Ensnared (Knights of Brethren #3)(55)

“Why did you go into the forest after the blacksmith?” Bernhard’s question pierced swiftly, almost as though he’d read my thoughts about the chalice.

“I wanted to help him.”

Bernhard glanced pointedly at my hand holding Mikaela’s. “You went in to aid the man who intends to marry the maiden you are taken with? Why, when you could let him perish and eliminate your competition?”

I bristled at the callousness of Bernhard’s suggestion. “Frans does not deserve to die.”

“Gunnar has my love already.” Beside me, Mikaela spoke quietly but with an undertone of anger. “There is no competition with Frans.”

Bernhard lifted his chin and peered down at Mikaela with a look of contempt I’d seen all too oft when he addressed servants. “Hold your tongue, woman. You are nothing but Gunnar’s newest mistress of the month.”

“No. You hold your tongue, brother.” My body tensed with the need to slam my fist into my brother’s face.

Bernhard wasn’t paying attention to me, however. Instead, his lips curved into a dangerous smirk. “When Gunnar is done with you, maybe I shall have you next.”

Hot anger rushed through me, and I lunged. Mikaela was mine. If Bernhard ever touched her, I’d break his bones, slowly and painfully.

“Wait, Gunnar.” Mikaela wrestled me back to her side.

My rage wasn’t so easily contained. And I couldn’t pretend that Bernhard’s crude comment hadn’t mattered even if I’d wanted to. “You will never have her. Mikaela is mine and mine alone.”

Bernhard released a derisory laugh. “A tad possessive, aren’t we?”

“Not a tad.” I ground out the words through my clenched teeth. “I’m very possessive of Mikaela since I plan to marry her just as soon as I can make the arrangements.”

Beside me, Mikaela sucked in a breath. Even if Nanna had encouraged it of me, I hadn’t yet brought it up with Mikaela. Maybe I was getting ahead of myself. But I’d told her I didn’t want to wait for her any longer, that I wanted to be together both now and forever. Surely she understood that meant I intended to marry her. If not, I needed her to know that’s what I meant.

I met her wide-eyed gaze. “I can think of nothing I want more than to marry you. Please, Mikaela, make me the happiest and most fortunate man to ever live by agreeing to wed me.”

She studied my face before looking deeply into my soul. Her expressive eyes seemed to say this was all happening so fast, that I would change my mind in the morn, that we didn’t need to rush.

But I shook my head. I would never change my mind about her. I’d waited for her for years already and didn’t want to lose her. “Marry me? Tonight?”

Again, she was quiet, contemplative, as she watched me, an internal debate showing in her troubled eyes. Our marriage would be unconventional, perhaps even the first of its kind with a nobleman marrying one of his family’s slaves. But since when had I ever done anything conventionally?

Apparently seeing the resolve within me, Mikaela squeezed my hand. “If you’re sure.”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything.” We had many uncertainties to face ahead of us. But we’d work through the difficulties just as we were right now, by facing them head on instead of running away.

A smile tugged at the corners of her lips.

“Well done.” Bernhard clapped, and his grin held a hard edge. “Such a touching performance.”

Of course Bernhard wouldn’t approve. He wanted to remain in charge of securing an advantageous match for me. But I wasn’t his pawn, and it was past time for him to know it.

“Rest assured, brother. This was no performance.” My voice dropped with the gravity and depth of my feelings. In comparison with the pretense that I’d kept up around Bernhard previously, this was indeed the truest I’d ever spoken or acted. “I intend to marry the woman of my choosing, with or without your consent.”

Bernhard’s smile fell away altogether. “You are forgetting one thing. This maiden belongs to me. I own her. Not you. And because she is my bondservant, I may do with her as I please.”

I’d suspected I would have this battle, and to buy her freedom I was prepared to offer Bernhard everything I’d saved during the past years working for the king. Why stop there? Why not buy the freedom for each of her family members as well? It would take time to come up with enough to satisfy Bernhard for all of them, but I’d find a way.

“I will purchase her from you.” My tone dared him to defy me. With my connection to the king, how could he refuse me without bringing censure upon himself?

“You were with a different woman last night. How am I to believe you are ready to marry this maiden tonight? With your womanizing, how is anyone to believe you care about her?” Bernhard’s brow rose in a sharp challenge.

Did he know the truth about my pretenses with women? That I hadn’t spent the night with any of them? Or was he merely using my reputation now to show me how he could easily cast suspicion upon my love of Mikaela?

I tensed again. “You cannot keep me from Mikaela.”

As though realizing he would not easily influence me, Bernhard shrugged. “We will have time later to work out an agreement that may be beneficial to us both.”

I didn’t like the insinuation that he would make me pay more than money for my chance to wed Mikaela, but I shrugged and turned away from him.