“What do you mean?” he asked, and I felt his finger underneath my chin, trying to tilt my head up to face him. “Promised what?”
“That you would not leave my side again,” I said. “You said you would not leave me to the protection of others, but you will now leave me with Michael?”
“You a
re only going from the field to the castle,” Branford said. “I will be there as soon as I am…finished.”
“What if…what if I need protection?” I heard myself ask. “How can I be without you when I remember how close she was to me all that time? You said you would not leave me, Branford.”
I could no longer look into his eyes and, instead, pressed my forehead to his chest. I knew exactly what I was doing—using Branford’s fears to my own advantage. But I was not afraid to watch what they would do to her. I wanted to know exactly how she would suffer for what she had done to us. I did not want to be stuck in our rooms alone while Branford exacted revenge that should be mine as well.
I felt the rise of Branford’s chest as he breathed deeply, and I felt his breath escape over the top of my head.
“Michael! Parnell!” he called out as he turned from me. The two men walked over to us. “I am taking my queen away from this. Prepare Lady Kimberly for public execution, and let me know when it is complete. I want it slow, and I want it painful, and I want her to suffer. In the end, I want to see her head displayed as a reminder to all how I feel about disloyalty.”
“Yes, my king,” Parnell replied with a nod.
While I tried to understand what had just been said, Branford walked with me a few steps and then stopped. He turned me toward him and placed his hands on my shoulders.
“Stand right here,” he instructed before he spun on his heel and walked back to the cart. He spoke quickly into Parnell’s ear before approaching the cart. From where I was, I could see him lean over the bound Lady Kimberly and grab her by her hair. He painfully pulled her head back and spoke, but I could not hear his words to her. As Branford placed his head close to her ear and growled low, Lady Kimberly’s eyes went wide, then squeezed tightly shut as she began to twist her body and fight against her bindings.
“Come, Alexandra,” Branford said as he released the doomed woman and walked back to my side. “I will escort you to our rooms.”
“What?” I stopped and took a step back toward the field. “What are you doing?”
“We are both going back to the castle,” Branford said simply.
“But what of Lady Kimberly?”
“You heard what I instructed.”
“But I want to be there!”
“You are not going to be there,” Branford told me. “I will not have you upset and unable to sleep while you carry my son. You were right—I did promise to stay at your side, and I will abide by that promise. You reminded me of my duty and gave me the options that were acceptable to you. I chose the option acceptable to me. We will both be inside when she is killed.”
With that, he took my hand and wrapped it around his arm before he began to lead me away from the field. He snapped at Dunstan to have someone bring my sewing up to me and then proceeded to the gates. As we approached the entrance to the castle, Branford leaned close to my ear and spoke in low tones so no one else would hear.
“But I will have you know, wife,” he murmured, “that my body is tense because of what I would have done. I will need some distraction for the rest of the afternoon. By calling me from this, I will be sure to take my excess energies out on your body instead. Do we understand each other?”
I glanced up at him, momentarily concerned about the implication of his words, but when I saw the mirth and lust in his eyes, I knew very well his meaning.
“If that is what it takes to keep you at my side,” I replied. I tried to shrug nonchalantly, but my blush and shiver gave me away as he touched the side of my face.
*****
I slept late again the next day, waking to the sound of voices in the morning room. Branford was speaking to Parnell and Rylan though when I spied through the bed curtains, I could see Branford’s chair was still angled so he could look to where I was at the same time.
“It makes no sense,” Parnell was saying. “They aren’t destroying the whole thing; they are taking bits of it apart and putting it back together again.”
“They have to be searching for something,” Rylan replied in his characteristic deep voice. “At least, that was the speculation from my source.”
“Do we not have spies there to give you information?” Parnell asked.
“There is a trusted man there,” Branford said softly, “but I cannot reach out to him. He would be jeopardized, and I need him where he is.”
For a moment, the men were silent. Then Parnell’s voice rang out again.
“There is still danger here, my king.”