Page 60 of Black and Silver

The maid had successfully taken a roll of paper from the large reticule she carried, but as soon as she attempted to present it to Lord Owen, he shoved her back with a peevish look, as if she were impertinent for doing precisely what he’d asked her to do. He turned his focus to Lord Gerald instead.

“Perhaps you are too old and feeble to remember it, but the law of the Kingdom of Wales states that a woman’s parents havethe right to arrange her marriage, and that their arrangements are binding.”

“That law is an abomination,” Minerva herself said, picking up her pace so that she and Lawrence could take place in the unfolding argument. “It is designed to turn perfectly capable young women into chattel, and it should be struck down at once.”

“Minerva!” Lady Caren Llewellyn cried out at the sight of her daughter, stepping towards her.

She seemed more relieved to see Minerva alive and well than angry that she had disobeyed her wishes, which Lawrence counted as a good thing.

“Mother,” Minerva nodded to her, then valiantly stared at Lord Owen as they finished their approach to the cluster in the center of the great hall. “I do not know why you’ve come here,” she told Lord Owen, with a short glance to her father. “I have said all along that I’ve no wish to marry Lord Owen. I went to great lengths, despite your attempts to force me, to escape the union.”

“You wickedly defied my wishes,” Lord Dilwyn said, turning to her with so much force and arrogance that Lawrence stepped forward to come between them.

That movement surprised Lord Dilwyn, thwarting his attempt to chastise Minerva.

Lord Owen, however, was not as easily cowed.

“I knew you were not dead,” he snapped, grinning darkly in a way that exposed his teeth. Lawrence thought the expression made him look like one of the vampires Minerva liked to read about. “You are a wicked woman to go to such lengths to deny your obligations and escape your fate.”

“If she is such a wicked woman, then why do you wish to marry her?” Waldorf demanded. He wore his most intimidatingscowl and had pulled himself up to his full height. Lord Owen was a fool for not being terrified of him.

“It is none of your concern,” Lord Owen snapped, then seemed to immediately contradict himself by saying, “It is a business arrangement between Lord Dilwyn and myself. The merger of our families will bring immense prosperity to both of us.”

“Did I not just say that women are not commodities to be bought and sold and treated the same one might treat a market stall?” Lord Gerald complained,tskingand shaking his head.

“You stay out of this, old man,” Lord Owen shouted, pointing a finger at Lord Gerald.

Lord Gerald gaped, his face going red with fury. Lawrence could count on one hand the number of times he’d seen his father truly angry, but he suspected he was about to add to that list.

“How dare you speak to a gentleman who has been so kind and considerate of me in such a manner?” Minerva demanded, primed and ready to hold her own in the argument, no matter how heated it might become. “The Godwin family has offered me nothing but kindness and care since my arrival. And I was most definitely ill upon arrival. They have cared for me. I’d wager that you, sir, would have found a way to force me to the altar, no matter how out of sorts I felt, and you would have found a way to bed me no matter how feverish I was.”

“Minerva!” Lady Caren gasped. “You cannot speak of such things in company.”

Lawrence caught the light in Minerva’s eyes half a moment before she blurted out, “Did you think I was a virgin that would go sweetly into this abomination of a marriage without knowing what awaited me? At my age?”

It was all Lawrence could do not to let himself laugh aloud. Like Minerva, he, too, glanced to Lord Owen to see ifher confession of experience might turn him away from their proposed marriage.

“I do not care if you are the Whore of Babylon,” Lord Owen said, thwarting their hopes. “That only means I will enjoy getting an heir or two out of you.”

“Oh, dear,” Lady Caren said, slumping back against her waiting maid. “I cannot…I will not….”

Lawrence was concerned for the woman, but the way Minerva sent her a narrow-eyed look hinted that perhaps the woman was prone to theatrics and was not as shocked as she appeared.

Minerva turned back to Lord Owen and her father, who were now standing side by side, and crossed her arms in defiance. “I will not marry Lord Owen. That line has been drawn indelibly in the sand, and it will not be crossed.”

“Then you will be ruined,” Lord Owen seethed. He glanced around at all of the Godwins present. “You will all be ruined. I will take you to court and sue for my bride. Every wrong your family has ever done will be exposed. Every impropriety you have tried to keep secret will be revealed. I will have Minerva in the end, one way or another, and you all will suffer!”

“What a load of theatrical bollocks,” Waldorf snorted. When Lord Owen and Lord Dilwyn glanced to him with offense, he went on with, “Have you no idea who our family is and what connections we have?”

“My late wife was the sister of King Swithin’s wife,” Lord Gerald said, looking like he was building up a head of steam to lecture Lord Owen into his grave. “My son here,” he gestured to Waldorf, “has been in the employ of Queen Matilda of Mercia. My other children are connected to some of the wealthiest and most celebrated personages throughout all of Britannia. And you dare to speak to me as if I am a hall boy?”

He practically quivered with fury, but that did nothing to convince Lord Owen to mind his manners.

“I do not care if you are King Swithin’s cock-warmer,” he shouted, stepping closer to Lord Gerald. “You are a pathetic old man who hides behind his children to protect a whore of a woman whose only purpose is to increase my influence and bear my children. I will not allow you to stand in my way. If necessary, I will summon the full force of the law to get my way, and you will not stop me!”

Lord Owen had moved close enough that with each of his final words, he poked Lord Gerald square in the chest.

It was unforgiveable, and Lawrence stepped forward to drag the man back, as did Waldorf and Dunstan. Nobility or not, Lawrence had half a mind to pummel Lord Owen until his face was unrecognizable, both for his insults to Minerva and for laying a hand on his father.

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