Courtly lashed out and slapped her father across the face, so hard that the man’s head snapped back. He staggered back a step as well, startled that his beloved Courtly should actually strike him. For a brief moment, it occurred to him just what he had accused her of and he was remorseful, but only for a moment. Immediately, his anger and suspicions swamped him, stronger than before, because he was sure that he was correct. Shehadgranted the man favors. He looked at his daughter, his eyes wide with shock and outrage, as Ellice moved to stand between the two.
It was a surprising move by the woman who usually kept well away from her brother and nieces when it came to family business, but in this case, she was taking a stand. She had to. She pointed a finger at Kellen.
“You will not touch her,” she threatened. “Get out of here, Kellen. Go back to your room and leave Courtly alone. You have no reason to accuse her of such things. You are a foul man with a foul mind.”
Kellen’s venom focused on his sister. “This is none of your affair, Ellice. I would advise you to move out of the way.”
Ellice refused to move. “I am not moving,” she said. “If you want your daughter, you will have to go through me to get to her and I promise you that I will not make an easy victim.”
Kellen stood there looking at his sister and his daughter, his expression wrought with turmoil. He was beyond furious at thispoint. He was flirting with the edge of madness. Courtly was rebelling and Ellice, of all people, was siding with her. There was only one thing to do. He had to remove his daughters from Kennington. He had to get them away from Ellice and away from Oxford in general. They had to leave.
“You are a wicked, bitter woman,” he muttered to his sister, backing away towards the entry door. “I should never have brought my children here. I knew you were a bad influence on them but I am only coming to realize just how bad. I am sending my daughters back to Trelystan tonight and if you stand in my way, I will kill you. Is that clear?”
Courtly let out a shocked gasp. “Papa!” she cried. “You would send us home in this weather? How can you do that?”
Kellen roared at her. “Silence!” he said. “St. Héver will return you home this very night. God damn de Montfort, I must remain here because of his foolish gathering, but I will trust St. Héver to take you home. You will obey the man, Courtly, or I will give him permission to beat you. Is that clear? I will have him beat Maximus de Shera right out of your head!”
Courtly didn’t say a word, she was afraid to. She looked to Ellice, however, who was rooted to the spot, between Kellen and Courtly, watching her brother as he staggered out of the hall and back out into the rain. When the heavy door of the hall slammed shut, she turned to Courtly.
“I can hide you,” she said to Courtly. “Come with me.”
Courtly was still reeling from her father’s words. In his current mental state, she couldn’t be sure that he wouldn’t carry out his threat against Ellice. She went to her aunt, grasping the woman by the arm gently. She’d never done that before. She’d never even really touched her aunt before, but at the moment, she felt closer to the woman than she ever had. In this moment of darkness, there was a ray of light.
“Nay, Auntie,” she said softly. “If you do, he will punish you. I cannot let that happen.”
Ellice was softened by Courtly’s tender touch although she would not admit it, not even to herself. She liked to think of herself as hardened to any emotion, but she really wasn’t. Like anyone else, she craved a human touch.
“You heard him,” Ellice said. “He is going to send you and Isadora back to Trelystan tonight.”
Courtly sighed. She loathed the mere idea. “I have no choice,” she murmured. “If he sends me and my sister back home, then mayhap he will cease this madness that he has suffered over the past day. Mayhap he will calm down and become himself again. The situation with Maximus has seemed to drive him right to the brink of madness.”
Ellice began to feel a sense of desperation on behalf of her niece. “If you return to Trelystan,” she said softly, “chances are that you will never see Sir Maximus again. Are you willing to risk that?”
Courtly gazed at the woman, her eyes filling with tears. She simply couldn’t fight them off as Ellice reminded her of the heart and soul she had left back at The One-Eyed Raven. Her features crumbled and she sat heavily at the feasting table, right in the same spot she had sat the night before with Maximus at her side. She remembered that night clearly, word for word, and her hand moved over the seat next to her where he had been. She could still see him sitting there, strong and proud. The sobs came.
“I have no choice,” she wept quietly. “If I do not do what Papa says, he will take it out on innocent people. He may even take it out on you or Isadora. I could not live with myself if he harmed all of you because he was angry with me.”
Ellice was moved by her tears. She remembered another young girl, years ago, with similar tears where it pertained to Kellen de Lara. Ellice had been so very young when Kellen hadchased her last suitor away, a man she had loved. God’s Bones, but she remembered those tears. She remembered the pain. Courtly’s sorrow cut her deeply.
“Then you are giving up,” she said hoarsely. “You are letting your father win.”
Courtly shook her head, wiping at her cheeks. “I am doing what I must in order to save those around me,” she said. “If something must be sacrificed in all of this, I would rather it be me than Maximus.”
Ellice watched her niece quietly weep, each tear driving the nails of grief deeper and deeper into her heart. She had so wanted to help Courtly so the woman would not suffer the same lonely life she had, but Courtly was convinced that she had to obey her father in order to keep those she loved safe. It was the truth, in fact, and the noblest sacrifice Ellice had ever seen. She felt so very helpless because she knew she couldn’t help Courtly. But she knew who could, perhaps the only person in all of England who could.
“Where is Sir Maximus?” Ellice asked. “Where is he staying?”
Courtly wiped at her nose. “In Oxford,” she sniffled. “At a tavern called The One-Eyed Raven. Why do you ask?”
Ellice avoided the question. “When he discovers you missing, he will come here. You know that.”
Courtly shrugged. “I asked him not to,” she whispered. “I told him not to come after me.”
Ellice snorted. “Do you think he will listen?” she said, glancing up at one of the tall, lancet windows at the top of the room when the lightning flashed overhead. “He is more than likely on his way here.”
Courtly looked up at her, disturbed by the suggestion. “I asked him not to,” she repeated, with concern in her tone now. “He must not come, Auntie. It will be a horrible situation if he does.”
Ellice nodded, pretending to agree. “Aye, it will be,” she said. “Mayhap… mayhap I should go and warn him not to come.”
