Everyone in the room was looking at her as the focus of the entire situation, the key to hell or peace in so many ways. Father Mellitus cleared his throat softly.
“My lady,” he greeted. “Your husband has asked me to intervene on his behalf so that you may return to him as his wife.”
Emberley took a few steps towards the priest, patting Gart’s arm reassuringly when he tried to follow her. She wasn’t going far and she realized that this was something she had to do on her own. Gart, David, Christopher and a host of other men had supported her and made her feel strong. Now, she could finally handle her fear of Julian. But the rest she had to do on her own.
“My husband has made it clear that he does not wish to be married to me,” she said frankly. “He has spent the past year bedding the queen. He would not bed me because he said it was immoral for him to do so because he was in love with another woman. Now he suddenly wants me returned to him like a stray dog that has run away? I find it astonishing that the Church should support his request.”
Mellitus sighed heavily, passing a long look at Julian. “The fact remains that he is your husband and it is his right to have his wife,” he told her. “Father Jonas and I have discussed taking you into protective custody at this time.”
Emberley was close enough to the man that he could grab her if he reached out his arm and she quickly stepped away from him, feeling her calm stance waver.
“I will not go,” she asserted. “I will never go back to him. I love Gart and he loves me and we will be together, whatever comes. I will never go back to that hell of a marriage and face certain death.”
“Forbes,” Julian hissed. “He has turned her against me.”
“You did that yourself,” Gart growled, knowing he should keep his mouth shut but unable to restrain himself. “Your own actions have cost you your wife and family.”
David grabbed Gart to hush him and also to prevent him from trying to move against Julian as Emberley focused on her husband.
“You have no use for me,” she repeated, almost pleadingly. “Your focus is with the queen and if not the queen, I am sure there are any number of noblewomen who can occupy your time and your bed. You never wanted me, Julian. You agreed to a marriage because my father supplied me with a large dowry. It certainly was not because you loved or needed me. You are incapable of such feelings. Let me go. Please.”
Julian was grinding his teeth so hard that he bit his lip, and the frothy saliva around his mouth began to turn pink.
“You are my wife,” he snarled. “I will never let you go. I will take you back to Dunster and I will erase all of this madness from your mind as I erase the touch of Gart Forbes from your body. I will exorcise you as one would exorcise a demon. I will purge you until there is nothing left to purge.”
He was shouting by the time he was finished and David was having a devil of a time hanging on to Gart. As Julian shouted and Emberley began to back away fearfully, Romney suddenly ran forward.
“You leave my mother alone!” he shouted. “You are a bad man and I do not want you to be my father anymore. You hurt my mother and make her cry. I hate you!”
Emberley grabbed the boy before he could rush on his father and possibly get hurt. Julian was so coiled there was no telling who he would lash out at. Emberley picked up Romney, her big boy, cradling him against her.
“Please, Julian,” she begged softly. “A divorce….”
“No divorce!”
“If you do not divorce me, I shall run with Gart and you will never find me or the children, not ever. Do you understand me? We will run away and never look back. That will be more shameful to you than a divorce would.” A sob caught in her throat as she spoke beseechingly. “I am willing to be labeled an adulteress so you can save your honor. Is that not worth considering?”
Julian almost charged her but thought better of it. Forbes was too close and his colossal hands were working furiously, Julian was sure, in waiting for the opportunity to wrap around Julian’s neck. Julian may have been bordering on madness but he was not a fool.
As he gazed at Emberley, holding Romney, he knew what he had to do. He had to get the woman alone. Then, no one could stop him from doing as he must. This had to end.
He had to kill her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Very well,” Juliansuddenly seemed very resigned. His mercurial fury had tempered and he ran his hands through his dark hair, laboring for control. “Very well, then. If we must speak of divorce, then I will speak only to you. I want to talk to you alone. Everyone else must leave this room.”
“Never,” Gart roared. “You will never be alone with her, Buckland, not if God himself stood before me and demanded it. I will kill you before I allow you to be alone with her.”
He started to move forward but Christopher rushed over and grabbed him, holding him at bay along with David. Even with the two of them and their considerable strength, it was still a struggle. It was like trying to stop a raging bull.
Julian was clever and knew how to play the game. He could play it very well when his temper didn’t have the best of him. He looked Gart in the eye.
“Then you shall not have your divorce,” he said frankly. “If you want it badly enough, you will have to make allowances. I want to speak with my wife alone without interference from anyone. Those are my terms or no divorce.”
Stricken, Emberley looked at Gart. He was barely holding himself in check, trapped between David and Christopher, and she knew that the entire situation rested on her shoulders. She was the only one that could convince Gart of what needed to be done. Setting Romney to his feet, she went to Gart.
Pressed up against his heaving chest, she put her hands on his shoulders.
