“It’s true that I was with Mistress Kovac on the day in question when she chose to hock her supposedly precious tiara in exchange for money.”
Lady de Bricasse raised her brow. “But you weren’t willing to lend it to her?”
He shrugged. “I offered. She said she didn’t take money from friends.”
Her gaze narrowed and my hopes soared. Getting the lady on my side was a coup. This might work yet. “Yet you spent even more money to buy the item back.”
Doug shrugged with his good shoulder. “I was trying to do something nice.”
I stiffened. “He wanted something to hold over my head.” I folded my arms over my chest, unwilling to go into the details. I’d tried to talk to Doug about breaking up weeks ago, told him that I didn’t think we were right for each other. But he’d begged me to give it another chance. I should have gone with my gut, but I suspected that Doug saw the tiara as a bargaining chip. Jerk.
I scowled at him. What had I even seen in him in the first place? He wasn’t a bad-looking guy, and sure he’d been charming and effusive when we first started seeing each other. It had even been sweet at first, and then…it became needy and weird. Three months with him had been way too long.
Doug’s face contorted into a facsimile of sadness. “Mistress Kovac is being unnecessarily cruel and throwing my kind deed back in my face.”
I turned to him, fists clenched at my sides. “It would have been a kind deed had you chosen to give me the tiara and let me pay you back. Instead, you are claiming it’s yours.”
“Would you allow her to buy it back from you?” asked Lord de Bricasse.
“Hmm…” Doug put his hand to his chin as if this was the first he’d heard of the idea. Ass.
“I offered to buy it back at triple what he paid,” intoned William. “He refused.”
Doug made a show of lowering his head, emphasizing his “heartbreak.” I almost groaned.
“I’m willing to give it back, but I don’t want money attached to it. It will sully my memory of my time with Mistress Kovac.” His voice trailed off, and this time I did audibly scoff.
The council all turned to look at me. “You aren’t sympathetic, Mistress Kovac?”
“No. I’m not. That item…” My voice faltered for a minute and I swallowed. I didn’t want to go into it—not now, not here.
How could I explain this tight ball of panic in my chest at the thought of losing yet another part of my past? Before I could stop it, the memory of my dad placing it my hands with sorrow in his eyes overwhelmed me. “Kci,” he’d said—the Bosnian term for “little daughter”—“You have to be brave…be brave for Mama and Papa.”
My fists tightened at my sides and I was tempted to stomp my foot. I gave Doug major side-eye. “If not money, then what do you want?”
Doug got that look in his eye again, as if he were contemplating the answer to that question. But he’d already figured out what he wanted. Either I’d have to undo the breakup or…. Goddess, I had no idea, actually. He knew I was planning to follow the Renaissance Faire in a few months. I would not leave without that tiara any more than I’d leave without my right arm. Maybe he was using it to keep me here?
“If Sir William is willing to stand in as her champion, then I challenge him to a duel of honor at the Beltane Festival in May.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but William was faster. “I accept that challenge. As the prize, I will accept Mistress Kovac’s tiara.”
“If you win.” He sneered and then turned back to the council. “And as my prize, Sir William will agree to exile himself permanently from our community.”
The silence was so solid in that tent, you could have set a full table on it. People had been filing in and taking seats on benches and floor cushions in preparation for the formal meeting to take place in a few minutes. Usually there was a great deal of chatter before meetings, but no one so much as whispered.
Lord de Bricasse’s jaw had gone slack and his wife was biting her lip, glaring at Doug. It was then I remembered that William was a favorite of hers.
After a few beats of awkward silence, William cleared his throat to speak. But before he could get a word out, Lord de Bricasse held up his hand. “This is highly irregular, Sir Douglas. What you demand of a member in good standing is unreasonable—”
“I can demand what terms I want.” Doug jerked his head toward William. “It is for Sir William to decide whether or not he will agree to them. I offer him a chance to recover his besmirched honor from the dishonorable defeat—”
“It was not dishonorable—” Lord de Bricasse countered.
Doug shrugged again in that profusely exaggerated way. “Whatever. I’d rather defeat him without having won on a technicality.” He turned and glowered at me, making sure I understood that this punishment of William was about me.
Or maybe not…
Maybe he saw William as a threat to his bid to win the kingdom someday. William had just proved himself as good a fighter as he was. Maybe this was Doug’s way of eliminating the competition.
Doug cleared his throat and continued. “Sir William has a chance to win her bauble back if he wants to. But only if he accepts my terms if he loses.”
All eyes shifted to William, but it was my turn to speak up. “No. I won’t allow William to do that.”
William turned his head toward me with a scowl on his face. “I don’t need your permission.”
I ignored him and continued. “That item is legally mine, and I’ll go to small claims court to get it back.” Then I turned to taunt Doug. “You obviously aren’t a man of your word.”
William looked at me, shocked. “You don’t question a knight’s honor…ever.”
Clearly outraged, Doug turned dark red and jerkily grabbed one of the leather gloves hanging off his belt before slapping it on the floor at my feet.
Everyone one around us gasped.
And I was completely at a loss for what had just happened.
I looked up at William and he was staring at the glove, then he bent and swept it off the ground. Holding it up, he said loudly, “Sir Douglas has thrown down his gauntlet at Mistress Kovac’s feet. I accept this challenge on her behalf and fight as her champion.”