“Of course I do.”
“And you remember the people that died because of it?Mypeople?”
“I remember.”
“Then you know that action cannot go unanswered.”
Randa wasn’t exactly sharp. She was having a difficult time trying to figure out what her father meant. “And you had a missive forged to the king?” she said. “What did it say?”
Oscar turned away from the window and poured himself more wine. “It is a dispatch from the French king thanking Blackchurch for supplying him with men and coin in his attempt to regain Gascony,” he said. “Henry will read the missive, believe Blackchurch has betrayed him, and sweep in like the hand of God and destroy that place.”
Now it was becoming clear, and Randa was increasingly horrified. “But… but those at Blackchurch have done you no harm,” she said. “It was the pirates who—”
“Pirates who are kin to Lord Exmoor,” he said, interrupting her. “Do you not understand me? I will seek revenge for Triton’s Hellions and the damage they caused me by exacting it from St. Abelard de Bottreaux’s cousin. Blackchurch is proud of their alliance with pirates? Then let them suffer the punishment. Let that punishment create guilt and hardship for Triton’s Hellions to see Blackchurch destroyed.”
Randa was at a loss. She’d seen her father rage throughout the years, but not like this. Never like this.
“And you believe Lia will want to return home after what you’ve done?” she said, finding her voice and her courage. “You have already caused a rift between my daughter and me with your cruelty, but now you intend to destroy her husband’s livelihood?”
“He is to be the next Earl of Sidbury. He does not need a livelihood.”
“Then you will keep your vengeance secret?”
Oscar shook his head. “Of course not,” he said. “Those pirates will know who destroyed Blackchurch and why.”
“If the pirates know, then won’t the king suspect he has been tricked?” Randa pointed out. “That you lied to him so that he would bring his army to Blackchurch? How do you think King Henry is going to view Sidbury after that? You will not be in the monarch’s favor.”
Truthfully, that hadn’t occurred to Oscar. He was so focused on destroying Blackchurch that he never gave thought to the fact that if he confessed he was behind their destruction simply to punish Triton’s Hellions, then surely that would get back to the king. Henry would, mayhap, not be so pleased about being used by an earl to exact revenge.
Nay, he’d not thought that through completely.
But he was now.
Unable to admit the flaw in his plan—that his daughter had pointed out, no less—he downed the wine in his cup and poured himself more, his movements angry and jerky.
“You will not speak of this, Randa,” he said, taking a deep breath to calm his rage. “I told you so that you could prepare to welcome your daughter and her husband home. Mayhap prepare a place for them to live, rooms they may settle into. Butif I find you’ve told anyone why they are coming, you’ll not like my reaction. Do you understand?”
Randa knew he was threatening her. He’d done something quite serious and then foolishly confessed it to her. She was sure he’d done it to gloat, but when she’d pointed out the error in his scheme, that darkness she’d sensed before seemed to overwhelm him. Oscar wasn’t a man who took defeat lightly, which was why he’d taken over finding a husband for Ophelia when Cecil had run off to the abbey. Randa originally thought it was because he believed he could find his granddaughter a much better husband than the potential one who had left her at the altar, but as she thought on that, something else occurred to her.
There had been a plan behind Oscar’s intentions all along.
“You planned this, didn’t you?” she said as realization dawned. “When Cecil ran out on Ophelia and you demanded to be the one to select her betrothed, you were already thinking about revenge against those pirates. It was only by chance that Cousin Royston’s brother worked for Blackchurch and was not married. You were already planning for this even then.”
Oscar looked at her. “You are smarter than you look,” he said. “Your husband understood the necessity of strategic marriage even if you do not. Of course, I was planning this, even back then. Marrying Lia to de Royans was not only a stroke of luck, but a stroke of genius. Since she married at Blackchurch, and we were present for the wedding, I am in a perfect position to tell the king that not only did I intercept the dispatch from Louis, but when I was at Blackchurch, I saw evidence supporting the dispatch. As a lord loyal to the king, it was my duty to report it all.”
Randa was flabbergasted at his ruthlessness. “The ease with which you lie,” she spat. “I never knew that about you until now. And what about Lia in all of this? If her husband is implicated in the support of France, how is he to be the next Earl of Sidbury?If he is part of Blackchurch, Henry will see all of Blackchurch’s command staff executed!”
Oscar set his wine cup down and went to her. “You worry overly,” he said. “Her husband will be innocent. I will see to that. Or mayhap I will not and let him suffer the sword like the others. Then I’ll find yet another husband for Lia who will not be an arrogant Blackchurch whelp. I’ll find a man compliant and dutiful and willing to marry a pregnant woman for the cost of an earldom. Truly, Randa, do not worry. All will be well in the end.”
He seemed convinced, but Randa wasn’t. All she could see was death and destruction, a horrific fate for them all. Oscar was engaging in a game he couldn’t possibly win, only he didn’t see it that way. He thought he had control of everything.
But he didn’t.
God help them all.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The Blackchurch Guild
