“I’m not healed yet, Rupert dear.” Winter smiled to take the sting out of his words. “Were you able to resolve things satisfactorily at the Middlethorp estate?”
“Lord Middlethorp is understandably distressed that his son behaved in such an unbecoming manner.” Rupert looked down at his hands. “He’s not the only one. I’m beyond devastated that our date went so badly. But tell me, please. I need to know this at least. How did you know that you were going to need a sword at what was supposed to be a regular social function? Are you a seer?”
Winter shook his head. “Not exactly, Rupert dear. You could consider me an overprepared cynic, if that helps. I never travel anywhere without a sword or similar weapons nearby. If I’m going into a situation where I can’t wear it on my person, then one of my team will always be handy, ready to retrieve it for me,as you saw this evening. A spot of good luck with what happened, wouldn’t you agree?”
“I am so terribly sorry.” Rupert still wouldn’t look at him. “You should’ve been safe. I took you into a group of friends who I thought would treat you well and behave in a manner befitting who they are supposed to be. Yet it was like, with you with me, for the first time, I realized what a bunch of absolutely stupid assholes they are.”
“Rupert!" Winter chuckled and then wished he hadn’t. He pressed his hand just under his ribcage. “Those are your friends.”
“And I’ve never been so ashamed of that in my life,” Rupert said. “Not one of them helped you. Nobody came to your aid. And the completely inane thing is, if I had tried to intervene, they would have immediately stopped me from helping you. Please believe me, that’s the only reason I stood there like a lemon doing nothing.”
“You are the heir to Simigile. Their reaction to saving you from possible harm is understandable.”
“They clearly forgot you are my consort. But then, see…you surprised me all over again. I honestly believed until this evening you probably didn’t know which end of a sword you’re supposed to use. But you’re a master at it.”
“Thank you. I’ve been training with a sword since I was four years old.”
“Thank goodness,” Rupert muttered. “But that wound on your torso wasn’t from Tristan. You were already hurt when we arrived at Middlethorp and fought him anyway.”
Winter nodded. “I didn’t anticipate the sword fight. Sigmund advised me repeatedly to cancel our engagement, but I refused.”
“Goddamn it, man!” Rupert seemed to be wrestling with some inner demons. Finally he looked up and all Winter could see in those dark eyes was despair. “Do you know how different you are to me?” Rupert said. “Yes, you’re the one lying on the bed with a wound you won’t tell me how you got, but you have a team of people here with you who would protect you to their last breath. They anticipate your needs, guard you, assist you, help you.”
“Sigmund and Pippin have been with me a long time, and August is my brother,” Winter said cautiously. He wasn’t sure where Rupert was going with his line of conversation.
“I’m genuinely glad you have them with you.” Rupert was clearly still struggling. “All I have in my life is that lot – those people you met this evening. Have you got any idea how that makes me feel when none of them tried to help you when you were threatened?”
Winter shook his head. “Some people don’t like change,” he suggested. “You heard the comments they made about me as if they thought I had a hearing defect. Perhaps your friends just need time to get used to you being married to a person they don’t know.”
“If that’s the case, it’s not only my friends who are resistant to change, it was me as well. I know I did not do right by you.” Rupert met his eyes steadily. “Part of what Tristan said was true. I did tell him, before we were wed, that I had no intention of having anything to do with you once the vows were said.”
Something clearly changed your mind.Winter smiled and nodded.
“I was a complete ass, and for that I am truly sorry. I could claim it was because of the bad advice I was given by people like Tristan. But ultimately, the only person responsible for myactions and past behavior is myself. I am genuinely sorry. Do you think you can ever forgive me?”
“Are you seeing now that perhaps some things need to change?” Winter didn’t want to put words in his husband’s mouth, but he needed to know how deep Rupert’s realization was. “If that’s what you want, I can help you with that, but I have to know it’s what you want, too. Or you could petition the World Council to annul our marriage, if that would be easier for you. After what happened with Tristan, I’m sure you could find someone on the World Council who would agree. That way, your life could go back to the way it was.”
Rupert didn’t have the contacts Winter had, so that last part might not have been true. Winter was almost certain he could convince somebody on the Council to annul their marriage if he needed to. But Winter clamped his mouth shut, barely daring to breathe, as he watched Rupert consider it.
It didn’t take long. Rupert shook his head almost immediately. “My life will never be normal again. Not now I’ve met you. I want what you have. I want to know that someone supports me the way your team and family support you. Ever since my mother died…”
Rupert was blinking rapidly. “Since she left me I’ve spent so much time feeling as though I were some kind of puppet with numerous people tugging on my strings. Do this. Don’t do that. Don’t upset anybody, don’t make waves. Just keep going day after day, doing what I always do – what people expect – because I’m so damn scared of upsetting somebody and having them leave just like my mother did.”
“Oh, Rupert dear.” Winter held out his hand, and after a moment Rupert took it. “Now I understand why our marriage contract didn’t include the piss-off clause. You didn’t want togive me a chance to leave you either, despite not wanting to marry me at all. Don’t you see, your mother was ill. Your father told me she’d been ill for a long time. She didn’t leave you by choice. Sometimes life just happens that way,” Winter said softly.
“I don’t want to leave you. To be honest, I find you an exceptionally attractive man – someone I’d like to get to know better. But it’s like I said to you when we shared our first dance, I will not be made a fool of.” At least Rupert was listening. “What I can promise you is that if you want to stay with me, I will make sure you’re not made a fool of either. Do you think that could work for you?”
There was a soft knock on the door. Sigmund was obviously back. Releasing Rupert’s hand, Winter lay back on the bed and called out, “Enter.”
Hopefully, the treatment for shetherin was fast and painless. But in a way the interruption was perfectly timed. Rupert clearly had a lot to think about, which would give Winter a chance to heal.
Chapter Sixteen
Healing from shetherin was not easy. Rupert knew that from his own experience. Back when he was a headstrong teenager, he thought it would be funny to try and take on a boar with a knife. He tripped, fell, got a scratch on his face from his own knife, and landed in a patch of the damn weeds that Rupert really wished could be made illegal in Simigile.
It was definitely an annoying plant, but many people advised him that simply eradicating what he considered a weed was not a good idea. Apparently, it would upset the ecosystem balance, whatever that was. Rupert had no idea.
The treatment involved taking a really nasty, thick, and pungent tonic. It tasted disgusting. Rupert could still remember that himself, and the way Winter scrunched up his face and looked like his eyes were going to pop out as it hit his tongue was hard to see.
