Another brief span of hope most thoroughly crushed. Bitterly, Erika turned her back on him to face the rest of the family again. But the rest of the family was no longer there. Only Selig and Royce remained, and Selig hadswung around on his bench to watch her—and had likely heard a good deal of what had been said.
Her chin lifted a notch in defiance, only to feel the tug on her neck that pulled her slowly forward. He was winding the chain around his fist. If he continued, he would have her bent over him again. He didn’t go quite that far, but she was now so close to him, he had to look up at her. He didn’t seem to mind that.
Behind him on the table, she noted that someone had brought him a trencher of food, though it was not near to the dinner hour. The man had had enough food in the past fortnight to feed an army, and the women of this hall were still determined to fatten him more. She began to wonder just how large a man he had been before that head injury.
“You may sit here beside me to eat if you are ready to call me master.”
Her eyes came back to him and narrowed. “That is not what I would call you.”
He grinned to show he didn’t mistake her meaning. “Then you can eat from my hand, at my feet.”
She was surprised he did not add, “Like a dog.” “I will not eat at all, thank you.”
“I think you will. Food is necessary to your continued health, which I mean to maintain. Clothes, on the other hand, are not.”
Every last bit of color fled her face. He would do it. He would strip her naked before all these people. How better to humiliate her utterly, and that was what he was striving for, after all.
But her mood was not very tractable at the moment, possibly because she was certain it would come to this eventually, no matter what she did. He would see to that. So now or later, what difference?
“Do as you will,” she said with as much nonchalance as she could manage.
“I intend to, wench, exactly what I will.”
He laughed, noting her stiffness and that she was braced for the worse. It was more than satisfaction, having this advantage over her. The pleasure he felt was so great, it was almost sexual. He would not lose it due to a disagreement with a king.
“But for today,” he continued, “you are reprieved from deciding your own fate. My sister has convinced me it would not be in my best interest to introduce you to the Saxon king. We will have to wait until he departs to find out if you will eat from my hand—or call me master.”
Erika hoped the king moved his court to Wyndhurst and stayed indefinitely. What she had to face when he left was intolerable.
Chapter 25
FOR THE NEXTtwo days, Erika was left alone more than not. She didn’t mind that, even though her movements were restricted to her corner of Selig’s chamber. He had not only locked the door that day he had returned her abovestairs just before the king’s arrival, he had also chained her to the wall. He was taking no chances during his absence. And the same was done each day since.
It amused her that he must think she would try to break her neck crawling out the window. Or mayhap he thought she would try to drown herself in the tub of dirty water that had gone unemptied, the servants were so busy with the royal guests. And those royal guests…
Three times, women had come scratching at the door, Saxon ladies by the sound of them, each in search of Selig, who must have momentarily left the hall to make them think he had come up here. Erika wondered how many other times he had entertained court ladies in this chamber, for those three to find it so unerringly. And where was he entertaining them now, with his chamber already occupied,and no doubt every other chamber as well?
Eda came as usual with food, and now with a chamber pot, since she could not release the chain from the wall any more than Erika could, and Selig was rarely there to do it. The old servant no longer looked at her with the disapproval she had first displayed. Her gaze had become more in the way of pitying, which Erika did not exactly appreciate.
Shewasgoing to be freed from this predicament. It was just a matter of time. And since she had yet to succumb to self-pity, she wanted none from anyone else.
Yesterday, Eda had chatted amiably about the king and his courtiers, expecting no response from Erika and getting none. Apparently Alfred was traveling lightly, not with his full court, and was expected to move on in a few days—which wasn’t pleasant news for Erika.
Today, however, Eda didn’t just chat to hear herself talk. For the first time she got personal, and surprised Erika with the remark, “You cannot imagine how much you remind me of my Kristen—except she was a fighter.”
Erika could not remain silent after that. “Meaning I am not?”
“You make no complaints, lady. You let that rascal have his way.”
Erika was incredulous. “I do not see how I am to stop him.”
“Do you not? My Lord Royce was a much harder man. He lost half his family in a Vikingattack. But Kristen brought him around. And she got him to unchain her simply because he knew she hated those chains. Does Selig know you hate them, or do you let him think you do not care?”
Erika had taken just that approach, but explained herself defensively. “Selig wants revenge on me. It would delight him to know I hate the chains.”
Eda snorted. “Revenge is new to that young man. I doubt me he knows what he wants. But ’tis a lady’s man you do war with. He lives to please women. Hurting them is alien to him. If he thought he was actually hurting you, I wonder how much longer the hurt would continue.”
After Eda left, Erika spent a long while considering what had been said. Hurting women might be alien to Selig, but he was learning quick enough how to go about it—nay, that was unfair. Not once, actually, had Erika been hurt by him. A few raw scrapes that she had caused herself did not count. Nor the few blisters on her feet that had bled and might have been prevented if she could have unbent enough to ask for her shoes. And the blow to her cheek had not been his fault, had in truth been stopped by him.
