A smile spread across William’s lips as he looked at Athena, who was handing the half-filled pail of milk over to Jemma.
“I know,” he said. “I have known for years. But I am not the one to ask, lad. Paris is in a good mood – go inside the hall and ask him now.”
“I want to marry her because she is carrying my child.”
William’s smile vanished. Years ago, he’d lost his left eye to an archer in battle, but his right eye was still sharp, still keen, now wide in shock.
“She’s pregnant?” he gasped.
“Aye.”
“But Helene is pregnant!”
“Aye, Papa. Both of them are.”
William just stood there, absorbing what he’d been told. But given that he was tipsy, he was in less control of his emotions than he usually was. Scott’s muscular body was tense as he prepared for his father’s inevitable onslaught. When his father didn’t reply right away, Scott hastened to make his case clear.
“Athena is further along than Helene, only she has managed to hide her condition better,” he said, looking between his father and Kieran, who didn’t seem particularly surprised. “I meant to ask for her hand when we found out, but you sent me to London on business and by the time I returned, several months had passed. I would have been able to lie about it had we married when we first discovered it. But now, I cannot lie about it. She is going to have a child and I must tell Uncle Paris. I want to ask your advice on how to do it.”
William’s jaw dropped. He looked at his son for a moment before rolling his eye and slouching back against the wall of the stable.
“Oh… God,” he muttered. “Another one.”
Scott still wasn’t sure where this was going so he remained on his guard, prepared to defend himself. “Aye,” he said steadily. “Another one. I am sorry for disappointing you, Papa, but I am not sorry for loving Athena. She carries the heir to the House of de Wolfe and I must marry her. I want to.”
That was true. Scott was a twin, but he was the firstborn twin, the first son of William de Wolfe and his wife, Jordan. That meant the child Athena carried was indeed the heir if it was a male child. William found himself looking at Athena.
Tall and elegant, with golden-red hair, she was a woman of grace and beauty, even at her young age. Scott had been sweet on her for some time, but he’d spent so much time pretending to ignore her, and she him, that he was genuinely surprised that they’d managed to connect. Not only connect, but conceive a child. Both Scott and his brother, Troy, had bedded women and gotten them pregnant. But not just any women – Paris’ daughters.
William couldn’t help it; he started to laugh. A dry, humorless laugh.
“God’s Bones, what animals I have raised,” he muttered. “After what happened with your brother today, Paris will be even angrier with you. He’s going to be bloody well furious and you know he wanted to fight your brother today. You saw it, Scott. He came armed for battle and Kieran had to talk him out of it.”
Scott knew that, for he’d been armed for battle, too, prepared to defend his brother against a very angry father of a pregnant daughter. He looked to Kieran to see the man’s reaction. Wise, gentle, and enormously powerful, Kieran was the most levelheaded person that Scott knew. He was hoping the man had something encouraging to say, but Kieran was gazing at him as if completely exasperated by the situation.
“I know,” Scott said. “I was hoping Uncle Kieran might have some words of advice. Or… or mayhap help me face him.”
Kieran shook his head. “I do not think Paris can take another dose of news such as this, not today,” he said. “But there is little choice. Mayhap it is best you do it now, while he is celebrating Helene’s marriage and possibly too drunk to do much damage.”
Scott nodded, but it was with great reluctance. “Mayhap,” he said. “I’m sorry to ask for your assistance, for I know I should face this alone, but the longer we waited, the more difficult it has become.”
“Paris is going to want his pound of flesh,” William said. “I will not stop him, Scott. You soiled the man’s daughter.”
“He did not soil me,” Athena said, finding her voice. When Scott tried to stop her, she ignored him. “Do you hear me, Uncle William? He did not soil me. If you must know the truth, I seduced him. Does that shock you?”
William looked at Athena. She was a smart lass, deeply compassionate and caring, but she was also bold and arrogant, like her father. She took after him in almost every aspect. She had an unruly tongue when the mood struck her and Paris had difficulty with her at times because of it. She was unafraid to speak her mind, unafraid to do what she wanted to do. But she was also wildly emotional and her mood swings could be tremendous – happy one moment, weeping the next.
That could be a problem.
Paris told William that Athena had threatened to kill herself once when Scott had seemingly rejected her. That was in days long past, of course, but William wondered if Scott even knew that, and if he did, if he was with the woman because of it. No one wanted to test Athena in that regard because being as fearless as she was, she might very well do such a thing simply to prove a point. It was something Paris really didn’t speak of, and hadn’t except for that one time, but looking at the young woman, William wondered if she’d grown out of those impulses.
He wondered what would happen should Paris become truly irate at Scott.
“You are young and you are in love,” William said after a moment. “You and Scott have demonstrated that love. I do not find it shocking, but your father will have something different to say about it. He was irate about Helene and I can only imagine that he will be irate about you. Now… will you go inside with your Aunt Jemma? I wish to speak to Scott alone, please.”
Athena geared up for a retort but the expression on Scott’s face forced her to rethink it. After a moment, she reluctantly obeyed. It wasn’t her instinct to obey, but she forced herself to. She felt Jemma grasp her hand, pulling her from the stable.
With great misgivings, she followed.
The night outside was cold and crisp, a thousand stars overhead. Inside the great hall of Castle Questing, music and light and warmth filtered through the enormous lancet windows, giving off energy into the night. But Athena wasn’t thinking about her sister’s wedding feast – she was thinking about the man she’d left behind in the stable.
“What do you think Uncle William is saying to him?” she asked Jemma. “Do you think he’s truly angry?”
Jemma was focused on the keep. “I think that he is giving Scott advice on how tae inform yer father without causing the man tae blow the top of his head off in rage.”
Athena was still uncertain. “I know that I must let Scott speak with him, but what I said in there was true. I did seduce him.”
Jemma didn’t have any discernable reaction to that declaration. “Ye’re a bold woman, Tee,” she said. “But ye’ve always known yer own mind. I know Scott isna a whim.”
“Never,” she insisted. “I love him and he loves me, and our son will be the greatest knight England has yet seen.”
They had come close to the keep now, with its music and light and wafts of food on the night air. Jemma didn’t comment any further on the situation between Scott and Athena because, frankly, it was none of her business and out of her hands.