“Och nae.” She dropped her head back on the chair, almost looking like she would cry. “He called me a whore, in front of my husband.”
Wilfred’s jaw clenched and unclenched. He winced when she said ‘whore’. He was still crouched in front of her, elbows on his knees, staring at the stones of the floor between his feet. There was a tension running through him that I had never seen before. Edgy, maybe it was from being here in the past — we moderns had a different sense of justice, of right and wrong. Getting dressed up to meet an Earl and having him be a total ass was not a part of our normal moral system of right and wrong. Wilfrey looked like something in him was about to snap, his jaw tightening.
I could tell he was tense, but Magnus seemed to see something much more dangerous. He said, “Wilfrey… ye need tae remain calm.”
Wilfrey held Magnus’s gaze for a moment, his breaths bullish, then he shook his head and stood. His eyes narrowed at Magnus. “What am I supposed to do?”
Magnus said, “Well, Wilfrey, I think ye are?—”
Sean interrupted, “Ye are goin’ tae need tae demand satisfaction, I daena think we can allow that tae stand. If ye daena we will hae tae.” He turned to Magnus, “Daena ye agree?”
Magnus nodded, “Aye. I agree.”
Fraoch muttered, “Och nae, this is not good.”
Sean asked, “Lady Mairead, what exactly did he say?”
She frowned. “Everything, he saideverything. He brought up Fionn. He told me my children were twigs tae be snapped off. Och, he was so cruel, does anyone ken where Lizbeth is? Is she well? He has said such horrible things. Why do I let him speak tae me like this? He told me I was still a foolish girl and took credit for saving me from myself. Can ye believe it? He thinks he has saved me! And then he called me a whore — in front of the servants. In front ofWilfrey. As if I were — as if I were nothing.”
Wilfrey nodded. “He demanded I leave the room and then he insulted her further.”
He had his hands on his hips, chewing his lip. “How do I demand satisfaction, what do I do? I am not knowing the protocol.”
Magnus said, “Ye will need tae go back tae his solar, demand a meeting, and ye will entreat him tae apologize.”
Sean said, “Ye best be armed, ye hae tae be ready tae duel.”
“To duel!”
“Aye, it winna happen, he is too auld tae want it, but ye need tae be ready, tis a threat.”
Fraoch said, “Och nae, Sean, ye are goin’ tae get Wilfrey in trouble, he canna threaten the Earl.”
Sean said, “Aye, he can threaten him, and he must. Honor depends on it. Ye are correctin’ me, Fraoch?”
“Aye, ye need an older brother tae set ye right, as Og Maggy daena hae the stones tae do it.”
Magnus raised his brow. “Because I agree with him, he needs tae go demand satisfaction and if he daena get it he will need tae be prepared tae fight.”
Fraoch said, “Fine, but Wilfred daena look like he is trained tae duel. Hayley, what do modern men do about matters of honor?”
She said, “Call them outside to street fight.”
Fraoch shrugged. “I guess he has tae, I stand corrected.”
Wilfred said, “I will not fight an old man, even one as horrible as this.”
Magnus said, “Ye might hae tae, but daena kid yerself, he will hae dueled before, he is auld but he has trainin’. Hae ye fought before…?”
Wilfred’s eyes went wide. “No, never. I mean, wrestling, in school.”
“Ye never dueled before?”
“No, only on a stage.”
Magnus grunted, “Tis different.”
Sean said, “But ye carry a sword?”
