The ripple turned into a crack, as if his stony expression had just been a mask that was splintering apart to reveal the real face underneath—one that was working with so many emotions she didn’t know which was dominant, though she suspected it was anger.
‘Then you’re fortunate that I’ve no desire for a wife either. Especially one who looks more like a stablehand than a woman!’
She reacted instinctively, swinging her arm back and throwing her fist square at his jaw, gratified to hear a sharp thwacking sound as his head snapped to the left.
There was a prolonged silence before he turned back to face her, his expression a blank again, as if her fist had actually rammed the mask back into place.
‘Then it seems we understand each other, Wife.’
‘We do. And you can keep this!’ She unclenched her fist and hurled Matilda’s ring at his chest. ‘I wouldn’t want the Empress to miss it!’
* * *
Lothar rubbed his jaw gingerly with his knuckles as she stormed away. He’d guessed that she’d been about to hit him. He’d even been ready, braced for the sting of a womanly slap across his cheek, so that getting her fist in the jaw instead had caught him by surprise. His wife had an impressive right hook, it seemed. Something else her father must have taught her.
In retrospect, he supposed he could have handled the situation better. She was right, their marriage was a greater advancement than any he could have expected, but her accusations had undermined his self-control to the extent that he’d finally lost his temper as well. He’d meant to say that he’d accepted her father’s offer because he wanted to help her keep her inheritance, not to steal it for himself. He’d meant to say that he was a soldier, that when it came to managing a castle, she was a far better person for the job. He’d meant to reassure her that it would be a marriage in name only, or at least insofar as she wanted it to be one. Most of all, he’d meant to tell her that nothing about this was a game. Instead he’d told her she looked like a stablehand. That had definitely been a mistake. One of many. Overall it couldn’t have gone much worse.
He bent down to retrieve Matilda’s ring. Her reaction to that had been the most confusing thing of all. He understood why she objected to their marriage, but the band itself seemed to have enraged her, as if she were actually jealous of the Empress, though the very idea was ludicrous. It would have been ludicrous even if she cared about him, which she obviously didn’t. He’d never given a present to any woman before, but he’d been led to believe that such gestures were generally appreciated. Apparently not, but he’d still wanted her to have the ruby. He couldn’t think of a stone that would suit her better.
‘Sergeant?’
‘What is it?’ He turned to find one of his soldiers standing in the doorway.
‘It’s Mattias, sir. He’s back from Devizes.’
‘Already?’
He felt a prickle of unease. He’d sent Mattias to report to the Empress as soon as Juliana had surrendered the castle. Riding as hard as he could, it would still have taken him a day and a half to get there and the same again to get back. In which case, Matilda must have turned him around almost at once. He frowned, his soldier’s instincts warning him something was wrong—something that had nothing to do with his remaining in Haword either. When Mattias had left he’d still been intending to leave. Which meant that something else must have happened...
‘Send him in.’
He rested a hand on one of the table-tops, tapping his fingers impatiently until an exhausted-looking rider entered the hall.
‘What’s happened?’ He didn’t waste any time.
‘It’s the Earl of Gloucester, sir. He’s dead.’
‘What?’ He felt a jolt of surprise. ‘How?’
‘They say natural causes. He was at home in Bristol Castle.’
‘And the Empress?’
‘She’s very upset, sir.’
Upset. He slammed the flat of his hand down hard upon the table. Upset wouldn’t even begin to describe it. Robert FitzRoy had been Matilda’s greatest supporter and ally, the most powerful man in the south-west of the country, not to mention her illegitimate half-brother. His loss would be a devastating blow in more ways than one.
‘She asked that you return to Devizes at once.’
He stiffened. He ought to have expected that, he supposed, but his own immediate reaction was something far less expected. He’d never questioned any of the Empress’s orders before, but now he felt a tug of resentment. For the first time in his life he actually wanted to say no. Despite the swelling in his jaw, he didn’t want to leave Haword. What did that mean?
‘Was it an order or a request?’
‘Sir?’ Mattias sounded confused.
‘What did she say exactly?’
‘