"Halt!" Hugh Marshall shouted, and the entire hall grew quiet instantly.
Severn stopped where he was, his hand ready to go to his sword in order to defend himself. Zared stepped from the shadows, ready to fight beside her brother.
Slowly Severn turned to look at Hugh Marshall.
Hugh stood, and when Anne tried to get off the table he pushed her back down.
"I have something to say to you, Peregrine."
"I can hear you."
There wasn't a sound from any of the hundreds of people in the big room. They held their breaths. Would the fierce old Hugh declare war on the poor Peregrines for the way his daughter had been humiliated?
Anne turned and glared in triumph at Severn, her arms across her chest, her bottom in pork roast, her feet in cabbage stew. She hoped her father would order a particularly vile death for the man.
"It is my wish," Hugh said into the silence, "that you…" He took a breath and looked about the room. "I would be honored, sir, if you'd take my daughter in marriage."
The roof nearly fell in at the explosion of laughter.
Zared's mouth fell open as she watched her brother's chest swell in pride. Swaggering, Severn made his way to the high table, then leaned across Anne as though she weren't there, tore a leg off a roast pig, sat on the table near Anne's head, and began to eat.
"How much gold do you give me to take the wench off your hands?"
The crowd was laughing so hard they could hardly stay on the benches, and how Severn loved it! He was going to take his time in the wedding negotiations and enjoy this moment when the crowd wasn't laughing at his family.
Zared stood where she was, watching as Sev
ern bargained with Hugh over Anne's dowry, and she knew that the Peregrine reputation would not suffer from the bargaining. She could see men's heads nodding in approval as Severn asked for more and more gold if he was to take on the burden of Lady Anne.
Zared had some sympathy for Anne, but not much when she remembered how hard everyone had laughed at Severn. But one look at Anne's face, red with rage, and she sensed that perhaps Severn wouldn't have the last laugh, for she doubted that Anne would be an easy person to live with.
After a while she grew tired of the noise and left the hall. There would be much to do to prepare for Severn's wedding.
Outside there were very few people, for they'd all heard of the excitement and jammed into the hall to hear Severn bargaining for the uppity Lady Anne.
A hand clamped on Zared's shoulder. "Do you forget our bargain?"
Zared turned to see the Howard man, and she remembered everything.
"What bargain?" she said, stalling for time. Her mouth was growing dry.
Tearle smiled at her. "I have given your brother his rich bride."
"You gave her to him? You had nothing to do with it. My brother got the woman by… by…" Humiliating her? By making people laugh at her? "You had nothing to do with it," she finished.
"I caused it all. I told your brother that Anne played those tricks on him."
"Yes, but that is not what made Hugh Marshall offer his daughter. My brother did that on his own, without your help, so there is no bargain between us." She turned away, but he caught her shoulder and turned her back.
"I arranged all. I know your brother's temper, and I know that when he is angry he has no control, he—"
"He can control a sword, and if he were here now, he'd control it through you!"
"Oh?" Tearle asked, not at all perturbed. "He could not control his temper today, as I knew he would not be able to. Had Anne another father, not one such as Hugh who values strength above brains, I would not have told Severn what Anne did. But I rightly guessed that Severn would do something such as he did, and that Hugh would be pleased by it. I, little wife, arranged their marriage."
"Wife?" she said under her breath. "I am not your wife and will never be. I cannot keep a bargain that was not fulfilled. You could not have known what would happen. Severn could have killed the woman— he was angry enough to do so—and then where would we be? Or her father could have—"
"I took note that Severn does not hurt women. If he did, you would have bruises aplenty, for I have never seen a woman deserve chastising as much as you do."