by Marie Hall
"Xavier," she chided again.
"Io," he chided back then held up her camel making her gasp with joy. He held it away though when she reached for it. "Am I forgiven?"
"Will we be able to reclaim our chambers again at some point?" Io asked, frowning at his stupid grin.
"Those hens exaggerate. It is not so bad and perhaps had they bothered to clean the room while I was gone…" he looked back over his shoulder at the women who glared at him, "I am sure it will be only a day or so to set the rooms right."
Io nearly missed the look that passed between Sarah and her husband, but she didn't miss the stiffening of his posture before he turned back to Io, a more forced smile on his face.
"Forgiven?" he asked and shook the carving.
Io managed to snatch her little statue away before he could stop her. His fake smile turned into a true frown, but then he laughed. Weaving his fingers through her hair at her temple, he pulled her forward and kissed her softly. Biting down gently on her bottom lip, he pulled back.
Io moaned and leaned forward as the pull on her lip started to ache and that ache pulsed throughout her body. When his teeth slipped away, he again pressed his lips to hers, and Io lifted her arms around his neck.
"Forgiven?" he said against her mouth.
"Yes," Io said, reaching for another kiss even as he stood up.
"Very good," Xavier said, the smuggest look on his face Io could ever remember seeing. "I will see about setting people to repair our chambers straight away." He looked again towards the women in the room. People Io completely forgot where there when he kissed her. "That we should find some… less crowded places and—" The door swinging open cut off what he might have suggested next. Ann came through the portal cursing the men in the hall for making the meal cold.
"Those boulders would not let me pass, and that one… Roth," Ann huffed, "he took a taste of everything." Ann's tone told the insult she felt. "Look, he nearly ate half the bread." She pointed at the tray.
"It is their duty," Xavier explained. "All food and drink given to Lady Io will be tasted first."
"It looks to be a small bite only," Io tried to sooth the woman she'd not seen since she entered the house.
Ann snorted as she set the tray on Io's lap, then leaned in and squeezed the breath from her in a fierce hug. "I will make bigger portions, or else you will be starved out."
"Make her larger meals regardless," Xavier said, surveying the meal. "She did not eat well while she was away."
"Yes, I can see," Ann said, stepping over to join the others who now seemed impatient to have Xavier gone.
Xavier leaned down and kissed the top of her head before heading for the door. "You eat all that and rest."
"You are going away?" She'd not felt like she needed him close before he was and now his leaving made her uneasy.
"I must see to a few things… change out of these clothes and—"
"Shave," Io added before he forgot about his prickly face.
"Io, can you not at least try…" he started as he reached up and rubbed the three day growth.
"No," Io said and raised her brow at him. He chuckled and pulled open the door.
"Then I will shave, for you." He smiled at her then went out, Sarah on his heels.
"Eat, Io," Ann instructed. "And then tell me what is going on in this house."
"What do you mean?" Jude asked.
"You have not heard?" Ann asked as she started dipping buckets into the tub to empty it. "Xavier threw his mother and brothers out of the house. And banned them from returning."
"What?" Everyone shrieked.
"Yes, he put them out with what they had on their backs."
"Oh no," Io moaned. She didn't want this. It was a man who'd set the aslant on her and while Io suspected Charlotte to behind most of the troubles, she didn't want Xavier to lose his mother over her. Not only his mother but his brothers too? How would he not come to resent her if he put distance between all his family?
"Well good riddance," Jude snapped. "Maybe now we can start letting people come back."
"What do you mean?" Io stopped picking at the food to look at Jude.
"Did you not notice how empty the house is?"
"No, I…" the house was rather quiet and the yards were empty of everyone as well, but Io couldn't say either what day it was or even the time with all the travel they'd done.
"Those… women." It might have been the nicest word Kate could manage. "They came back, learned you'd fled and took over."
"They did more than take over," Ann said, dropping into the chair next to Io's bed. "They took up whips and no one was spared. Anyone who got in their way, refused them or looked at them wrong was bloodied. Poor Thomas." Ann sighed and shook her head.
"Thomas? Xavier's squire?" Io set the tray out of her lap, and as Ann nodded, she began to push the covers off. "What happened to Thomas?"
"Lady Claire flogged him, but he is recovering." Kate pushed Io's legs back on the bed and replaced the covers before putting the tray in reach again.
"Sarah and Sir Seth decided it best to order everyone but the very essential servants out to keep them safe. And Seth started taking the men out every day all day so they too couldn't fall to those… harpies."
"He even hired people to be out on the training fields cooking for them. They come back at sunset, go to bed and are gone again before the sun is fully up. The rest of us do what we can to avoid them." Ruth told her.
"I did not know," Io breathed. She never should have left these people so vulnerable. At least while she was here, Charlotte and the others focused on her and left everyone else alone.
"How could you? They were not even in the house when Xavier left to bring you back. Xavier left Seth and Sarah in charge but… well, that woman respects no one and no authority but her own."
"No one wanted to serve them?" Io thought it was what they preferred.
"Hardly, they practically ran for the gates," Jude said with a small chuckle.
"No one was upset with the change," Kate added with a gleam in her eye and a smile.
"No, no one," Ruth said and looked at the door.
"She was quite pleased." Ann smiled
"Who was?" Io asked, taking a bite of the bread she'd mostly shredded. She watched as Ann nodded towards the door. Io looked but…"Who?"
"Sarah," Jude said, then covered her mouth to stop the giggle.
"Sarah is happy everyone had to leave the house?"
"Well she is happy the men are all staying away," Kate said, leaning against the bedpost and trying not to laugh.
"Why?"
"Because Sir Seth is not here," Kate shrugged.
"Seth? I thought she…" Io took another bite and considered what she was being told. Sarah and Seth were having quite the romance before she left.
"Oh, I am sure she still wants him, but she has discovered that man is not to be trifled with. She went against his wishes one time too many and…" Ann shrugged. "He would not command her serve them, but he would not allow open disrespect. He put a fast and… sure end to her defiance."
"What? How?" Io asked, wanting to know if her closest friend had lost the man she wanted because she ran.
"What do you think? He is Xavier's man. Trained the same and of the same… mind as his lord. He set Sarah down the very way Xavier does you."
"Twice," Ruth added.
"No," Io gasped. It wasn't possible soft spoken, never assertive Seth thrashed Sarah. It wasn't possible. "And he still has his sack?"
All the women burst out laughing. And it took some time for them to compose themselves again.
"He is well enough and I think, although she is making him work for her favor now, she has not changed her feelings for him." Jude said.
"And if she has, I know a few women who look at him differently and wouldn't mind his attention," Kate announced. She started to say more but the door opened again and Sarah walked in.
"I told that man everything you will require," Sarah said
as she closed the door and came to sit on the end of the bed. "He did not so much as grumble." Sarah reached out and took up the camel. "I see he finally gave it to you." Io nodded. With a sigh she set the object aside. "So what have you been talking about while I was out?"
They tried. Io could see they all tried, but the room was again filled with laughter and it took Sarah no time to figure out why they laughed. Io was going to tell them to stop. She didn't want Sarah's feelings hurt. But maybe in the time she was away, she'd forgotten how strong her friend was.
"Oh, that man," Sarah huffed but joined in the laughter. "I swear he better not tell my brother what happened or I will bash in his head," she threatened, causing the others to laugh more. "Hum, yes laugh, but I could not sit down for two days. And he did not even lift my skirts. Oh, but his hand is hard." She chuckled.
"Sarah?" Io called, hoping to get some reassurance Seth hadn't done her true harm either physically or emotionally.
"Of course," Sarah turned her head away and brushed at her skirts. "I could let him make up with me now and that should distract him enough he will forget to say anything to Lucas about 'doing it properly.' " She clearly must have been mimicking Seth with those words.
Again the chamber was filled with mad laughter.
Io could only shake her head at them. Some things in the house might be different, but these women would never change, and Io couldn't be more pleased.
Chapter 3
Xavier stormed down the hall towards the apartments he once shared with his wife. How he'd not noticed this bitch wasn't already out of his home with the others, he couldn't think. But she'd be gone now.
When Sarah followed him out, telling him all the things she thought Io needed, he interrupted to remind her everything could be had in their apartments.
"Just get her to those rooms. She doesn't need to be encouraged to be about until she is completely recovered. Being here, she will try all the work she did before." Xavier tried to walk away then, but Sarah grabbed his arm.
"Xavier," she started with a familiarity she usually didn't rise to. "The fire was a fine excuse, but it is not the reason I had this chamber prepared."
Xavier turned back and right away knew something far worse than a burnt rug was behind the displacement. He wasn't the only one either. The six men in the hall guarding Io all stepped closer to listen.
"When they came back, learned you'd gone, that she'd left without any provisions or protections, they pronounced her dead and started changing things to suit Sabrina. Including your chambers. She is ensconced in there, and if she did not destroy Io's things, she set them out. We took as much as we could and placed it in storage." Sarah folded her arms over her chest and heaved a great sigh. Much like Io's own put upon one. "We managed to get most of your papers from the room. Not all of them. Your mother burned at least two ledgers. Seth put everything in your cabinet." She pointed to the door across from the one Io was behind. "He took the key and keeps the door locked except to put any other correspondence received inside. The room is no longer tidy I fear but…"
"Where is Sabrina now?" he was going to drag her out by the hair.
"I am sure in your apartments. She hardly leaves. She said the cold is too much for her. Every meal and need is met inside those rooms. And when they are not…" Sarah drifted off, shaking her head.
"What?" Xavier snapped, then realized he needed to calm down. Not raise his voice and alert Io and not take his anger out on this woman who loved Io as much as he did. "What have they done in this house? To this house?"
"They have scourged every servant. No one was spared. Your own squire, Thomas, has only gotten back on his feet. They flayed the skin from his back for dropping her tray."
Xavier didn't wait for her to say anything more. If he'd known this before he set out Charlotte, he'd have treated his own mother to the very same. Servants were never abused in his home. They certainly weren't abused in his father's home. Not unless they committed a true crime. Servants and slaves were, as far as his father believed and taught his sons to believe, a responsibility. They were to be cared for as any other valuable property would be.
He came to an abrupt stop in front of the closed door. Not sure what he might find, who he might find given Sabrina's penchant for male company, he took a moment to collect his thoughts and form a plan. He wasn't armed but he was sure he'd get a weapon should he need one.
He pushed the handle down and boldly entered the common chamber. His once neat, private and intimate space was nothing as he left it. Only the scorch mark on the floor even proved it was his room at all. Looking left, he saw his armor and trophies shoved wall to wall, floor to ceiling into the small space Io used as her own. Looking across the room to the space he often spent sitting with Io sharing a meal or accounts of their day, he noticed a large stack of trunks and then he noticed several of the bolts of material he'd brought for Io were unraveled and strewn on the dirty floor. They looked to have been walked on and he could see several wine stains. He gave the fabric a second survey and noted the silk was missing. Someone was going to wish they'd never picked up a needle to sew a stitch when he was done.
Grinding his teeth, he headed towards the first set of doors separating the private chambers from this. The room behind these doors where his and he wondered at what was done that all his belongings where now stacked outside. Again he pushed the handles and shoved open the wide double doors.
He'd never once asked Io to not be with him here. Although it was where he often worked on more private things, when he brought Io home, he let her pull in a few pieces of furniture which suited her needs and he laughed when she changed the cushions to suit her taste then changed them back when she thought he disapproved only to change them back again when he demanded she do so. She didn't want to take over his space, simply fit in if they shared it. What he saw now was nothing short of complete disrespect. Not only of his personal space but of his home.
An unholy amount of rubbish was strewn about as well as straw and broken wood slates he assumed to be from crates, perhaps even crates like the one Io was shoved into when she was stolen from the house. Trunks and furniture were stacked to both sides so the door back into the hall and the windows opposite were blocked. Some of the pieces he recognized as pieces Io usually claimed. A favorite chair, her wardrobe, even her writing table were stacked in this room. The chair and table looked to be damaged so no one could say it was accidental. The chair, in fact, looked to have a blade taken to it. The little table with its delicate legs was cracked down the center, and Io's wardrobe from the bedchamber had burn marks. Stepping up to the pile, his foot hit something solid, and when he looked, his entire body heated with rage. Squatting down, he lifted the little box that was once Io's writing set. The lid was torn from the hinges, the face where the lock was set was hacked away and the inside was stained with ink.
"My lord?"
Xavier turned at the call. Landon sat in a pile of furs in the only clear corner of the room. His senior squire, his body squire, looked to have been sleeping, but by what right the man rested, he couldn't account. Part of his set duties were to keep these chambers and the possessions within them serviceable. Xavier glared at the man who perhaps by spring would be sent into training for knighthood. Now, though, he did wonder if Landon was ready.
"You are returned, my lord." Landon pushed off covers and got to his feet. "It is most pleasing to have you home."
Xavier saw the nervous glance sent towards the bedchamber doors. "It is no pleasure to return to this," Xavier ground out and gestured to the mess. Landon didn't so much as show a flush of embarrassment.
"Lady Sabrina's dowry arrived, and she was trying to sort the belongings to her liking."
"That woman's belongings have no place in my house. And you should have preserved this room for my return," Xavier said, stating firmly what the man should know better than his own name.
"I only thought to let the lady get set in as she—"
"She is no on
e to be set in. These chambers are mine and my wife's," Xavier yelled. His squire seemed to have no shame for his lack of keeping with his duties. Perhaps knighthood would be well delayed until he could relearn these basic principles. "Even now my belongings lay scattered in the hall and my animal is untended. Your duty is to me unless I give you leave to serve another." Xavier looked over the clutter again. "Get to your duties."
"Yes, my lord, I understand your grief has—"
"My grief?" Xavier pulled back. It took a moment but it became clear Landon took him as a grieving husband, he thought Io dead, he'd already replaced her as his lady. Reaching out, his hand gripped the man's throat. "I do not grieve. I have returned with Lady Io."
"My lord?" Landon choked out.
"Get out, get to your duties, and do not fail in them again," Xavier said, tossing his squire to the floor and stepping over him as he headed for the last set of closed doors and the woman who'd almost wrecked his life.
The smell of perfume was sickening and did nothing to keep the smell of sweat and sex from assailing him as Xavier pushed the double doors wide open. He'd remember to appreciate Io's dislike for perfume and her almost obsessive need to bathe. Though he fully believed it was more her like for being in water than a want to wash. He felt his lips twitch up at the memories of walking in and finding her naked in the tub. Skin pink and warm, body relaxed and a smile of satisfaction on her face always invited him to come closer. To take up a sponge and wash her back, maybe even her legs or between…
"Xavier?" Sabrina's voice disrupted his musings, and given the look of satisfaction on her face, he was glad his focus returned. The arrogant woman probably thought his current state was in reaction to finding her in his bed. And when she let the covers slip to expose her breasts, he knew she thought he was here for her.
He certainly was here for Sabrina Blake, but not how she wanted. The disgust of seeing her in the bed he shared with Io, with his wife, the woman he loved more than life was to a level he didn't know it could rise. He gave the room a minor survey. All evidence Io occupied it was gone, and with the doors of his wardrobe and coffers open, he saw his belonging were no longer organized as he left them but shoved into one spot so Sabrina could place her belongings there.
