Lance swallowed. “I admit, I did find it odd.”
“He knew he was being watched, and he knew the situation would be spun numerous times at numerous tables. He didn’t fight you because he was making a martyr of himself.”
Lance nodded, and I assumed he’d reached that same answer himself. “A fanatic at court is a manageable problem,” I continued. “But a fanatic with a martyr’s story and a grievance against the crown is something else entirely.”
“So he simply walks free.” Lance’s voice was very quiet. “After what he did to her?”
“What exactly did he do to her?”
He narrowed his eyes. “You saw what he did to her.”
I nodded. “He abused her physically. It’s the same thing that happens to all our prisoners in the dungeon, Lance, you know that. What’s more, no one else will care. They’ll say she deserved it.”
“You said, in front of the court, that she would be protected. She wasn’t protected. What’s more, he tried to force himself on her.”
“We don’t know that for certain. She certainly hasn’t admitted it.”
“She didn’t have to admit it.”
“Yes, she does.”
He swallowed hard and paused. “And if she did?”
I cocked my head to the side before I sighed. “I don’t see that it would make much of a difference, honestly. I’m still constrained, no matter what.”
“I don’t believe you’re as constrained as you imagine you are. Putting aside the question of whether or not he attempted to fuck her, you still have enough to go on, simply because he defied your orders by harming her.”
“That is true,” I answered as I further considered it.
“Then what will you do about it?”
I paused as I considered the truth of the situation. “I punish the order violation explicitly, publicly, in terms that don’t give Galahad’s followers a martyrdom narrative.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means Galahad is formally rebuked and his autonomous authority is stripped. He is punished just as you are punished.” That way I could present the situation as being aboutthe king’s authority, not about what Galahad did to the prisoner.
Lance’s hands fisted at his sides. “That seems hardly fair—”
“—I’m stuck, Lance.” I took a deep breath. “With every decision I make, I always have to think in terms ofwhat message does this send?How I handle this moment sets the terms for every future incident of its kind. The specific precedent here is that a Round Table knight defied the king’s explicit orders regarding the treatment of his prisoner.
“And that he attempted to commit sexual assault inside the king’s own keep,” Lance added.
“Or so you believe,” I said, raising one eyebrow because this point had not yet been proven. “Let us take the order violation first. I explicitly told the court that no one was to harm the prisoner. Galahad harmed her for weeks under the guise of religious custody. This is an actual violation of my stated authority... and as you know, my authority is the one thing I protect above all else. If it gets out that a knight can openly defy a king’s direct order about a prisoner for weeks and face no meaningful consequence, that’s an erosion of the crown’s power that I can’t afford.”
“And the other point?”
I shook my head. “I don’t have proof, Lance. Guinevere hasn’t formally stated it. Galahad denies it and frames it as demonic possession. Thus, I can’t act on an unproven accusation against one of my most publicly pious knights without looking either credulous or agenda-driven.”
“If Guinevere confirms that Galahad attempted to rape her,” Lance started, and I could see his jaw clenching with the effort it took to say the words. “Then what?”
“I don’t believe she would confirm it even if it were true.”
Lance frowned. “Why—”
“—she’s... complicated and... she doesn’t trust me. In fact, I daresay she despises me.”
“Then get her to admit the truth to Tristan or Percival, but get the truth out of her one way or another.”
