Page 21 of Dishonor Among Thieves
I waved my hand around, gesturing angrily at the fire, the fine furnishings. “You’re supporting an entire household. I may not have met all the staff, but you have a crofter, someone who tends your fields and crops, do you not?” I didn’t wait for him to answer. “And you generously offered your friend back in Fish Head End time to heal his knee and work for you with all his needs met. You must be earning money if you have it to spend. I may not know how you make your living, but I assure you, I can help. I can contribute. I can—”
“Enough!” Somehow the slow steps he took toward me were even more agonizing and fearsome than the furious stomping he’d done all morning. When his face was mere inches from mine, he touched the tip of my chin with two fingers and opened his mouth. Razor-sharp fangs peeked between his lips, and his golden eyes matched the intensity of the fire, glowing the same vibrant crimson I’d seen in my mother’s gaze when she was hungry, drinking, or angry. “I will never marry you. At least not for the reasons you propose.”
If he thought his wild eyes and fangs were going to coerce me into cowering submission, he was a bigger fool than I’d thought.
“I don’t see how you have any other choice,” I whispered.
I recalled what Rain had said about how I was all Neo had spoken of since returning from Fish Head End. There was a reason he’d been taken with me enough to speak of me long after he had every reason to believe I was out of his life. Maybe, just maybe, I truly did have the upper hand in this unequal transaction.
I leaned closer to him, shoving his fingers away from my chin. I brought my lips dangerously close to his fangs. “How do you propose to ensure that I will protect your secrets? That I won’t ride off into the village screaming vampire?” When I was close enough to brush my nose against his, I felt the uneasy restraint of his uneven breaths against my lips. “Marry me, Neo. And we’ll both get what we want.”
Every fear I’d ever had disappeared as I looked into his blood-red eyes, as I watched him take in my face not with contempt, not with distrust, but with something like respect. His fangs retracted and his eyes softened back into liquid gold. “What are your terms?” he demanded.
Terms… I’d not considered terms when I proposed he marry me, but now, I racked my brain for what I wanted. What I needed.
“A contract,” I said. “Enforceable and binding by law.”
He laughed. “Really? You intend to…what? Take a bit of parchment to the shire-reeve and say my vampire husband violated this term right here. You’re a fool, Brex, and this entire idea grows more tiresome the longer you go on about it.”
I walked over to the planks of wood he’d so carelessly thrown against the wall earlier. I picked up the length of split log and held it out to him. “A tally stick,” I said. “We’ll carve the terms into the stick, and we’ll split it down the middle. If either one of us defaults on the terms, we’ll have a binding, enforceable agreement.”
I held the wood in my hands, almost not believing that I was negotiating the terms of my marriage with a tree branch in my hands. But did it really matter how, as long as it accomplished my goal? This would never be a love match. This would not make me part of a true family. A marriage to Neo would provide shelter, an income, and a guarantee that what I knew would not be used to harm the one person I truly did love—my sister.
I dropped into the armchair, the length of wood in my lap. “I want to learn a trade,” I said. “Something that I can rely on to support myself once you…divorce me,” I said softly. “You’ll need to pay for the guild fees, if I’m to join a guild, and if I learn privately, you’ll need to provide written testimony about my work ethic and abilities before I leave.”
Neo stood silent, immobile, staring past me as I spoke. His face gave nothing away, so I pressed on.
“I need a place to live and a small income, which I will work to earn while I’m learning a trade. I will never be an untouchable mistress of the manor. I want to learn everything. Your work, how you earn your livelihood. I want that job your spoke of and the salary appropriate for the skill required of it.”
Still, he said nothing. Didn’t move, didn’t even blink.
I pressed on. “Sara,” I said. “Her care must be included in what you’ll provide. I have a small debt at the farrier already for her shoes and—”
“Enough,” he said, his voice suspiciously devoid of emotion. “I expect you plan on eating three meals and bathing, but that bit of wood isn’t large enough to itemize every morsel of food and bit of clothing you might cost me.”
“Cost you?” I shook my head. “No, Neo. I won’t cost you anything. I’ll bring more to this arrangement over time than your morsels of food and pennies of salary. You’ll come out the better for the deal than me, I’m certain.”
I grew a tiny bit sad as I considered all I’d be giving up but shoved aside the emotions as I realized the true value of what I was negotiating. “After you divorce me, which I would ask you not do for at least one year, I will leave Omrora, go to the far ends of the Realm. You’ll never hear from me again. I won’t seek a portion of your estate, nor will I demand rights to your property.”
I understood but did not say that I’d be right back where I started. Alone. No home. No family. But I would have skills, and if the gods were kind, I’d have my sister back. I’d make a new life someplace where no one would know a respectable gentleman had married and quickly divorced me.
“And how exactly is this arrangement supposed to guarantee me anything? What benefit will this marriage bring me?”
I couldn’t help but shake my head at that question. If I were a woman who had more confidence in her powers of flirtation, I might have toyed with him. Seduced him, or teased him. But I couldn’t. Couldn’t play a role that was contrary to everything within me. I could lie when the occasion justified it—as I had when I’d insisted I hadn’t stolen his eating blade. Somehow trying to broker an agreement using my body as bait… I just couldn’t. I wouldn’t know how to even if I had a foolish hope that might work.
“I won’t require you to pretend,” I said softly, looking at my fists again. “You need not play the role of a…loving…spouse. This will be an arrangement built on trust. This the price of my fidelity. You’ll be guaranteed a partner and a confidant. For as long as you can tolerate me.”
He was quiet for long moments. Long, unnerving moments when he paced the room, tugging his fingers through his hair. As I watched his long, muscular legs and stiff back as he covered the length of the tile floor, I realized perhaps my demand was premature. Baseless. I knew that vampires existed, and that I knew both he and Rain were blood-drinkers. He could kill me, and that dangerous secret would no longer be a threat to him or his family. He could simply send me away and trust that if I attempted to use the information against him, I might, in fact, incur the wrath of common people upon myself. Speaking the truth to anyone, regardless of what side of the truth one was on, could be deadly.
“Brex?” Neo stood before me, his puzzled honey-gold eyes looking me over from top to toe.
I didn’t answer, just lifted my face to his, braced and ready for whatever he’d decided. My life might end. My future might collapse. No matter the outcome, I would face it with courage. With dignity. My lips pressed together, I waited.
“We marry tonight.” He reached for the wood that was in my hands and walked to the fireplace. He tipped back the iron grate and tossed the scrap into the fire. “We’ll not carve a piece of wood to seal our agreement. My sister-in-law is a scrivener. I’ll have her draw up a proper marriage contract. Can you read?”
My hands were shaking, but I held myself firm. “Yes, very well, actually.” Knowing that my body, mind, and soul were in his hands, that my future was no longer just mine, I had to ask. “And your terms?”
“Only one.” He met me at the chair and again kneeled before me, facing me at eye level. “Do nothing to bring dishonor upon yourself, me, or my family.”
