“If Sir William is willing to stand in as her champion, then I challenge him to a duel of honor at the Beltane Festival in May.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but William was faster. “I accept that challenge. As the prize, I will accept Mistress Kovac’s tiara.”
“If you win.” He sneered and then turned back to the council. “And as my prize, Sir William will agree to exile himself permanently from our community.”
The silence was so solid in that tent, you could have set a full table on it. People had been filing in and taking seats on benches and floor cushions in preparation for the formal meeting to take place in a few minutes. Usually there was a great deal of chatter before meetings, but no one so much as whispered.
Lord de Bricasse’s jaw had gone slack and his wife was biting her lip, glaring at Doug. It was then I remembered that William was a favorite of hers.
After a few beats of awkward silence, William cleared his throat to speak. But before he could get a word out, Lord de Bricasse held up his hand. “This is highly irregular, Sir Douglas. What you demand of a member in good standing is unreasonable—”
“I can demand what terms I want.” Doug jerked his head toward William. “It is for Sir William to decide whether or not he will agree to them. I offer him a chance to recover his besmirched honor from the dishonorable defeat—”
“It was not dishonorable—” Lord de Bricasse countered.
Doug shrugged again in that profusely exaggerated way. “Whatever. I’d rather defeat him without having won on a technicality.” He turned and glowered at me, making sure I understood that this punishment of William was about me.
Or maybe not…
Maybe he saw William as a threat to his bid to win the kingdom someday. William had just proved himself as good a fighter as he was. Maybe this was Doug’s way of eliminating the competition.
Doug cleared his throat and continued. “Sir William has a chance to win her bauble back if he wants to. But only if he accepts my terms if he loses.”
All eyes shifted to William, but it was my turn to speak up. “No. I won’t allow William to do that.”
William turned his head toward me with a scowl on his face. “I don’t need your permission.”
I ignored him and continued. “That item is legally mine, and I’ll go to small claims court to get it back.” Then I turned to taunt Doug. “You obviously aren’t a man of your word.”
William looked at me, shocked. “You don’t question a knight’s honor…ever.”
Clearly outraged, Doug turned dark red and jerkily grabbed one of the leather gloves hanging off his belt before slapping it on the floor at my feet.
Everyone one around us gasped.
And I was completely at a loss for what had just happened.
I looked up at William and he was staring at the glove, then he bent and swept it off the ground. Holding it up, he said loudly, “Sir Douglas has thrown down his gauntlet at Mistress Kovac’s feet. I accept this challenge on her behalf and fight as her champion.”
Lord de Bricasse raised his brows. “Well, I assumed you would say that even before his histrionics. Really, Doug….” he said, slipping from his role for a second.
Doug puffed his chest out even further. “This is within the rules. I’ve checked.”
He’d obviously planned it this way and now appeared very pleased with himself. I turned to William. “You don’t need to do this. It’s my problem, not yours. Doug obviously has a problem with me. I can take this up with the guy who gave me the loan.”
William shook his head. “I will fight as your champion. The challenge has been issued and I accepted it. These are the rules we abide by and they are very clear. There is nothing left to say.”
I almost howled in frustration. What if he lost? Was I going to stake my most precious possession on a fight that he might not win?
Triumphant, Doug bowed dramatically and held out his hand to William for the glove. Then, without so much as a thank you, he turned, saluted the rest of the occupants of the tent and marched out. Asshole to the nth degree. I glared at his back the entire way out. What the hell had I ever seen in him?
William still stood before the elders, and Lord de Bricasse was asking him if he had any further business with the council. I stepped up to put a stop to this.
William held out his arm to hold me back. “No, we’ll settle this the old-fashioned way. After all, it’s what we’re about.”
“But…” None of them had any idea what that “bauble” meant to me. I wasn’t about to leave my fate in someone else’s hands. But I didn’t say anything until we were outside the tent. “Wil…”