Noc nodded. “Gotcha.”
“You must believe me, Noc, for I’m telling
the truth,” for some reason I persevered. “When I was young, I
experimented with it. But seeing what she did, how she used hers.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t want a thing to do with it.”
He lifted a hand and cupped my cheek, saying
comfortingly, “I said gotcha, baby. That means I get you. I
understand you. It’s all good. I got your back. Okay? You get
that?”
I wasn’t sure but I thought I did, therefore
I gave a slight nod.
“Now, relax for me, yeah? I’m gonna go get
another towel, take this one off, change it.” Even as his mouth got
tight, his voice turned into a mutter while his attention wandered
to my back. “Blood’s soaked this one through.”
Humiliation belatedly stole through me, and I
closed my eyes against the sight of his fine-looking face set with
anger that warred with concern.
“You good with that, Frannie?” he asked.
This name, it was common. I detested it.
I didn’t say that.
I sighed, kept my eyes closed and replied,
“Whatever you wish to do, Noc.”
“Babe,” he said.
I lay there, unmoving.
“Sweetheart, look at me.”
I didn’t wish to but felt it would be a show
of weakness if I didn’t.
Therefore I did.
“Gonna take care of you,” he promised, the
look in his eyes now one of warmth and determination. “Get you back
to fit. And I’m gonna see he’s taken care of too. Do you believe
me?”
I wished to do that.
But that would not happen.
“He’s a member of a powerful House, Noc. You
may not understand this but that means something. He’s detested by
Aurora, as he was by Atticus, for reasons I don’t know but it
wasn’t surprising. The king and queen felt even less for my mother.
They do not consort with the royals and only allowed Kristian and I
to do so when we were younger through my uncle, Frey’s father.
Regardless of that, his position, and hers, gives them leeway. And
further, I went to him uncoerced.”
“When’d it start?” he asked.
“Pardon?”
“Got scar tissue he didn’t get to opening up
this go, Frannie, so don’t think you can pull one over on me. This
is not your first time. How old were you when it started?”
“I don’t understand the import of that
information,” I declared haughtily.
“Just tell me how old,” he pushed.
“If it’s that interesting to you, five.”
He rose.
Immediately.
Coming straight out of his crouch in a
powerful surge, he stood towering beside me on the bed.
And now, at the expression on his face, I
fought cowering before him.
“Five?” he whispered.
I fought the pain as I pushed up on my
forearms, beginning, “Noc—”
“
Five?
” he hissed.
I stared up at him, unable to speak in the
face of his fury.
Fury on my behalf.
Something that had never happened, not from
Kristian, not from Antoine.
Not from anyone.
“You were coerced, Franka, whether you know
that shit or not,” he bit off, and before I could utter a noise,
even if I had no intention of doing so, a knock came at the door
and Noc barked, “
Come in!
”
He then prowled to the door as a maid came
through with towels.
He did this continuing to bark, just not as
loudly, and dispensed with the “pleases” and ludicrous “that’d be
awesomes” and behaved like the man he would be if he was of this
world.
In other words, he issued commands.
“Change the towel with a clean, cool one on
her back. Give her the goddamned sleeping drink so she can get some
relief from the pain. And get the
fucking doctor in here
.”
He was at the door the maid had scurried through and he turned to
me. “You move from that bed, baby, I’m gonna be fuckin’ pissed. Let
her take care of you, drink the goddamned drink, get some rest.
I’ll be back.”
I had no earthly clue what “fuckin’ pissed”
meant.
I still nodded.
Noc watched me do it.
Then he swept out the door.
How It Was Going to Be
Noc
It took three of Frey’s guys to pull Noc off
the man.
Even accomplishing this, he still struggled
against their hold, knowing every blow he’d dealt didn’t make him
feel better, but that didn’t mean he didn’t get gratification each
time his fist landed in the asshole’s flesh.
“I understand your anger, Noc, but this is
not helping,” Frey said from close.
“It defies belief you’d allow
that…that…
man
to lay his hands on me.”
At Franka’s father’s words, Noc went
still.
His entire body.
But not his mouth.
“It defies belief you took that fuckin’
whip
to your daughter since she was fuckin’
five
without anyone stopping you,” he spat, feeling no joy as he watched
Franka’s father swipe blood from his mouth seeing as Noc’s repeated
blows to his face where the whip had caught earlier tore that wound
long and wide.
He felt no joy mostly because he also felt
the job was not even close to done.
It took a while for the vibe in the room to
hit him, but when it did he jerked away from Frey’s boys and turned
his attention to the man himself.
Frey’s face was carved from stone, his eyes
directed at his uncle, and they were blazing with hellfire.
“Since she was
five
?” he whispered,
his tone heavy with disbelief and disgust, not to mention rage.
Noc shifted his attention back to the older
man when he replied, “It’s none of your concern, nephew, what I do
with my children.”
“It’s bloody
law
in Lunwyn that
corporal punishment of minors does not go beyond a simple spanking
or a paddle,” Frey shot back.
“She’s now an adult,” the man retorted.
“Which does not negate the crime of child
cruelty, but adds the crime of assault,” Frey declared.
“I’m a member of a House,
your
House,
may I remind you,” Franka’s father returned.
“You’re a monster,” Noc clipped.
The man turned his gaze to Noc. “And you’re a
peasant who I’ve not given leave to speak to me.”
Noc opened his mouth but Frey got there
before him.
“Are you unfamiliar with the Prince of
Hawkvale?” he asked.
“I know of these secrets,” the asshole fired
back, a sneer twisting his lips, “and this is not the heir to the
throne of Hawkvale.” He indicated Noc with his arm. “This man is
nothing.”
“This man saved you from slavery at the hands
of Minerva and her minions,” Frey retorted. “This man has the ear
of the Queen. The Princess.
And
The Drakkar. This man is
twin to the heir of Hawkvale. This man is far from nothing.”
“You can pretty him up as much as you like,
nephew, but his manner, his speech. He may look like a prince of
our world, but he’s far from that. He’s simply common,” Franka’s
father returned.
“Cease speaking,” Frey ordered.
“You are who you are, Frey, but I’m your
uncle, your elder, and you
never
have leave to speak to me
in that manner,” Franka’s father retorted.
“Cease…” Frey leaned forward and thundered,
“
speaking
.”
“I—”
That was all the asshole got out before Frey
was across the room with his hand wrapped around the guy’s throat,
his feet lifted two feet from the ground, and he was slammed into a
shelving unit so hard, all the bottles swayed and four crashed to
the ground.
“I said…
cease speaking
,” Frey repeated
through clenched teeth.
Franka’s father opened and closed his mouth
like he was fighting for air at the same time he clawed at Frey’s
arm at his throat.
“You better hope Valentine returns with
Anneka, reporting Kristian and his family are safe, healthy and
whole, or I swear to the gods,
uncle
, I’ll press for you to
fucking
swing
,” Frey warned.
Franka’s father made a gurgling noise and
Frey dropped him to the ground where he crumpled, landing on a hand
and his knees.
Frey turned immediately from him to one of
the men standing close to Noc.
“Thad, go to Finnie. Franka’s maid woke her
along with me and no doubt she’s still awake seeing as she wasn’t
keen on not accompanying me to the kitchens. Ask her to go to Noc’s
room, attend Franka as the physician sees to her and ask her to
stay there,” he ordered.
Thad nodded and took off.
Frey looked to one of the other men close to
Noc and demanded, “Lund, fetch the constable. Nils Drakkar is being
arrested tonight for child cruelty and assault.”
Lund didn’t nod. He smiled a humorless smile
and then he left the room.
“Arrested?” Nils Drakkar asked in a choked
voice, still on his knees, only his head was tipped back to look at
his nephew.
“You’ve been committing crimes for decades,
uncle. You’ll stand trial for those crimes and pay the penance,”
Frey announced.
Nils pushed himself to his feet, declaring,
“That’s absurd.”
“It’s the law,” Frey returned.
The older man’s back shot straight. “I’m a
Drakkar!”
“You’re a gods damned useless piece of
shite,” Frey bit out, turning again fully to his uncle. “I still
cannot grasp what I saw when I walked into this room. I don’t even
want
to. How could you mark your child that way? It’s
unfathomable to do to a son. But it’s unconscionable to do it to a
daughter
.”
Nils tossed his head. “You know Franka. She
earned many punishments.”
“And her punishment was tearing open her
flesh?” Frey asked with incredulity.
“As her father, it’s
my
decision what
her punishment would be.”
“And that decision you made will land you in
a cell,” Frey fired back. “And if I have anything to do with it,
and in case you haven’t grasped this, uncle, I have a great deal to
do with
everything
, you’ll stay in that cell until your
dying day.”
Nils expression filled with disdain as he
snapped, “You cannot mean that.”
“Look at my face,” Frey demanded, “and tell
me if I do or I do not.”
Nils obviously looked at Frey’s face because
his paled.
Even so, he fought his corner. “I cannot
believe you stand in defense of her after she committed
treason.”
“Excellent,” Frey weirdly replied, crossing
his arms on his chest in a way it looked like he was settling in.
“Let’s talk about that. How, precisely, did you know of that?”
The older man lifted his chin.
“Anneka and I keep informed about our
children,” Nils informed him.
“Not surprisingly you do this likely with
spies, paid sneaks and unlawful magic, because I’ve noted that for
years neither of your children have had anything to do with you,”
Frey retorted. “Now I know why.”
“I’ll remind
you
, nephew, she came to
this buttery of her own accord,” Nils shared.
It was time for Noc to butt in and he did
just that.
“She came to this buttery to protect her
brother.”
Nils’s eyes went to Noc. “Weakness. The both
of them. My bloody son, I’ve no idea how he makes it through a
night, petrified of his own shadow. And her. My daughter. Twisting
herself in knots to hide her brother’s affliction from me and her
mother, like we wouldn’t notice it
and
lament it. Putting
herself
in line for his punishments because the boy faints
and cries and begs, and she can’t bear it. Even going so far as
misbehaving, courting our ire, so we’ll turn our attention to her.
It’s obscene. A flaw in her character.”
“And I’m sure you punished her for that too,”
Frey said in a quiet, dangerous voice.
“Of course I did,” Nils snapped. “She’s a
Drakkar. She was taught to know better. And that boy…” He sniffed
before he declared, “
My
son should have ascended to Head of
the House.
You
didn’t want it and neither of your
soft-hearted brothers deserved it. Instead, my son attached himself
to a sniveling woman who pushed out a worthless child, causing his
mother and myself inexpressible shame.”
Noc watched as Frey held his uncle’s eyes,
and he did this for a long time before he turned away and dropped
his head. Lifting his hand to the back of his neck, he wrapped it
there and squeezed.
He released his neck, his hand falling, his
gaze coming to Noc’s.
“How is she?” he asked.
“In pain, but still uppity as all hell and
worried sick about her brother,” Noc answered.
Frey nodded.
“The other Heads of the Houses will not stand
for my incarceration,” Nils declared.
Frey turned back to him. “This is a delusion.
When they hear of what you’ve done, they’ll stand in line to
condemn you. But even if what you believe were to be the case, I
would not care.”
“You hold great power, nephew, but you do not
rule this land,” Nils fired back, his face twisted.
“You are correct,” Frey agreed. “But my
mother-in-law does and it was me who seated her on that
throne.”
Nils drew in a long, loud breath through his
nose.
“Bloody hell,” Frey muttered, looking to the
ceiling. “I can’t stand to be in his presence much longer. Where’s
that bloody witch?”
“You called?”
Both Noc and Frey turned toward the feminine
drawl, and they did this just in time to see the green smoke start
to dissipate and Valentine lift her hand in an indifferent gesture.
This movement caused the handsome but frightened-looking woman
she’d brought with her to tumble back. She slammed into Nils
Drakkar, taking them both into the shelves where more bottles fell
and smashed on the ground.
“Pity, waste of good liquor,” Valentine noted
casually.