“I’ll see what I can find for her to sleep in,” Margit said, now braiding Astria’s slightly damp hair. “My youngest married a rich merchant, you know. He bought her all new things when they married, so I still have her old clothing here. I’ll see if I can find more serviceable things for the lady.”
“She’s a princess, Margit,” Payne said quietly, his gaze lingering on Astria. “She’s not any lady, but a princess. She’s royalty. And we’ll treat her with all due respect.”
Margit turned to him, surprised, before looking at the head of the woman whose hair she was plaiting. “I see,” she said, bewilderment in her tone. “A proper princess will have anything I can provide for her, then.”
She tied off the two long blonde braids she’d made before reaching down to pick up the damp towels from the floor. Hustling over to the door, she disappeared for a moment before returning with two servants, who emptied the tepid bathwater before hauling the tub out of the chamber. That left Payne alone with Astria, who had, so far, not moved a muscle. She simply sat by the hearth where Margit had put her, staring into the flames. Even when the food came and it was put on a small table for her, she seemed to be moving stiffly, as if she were in a daze.
All the while, Payne simply watched her.
Truth be told, he was trying to determine if this was a ruse. This was the same lady who’d nearly put his eye out earlier, all flame and fire, but now she was almost catatonic. There was plenty of food on the table, and even though she’d eaten twice earlier that he knew of, she still took big bites of it, finally stabbing one of the pork sausages with a dull knife and holding it up to her mouth. Seeing the woman as she was now was day and night from what he’d known of here earlier. She appeared every inch a princess, beautiful and meant to be worshipped.
But he had a lot of questions.
“Did the pirates not feed ye, yer grace?” he asked.
She slowed her chewing. “Not much.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged, taking another big bite. “You would have to ask them,” she said. “I simply wasn’t provided with food very often.”
“So they starved ye.”
She swallowed the bite in her mouth and looked at him. “As much as I hate the very sight of the woman who is your mother, I am not going to speak out against her to you, her son,” she said. “I do not know you. I do not know what you will use against me, and my treatment, poor as it has been, could become worse. Therefore, do not ask me further questions about my time as thecaptive of Bloody Maude. Whatever has happened is between only us. I will keep it there.”
There was a seed of honor in that statement. In fact, it was one of the core beliefs taught at Blackchurch. When there was a personal conflict, it was solved only between those it involved. To complain to others, to seek intervention for something that was the individual’s responsibility, was considered a sign of weakness. Frankly, Payne was surprised to hear that she felt that way, but in doing so, he could see that she was a woman of honor. Small as it was, it impressed him.
“I know ye dunna know me,” he said, “but I assure ye, I am a knight of the highest order. Honor and responsibility tae myself and tae my brethren are paramount. But I will be honest when I tell ye that I see before me a situation that is much larger than a woman being taken captive. I see an entire country being pulled intae a situation that could be quite volatile, and unfortunately, I’m being pulled intae it as well.”
“How does this involve you?”
“Because my mother is demanding we wed,” he said. “Ye know this.”
She did. After a moment, she took another bite of the sausage. “And you intend to do as she wishes, I assume,” she said, chewing.
“As I told ye, Bloody Maude gets what she wants,” he said. “If I dunna, she will make me wish that I did. She’s not tae be trifled with, yer grace.”
Astria swallowed the bite in her mouth. “I know,” she said. “I’ve tried. You see where it has gotten me.”
No self-pity in the statement, simply fact, but there was no hint that she was not going to put up a fight when it came to marriage, and he tried not to be offended by it.
“She could ransom ye back tae yer family,” he said. “Mayhap ye’d rather she do that than marry me.”
Astria started chuckling, a sound without humor. She swallowed the bite in her mouth, but the laughter didn’t stop. She continued with it as if Payne had just said something quite funny, finally grasping the cup of ale that came with the meal and drinking deeply.
Then she chuckled some more.
“My family,” she said with irony. “My nephew, also named Sancho, has ascended the throne. I told your mother that my nephew, the current king, is probably sending a fleet of ships after me, but that is not the case. No one is coming for me and no one will pay a ransom, which means that if I do not marry you, the pirate queen will probably ransom me to the highest bidder. A genuine princess for the price of a prize mare.”
She sounded bitter, and he didn’t blame her. It was a hell of a predicament. “I do not have much faith in the life ye would lead if someone purchased ye,” he said. “It could be far worse than what ye’ve known here.”
She shrugged and took another drink of the ale, the one with the fermented apples. “Why should you even think about it?” she said. “I am nothing to you. We do not know one another. What happens to me should be of no matter.”
He scratched his neck thoughtfully. “That is not exactly true,” he said. “Maudie gave ye tae me. Ye, therefore, belong tae me. I suppose I could sell ye tae the highest bidder and use the money tae buy another fine stallion.”
She stopped drinking and glared at him. “Do as you must,” she said. “What is the price of a woman’s life, after all?”
“Can I ask ye a question?”
