The Iron Knight (The De Russe Legacy Book 3) (22 page)

“There is no negotiation?” he asked, stunned. “As quickly as that, you will order us to leave?”

“Aye.”

It was a simple answer, one that had Holderness’ head spinning. He could hardly believe what had happened. “You will do this without even getting to know my daughter?” he pushed, incredulous.

“Why would you want her to know a man whose credibility as a husband you have questioned?”

Holderness threw up his hands. “I was angry!” he insisted. “Your daughter had just knocked me in the mouth!”

Lucien wasn’t going to argue with the man any longer. He had said what he needed to say. Looking at Laurent, standing next to his father, he spoke directly to him.

“Put your father to bed,” he said. “Come find me in my solar when he is bedded down for the night. You and I must speak.”

Laurent nodded, grasping his father by the shoulders and pulling the irate man away from the table. No good could come of any conversation or negotiation between Lucien and his father this night, but Laurent felt hopeful in Lucien’s summons to his solar. Perhaps there was something more to discuss to salvage the situation.

For his sister’s sake, he hoped so.

*

“Why are you
here?” Susanna demanded. “I did not summon you.”

Sophina was standing just inside the door of the child’s lavish chamber. It was pretty and soft and all things a girl’s chamber should be. But this chamber did not house a girl; it housed a monster.

Quietly, Sophina closed the door behind her and faced the petulant child.

“Nay, you did not,” she said steadily. “I asked your father for permission to speak to you and he has given it.”

Susanna eyed the woman who had spoken boldly to her earlier in the day. She wasn’t happy to see her. She wasn’t happy to see anyone who wasn’t catering to her every whim.

“I do not want you here,” she said, turning away. “Get out.”

It was a rude command but Sophina fought off a smile. “Such impertinence,” she scolded softly. “Who has given you the right to behave so?”

Susanna wouldn’t look at her. “Get out,” she said again. “I have given you an order. You must obey.”

Sophina caught sight of the child’s nurse in the shadows. She wondered if the woman would try to physically throw her out, but when the woman didn’t move, Sophina returned her attention to Susanna. As long as the nurse was going to stay out of it, Sophina had an idea about how to get through to Susanna. She had been thinking about it all afternoon and, in particular, when she saw how the child behaved in the hall tonight. It was just a hunch she had, and probably a bad one, but the child was a hard case. Incorrigible, to be truthful, so Sophina suspected she really had nothing to lose at this point by going with her instinct. Susanna was on her way to Cranborne Priory according to her father, so she already had one foot out the door.

This was her last chance.

“I do not have to obey,” Sophina said. “I want to speak with you. I have heard that you are going to Cranborne Priory. Does this please you?”

Susanna began thumping those canes again. It was a tick, something to do with her angry hands and a threat of what was to come if she was not obeyed. “I am
not
going,” she said flatly. “My father will not send me. He always does as I wish and I do not wish to go.”

It was a bold statement. Sophina began to move in her direction, slowly, not wanting to get hit by one of those canes. “Tell me something, Susanna,” she said. “Are you not ashamed of your terrible behavior? You hit an earl of the realm tonight. Do you understand how serious that is?”

Susanna stiffened; Sophina could see it. “My father came to me, did he not?” she said, turning to look at Sophina. “When I scream, he comes.”

The light of recognition went on in Sophina’s head;
so she knows how to control him
. It was infuriating, actually. Susanna was in complete control of her father, in every way, and she knew it. Without another word, Sophina walked up to Susanna and ripped both canes from her hands, tossing them far away. Shocked, Susanna screamed in fury.

“Give those to me!” she yelled. “I need them!”

Sophina shook her head. “Nay, you do not,” she said. “You only need them to hit people and strike fear into them. That is your only need with those canes. Now you do not have them.”

Susanna was furious. She tried to stand up but Sophina pushed her back down by the shoulder, certainly not hard enough to hurt her but hard enough to cause her to fall back into her chair. Susanna screamed again and tried to kick at Sophina with one of her spindly legs, but Sophina grabbed it easily. Giving a yank, she pulled Susanna right down onto the floor.

The child yelled her anger, infuriated at the treatment, but Sophina had a point to make. She hadn’t hurt the child nor would she, at least not in a brutalizing manner, but the girl had to have a taste of her own medicine. Sophina suspected that was the only way Susanna would understand just how abominable she had been. Sophina only hoped that Lucien wouldn’t be angry at her for it. Still, if it would help his relationship with his daughter, she was willing to take the chance.

“Now,” Sophina said as Susanna sat on her bum a few feet away. “How did you feel to have your canes taken away? How did it feel for me to pull you onto the floor?”

Susanna was beginning to cry, so angry that she couldn’t control it. “You are a terrible woman!” she hissed. “I am feeble and ill and…!”

“Nay, you are not feeble and you certainly are not ill,” Sophina countered, cutting her off. “You are a strong, smart young lady with a nasty streak. You delight in tormenting your father and then blaming him for your problems. But the truth is that
you
create your own problems, Susanna. Your father has decided to send you to the nuns at Cranborne and do you know what they will do to you if you misbehave? They will beat you and your father will not be there to protect you. No one will. Do you understand that?”

Susanna wasn’t quite sure how to react. She rolled onto her knees in an attempt to stand. “I am going to get my canes,” she snarled. “I am going to get my canes and hit you with them!”

Sophina, very casually, moved over to the wall where she had tossed the canes. There was no possibility that Susanna could move faster than she could. Without a word, she collected the canes and went to the lancet window overlooking the northern portion of the bailey. Quite calmly, she tossed both canes out of the window.

“Nay, you are not going to touch me with them,” she said. “I will make sure you never see those canes again. You are going to learn to behave yourself and the first part of that will be taking away your weapons. You do not use them to walk. I have not even seen you try. You only use them to hurt people.”

As Susanna realized her canes were gone, she began to turn red in the face. Eyes full of tears, she opened her mouth and wailed as loudly as she could.

“I hate you!” she screamed. “Get out of here! I will tell my father and he will punish you!”

Sophina crossed her arms. “I am not leaving,” she said, her voice low and steady as Susanna wailed. “I want you to understand what I have done. By taking your canes and pulling you to the floor, I did to you what you have been doing to everyone here at Spelthorne and, in particular, your father. I have intimidated you. I frightened you. Is that how you feel right now? Are you afraid of me? It is not a good feeling, is it?”

Susanna was on her knees, screaming and beating her hands against the floor. “You are a terrible, hateful woman!” she cried. “My father will punish you! I hope he makes you scream and cry as you have done to me! You are horrible and hateful!”

“So are you.”

Susanna looked at Sophina as if the woman had struck her.; She wasn’t used to being insulted. Still red in the face, with tears all down her cheeks, she grunted and groaned and gasped as she struggled across the floor, over to a section of the room that held her poppets and other toys. Sophina watched her curiously, thinking that the girl at least had some strength to her, when Susanna settled down next to a small table with a miniature set of pewter dishes on it.

It was truly a beautiful little set, and undoubtedly expensive, but Susanna immediately picked up a little cup and hurled it at Sophina’s head. Only a swift movement avoided contact. Shocked that the child not only threw the cup but had good aim in doing it, Sophina shook her head reproachfully.

“I would not do that again if I were you,” she said quietly. “You will not like my reaction if you do it again.”

Susanna’s answer was to shriek and throw another cup, one that Sophina easily avoided this time. She was prepared. Susanna picked up a little plate now and threw it as Sophina came in her direction. The little plate hit Sophina in the thigh harmlessly and clattered to the floor as Sophina swooped over Susanna and picked her up from behind.

Scooping the child up beneath her arms, she hauled the fighting, snarling child over to the bed. Sitting down on the mattress, Sophina put Susanna over her knee but not without a fight. It was a bitter struggle until the very end.

As the nurse wept in the shadows and Susanna screamed as if she was being stabbed, Sophina spanked Susanna within an inch of her young, naughty life.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“S
he spanked her!”
Emmaline gasped, rushing into the chamber that Juno and Aricia shared and slamming the door. She was electrified with excitement. “I listened from the stairs and I heard when my mother spanked her!”

Juno and Aricia had wide eyes on Emmaline. “Lord Tytherington’s daughter?” Juno clarified, astonished. “Did she
really
?”

“She did!”

The girls stared at each other in shock for several long seconds before bursting into laughter. Juno tried to shush them but she was laughing, too. It was such sweet justice for a terrible child. Juno pulled Emmaline and Aricia away from the door and over to the bed where they could huddle and whisper. She didn’t want their joy to be overheard. She was to be Lady Tytherington, after all – it wouldn’t do to rejoice in the misfortunes of her soon-to-be stepdaughter.

“Your mother is very brave,” Juno said sincerely, holding Emmaline’s hand as the girl giggled. “Lord Tytherington’s daughter has excellent aim with her canes. I wonder if she tried to hit your mother with them.”

Emmaline shook her head. “I do not think so,” she said. “But I could not hear for certain. I am sure my mother would not make an easy target.”

She continued to giggle but there was more behind her jubilation than just a shocking situation. She had just come from Colton de Royans and, after having supped with the man, she was fairly certain she was deeply, irrevocably in love with him. The meal had been an interesting mix of silence peppered by spells of chatter, and Colton was a brilliant conversationalist as far as Emmaline was concerned. She had enjoyed every minute with the man even though she had done most of the talking.

Therefore, she was slightly giddy at the moment. She’d only been passing by the second floor after just having left de Royans when she heard her mother’s voice and the spanking going on. Now, she was breathless for more reasons than just one.

But if Juno noticed that Emmaline was more effervescent than usual, she didn’t say anything to that effect. In truth, she seemed both humored and appalled by Susanna’s spanking, and that was the full focus of her attention at the moment.

“I wonder why your mother is spanking her,” Juno wondered seriously. “Do you suppose Lord Tytherington gave her permission to spank his daughter for what she did to my father?”

Emmaline shrugged. “I saw Sir Lucien leave the keep a little while ago,” she said. “It is possible he did. Mayhap he asked my mother to do it.”

“But why did he not do it himself?”

No one had an answer for that. Now that the giddy shock of the spankings of that terrible little girl had worn off, they were left to sit in wonder of what had occurred. But Emmaline was also thinking of de Royans and the last time she saw him. She couldn’t help that her thoughts kept drifting to him.

“I am sorry that you did not remain for the meal,” she said to Juno. “Sir Colton promised he would send food up to you.”