They fell silent for a moment, hearing the bustle of the inner bailey wafting in through the windows. It sounded like just another normal day outside, while inside, lives were changing and hearts were breaking. Douglas’ thoughts began to turn to Mira. He was looking forward to seeing her come through thesolar door, but also wondering how he was going to tell her about Isabel’s bargain. He knew she would be greatly distressed by it. As he pondered how to couch the terrible news, Eric suddenly stood up from the chair he’d been seated on.
“If I tell you something and ask you to keep it secret, will you do me that honor?” he asked.
Douglas watched him as he walked over to one of the lancet windows. “You know I will.”
Eric drew in a long, pensive breath, gazing out over the inner bailey and the gatehouse. Beyond that was the central bailey, cluttered with shelters that had been established by the visiting armies.
“Douglas, there is only one solution to all of this,” he said. “I am going to challenge Jerome to a fight. If he wins, he takes everything. If I win, he departs and never returns.”
Douglas felt sorry for the man. It was a very simplistic plan in a complicated situation. “If you do that, you will be undermining Isabel’s bargain,” he said. “Please do not take offense, but I do not think it is a good idea.”
Eric looked at him. “You don’t?”
“Nay.”
“Then what would you do?”
Douglas shrugged, coming off the table and moving over to where Eric was standing. “If we are speaking theoretically,” he said, “the most logical thing is to eliminate de Honiton. With no Jerome, there is no bargain.”
“Is that what you would have done had he demanded to marry Mira?”
“I would have killed him where he stood. I wanted to, believe me.”
“That’s what I want to do.”
“What?”
“Kill him.”
Douglas understood. God help him, he understood completely. The trouble was that Eric hadn’t held a sword in years and would more than likely get himself killed trying to rid himself of Jerome. But the truth was that he was a man in love with a woman who had to bargain with the devil and was now pledged to him simply to keep the peace. It wasn’t fair, any of it, and Eric was trying to think of a way out of it.
A way that wouldn’t shame Isabel or get himself killed.
Had Douglas been in his situation, it would have been different. Douglas was a knight, born and bred for battle. He had killed his share of men, but always men who were a defined enemy. Douglas was a man who valued life and valued those he loved greatly. That meant he was a man with a soul and a conscience, and as much as he didn’t have a problem killing a man who was a threat or an enemy, he didn’t condone outright murder.
This coming from a man whose brothers, and father, were involved in the Executioner Knights.
The Executioner Knights were a sect of assassins and spies, men who worked for the good of England any way they had to. Originally, William Marshal, the first Earl of Pembroke, had organized the guild to help him in his behind-the-scenes struggles with, and for, the crown, and he had kept the group a secret. The Executioner Knights helped him keep the kingdom solvent against foreign threats and, in the case of King John, even a king who sometimes was the enemy of his own people. Christopher, Peter, Roi, and Myles were all Executioner Knights. They had done some very unsavory things. Even Curtis had been involved from time to time, but Christopher had purposely kept Douglas and Westley away from the Executioner Knights. They had been small children during the time of his heavy involvement, and as his sons grew older, perhaps he was only willing to lend the guild just a few of his sons.
But Douglas and Westley had been kept out of it.
That never bothered Douglas until now. He wished he had the assassin instinct like his father and brothers and even his brother-in-law, husband to his eldest sister, Christin. Alexander de Sherrington was the greatest assassin the world had ever seen. Douglas was coming to wish he’d had some of the training that Alexander had, because if he did, he would have taken care of Eric’s problem easily. Even though he didn’t have the training, however, he know someone who did.
Right under his nose.
But he would have to think carefully about unleashing that kind of power.
“I understand,” he said after a moment. “But you cannot challenge him. That is out of the question.”
Eric knew that. The once-skilled knight was only a clumsy has-been these days. Ashamed, and defeated, he returned his attention to the window. “Then it is over,” he said. “Isabel will bear the children of another man and I will have to live with that for the rest of my life.”
Douglas stood beside him, also looking out over the bailey. “There are other ways of handling this situation that don’t involve a challenge,” he said quietly. “If you want to spare Isabel a marriage to Jerome, then you must be clever about it.”
Eric looked at him. “What do you mean?”
Douglas shrugged. “Accidents, for example,” he said. “Accidents happen all of the time. I am not advocating that you put him in front of a team of wild horses, but think of it this way… Something far subtler would be equally effective.”
He had Eric’s interest. “Like what?”
