Thomas shook his head. “I am not sure,” he said. “Mayhap it is because if I do, it is admitting my father has made a mistake, and as we all know, The Wolfe does not make mistakes. He is always right, about everything, so my asking him to break the betrothal… he wanted this so badly for me. If he wants to break it, then let it be of his own accord. I suppose that I would rather endure a hellish marriage than have my father look like a fool.”
“Even though you never wanted this betrothal?”
“Even though.”
Desmond knew how much Thomas loved his father and how difficult this situation had been for them both. It was a noble attitude for the son to take, but one that would see his life ruined. Unable to think of a comforting reply, Desmond put his hand on the man’s broad shoulder and gave him a pat. But as he did so, a harried-looking soldier suddenly appeared at the top of the turret stairs.
“My lord,” the man said to Thomas, breathlessly. “It is the lady. You have been asked to come quickly.”
Thomas moved away from the wall, but not quickly. He’d been summoned too many times in the past six months, for foolish reasons, to show any concern at yet one more summons with regard to Lady Adelaide.
“What now?” he asked.
The soldier shook his head. “I was not told,” he said. “I was only told to fetch you quickly.”
“Where is she?”
“In her chamber, my lord.”
Thomas simply brushed past the man as he headed down the narrow spiral stairs and emerged out into the dusty bailey. Crossing the sloping outer ward at a normal pace, he realized about halfway across the bailey that Desmond was following him. Not that he cared. He simply kept walking, crossing into the inner ward and up the steep steps. But by the time he hit the keep, an oddly-shaped three-storied structure, he could hear the screaming.
More screaming.
In times past when he’d heard such sounds, Thomas’ knightly instincts had kicked in and he’d run to the source, ready to do battle, or to help, or whatever was needed. But the truth was that Adelaide screamed so much that he’d grown numb toit, so he took the spiral stairs in the stairwell immediately to his left, up to the floor above where the screaming was coming from.
The first thing he saw was blood.
And it didn’t even get a rise out of him.
Adelaide’s nurse, a stout German woman, had blood on her hands and on her crisp, white apron. She was heavily-wimpled, with a white wrap around her neck as well as around her big head, and she stood there screaming in the doorway to Adelaide’s chamber. She wasn’t making any move to help; she simply stood there with blood on her hands and wailed. As Thomas came to the door, he shoved the woman out of the way only to see Adelaide sitting on the floor, leaning against her bed, as two stoic maids worked furiously to wrap the wrists that Adelaide had cut.
Again.
Thomas couldn’t even muster the will to be concerned. This was at least the eighth time Adelaide had cut herself since she’d been at Wark Castle and he simply didn’t care any longer. As he stood in the doorway, Adelaide happened to look over, catching sight of him.
“My lord!” she cried out weakly. “You have come! Praise to God, you have come!”
Dramatics were Adelaide’s staple. She wielded her flair for the inane like a knight wielded a sword for battle. This was where she was most at home, seeking sympathy and attention from a man who had no interest in giving her any. The first two times Adelaide had cut herself, Thomas had shown the appropriate concern, but the third and fourth times, he began to suspect she was doing it just to gain his attention. The fifth and sixth times, he was sure of it, and that was when he began to see many small scars all up and down her arms. It would seem she had cut herself like that in the past, several times, not enough totruly kill herself, but enough to cause a good deal of blood, which she would melodramatically smear on the walls and bed.
This time, Thomas not only didn’t care, but he found himself becoming quite irritated about it, struggling with his usually-quick temper. When she held out a bandaged hand to him, inviting him to take it, he simply stood by the door.
“Aye, I have come,” he said, his patience gone with her. “In fact, you could have just as easily sent a servant for me rather than cut your flesh simply to gain my attention.”
The hope and joy on her pale features turned into a grimace. “But… but Ihavesent servants for you and you will not come,” she said, instant tears in her eyes. “You never come when I send for you. You ignore me constantly and I can no longer take such disrespect. I want to die, I say! It would be better if I faded away!”
Thomas took a few steps into the chamber, reaching out to rip the careful bandages off the arm she still had outstretched. “There,” he snapped. He gestured to the shocked servants who had been trying to bandage her. “Remove the other wrap. She wants to die, so let her die. Let her bleed to death if that is what she wants. What right do you have to stop the bleeding if Lady Adelaide truly wants to die?”
He said it so viciously that the two maids snatched their linen rolls and fled the chamber in terror. Thomas stood over Adelaide with his big fists resting on his narrow hips.
“There,” he said. “You want to die? Now you can. Go right ahead. I’ll not stop you.”
Adelaide was beside herself with outrage and distress. “You want me to die!”
Thomas shrugged. “You have been trying to kill yourself since you came here,” he said. “Go ahead; I will no longer stop you from doing what you truly wish to do. If you are going to do it, then get on with it.”
Adelaide burst into loud wails of anguish, as did her nurse, still in the doorway. Pushed beyond his limit by two women screaming in his ear, Thomas went to the door and slammed it in the face of the nurse, turning his rage-filled expression to Adelaide, who was sitting on the floor trying to wrap her skirts around her bleeding arms.
“What are you doing that for?” he demanded. “You said you wanted to die. You will not wrap up your arms to stop the bleeding.”
