“St. Héver,” Gallus said. “Swear fealty to me. You are an honorable and strong knight. I could use you in my stable.”
It was an attempt to diffuse the situation but St. Héver, remorsefully, shook his head. “I have sworn fealty to Lord de Lara,” he said. “I would not be an honorable knight to switch lieges so quickly at the first sign of a threat. I regret that I must decline, my lord.”
Maximus cocked his head. “I do not want to kill you,” he said. “But know that in order to achieve my wants, I will kill you and all of your men without hesitation.”
St. Héver nodded steadily. “I realize that, my lord. You must do as you must.”
Courtly, who had so far been standing silent and shocked throughout the entire exchange, spoke up.
“Nay,” she said, putting herself between St. Héver and Maximus. Her focus, beseeching, was on Maximus. “Please do not kill him. He is only doing what he was told to do.”
Maximus cocked an eyebrow at her. “I will speak with you when all of this is settled,” he said, rather ominously. “I will tell you just what I think of your running off and returning to your father.”
Courtly sighed heavily. “Maximus, I had to,” she said. “I explained everything in the note I left you.”
Maximus glared at her. He wanted nothing more than to spank her and then hug her, in that order. To have her so close and being unable to pull her into his arms was sheer torture.But he didn’t want to get into a big discussion with her for all to hear, so he moved to the horse next to him where Tiberius was mounted. He faced away from Courtly, and consequently St. Héver, as he spoke to his brother.
“I do not want to kill St. Héver,” he said to Tiberius. “I did not expect to find him here leading the escort. He is an honorable and good knight, but it is clear he will not turn her over. What do I do?”
Tiberius had his eyes on St. Héver and the rest of the de Lara men. He, too, dismounted his horse, standing next to his brother, still facing the de Lara group.
“You have two choices,” Tiberius muttered. “Either kill the man and all of his soldiers like you planned to do all along, or….”
Maximus scowled at him. “I never said I planned to kill them all along.”
Tiberius shot him a wry expression. “I know you, dear brother. I know how you think.”
Insulted, Maximus looked away. “I did not count on St. Héver,” he repeated. “What else can I do?”
Tiberius cocked an eyebrow at him. “I was getting to that,” he said. “Or we can take them someplace and imprison them so they cannot return to de Lara and tell them what they know.”
Maximus was interested. “Imprison them for how long?”
Tiberius shrugged. “Until you give de Lara grandchildren, at least.”
Maximus pursed his lips wryly in response but he understood the man’s point. There was no knowing how long they would have to keep the men imprisoned. Before he could reply, Gallus came around the back of Maximus’ horse.
“What are you two muttering about?” he demanded quietly. “To see you in conference makes you look indecisive. What are you talking about?”
Maximus and Tiberius looked at their brother. “Tiberius suggests we take St. Héver and his men and imprison them somewhere,” Maximus said. “At least for a time. I am agreeable to this because I do not want to outright kill St. Héver. He is a good man.”
“He is also a very good fighter,” Gallus said. “There could be a chance of you losing to him, but we will leave that discussion for another day. Imprison them, you say? I would be agreeable to that as well. We can take them back to Oxford Castle and put them in the vault there. De Montfort was staying at the castle but, as of this morning, he is moving on to London. I will speak with the castle constable and have him hold these men for a month or so, at least until we can figure out what to do with them.”
It was the best of terms all three of them could come up with. Maximus looked over his shoulder to see St. Héver still standing very close to Courtly. “But before we can do any of that, I must remove Courtly from St. Héver’s custody,” he mumbled. “There may be a bitter battle here today yet.”
Gallus looked over at the de Lara knight as well. “Your only hope of not fighting him is to convince the lady to come with you peacefully,” he said quietly. “Mayhap she can convince St. Héver not to try and stop her.”
Maximus lifted his eyebrows. “Mayhap,” he said, his gaze still on Courtly and St. Héver. He began to move towards them. “Let us find out.”
With that, he broke away from his brothers and moved towards Courtly, with St. Héver standing a few feet away from her. His sword was still in his hand and could be raised quite swiftly should he decide to go on the offensive. He hoped he didn’t have to, at least not against St. Héver. That being the case, he had to make his proposal plain for all to hear. He focused on Courtly.
“It is my intention to take you with me, my lady,” he said. “That is why I have intercepted this escort. I understand St. Héver has his orders, but the fact remains that I will take you one way or another. I will give you a moment to convince St. Héver not to fight back. Make it clear to him that I will kill him if he does.”
Courtly gazed at Maximus, seeing the beautiful, bearded face that she loved so well, her heart breaking into a million pieces of sorrow.
“Max,” she breathed, admonishingly. “I went back to Kennington for a reason. It was to keep my father from attacking you and wreaking havoc. Do you think I want to put you at risk because of him? Do you think I want to put your brothers or your men or even Lady Jeniver at risk because of my father? Of course I do not. You have all shown me the most wonderful time of my life and I cannot jeopardize all of you like that. I made this clear in the note I left for you. I told you not to come for me.”
Maximus was starting to feel some anguish. He couldn’t quite grasp that she wasn’t instantly eager to go with him. She was still speaking of protecting all of them from her father’s madness.
