“Driver—”
Zach placed a hand over her mouth before she could yell at the driver to take her home. She bit him.
“Ouch!” Shaking his hand, he glared at her.
“I won’t talk, and you can’t make me.”
“I can make you, because I will confront Geraint, then Lord Plunge and then I will go to your house and speak to your family and ask if they are aware of what you get up to at night when you should be in your bed.”
“It’s not fair,” she whispered as her shoulders slumped.
Zach watched a tear roll down a cheek.
“Don’t cry. Please,” he added, feeling helpless.
“Why do I have to do what you say, and yet you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to? I hate you. I hate all men… well, not all but most. I loathe that you can threaten me with exposure and yet I do not have that leverage over you.”
“Do you understand the danger you are putting yourself in? That fight—”
“I’ve learned how to fight, Zach. I can defend myself,” she cut him off.
“I saw you, but a large man could still subdue you. It is not right that you are part of this, Mary.”
She studied him for long seconds.
“I have often thought about what would happen if news of what I did got out.” Her voice was small and subdued now. It broke Zach’s heart.
“What did you think would happen?”
“I believed that you and your brothers would not be happy but would admire and support me for being part of Alexius. Yet, you’re no different from others. A woman should be cosseted and controlled and have no voice.”
Her words had made his chest burn.
“Tell me your story, Mary. I can’t promise not to be angry, but I promise to listen.”
She studied him again through those big, sad, dark eyes.
“My father fell ill one night. So ill that he could not move from his bed. The doctor thought it was food poisoning. He summoned me to his bedside and told me he needed to get word to someone and that was a matter of grave importance. Father trusted no one but me to see it delivered.”
“I have recently noticed he wears a ring and is part of Alexius.”
She nodded. “I did not learn of the rings until the day of the fair. I thought Geraint had told me everything and yet he had not. M-someone informed me about them and how Alexius had started.”
Zach remembered seeing her walking with Plunge, but he kept that thought to himself.
“I’m sorry you were not told. It was wrong of Geraint. Continue with your story.”
Zach had never really thought about the plight of women, and yet Mary was right in a lot of what she said. He did not want her in danger, and his perception of the right and wrong things for her to do was clouded by that.
And yet you are surrounded by strong, intelligent women who have constantly rescued themselves.
Zach felt shame wash over him. The women of his family were more than capable of looking after themselves. Why then wasn’t Mary in his eyes?
“Father asked me to deliver the letter to an address. The church. I was to go alone and tell no one of what I had done.”
“Did you read it?”
“I did not. It was sealed.”
