Page 55 of Black and Silver

“My mother and father are coming here?” she asked, too shocked to worry about whether her nose was too red or her voice too stuffy. “Coming here to Godwin Castle?”

The men, who had all gathered around Lawrence’s statue to discuss her fate, or so it seemed, glanced to her with expressions that ranged from Lord Dunstan’s worried alarm to Lawrence’s sheepishness. Lord Gerald Godwin, the patriarch of the family, looked more amused than anything else.

“Ah. There she is now,” Lord Gerald said. “Your would-be corpse bride.”

Minnie didn’t know whether to laugh at Lord Gerald’s wicked humor, to take him to task for inviting her parents to Godwin Castle to seal her doom…or to gasp in astonishment at being referred to as Lawrence’s bride.

As felt most comfortable to her, Minnie chose the path of indignation, since contemplating the possibility of Lawrencewishing to marry her was more than her nerves could handle at the moment.

“Did you not think to consult with me before inviting the very people who would wish to end my life as I know it through a commercial marriage to join me under your roof?” she demanded, marching forward to stand with the men. Kat moved with her, and Mrs. Weatherby inched forward to stand at the ready.

Lord Gerald laughed, which did not improve Minnie’s mood one bit. “I like her,” he told Lawrence. “She has fire in her and life, though that seems a bit ironic.”

Lawrence sent his father a look as though he was not being helpful, then shifted to stand by Minnie’s side.

It was Lord Waldorf who spoke, saying, “My dear Lady Minerva, we believed you to be dead when the invitation was sent. It was not done as a means of insulting you.”

Immediately, Minnie deflated, feeling foolish and out of sorts. Of course they had sent for her parents before knowing she was not dead. All they had received was a strange and uncharacteristic letter from Lawrence, one that Mrs. Weatherby and Kat had told her about while attempting to settle her in the duchess’s parlor, saying that her death was imminent.

“Can you not send another letter telling them not to come?” she asked with a heavy sigh, rubbing her head slightly in an attempt to clear the throbbing ache that had formed there.

Lawrence glanced to his father as though he seconded the idea, but Lord Gerald shrugged and said, “I doubt it. Even if a second letter were to be sent, Lord and Lady Llewellyn have most likely departed Salisbury already and would not receive it.”

The impish old man had a devastatingly good point.

“There is nothing to be done, then,” Minnie sighed, wishing she had a settee to sink dejectedly into. “My fate is sealed. My parents will arrive at Godwin Castle and see that I am alive andwhole. They will send for Lord Owen, wherever he might be, and I shall be forcibly married to him after all.”

A beat of silence followed her gloomy proclamation before Lord Gerald burst out with, “What a load of nonsense!”

Minnie snapped straight, her eyes widening at the man. Lawrence, and everyone else, quickly looked to him as well.

“And here I thought you had fight in you,” Lord Gerald said,tskingand shaking his head.

“Father, Lord Owen has prior claim over Lady Minerva,” Lawrence explained. “Her parents have arranged the marriage, which I believe means something under the laws of the Kingdom of Wales. And Lord Owen is in possession of a special license.”

“What does that signify?” Lord Gerald snorted, still indignant. “We are not in Wales, we are in the great and mighty Kingdom of Wessex. And we are at Godwin Castle,myhome. If you do not wish to marry this Lord Owen fellow, then you will not.” He shrugged. “It is as simple as that.”

For the first time in what felt like ages, hope stirred in Minnie’s breast. She tested the strength and practicality of that hope by saying, “Lord Gerald, you realize that if my parents do arrive, and if they bring Lord Owen with them somehow—” She stopped and turned to Lawrence as a thought struck her. “Do you know, I would not put it past Owen to have had a hand in my parents being so close by. In fact, I would wager the reason he did not pursue us on our heels all the way to Godwin Castle is because he, perhaps, went to rendezvous with them.”

Minnie paused, blinking for a moment as that idea sunk in, then shaking her head, as there was not a thing she could do about it.

She returned to the original course of her words as she glanced to Lord Gerald again. “If you stand up as my defender and contest the marriage claim already made by Lord Owen, there will be a legal challenge. The dispute could even be dragged intothe courts in London for resolution, as matters of conflicting laws from kingdom to kingdom generally are. Would you wish to endure that sort of public display?”

Lord Gerald grinned impishly and said, “Try me.”

It was absurd in so many ways, but Minnie’s heart immediately swelled with love and gratitude for Lord Gerald. For all the grief he might have caused Lawrence in the past, although that seemed mostly to have come from Lawrence’s brothers and cousins, Minnie immediately counted Lord Gerald as among the very best of men.

“You know that I will stand by you,” Lawrence said, moving closer to Minnie and resting his hand on the small of her back. That gesture was more powerful even than his words. “Whatever you need from me, I will give it.”

“You have already given so much,” Minnie told him with a grateful, affectionate smile. That smile turned clever a moment later as she said, “What I truly need now is a warm, soft bed where I can sleep for a week, nourishing food of a higher quality than we have been given for the last several days, and perhaps some balm for my poor nose.”

Lawrence smiled, Lord Gerald laughed, and even Lord Waldorf and Lord Dunstan smiled.

“I can provide you with those things, my lady,” Mrs. Weatherby said, stepping forward. “If you would but come with me.”

Minnie smiled sheepishly at the spritely woman’s request. Mrs. Weatherby had already attempted to settle her once, but Minnie’s curiosity had gotten the better of her as soon as Kat informed her of Lawrence’s odd letter. She felt as though matters were now as settled as it was possible for them to be for the moment, so she stepped away from Lawrence, squeezing his arm quickly as she did, and turned to Godwin Castle’s housekeeper.

“I commit myself to your care now, madam,” she said, pretending to be penitent. “If you lead me to a cozy chamber, this time I will not attempt to escape.”

---