“You cannot possibly be serious.” Kimberly’s voice was quiet now, and all the venom was gone.
“Completely and totally,” he assured her. “Get out of my kingdom. If you ever set foot on my lands again, or if you ever come near my wife, I will slaughter you both like the animals you are.”
“But we apologized to—” Kimberly did not complete her sentence as Branford’s sword hand shifted slightly but halted her breath in her throat instead.
“Am I completely clear?” Branford’s voice was soft now, but his eyes still blazed.
“Yes,” she croaked.
Branford slowly drew his sword away from her neck, revealing a line of deep red against her skin. The slight trickle of blood continued to drip from the very bottom of the line down into the neckline of Lady Kimberly’s dress. It was not a deep cut but so obviously close to the pulsing vessel in her neck, even the slightest change in the sword’s course would have been her end. She raised her hand to her throat, and a small amount of blood seeped easily through her fingers.
“Get out of my sight.”
Lady Kimberly rose and took several slow steps backward, her gaze never leaving my husband’s save for once when they darted over to me. The look in her eyes was nothing less than sheer hatred, and I gasped when our eyes met. Lady Nelle grasped her sister’s hand, and they turned together, fleeing toward the castle gates.
And that is how Kimberly and Nelle were exiled.
Chapter 6—Inelegantly Fail
Two days after the consummation of our marriage, I attended my first tournament as Sir Branford’s wife.
The sounds of the trumpets were deafening as the line of knights entered the arena one at a time, circled their horses around the perimeter, and eventually ended up on one side of the arena—the side closest to where I stood with Ida and the rest of Sawyer’s kingdom.
The sound of the horns brought me back to my thankfully uneventful presentation to the court before dinner on the evening of Kimberly and Nelle’s exile. After spending the afternoon with Ida in the Women’s Room, I had been properly attired. My hair adorned the top of my head, and the new necklace Branford had purchased for me had been around my neck. After Ida’s tutelage on etiquette, I had been moderately sure of myself when I walked through the huge double doors at the end of the hall. I had walked down the aisle and kept my eyes on my husband at the far end and not on all the lords and ladies of the court. Between the horn blasts, all the people had not just looked upon me but had bowed down before me. I had become quite anxious and froze for a moment in the middle of the grand hall. Noticing my hesitancy, Branford had come to my side, taken my arm¸ and had then led me to each of the members of the court. Every one of them bowed down to me and addressed me as Lady Alexandra.
Since my habit was always to look down around nobility, Branford had to remind me with a gentle finger on my chin and a whisper in my ear that I was always to hold my head high as his wife. I was most uncomfortable with this new bearing, but I did as he told me to do, and the evening had gone smoothly. In the night, Branford laid me on the bed and brought those feelings from me again but refused to indulge himself, claiming he needed to let me recover for a night.
Ida nudged me and pointed across the field, bringing me out of my reverie and forcing me to focus on the knight with a red dragon painted on his breastplate. It was her fiancé, Sir Parnell. Branford rode behind him, circling the field, clad in his copper-colored armor. When Branford passed by, I clapped as loud as I could though I could not quite bring myself to cheer as loud as my husband’s sister did for Sir Parnell. A few of the noblewomen turned to look at me when I clapped, and I could see them lean toward each other to whisper.
“They are all trying to decide if you are the one they heard about,” Ida whispered into my ear. “Naturally, they have all heard Branford had married, and they are wondering if he brought his new wife to the tournament. You are unfamiliar, so they are bound to make their guesses.”
“I thought they were probably talking about me,” I admitted.
“Do not be nervous,” Ida said with a gentle hand on my arm. “They just want to get a look at you, and you look completely striking, if I do say so myself.”
Ida had me whisked away to her private room in Sawyer castle as soon as our carriage had arrived in the area. She had then proceeded to spend the next several hours dressing me and making my hair curl, wrapping it around the heated leg bones of a small animal. Then she had nearly covered my head in gold and black ribbons to match my gown. I wore the necklace Branford had bought for me as well.
“They are going insane with jealousy,” Ida said with a smirk.
“Jealousy?”
“Of course! Every one of that bunch had her eyes on Branford at some point in her life—even those who have since been wed.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Are you blind?” Ida asked with a laugh. “He is my own brother, yet I can still see why the women of any kingdom fawn over him.”
I blushed, embarrassed that I had not really considered it. Of course, I thought he was wonderfully stunning, especially when he looked at me with laughter and light in his sparkling green eyes. I hadn’t really considered how much other women must look at him and possibly want to be with him. I wondered again about the nine royal women Branford had previously bedded and contemplated whether any of the women seated near us now might be one of them. He had promised to tell me if there was, but he said he did not know exactly who would be at this tournament, only that Princess Whitney certainly would not be. Hadebrand was never invited to tournaments in Sawyer’s lands. Lord Sawyer took Branford’s stance on the death of the Sterlings.
“He is very…handsome,” I finally said.
“And it is you he takes to his bed after supper,” Ida whispered conspiratorially. “They would give their last piece of jewelry to trade places with you for a single night.”
I looked up at Ida, shocked.
“I would never trade Branford for someone’s jewelry!” I exclaimed.
Ida laughed.