The Warrior and Calissande

Chapter 13: I Have No Qualms About Killing

"Lady Carrington, your lord husband requests that you to join him in his private room." Henrill hovered outside of the door to my room, where I sat holding Felicity.

"I do not wish to --"

Henrill nodded, looking extremely discomfited, and said, "My lord Carrington anticipated your...reluctance, and bade me to tell you that his request is a mere formality to honor politeness, but you have no choice in the matter. You are to join him immediately."

He nodded into the hallway and Mrs. Keystone and Jannip came into my room, both of them eyes downcast, clearly having heard the gossip about the return of the camaspoza and her baby. My husband's child? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

I did not understand her assertion that her child had any claim to my husband's wealth. That had puzzled me, and I wanted to know how she came to make such a bold claim. I suppose I needed to go downstairs and find out; depending on what was said, I would determine if I was leaving the warrior or not for a long, long stay at my parents' keep. My child would not be raised alongside the camaspoza's, nor would I tolerate a husband who went to visit his illegitimate offspring if he decided to provide his child and the mother with a cottage in a nearby town or village. 

Handing Felicity over to Jannip, I left the room with my chin up, determined not to show how her presence -- and her child's -- unsettled me. Given that I thought all of this camaspoza distastefulness had been put to rest when I found that the warrior had sent her back to the training center, I sighed, wondering if it would ever be over. If this baby of hers was the warrior's, given her boldness tonight, I feared the warrior would never be rid of her. If that were the case, he would find himself rid of me.

I walked into my husband's private room and discovered Sir Alcarn, the camaspoza and the baby on one side of the room with the warrior on the other.

"Thank you for joining us, my lady wife," the warrior said to me, his face stern. "I wanted to dispense with this matter with all due haste, so I have invited all concerned parties to partake in the discussion of this matter as soon as possible so that you may learn the truth. I apologize for the necessity of you being in the same room as her, but we shall settle this matter quickly and you will never be in proximity to her again."

The camaspoza looked at me with hatred. "My lord Carrick is the father of my babe, no matter what lies or tales he is about to tell you."

While her mouth was still open on that last word, the warrior had thrust the tip of his sword into her mouth, quick as a lightning flash. She stilled, not daring to move, her breathing seeming to stop as her eyes widened in absolute terror. With one flick of his highly skilled and deadly accurate sword arm, he could render her mute forevermore...or dead.

"One more word," he hissed at her in a voice so quiet that it sent chills up my spine, "and I shall happily cut out your lying tongue. I am a warrior, and I do not lie, not even to save my own skin. I have killed men for less than you dare, and I find I have no qualms about killing one such as yourself if you prove to be foolish enough to utter one more word or to address my lady wife ever again."

Not one of us moved as the warrior stared her down. Her ruddy face continued to lose its color and she finally gained some small measure of wisdom or self-preservation and dropped her eyes to the floor.

"Now, I suggest you do not move."

And just as quickly as he had drawn it, he had his sword back in its scabbard before any of us could blink.

"My lady wife, I have found that Alcarn is the father of the child the camaspoza was claiming to be mine. In the ten days it took to travel to the training center, Alcarn and the camaspoza committed the crime of conducting relations outside the bounds of the camaspoza's commitment. The crime is punishable by death for both of them."