A Choice of Secrets. Barb Hendee
out of your love for her, you’ll be silent? You will swear silence, even if the child born is a boy?”
At this, something appeared to occur to Julian, and he titled his head in thought. “Of course. I would never place Chloe at risk nor tarnish the Montagna name, and I know how important this marriage is for your family. But perhaps in turn, you might do a favor for me?”
Erik stiffened. “And what is that?”
“You must know I’ve no wish to live as an officer. I’m much better suited for a place at court in Lascaùx. Perhaps you could convince your father to speak with the king’s secretary? I’d not need a prominent position. Something like master of entertainments would suffice, at first.”
“And if I don’t wish to convince my father?” Erik asked.
“Well, I think it would be best if you did. Your family’s honor and the safety of your people are at stake.”
Listening to this exchange, I almost couldn’t breathe. Julian’s threat was clear. Either Erik would help him to find a position at court in the city of Lascaùx or he would not swear to keep silent.
“In this matter, I trust you’ll know what do?” Julian asked.
Erik nodded. “I know exactly what to do.”
In a flash, his right hand moved to his left sleeve and I saw a glint of steel. Then he rushed Julian, grabbed him by the back of his head, and rammed a dagger though the hollow at the base of his throat.
This all happened in the span of a blink, and Julian’s expression registered shock as Erik continued pushing the blade deeper. Blood spurted, spraying one side of Erik’s tabard, but he still kept pushing with the blade until Julian went limp in his hands.
I put one hand to my mouth at the sight of the rage and hatred on Erik’s face. I’d never thought him capable of this level of sudden violence, much less such hatred. My brother was our protector, a warrior, but he was also a kind and playful soul, a man fond of laughter. This man on the bank of the river was a stranger.
With an angry grunt, he shoved Julian’s body backward into the river and I realized the meeting here had required forethought. He hadn’t wanted a private place so much as place where he could dispose of a body.
After wiping his blade in the grass, he stowed it back into a sheath on his left forearm. Glancing down at his tabard, he noticed the blood all over his shoulder. Pulling the tabard over his head, he tossed into the river.
Then he turned to head back for the path through the trees.
I stood there, frozen, staring at him, and he stopped.
Nothing could have prepared him for the sight of me, and his eyes flooded with a mix of anger and pain.
“Did you see that?” he asked, his voice ragged.
“You killed him,” I whispered. I still couldn’t believe it.
As he strode toward me, the sun glinted off his chain armor and I couldn’t help shrinking away. I’d never in my life feared my brother. But I was afraid of him.
“I had to!” he shouted. “Did you hear what he said? Could you see his face? He was threatening blackmail, and he’d never have stopped with a minor position at court. So long as he was alive, he’d have power over us and Chloe would be in danger.”
I began shaking and couldn’t stop. I kept seeing him ramming the dagger through Julian’s throat.
“What happens now?” I asked, like a child. “What will we do?”
“Nothing,” he answered. “Chloe will marry Christophe, and Christophe will live up to his end of the contract. He’ll send soldiers to guard our coastline.”
“What if the child is a boy?”
“Then it’s a boy.” He shook his head as if I were simple. “Nicole, the prospect of one bastard child inheriting the de Fiore lands and title is a small thing compared to the lives of our people. What do you think we live on? Our people grow food and raise livestock, and we take a share for ourselves and for our taxes to the king. If our people continue to be killed or taken as slaves and our villages burned, what will become of us? Have you thought on this?”
He sounded as if the only thing that mattered to him was the comfort of our family and the preservation of our lands.
“Do you love Chloe?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Do you love me?”
I looked up into his face, into his blue eyes. There were spatters of blood on his cheek. He’d need to wipe those away. “Yes,” I answered. I loved him. He was my brother.
“Then you and I will keep Chloe’s secret, and you will keep mine.” He glanced back toward the river.
I was beginning to hate secrets. Now, because of secrets, I would be complicit in Christophe’s marriage to a woman carrying a child that was not his own, and I was complicit in hiding a murder.
But nothing in the world would cause me to bring harm to either Chloe or Erik.
Nothing.
* * * *
Three days later, a farmer found Julian’s body downriver and brought it to the hunting hall.
When Chloe heard, she lost her serene composure and ran to the hall. I ran after her, but she was faster, and when I arrived, I saw Julian’s still-wet body laid out on a table. His face and hands were completely white. Erik was holding Chloe to keep her away from touching the corpse.
After fighting him for a few moments, she sagged and wept into his chest.
The servants appeared taken aback by her raw sorrow, and both my parents were coming through the door.
Erik held Chloe and looked to my mother. “She’s distraught. He had become a noble friend of our family, and now we must tell his father he died while under our protection.”
Mother hurried forward and gently took Chloe from him. “Oh, my darling girl. You mustn’t distress yourself. This was a tragic accident.”
I stood back in silence, watching Erik.
My father strode to the body and looked down. “This was no accident.”
Julian was a terrible sight with his white face bloated and the ugly wound at the base of his throat.
Erik looked down as well. “I’ve heard he owed several of the guards large sums of money. Would you like me conduct an investigation?”
Father glanced back at me and then to my mother and Chloe.
“Your sisters and mother should not be exposed to this sight,” he told Erik. Then he spoke gently to my mother. “My lady, please take them both out.”
Nodding, she drew Chloe toward the door. “Nicole, come.”
Together the three of us went outside.
“Chloe is delicate and she should not have seen that,” Mother said. “Nicole, are you all right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. We will need your strength.”
She and I had tended to wounded guards and villagers. She thought me strong. But today, I didn’t feel strong. My brother was standing over the body of a man he’d killed, and he’d just offered to begin an investigation.
The only blessing here was that my parents thought Chloe’s emotional state was due to shock. Together, Mother and I took her to her room and put her in bed. She’d stopped weeping, but she said nothing and her eyes drifted like someone lost.
“I’m going to the kitchen make her some tea,” Mother said. “Stay with her.”
Once Mother left us, I crawled