Choose the Sky: A Medieval Romance (Swordcross Knights Book 2) (15 page)

In the end, Luc gave
Domina and her people three whole days to get ready for a titanic shift in their lives. She’d protested, but he’d countered every objection, pointing out that the sooner it was done, the safer Trumwell would be. Once wedded, Domina couldn’t be used as a pawn in the way that Haldan tried to do. Luc was helping her, he explained.

How generous
, Mina thought bitterly.

With little choice otherwise, Domina oversaw the preparations for the wedding. Considering the circumstances, one might have thought she saw it as a funeral. In fact, Mina felt nothing about it. Nothing at all.

It was as if everything was happening very far away, and she was scarcely involved. Ever since Luc handed her that document, the game was over. She had no moves left, and therefore she lost.

Having lost the game at last, it should be no surprise that she also lost her appetite, her sense of humor, and her spirit. The plans for the wedding went ahead, and she made no objections.

Outwardly, she pretended a bit more enthusiasm. She hated the idea of her people worrying over her fate or the fate of Trumwell. So she wore a smile when she could and retreated to her room when she was allowed to.

At the moment, she looked over at Constance, who was carrying her newest gown. “What is that?”

“I’m going to air out and freshen up the gown to see that it’s made ready for the day.”

“Why should I not wear an older gown?” Mina said. “I’d not want that one marred.”

“But my lady, your wedding day…”

“Oh, very well then.” She constantly had to remind herself that as far as everyone knew, this event was her choice!

Domina sighed, and stared at the table again. “What of your family?” she asked Luc, who had come to the room on some other matter related to the wedding. She hoped to find reason for some delay. “Or friends? You don’t want to wait for Sir Octavian?”

“I don’t know when he’ll return. As for my family, there’s time enough for that later. I’ll write to let them know what’s occurred, and we’ll arrange for a visit in the spring.”

Domina frowned. Luc wasn’t budging on the date of the wedding. It made her sour, and she disliked his assumption that she’d be a biddable wife.

“Are you inviting them into my home,” she asked pointedly, “or will you be dragging me out of my home to go to theirs?”

Luc looked at her steadily. “Which would you prefer?”

“I’d prefer not to be married.”

“That’s not one of the options. Both you and Trumwell need a protector.”

“You’re not my master yet,” she warned him. Despite his noble-sounding intentions, she suspected that he nominated himself as protector because he’d heard rumors of the de Warewic wealth. Well, he’d be bitterly disappointed when he learned the truth about
that
. The thought actually gave her an idea.

“Luc, may I speak to you?”

“You are speaking to me.”

“Alone.”

He nodded, curiosity in his eyes.

Domina sent the two maids away, then turned to him. “Listen to me. This marriage—you’ll regret it.”

“What makes you say that? Do you plan to poison me in my sleep?” he asked jokingly.

“No!” Mina went cold at the mere idea. “I’ve nothing against you!”

“That’s a relief.”

“But I think you misunderstand my value.”

He looked puzzled. “How so?”

“I’m not rich.”

“I know that.”

She blinked in surprise. “You do?”

“All the wealth of the de Warewics still officially belongs to your father. He’s the head of the family,” Luc said, quite sensibly.

“It’s worse…” Mina began to spill the whole truth, but something stopped her. Perhaps giving up that information would be foolish. After all, the assumption that she was an heiress was one of her last advantages. Who would listen to her if Luc revealed to the world that she was penniless? “Ah, I mean…you would not know when…things might change…”

“Domina,” Luc said, stepping up to her. “You seem to think the worst of me. I have no intention of robbing you the morning after the wedding. I intend to stay here, in order to hold the castle in the king’s name. It’s part of my oath to the king.”

“But you’ll drag me off to your family’s home for a visit?” Mina seized upon his earlier statement. “Wouldn’t that violate your oath to protect?”

“We can wait to discuss the visiting,” he said blandly.

She rolled her eyes and stalked off. Luc’s refusal to engage in a proper argument made her almost as angry as the fact that she had to marry him at all. She never thought of herself as a dreamer, but perhaps a tiny part of her yearned for love. If Luc had courted her, she likely would have happily accepted him. But his proposal was nothing more than a piece of the king’s defense strategy. Not exactly the stuff of a woman’s desires!

On her way out of the room, she ran smack into the steward.

“Apologies, my lady,” Ancel said. “It’s chaos within these walls.”

She nodded. At least someone agreed with her. “He’s ruined everything.”

“Who?”

“Luc of Braecon! Who else?”

“You ought not speak of your future husband in those terms,” Ancel told her. “It’s not seemly.”

“Neither is a wedding with three days’ notice!”

“My lady, have you written to your cousin? Do you not wish him here with you?”

Domina had nearly forgotten Joscelin still existed. Everything outside the walls seemed like a mere dream. “I’ll inform him, but he’ll not be able to travel soon enough for the ceremony, because it’s only
days
away. ”

“Well, times are troubled,” the steward said. “Sir Luc was most courteous when he explained the necessity of the speed of the marriage to me. It will be a great relief to have a knight directing the defenses of the castle.”

“I do not recall the castle falling to an enemy under my tenure,” Domina said hotly.
Not counting Luc himself
, a sly voice inside her whispered.

“My lady, you did the best you could under the circumstances. But surely this is preferable. What a weight off everyone’s shoulders. We no longer have to hide the fact of your father’s illness.”

Domina bit her lip, turning away. She never wanted to hide the truth, but it was the best course of action, and one Ancel himself had agreed to when she first put the matter to him. Now he was acting as if she’d performed some dire deed, when all she wanted was to protect the de Warewic name, her father’s fragile state, and her own destiny. Was that a crime?

What had she just told Ancel she’d do? She couldn’t remember. Ah well, nothing mattered anymore.

Domina gambled everything and lost. She’d be a prisoner, with the pretty title of wife. What joy could she find in that, however charming her captor?

* * * *

On the day of the wedding, Constance and Margery dressed Mina in her best gown, and she reflected on the fact that she’d been so proud of it when she wore it to the king’s court. Perhaps it was cursed, for that was the very day the king first mentioned his whim of marrying her off to the nearest knight to hand.

“He’s very handsome,” Constance said, to cheer her up. “You’ll be grateful for that come tonight.”

The chambermaid Margery laughed knowingly. “If you ever tire of your duty, my lady, send him to me.”

Constance swatted the maid. “None of that talk.”

“Why wait till I tire?” Mina said dully. “Margery, you can wear my gown after the ceremony. He’ll be drunk, no doubt, satisfied with his conquest. He won’t care who he beds.”

“My lady, I couldn’t feign to be a noble!” Margery gasped. “That’s a crime, and a sin, I’m sure.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Mina said. “The man will do what he wants, and there’s nothing we women can do about it.”

“He’ll heed you, for you’ll be his lady,” Constance said.

“He has never heeded me before, why should he begin after the wedding? He’ll have what he wants. Trumwell will be in his control.”

Margery gave a glance at Constance, who was now rummaging around in a little case at the other side of the room. She whispered, “If you fear the wedding night because you’re virgin, my lady, you can do one thing.”

“What?”

“Enough wine will carry your mind away, and he won’t notice. Men never notice.”

Mina shook her head once in refusal of the notion. “I want a clear head if I’m to deal with him.”

“Yes, my lady.” Margery continued to fix Mina’s hair, and said no more.

However, once the idea was there, Mina didn’t forget it.

All too soon, she stood at the door of the chapel. It was completely packed with people, nearly all of them residents of Trumwell Castle itself or the village nearby. No one else had enough warning to have traveled there in time.

Mina walked unescorted down the center aisle, for there was no one to escort her. She was alone.

Luc waited at the side of the altar, also alone.

Well, there was a certain symmetry, she thought. Both of them were separate from their families on the day their families were supposedly joined.

The priest began the ceremony, but when he read out the words, “Who gives this woman…” he trailed off, confused, for Domina’s father lay unconscious elsewhere in the castle.

“Oh, just tell me what to say,” Mina muttered to him. “I have spoken for my father for the past two and half years. Why stop at this?”

The priest swallowed nervously, then in a low voice prompted with the words that her father should have been there to speak. “You would say,
I give thee my daughter
…”

When he finished, Mina turned to Luc and echoed, “I give thee my
self
, to be thy honor and thy wife, to keep thy keeps and to share with thee bed and goods.” She finished the recitation in a flat tone, not looking him in the eye.

Luc repeated his lines as well, and then it was over. According to the church and the law, she was a wife.

People who didn’t know the extent of Luc’s coup came forward to congratulate the happy couple.

Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Mina heard the word like a buzz around her. Was that what they saw? A beautiful bride? Well, let them. Someone should enjoy the day.

The wedding feast was lavish, and the local villagers and those living near the castle had all come, eager for a festival in these cold days of the year. Mina couldn’t remember the last time the hall had been filled with so much food and wine, or so many people. Certainly not since her father fell ill, and perhaps not for years before that.

Somehow, somebody had enticed traveling musicians to Trumwell in time, and now music filled the air. The tunes were lively and cheerful, in sharp contrast to Mina’s inner turmoil.

Through the whole evening, Margery’s words never left Mina’s brain. When the toasts were offered at supper, she drank to every single one. She had never been drunk in her life, and had no intention of starting, but she hoped a little wine would calm her. That’s all she needed, to calm her nerves so that she wouldn’t go to pieces in front of him.

He’d bed her. She scarcely knew him and he was going to bed her. She should have asked Margery what that meant, exactly, for Margery would certainly know the details. Too late. Mina took another sip. Had she forgotten to water this wine? Oh, well, it was just a sip.

Luc looked like the true lord of the castle. He sat at the center of the high table, in the elaborately carved chair with the high back. It was her father’s seat, but this stranger now sat in it.

She took another sip. The air in the great hall was hot now. So many fires and candles and revelers, it chased away even the winter chill.

The feast seemed to go on for ages. Mina sat and listened to toasts, to songs, to poems, and smiled through it all.
Be the lady of the castle
, she told herself. Show no weakness. Your people need to know all will be well. Even if Mina’s life crashed down around her, she swore to God she’d never let Luc hurt her people.

A course of roast swan was served, in an explicit celebration of a de Warewic marriage. Mina didn’t even want to think of the expense. She’d ceased to care over the past few days. Her years of careful spending were undone, her illusion of control shattered with a few words from her so-called suitor. It was all Mina could do not to sneer into her cup.

The wine went down smoothly now. She rather liked the flavor of this one, which might be a different vintage than what she began with.

Luc laughed at something and she rolled her eyes, taking another sip. He was comely, she admitted—a conclusion she’d arrived at many times before. She stared at him sidelong, watching how he acted.

As if he’d been there forever. Talking and laughing and exchanging jests with Ancel and Giles as if he’d grown up with them. Had he made friends with everyone during his brief, inquisitive visit? All but her?

Oh, but he didn’t need her friendship, did he? Not when he had that parchment tucked away, the one granting him Mina with the stroke of a pen. Why get to know one’s wife? It was easier to sneak up on her and announce the marriage when she had no defenses, when he was already inside the walls.

Traitor
.

Then Luc looked over at her. His smile faded, to be replaced with a look she couldn’t name.

He stood up, and reached for Mina’s hand.

The cheering that went up made her cheeks hot, and she was already hot from the fire and the wine.

He pulled her to him. “Enough of this,” he said, though only she could hear him, what with the din all around. “It’s time that my wife shows me to our bed.”