Daughters of the Dagger 04 - Amethyst (7 page)

“What did you father say?” asked Clement, coming to her side. She was too shocked to speak and just handed him the missive to read it for himself. Then she heard Marcus curse and throw the missive he was reading to the ground.

“How could you do this to me, Father? You know I have no intention of getting married – ever.”

“I do know that,” he said with a chuckle. “Why the hell do you think I got the king to agree and send a missive as well? If I didn’t, I knew you
’d never go through with it. ’Tis time for you to produce an heir, son, whether you like it or not. You need a son of your own to follow in your footsteps the way you have followed in mine. The Montclair name will be known all across England as the fierce father, son and someday soon, grandson team, to rule the entire border.”

“I’ll not do it,” he said, pacing back and forth across the floor.
“And if I ever do decide to marry, it’ll be a bride of my choosing.”

“If you refuse to marry Lady Blackpool, t
hen the king will take the castle from you, simple as that. So as you see, son, you have no choice in the matter.”

“You bastard,” Marcus shouted
, making Amethyst feel very uncomfortable. This man acted like marrying her was nothing more than a death sentence.

“There must be some mistake,” said Clement, shaking his head as h
e read the missive. “My brother-by-marriage swore never to betroth any of his daughters after the death of his wife. He promised her on her deathbed that he would let the girls all find their own true loves.”

“Th
ere’s no mistake,” said Gilbert with a shake of his head. “And no matter what the earl wants, he has to answer to the king’s wishes. The sealed missives are all the proof you need.”

“
What about a dowry?” asked Marcus. “If she’s the daughter of an earl, then I expect to get a good-sized dowry out of this at least.”

Amethyst wasn’t even surprised that once again, money and wealth was the first thing on Marcus’s mind.

“Earl Blackpool sent a dowry. Well, part of it. He has sent a bag of coins, and more will come later when he returns to his castle in Blackpool. But, unfortunately, it won’t be as much as I had hoped for, as he has already had to provide sizeable dowries for three other daughters. But he will be sending jewels as well as a few other items by messenger soon. And he assured me you will not be disappointed.”

Amethyst just stood there feeling like part of the furniture. The men discussed her marriage as naught more than a business deal
, and she knew to them that’s all it really was. And both the men acted as if she wasn’t even in the room.

“Amethyst, what do you think of all this?” asked her uncle.

“What does it matter?” asked Gilbert. “She’s a woman. She has naught to say about any of this.”

“When am I expected to do the deed?” asked Marcus, as if he were talking about nothing more than raiding a castle or perhaps hunting down a deer.

“Right away,” said the earl. “That’s why I’m here, son. I told the king I’d stay and witness the wedding myself.”

“Isn’t Earl Blackpool or Amethyst’s family coming?” asked her uncle.

“What for?” asked Gilbert. “They weren’t invited. This is a deal that only concerns me, the king, and my son.”

“Well, if there’s nothing I can do about it, than so be it,” said Marcus. “Peter!” He called out loud, and the door opened slowly and his squire sidled in with his head down.

“Aye, my lord. You called?”

“Get the chaplain
and tell him to meet me in the chapel this afternoon.”

“Is something wrong, my lord?” He looked from one face to the other.
“Did someone die perhaps?”

Amethyst felt as
if she’d died a little inside just now, but she knew that no one would even care, except for her uncle.

“I’m getting married, so
find me something to wear as well,” Marcus ordered.

“Married, my lord?
” Peter looked up in confusion. “To whom?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Now get going. The wedding will take place before the meal. Tell the coo
ks to prepare a grand feast.”

“A wedding feast?” he asked
, excitedly. “With doves and a three-tiered layered honey cake perhaps?”

“Nay. A feast because my father is here. We’ll celebrate tonight and everyone is invited.”

“He is marrying me,” said Amethyst softly, gaining everyone’s attention in the room.

“Truly, Lady Amethyst?” asked Peter with a smile. “Well, congratulations, my lady.”

“Enough with the idle chatter, now get going and carry out my orders,” snapped Marcus.

“Of course, my lord,” said Peter rushing from the room.

“You know, I’m not so tired after all, Marcus,” said the earl. “Why don’t you give me a tour of the castle and show me all your progress since the last time I was here?”

Both the men
exited the room, leaving Amethyst just standing there as if nothing had happened.

“Amethyst, I really need to go with them and show them the progress,” said her uncle nervously.

“Go on,” she said, resting her hand on his arm.

“Will you be alright, sweetheart?”

She swallowed deeply, wanting to cry. How could this be happening to her? She only wanted to come here in the first place to be close to her uncle and to experience the thrill of being included in building a castle. If she knew coming here was going to result in her having to marry an ogre of a man with a father who was twice as bad, dictating every one of his son’s movements, she would have stayed in Canterbury instead and enjoyed spending time with her sisters.

She felt so alone. And if it wasn’t for having her uncle at her side, she didn’t know what she’d do.

“I’ll be fine,” she said and forced a smile. “After all, it could be worse.” She didn’t know how, but thought if she said it aloud, then mayhap she’d believe it.

“Did you want to come with on the tour with the earl?” he asked. “After all, you are my assistant and the one to come up with the new plans.”

“I’ve been instructed to keep my mouth shut,” she said. “Lord Marcus doesn’t want me to tell his father I came up with the plans. He gave me this room in trade. But now, I guess it doesn’t matter, does it? If we’re to be married, then the room will be his again as well.”

“It’s your choice, Amethyst. But I really wouldn’t want
you to do anything to anger Lord Marcus or his father.”

“Too late for that,” she said, picking up her skirt
s and heading for the door. “Come on, Uncle, as I have work to do.”

Chapter 6

Amethyst stood atop the battlements, directing the men down below. From her position, she could see all the workers and the progress of the day.

“You there,” she said, pointing to a man with a wheelbarrow, coming up the ramp. “We need more fill between the walls. Find more rubble and fill it to the top befo
re you put the final mortar on to harden.”

“Aye, my lady, at once.”

The walls of the castle were very thick for protection against a siege. The curtain wall was actually two walls running one in front of the other with fill in between and solidified with mortar to hold it together as one thick fortress.

“And
Master Carpenter,” she called to the man atop the roof. “Make certain your men finish the hoardings today. Leave enough holes in the wooden overhangs so that if we’re attacked, plenty of rocks can be dropped through. And add some extra arrow loops in the sides as well.”

“I will, my lady.”

The hoardings were wooden platforms covered by a roof that hung out over the edge of the castle, providing more means to conquer an enemy down below.

She looked over the side and could see that her uncle was not below, but rather with Marcus and the earl. They were short
on help with not enough masons to split the stones, so she hurried down there to do it herself.

“Let me help,” she said to the masons, grabbing a
hammer and chisel. She put the chisel into the holes already burrowed into the large stone. Then she hit it hard with the hammer until the stone split apart. Now the masons would be able to make the large stone into smaller cubes that they could handle to stack one atop the other into the walls that would be constructed to build the new gatehouse.

She felt herself warming from the work and pulled a strip of cloth from her side and used it to tie back her hair.
Though the day was still early, she felt sweat upon her brow, and the winds had died and made the air very humid.

She looked across the cour
tyard and saw a young boy mixing mortar. She rushed over to his side. “You need more water in the mortar. And stir it well with the sand and lime,” she told him, grabbing the handle of the paddle to mix it. “If it’s too thick, it’ll start to harden before you even get it up to the top of the wall.”

“You’re right, my lady,” said the boy, and added more water.

“Men, move those lower scaffolds over to the gatehouse quickly, as the construction needs to be started right away,” she called out across the courtyard.

She was so busy helping out and working, that she didn’t even see Marcus, his father
, and her uncle walk up behind her. She had a basket of small stones in her hands and was going to bring it to the workers to be hoisted up and filled into the walls, but when she turned and saw them standing there, she was startled. She dropped the basket, the stones falling atop Marcus’s foot. He jumped back with a scowl on his face.

“Oh, I’m sorry, my lord, I didn’t
see you.” She knew by the expressions on both their faces, it wasn’t going to be good.

“What the hell are you doing?” asked Gilbe
rt. “A woman’s place is inside weaving baskets or preparing food.”

“Aye,” said Marcus. “Please go to the kitchen and help prepare the meal.”

She just looked at her uncle and saw the sadness as well as the warning in his eyes, begging her not to speak. She bit the inside of her cheek, not wanting to do anything to jeopardize his position. She turned slowly, and was about to do as told, but then decided she could take this no longer.

She turned
back and looked them in the eyes, and spoke her piece. “I will not!”

Marcus felt doom wash over him as Amethyst stood with her hands on her hips and her mouth pursed into a firm, straight line. He knew she wouldn’t be able to keep her mouth shut. And he also knew that as soon as she spoke, his father would cause trouble.

“Uncle G
ilbert, you didn’t wait for me,” came a woman’s voice from across the courtyard.

He turned in s
urprise to see his cousin, Matilda riding up on a horse with one guard at her side. Her long, red hair was pulled up and twisted into a knot atop her head, and her big green eyes were full of mischief as always.

“Who are you?” asked Amethyst, and Marcus was glad for the distraction.

“I am Lord Marcus’s cousin, Matilda,” she announced. “I was traveling with my uncle but he saw to leave me on the road and go on ahead without me.”

“Lady Matilda, I told you if you were
going to tag along that I would not wait,” said the earl. “Now stable your horse and make your way to the kitchens with Lady Blackpool and help prepare my feast.”

“I prefer to be ca
lled Lady Amethyst,” Amethyst told him. “And I am here by order of the archbishop as assistant to my uncle, the master mason. I am surprised no one told you that when you were in Canterbury.”

“They did,” he said
with a disgusted look upon his face. “But I thought they were jesting.”

“I assure you,
they were not,” she said firmly.

“You are working as the master mason’s assistant?” asked Matilda
with a sparkle in her eyes. “How wonderful!”

“Nay, it’s not,”
Marcus broke into the conversation.

“Do you really know how to build a castle?” Matilda
ignored Marcus and dismounted her horse as she spoke. By the smile on Amethyst’s face, he knew that she already liked his cousin. She was a young girl, mayhap a few years younger than Amethyst, and he knew that having two high-spirited women together was never a good thing.

“I do
know how to build a castle,” admitted Amethyst. “I traveled for a year with my uncle and he taught me everything I need to know.” She looked over to him and smiled.

“Lady Blackpool,” Marcus warned her. “Don’t you have somewhere to go?”

“Not at all,” she said, taking a stride forward. “This is where I’m supposed to be, directing the workers. You said so yourself just last night, my lord.”

“Marcus?” asked his father. “What the hell is going on here? There is no way you really let a woman be placed in this position? I hope to hell you’re not paying her.”

“I’m working for free,” Amethyst answered, before Marcus could even answer. “And I do know what I’m doing.” She then looked at her uncle and shook her head. “I am sorry, Uncle Clement but I cannot keep quiet any longer.”

“Quiet about what?” asked Matilda curiously.

“I was the one to come up with the idea of building the gatehouses off centered in order to secure a better defense for the stronghold.”

“You are lying
and shall be punished for that,” spat the earl. “Marcus, do something about her behavior. Throw her in the dungeon.”

Amethyst just looked at Marcus, and she felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she fought it back. Would he really be such a tyrant that he would throw his own betrothed into the dungeon? Especially when he knew she was telling the truth?

“Well, Marcus, what do you have to say?” asked his father.

“I can’t throw her in the dungeon,” he said, his eyes interlocked with hers. She felt a connection between them and hoped he felt it too.

“Why the hell not?” snapped his father. “No woman should be able to speak as such and not be punished for it.”

“I can’t, because the dungeon is not yet finished.”

Amethyst’s heart sank at that comment. So he was no better than his father after all. She’d thought she’d seen a speck of decency hidden away under his hardened exterior, but now she knew
she was wrong. He was an exact double of his father and he would never change.

“Then lock her
in the tower or something,” suggested the earl.

Amethyst’s eyes stayed interlocked with his, and she felt as if Lord Marcus was probably the meanest man she’d ever met. She should have heeded the archbishop’s warning
, as well of that of her uncle. But she’d always tried to see the good in everyone, and the best of every situation. But this was one person and one situation that she was starting to believe had no good attached to it at all.

“I can’t do that, either,” he said, still staring at her.

“Why not?” asked his father.

“Because … because she is not lying. She really was the one to come up with the wonderful plan, and she will already be punished enough by having to marry me.”

Marcus took off at a good clip across the courtyard, and his father hurried behind him, complaining and talking, waving his hands wildly in the air. Amethyst just stood there with her mouth open, not believing what Marcus had just said aloud.

“You really came up with a plan for the castle?” asked Matilda. “You must be very smart, indeed.”

“Or very dumb,” she said, turning and walking over to where the gatehouse would be constructed. She’d said her piece and now she knew others would feel the consequences for what she’d just done. She hoped her uncle would not be reprimanded because of it. And she hoped Lord Marcus would not take her roughly on their wedding night in punishment for going against his word. She tried very hard, but could not think of how this could possibly end up in a positive light.