The situation shook him to his core, for never had he threatened any woman into pleasuring him nor harmed any during his amorous adventures, no matter how ardent the loveplay became, and he would not begin now. When he took the girl by the arm and she cried out in pain, Rurik peeled back her tunic and discovered lash marks all over her body. The sight turned his stomach and he took her to Gunnar with orders to keep her safe until he discovered the truth of it.
Thorfinn, it seemed, also took pleasure in demeaning those less powerful and those under his control. Had he expected Rurik to be pleased by the girl's attentions? Who had whipped her and why? He would investigate more and then have words with Thorfinn, for he was certain their father did not countenance such cruelty to servants.
But before he could speak to Thorfinn, he received a summons to his father's chambers to share the evening meal. When he arrived, Thorfinn was complaining that he had yet to meet Gunnar's daughter and asked Erengisl to invite them to the gathering. Apparently Margriet had been ill these last few days and had kept to her father's rooms. Although Gunnar tried to talk his way out of calling her there, Thorfinn insisted and, with Erengisl's approval, sent word for her to come.
Something was not right in all this, but Rurik could not reason it out. A short time later, Margriet arrived and Erengisl invited her forward to meet his other son. He'd never seen her so hesitant before and he watched from his seat as Gunnar escorted her to his father. The countess came around the table and took her hand, drawing her closer to his brother.
"I am certain that you are not used to our ways yet after so many years in the convent, Margriet, but we prefer to dine together in good company. I am glad you could join us after feeling poorly these last few days."
"I thank you for your kindness, lady. I am certain I will become accustomed to the festive meals you offer in your household."
"Now, come and meet my husband's older son, Thorfinn."
As Rurik watched what happened, he swore that time slowed, for everyone moved at a sluggish pace, making it even harder to bear. Margriet's head jerked back as the countess called his brother over to be introduced and she lost every bit of color in her face. Margriet began to shake her head and back away, stopped only by her father behind her. Then, as his brother reached out to take her hand, she collapsed at Gunnar's feet.
The chamber erupted into chaos at that point and everyone seemed to move faster now. Gunnar bent over to try to lift Margriet, but Rurik got there first and carried her to a couch at Lady Agnes's direction. The countess waved everyone back as she dabbed at Margriet's face with a dampened linen. After a few minutes, Margriet opened her eyes and spoke a name, a name that would damn her.
"Finn?"
Lady Agnes frowned and shook her head. "Do you mean Thorfinn, Margriet?"
Margriet struggled to sit up as she sought the face that had sent her into a faint. Searching one to the next, she found him, standing across the room. "Finn," she said again, waiting for him to acknowledge her.
"I have not heard that name for some time," Lord Erengisl said. "It was a pet name used by his mother." The earl met her gaze and said, "He prefers Thorfinn now."
He walked over to her, smiling now, and she knew her worries were over. But with his first words, they began anew.
"Sweet Peggy? Is that you?" Finn said, shaking his head as he lifted her chin and looked more closely at her. "Gunnar? I thought you said this was your daughter?"
"Why are you pretending that you do not know me?" she asked, the horror growing within her as she realized he did this apurpose.
"Oh, I knew you, I knew you well," he said with an expression that told the others that he was as surprised as they were. "I just knew not that you were Gunnar's daughter."
Her father took his bait, and she wanted to die inside as he stumbled into this fray without being warned first. "Here now, Lord Thorfinn. You insult my daughter without cause. You are mistaking her for someone else."
Finn laughed suggestively and shook his head. "She called herself Peggy when she spread her legs for me."
Margriet did not think, she simply reacted. Jumping up from the couch, she ran at him and slapped him as hard as she could. She never saw the back of his hand as he returned her blow, knocking her off her feet once more.
When Rurik saw her go down again, this time because of Thorfinn's blow, he leapt over the couch and grabbed his brother by the throat. "Do not lay a hand on her again, Thorfinn." Tightening his grip, he pressed harder until his brother choked and sputtered, and until his father stepped in and pulled him free of Rurik's grasp.
"I do not understand how this happened, Father," Thorfinn gasped. "I met her on Lord Kenneth's lands when I went to take your trade offer to him and your cousin, Lord Alexander." Rurik watched as he took a step back, one that placed their father between them and one that protected the weasel's sorry arse from his reach. "You know how peasants are, offering their favors for a few coins or a trinket. She offered hers-I paid her when I finished."
Lady Agnes gasped at his crudity and looked to her husband to take control. He turned to find Gunnar sitting ashen-faced at his daughter's side. Erengisl ordered the room cleared of everyone but the six of them, but Rurik knew that, even now, the news spread through the palace about Gunnar's daughter. There was no way to stop it, but Rurik needed to try.
"Father, these are serious claims made against Gunnar's honor. We should wait until Margriet is able to answer questions before allowing Thorfinn to continue to besmirch her reputation."
Thorfinn did the most unexpected thing then-he laughed long and loud, until tears poured down his cheeks. The display even disturbed Erengisl, who called out to him.
"Thorfinn! Truly this is no time to make light of Rurik's suggestion. If the things you say are true, Margriet is ruined as well as Gunnar."
"But, Father, 'tis amusing when a man who used her during their journey would defend the whore's honor. He even took her on the floor of Old Einar's house outside Thurso when they stayed there."
Rurik did not remember covering the distance between them now, but it took three of his father's guards to wrench him off Thorfinn's throat and hold him from another attack. Only the sight of Margriet's bruised face and his father dragging Thorfinn aside and whispering furiously to him stopped Rurik from lunging again.
"Father, call a physician to see to her," he shouted over the uproar. "She has been ill." He did not dare reveal the rest of it at that moment, though he did not doubt it would be discovered shortly.
Erengisl pushed Thorfinn into a chair and ordered a guard in front of him. Then he walked to Gunnar's side, leaned in and spoke to his counselor quietly so that none but those two could hear. Gunnar nodded, accepting whatever his father said, and then Erengisl sent a guard off with a gesture to find the physician.
Lady Agnes, the only one who remained calm during this situation, remained at Margriet's side until the healer arrived.
"My lord, with your permission and her father's, I would like to examine her," the man said. At his father's nod, two guards picked her up and carried her to one of the smaller alcoves for privacy. A servant who'd accompanied him into the chambers ran out after receiving instructions to bring back certain supplies, no doubt.
Only then did Rurik think about the progress of this debacle and could he see the way Thorfinn orchestrated it. He knew Margriet the first night she'd arrived here, so his surprise and claim to not have known rang false. Unfortunately, his other claims were most likely true. Once more, a wave of warning pulsed through him as he realized that someone was feeding information to Thorfinn about what happened on their journey.
Soon, he heard Margriet stir and heard the healer asking her some questions and he knew that at least she was conscious. And now he waited for the rest of Thorfinn's manipulations with no way to warn Margriet of what was coming. First the healer called Lady Agnes behind the curtain that separated them and then she bade Gunnar enter as she left.
Rurik knew the news she would share now with her father and did not envy his old friend the shock of it. He only hoped that he was right in his belief that Gunnar would help and not hurt her when all was done and said.