you here, didn’t he?”

A snarl ground out through Kiernan’s lips. She looked around at all the youngsters filing out the door. “Do the children have to watch?”

“Everyone.”

Kiernan pressed Tilly tight to her side and reluctantly followed the women out onto the porch of the barracks. “Close your eyes,” she told the little girl.

But, Tilly did look, and her cry was heartrending. “Papa! Papa!”

Cael knelt in the mud, his hands tied around the same wooden pole as the man she had seen yesterday. Blood covered his bare back. His head hung between his shoulders causing his long hair to hide his face from view. He looked barely conscious.

Sympathy lanced her heart. Cold rage stole her breath.

The Duke of Lewstin sat obscenely on an ornate chair on his hill, out of the mud, away from the horror he had orchestrated. Over the distance, their eyes met and in that moment she knew. This whole event was meant for her. To test her loyalty. Not to Cael, but to him. To witness firsthand the price of betrayal.

She broke eye contact and felt herself being forced down along the stairs and into the mud.

All around her, the crowd was deathly silent and Kiernan recalled Marian’s directive to the women not to cry. She now understood why. It was their one small act of defiance. The Duke may be able to force them into witnessing his brutality, but they would not give him a reaction, the one thing men like him craved most.

Tilly tried to break free to run to her father, but Kiernan held her back.

A man in a black hood with two cutouts around the eyes stood in the mud twenty feet behind Cael. Dressed only in black trousers and the hood, his bare, muscled chest gleamed with sweat. A wicked-looking leather whip dangled from one hand.

I have to do something!
Kiernan pressed Tilly into Marian’s hands and pushed through the crowd determined to lock on to the punisher’s eyes so she could mindshift him. All she needed to do was get him to hold the tip of the whip back just enough so Cael wouldn’t be hurt as bad and no one would be the wiser.

The Duke stood from his chair to address the townsfolk, stopping her cold.

“Fine people of Lewstin! It is with great sadness that today I must condemn our brother, Cael Trathen, to a punishment of twenty lashes for the crime of thievery.”

The crowd murmured in surprise. Kiernan waited for one of them to call the Duke out for what could only be an outrageous lie. None did. She scanned their faces. Cael’s father stood in the back. He met her stare for a brief second and then shook his head and turned away.

The offense was more than she could stand. “No!” she shouted. “Master Trathen is a good, decent man. He would not steal!”

“Guards!” the Duke screamed. “Escort that woman back to the barracks!”

Two soldiers started toward her, but she ducked away from them. Refusing to engage the Duke, she turned to the people. “How long are you going to stand for this?”

“Guards!”

“You all know Cael Trathen is not guilty of any crime, yet you stand by and watch! You must rise up against this injustice!”

The soldiers grasped her arms and wrestled her toward the barracks.

“Proceed with the final ten lashes!” the Duke shouted.

“You must fight!” Kiernan countered.

No one answered her cry as she was carried up the stairs and unceremoniously dumped inside the building. The doors were slammed shut, but not before she heard the tip of the whip whistle through the air and land on Cael’s back with a sharp snap. Not before she heard his cry of pain.   

She pounded on the door, but the guards held it shut. Misery overwhelmed her. Cael must have known the Duke would punish him if he brought her here to Lewstin, but he did so anyway. Why did he help her when he so easily could have brushed off her persistence and left her behind?

Because he was an honorable man and wanted to help her.

Her blood oath flared inside her body, and she vowed to do the same for him. With every cry of his pain, her resolve grew stronger.

****

Kiernan spoke to no one for the rest of the day, and no one spoke to her. Although, it was clear from the looks of the women that they blamed her for Cael’s whipping.
As do I.

Every time the door opened, she feared it would be one of the Duke’s soldiers there to drag her out for her own punishment—and it would have nothing to do with a whip. Mostly, though, she was alone with everyone off to work in the mines, including Tilly. The women who looked after the very small children came and went, but otherwise the barracks remained empty.

She lay on her small cot and plotted her revenge on the Duke. She couldn’t do it alone, that much was certain. She needed the townspeople to desire their freedom as much as she wanted to give it to them.

Late in the afternoon, Marian came into the barracks and brought her bread, cheese and water, which Kiernan accepted gratefully. The matron did not speak to her and it infuriated her. She stood to confront her. “Why, Marian? Why don’t you fight?”

To Kiernan’s surprise, the matron laughed. “To what purpose?”

“For freedom! For a life free of terror! For better living conditions!”

“Like Cael? He brought a new
wife
to town to make his living conditions better and what did he get for it?”

“You can’t possibly—”

“Have you seen the guards?” Marian asked. “Have you seen the walls? Have you seen how families are separated? These are all tactics to keep the people of this town focused on one thing.”

“Mining.”

“Exactly.”

“But, you must—”

The matron cocked her hand back and slapped her in the face. Hard. “Stop it! Just stop your nonsense! If you continue with your heresy against the Duke, you’ll get worse than a whipping. You’ll be dead! And, you’ll probably take a few of us along with you.”

Kiernan brought a hand up to her stinging cheek. “I’m just trying to help.”

“Bloody noble,” Marian grumbled, shaking her head.

“I’m a maid,” Kiernan told her.

“And, I’m the Princess of Men.”

Kiernan had to bite into her lip to keep from smiling.

“It’s easy to fight back when you’re a lion, isn’t it, my lady?” Marian said, jabbing a finger into her chest. “You’re used to people doing your bidding and bowing down to you, I can see that by the way you act. Well, for whatever reason you’re here, you’re in with the sheep now and we don’t want your bleating to attract the wolf. Do you hear me?”

Is she right? Am I doing more harm than good? Are my perceptions colored by privilege?

“There is no help for us in Lewstin,” Marian continued as though reading her thoughts. “This is our lot and we’ve accepted it. You will have to, too, if you want to survive.”

Kiernan reluctantly nodded, deciding to give it up for now. “How is Cael doing?”

“I haven’t seen him.”

“Take me to him.”

Marian gave her a furious look. “You really won’t be satisfied until I’m the next one strung to a pole, will you?”

“Just point me in the right direction. No one will know.”

“Go to the Netherworld,” she spat and walked away.

Kiernan waited until all of the women had been in bed for a full hour before slipping out of the back door of the barracks. She followed Tilly’s directions and took a left up a small hill into a copse of trees. A well-worn path cut through the middle of the woods told her she wasn’t the only one in the town of Lewstin to have ever defied curfew. It gave her hope.

She hurried over the path, and Cael’s small house came into view through the thinning trees a few moments later. She stuck her head out of the woods to peer up and down both sides of the street, but yanked it back at sight of two of the Duke’s soldiers. She took a deep breath and held it, hoping they wouldn’t look too closely into the trees. The soft conversation between the two men continued unabated, and she waited until they passed before letting the air out.

With one last hard look down both sides of the street, she ran across the road to the house and darted inside without knocking.

She shut the door softly and leaned against it. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, and what she saw made her want to weep. This was not a home. This was four walls and a few pieces of shabby furniture. There were no toys here for Tilly to play with. No flowers or carpets or curtains that would have added a modicum of color to the drab surroundings. No, this was not a home. This was a place for Cael to lay his head at night. The Duke of Lewstin had seen to that.

“Cael?” she whispered.

When she received no answer, she pushed away from the door and walked through the kitchen into a narrow corridor with only the dim light from the windows to guide her.

“Cael?”

A pain-filled grunt came from a back room. “I’m in here.”

Relief flooded through her at the sound of his voice. She hurried to the only room at the back of the house. A lantern hanging just inside the door provided enough illumination for her to see Cael, lying on his stomach on a small bed. She covered her mouth in horror. Strips of his skin hung from his back, leaving bloody, weeping welts exposed to the air.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said hoarsely, his face turned away from her. “If the Duke finds out, he’ll—”

“Shush,” she told him and sat carefully on the bed next to him. “How bad is it?”

“It burns,” he ground out through gritted teeth. “Terrible.”

Kiernan remembered Miss Belle once treating a stab wound for one of the Scarlet Sabers. “Do you have any poppyvine here? And, goat’s milk?”

He nodded. “In the kitchen.”

Kiernan rushed out of the room. It took her some time to find a kettle and heat the medicinal plant over the embers in Cael’s fireplace. She added the goat’s milk slowly, in small drops, until she had the right consistency for a poultice.

With her mixture in hand, she returned to Cael’s room and set the kettle on the floor next to the bed. With as much care as possible, she used her knife to spread the warm poultice over his welts. At first, he moaned in pain, but soon murmured in anesthetic relief.

When she finished and he remained silent, she assumed he had fallen asleep and couldn’t resist the urge to stroke his damp blonde hair. “Why, Cael?” she asked softly.

“Why what?” he whispered back, startling her. She jerked her hand away.

“No…don’t stop.”

With a sad smile, she reached out and ran her hand tenderly along his hair once again. “Why did you bring me here?”

“Didn’t have much of a choice, as I recall. I told you what it would be like here.”

“It’s not for me I ask, but you. You must have known you would be punished.”

“Yes, I did, but…there’s something about you, Larkin, that’s hard to resist. Somehow, out on the road, you convinced me that all might not be lost. That maybe…just maybe, there’s hope for us here.”

Is there?
The matron’s words back at the barracks had started to plague her with doubt and almost persuaded her to give up the struggle. But, Cael’s words had the opposite effect. She realized now that not everyone had the will to fight back. Through no fault of their own, years of oppression had shaped the people of Lewstin into docility. Fortunately for them, she had been shaped into steel.

“Help me up,” he said.

With some effort and a few groans, she helped him into a sitting position at the edge of the bed. They sat side by side, their legs pressed together. He glanced over at her. “Being able to see your face again is worth every bit of the pain.”

She turned away and ran a self-conscious hand over her short hair.

With two fingers, he pulled her chin back toward him until she had no choice but to look at him. “You’re the most incredible woman I know, Larkin, and I mean it.”

His warm brown eyes, so sincere and full of compassion, tugged at her heart. Without thinking, she reached out to tenderly stroke his jaw as though it were the most natural thing to do. What more could a woman want than the man who sat in front of her? He might not be highborn, but she never put much stock in the idea that she would forsake love for politics. In any case, it hardly mattered now with the death of her father as she didn’t have an army at her disposal to fight for the Crown.

Yet, a burning question remained. Had there been another man in her life before her mind went blank?

Her hand slowly trailed down along Cael’s neck and shoulder and the hard muscles in his arm willing herself to remember another in his place.
Did I love? Was I loved in return?
As much as she tried to force it, the overwhelming rush of remembered emotion she felt with Tilly was missing here. There was nothing.

Perhaps there never had been.   

Cael’s hand came around her waist and pulled her close. He leaned in to place a soft kiss on her lips.  

Her first instinct to push him away quickly receded as her body reacted to their closeness and she moaned against his mouth. In response, Cael kissed her deeper, more fervently. All rational thought flew from her mind. No one existed in this moment except her and Cael. He was the only solid thing in her life and she clung to him.

Slowly, he lowered her back onto the bed.

****

The front door to Cael’s house banged open. Cael rolled off her and cursed when his sore back hit the bed. Kiernan jumped up just as the Duke’s soldiers burst into the bedroom.

“Mistress Malley, you are in violation of Lewstin law by being out after curfew. You’ll need to come with us.”

Cael struggled to stand, his face ashen from the pain. “Where are you taking her?”

Kiernan put her hands on his shoulders and gently eased him back down. “Cael, listen to me. You don’t need any more trouble. I’ll see you soon.”

“Don’t ask me to be the coward my father is, Larkin,” he begged, catching her hand in a tight grip.

“I would never do that, but this is something I need to handle.” She bent and placed a kiss on his lips. “Trust me.”

“It’s the Duke I don’t trust.”

“I’ll be fine.” She leaned down to whisper in his ear. “I’ll be back tomorrow to apply another poultice.”

He nodded, but looked around her at the soldiers. “If you harm one hair on her head, I’ll kill you. Do you hear me?”

“We’re not going to harm her, Cael, relax.”

Kiernan allowed herself to be ushered out of the house. She stalked ahead along the muddy road and, to her surprise, the soldiers kept a respectable distance behind. She headed toward the barracks hoping that would be the extent of it, but after her outburst earlier, she doubted she would get off that easy.

As she feared, the soldiers hurried ahead to block her way and guided her toward the Duke’s residence on the hill.

Kiernan sighed, knowing she had little choice in the matter. Another confrontation had been inevitable.
Better now, late at night, than with innocent people around.

When they arrived at the estate, the two soldiers waited outside and a servant in gray livery ushered her into the same library where she’d met the Duke yesterday. She stepped inside and froze at the sight in front of her. The Duke sat behind his desk dressed in a silk night cloak and casually ran his hand down the hair of the little girl in his lap.

Tilly.

She looked terrified.

“Ah, Mistress Malley, whatever am I to do with you?”

For Tilly’s sake, she remained silent, not wishing to cause the girl any harm.

“I run a very orderly town here, Mistress Malley. People follow my rules or they suffer the punishment of their defiance. I have a graveyard full of rule-breakers. Would you care to join them?”

Tilly whimpered.

Kiernan glared at the Duke. “Let her go.”

“I will allow you this last pass, but you will not speak out against me again and you will not break curfew. Am I understood?”

“Yes, now let her go.”

He laughed and lifted Tilly off his lap. “Very well, it’s back to the barracks for you, young lady. If Mistress Malley cooperates, I will not have to summon you here again.”

Tilly scooted around the desk and ran to Kiernan, hugging her around the waist.

“It’s all right, darling. We’ll go now,” Kiernan told her.

“Oh, no, you will stay, Mistress Malley.”

Kiernan felt her stomach drop.  “Go on, Tilly. I’ll be along shortly.”

The little girl nodded and darted from the library like a spooked animal.

The Duke steepled his hands under his chin. “Who are you? That is the question.”

“No one,” she replied flatly.

“Oh, you’re
someone
. I’m certain of that.”

“No.”

“Are you a spy for Bartlett? Or Hamilton? Did one of those bastards find out about my diamond mines and send you here to try and take my town from me?”

“No.”

He came around his desk and stood in front of her. “I don’t believe you.”

“It’s the truth.”

“You’ll need to convince me,” he said with a leer.

She grimaced in disgust. “And, how would I do that, my Lord Duke?”

“Stop playing games, Larkin. You know what I want.” He pressed in close to her and covered one of her breasts with his hand. “One way or another, you will submit to me.”

Her lip lifted in a feral smile.
Wrong move, Duke.
Gritting her teeth, she slapped his hand away and slammed a mindshifted thought through the air between them. One that would have him running out of this estate to jump in the Illian River. Naked.

Her smile faded.

Nothing happened.

The Duke just stared at her with a stupid grin on his face, roughly groping at both of her breasts now.

It didn’t work! My magic is gone along with my memory!

She stumbled back away from him in stunned disbelief and pulled Cael’s knife from the sleeve of her dress.

The Duke clutched her wrist in a painful grip catching her by surprise. She hadn’t expected him to be that fast or strong. “No weapon can keep me from the feel of your body under mine. When I tell you to bend over my desk with your arse in the air, that’s exactly what you’ll do!”

“No.”

He twisted her arm until the knife fell from her fingers. “It’s you or Cael’s daughter. Your choice.”

“Don’t you dare touch her!”

“That, my dear, is entirely up to you. Now get out of my sight and think on what I said. When I call for you, you will come willingly and prepared to pleasure.” He shrugged. “Just like they all do sooner or later.”