Good manners

Malav was furious with her. Charyic dared to give an order to his servant that went against his wishes. He told her in no uncertain terms that she was never to do that again. And her defiant reply was that he should think before he sets his mind against something. She reminded him of the trunk and insisted this was very much like that.

If she wished to see good manners he would show them to her. In the hours before dinner Malav began to make pleasant conversation with the Lord, a baronet, and his daughter. They were delighted to have a Prince as a guest and he had no doubt he could have availed himself of the Lord’s daughter if he had wished to. He studiously ignored the silent Charyic and even went so far as to stroke the back of the other girl’s hand.

Over dinner, however, when he pulled back his hood to eat, he saw how quickly the girl and her father both tried to put distance between them. Her warm demeanor evaporated and she nearly shook with fear, casting horrified glances at his eyes. He took a bit of perverse pleasure in it as he began to eat but when he finally looked over to his wife, he saw her seat empty.

“Cerik.” The man was at his side in less than a moment.

“My Prince?”

“Where is my wife?” He kept his voice even despite the gnawing fear in his heart.

“I believe she wished to be excused, your Highness.” The man’s reply was almost dismissive.

“Find her and bring me my staff.” Malav let his displeasure show on his face and the girl next to him shrank away.

The Lord looked at him nervously. “Is something wrong, your Highness?”

“I did not give her permission to leave my sight.” He pulled his hood back over his face. His appetite had gone. He saw the Lord look at his wife’s empty seat with pity. “You had no pity for her when you thought your daughter might enjoy my favor.”

“A woman knows what she’s married to, your Highness. Kings and princes stray.”

Cerik had returned with his staff and he was almost afraid to touch it. Malav knew she was thinking of Esus without having to look. He grasped it and after a moment told Cerik, “She’s on a roof. Sitting on wooden shingles.”

“Impossible!” The Lord piped up. “The only wooden shingles on this castle are on the corner turret, there’s no way for a little thing like your wife to get up there.” He stood and opened the far windows, leaning out he said, “You can see it from he-I’ll be damned.”

“Fetch her down.” Malav gave the command in a tone that was not to be disobeyed. “Bring her to my chamber.” He stood and went to his borrowed chambers, the Lord’s master chambers. He wanted to go demand she climb down. But she thought him cruel and fickle, if he screamed at her and threatened her as he wished to she would keep thinking … keep thinking she should have fled him. Esus. Her mind kept returning to Esus. Esus was kind, sweet. Esus would never have told her he chose her and no other and then flaunted- Malav threw the staff and it struck the wall and lay on the floor like a black mark of failure.

“A woman knows what she’s married to.” Echoed in his ears. He wanted her ignorant. He sat on the bed staring at the staff until it seemed like far too much time had passed. Malav took it back up. She was watching the men below try to find a way up. It was fascinating to her, how so many of them couldn’t figure out something as simple as reaching a rooftop. Some of them even shouted to her to stay calm and not to move, she was going to be rescued. As if some giant had swept her up and deposited her there. His Charyic would have already come down to ease their minds, but the thought of having to see him again made her want to stay aloft. That he hadn’t come told her all she needed to know.

Malav leaned his head against the staff. For a moment, he had possessed everything he had wanted. Malies’ words came back into his mind, “I will grant her to you until the day of your life’s end, if you keep her as close as your staff. If you do not guard her as jealously, it will be your own negligence that parts you.”

He heard Cerik clearing his throat.

“Cerik.”

“Perhaps you should ask her to come down?” Malav could hear the caution in his voice.

“She wishes she had fled me. She would have already come down if she-if she didn’t have to see me when she does.” He couldn’t keep the pain from his voice.

Cerik sighed. “You set out to hurt her and you succeeded. I don’t know what you expected. Yet, you still have an advantage that most husbands lack. Use your staff. Apologize and find out what will make her fall back under your spell again.” When Malav looked at him blackly for his choice of words, Cerik continued, “The girl was enthralled by you, your Highness. Not because of your station or wealth, whatever she saw in you, you can help her see again.”

“I told her I would not turn my affections to someone richer or better bred, that was her fear. She did not let me claim her until I eased it.”

“And you decided to shake her faith in you over a petty squabble?” Cerik was incredulous.

Malav looked at the at the man with rage burning in his chest. The older man rubbed his face and pulled a chair from the neglected vanity. “You wanted her to see good manners.” Malav’s bitter words made him look up.

“That’s what you fear? That if she learns to move in the circles of your peers she’ll reject you? You hold that staff in your hands and know less of her than I do?” Cerik’s sharp words made him look down and grind his teeth.

“I love her. She sits there thinking of Esus. Because-” His head jerked up. “No. She tried to get down and slipped. She’s-” He lurched from the bed and bolted.

By the time he had reached the stairs she had found her footing and her way down. As Charyic was being led by the very solicitous Lord, chiding her for climbing up to the roof, Malav stalked back to his chambers. He left the staff leaned against the bed and went to the adjoining room to wait for her.

He heard them enter. Charyic took up the staff and thanked the Lord for his concern, and then apologized for being such a terrible guest and spoiling his dinner with her behavior. The man was puzzled why she hadn’t spoken the entire time he had been speaking to her, or while her husband had been pretending to be so taken with his daughter. Malav heard her sigh. She explained she had been cursed and it had only been partly lifted. She could only speak touching her husband or his staff. There was silence. He could imagine the look of pity she was receiving, being bound like that to such a monster.

She thanked him again for walking her to her room. Malav smiled. Her room. The Lord asked if it was to her liking. Charyic told him it was a lovely room and asked if it had been his wife’s because of the very pretty vanity. When he told her it was the room they had shared, the master suite of the Keep. He heard her incredulity, you gave up your bed for guests?

Malav laughed softly. Her manners were not so rough, but she did need to know the order of things. He rose and came to the doorway to see the Lord looking at her strangely. “My wife was one the chosen of Anyk. The most blessed for a hundred years. I am not ashamed of her breeding but she should be taught the ways of the nobility.” Malav looked at Charyic with what he hoped was a reconciliatory look.

“She said she was cursed, your Highness.”

“I was unable to speak, only to sing. I didn’t ask for it and I didn’t want it. I consider that a curse. My husband took me to the shrine of roots to have it lifted.” The look she gave him said she was uncertain if she should have. It cut him.

The Lord met his sharp gaze and looked down immediately, backing out and wishing them a pleasant evening.

Charyic took the staff and moved to the far side of the room from him to look out of the window.

“You wish you had run from me.” Malav spoke the words quietly.

“I wish I hadn’t believed you when you lied to me.” Her green-brown eyes were soft and sad as Malav looked into them.

“I didn’t. Charyic.” He began but she scoffed and shook her head turning her angry mien outside again. Cerik had said she wanted truth. “I wanted you to remain ignorant. Learning manners and how to move in the circles of my peers, I fear that you will learn to see me as they do, that you will reject me.” He watched her face in profile. “I was not seducing her. I was punishing you by showing you good manners and then-then showing you that they cannot bear the sight of me. I told you they think me hideous.” She bowed her head listening to his words. “I looked to you when I had finished my display, and you were gone.”

Green-brown eyes looked up to meet his. “You think using my greatest fear to punish me is-”

“No. I was wrong to do it.” Apologizing when he wanted to shake her and make her apologize was bitter. “I love you.” He watched the way she gripped the staff, wringing it, as if she didn’t know what to do with her hands. “And you love Esus.” The words fell out of his mouth before he could stop them.

“I don’t know. If he hadn’t-hadn’t given me away, perhaps...” His Charyic looked remorseful but for what he wasn’t sure. She sighed and moved toward him holding out his staff. “Can you tell me if I love you?” She looked so sweetly earnest.

Malav took hold of the staff and let the relief wash over him, “Yes. But you are still angry with me. And unsure.” He lifted the staff which she held across her like a bar, “I would have screamed at you had I come out. I wanted to. I wanted to threaten to thrash you like a child. But you would have kept wishing you had fled me. I need you to love me, to want to stay with me.”

His Charyic released the staff and wrapped her arms around his waist, embracing him, pressing her face into his chest. “I love you. I want to stay with you.” She murmured. “If you ever make me think you’re going to-”

He cut her off by stepping back and scooping her up, kissing her urgently. His staff fell against the wall.