Page 138 of The Champion

“My father lost?” Alexander’s lip quivered. “How can he lose?”

Rowena picked the child up and gave him to Joanna. She needed to get away from the crowd. From everything, as her mind reeled from what had just happened.

Her knight had refused to fight for her...

She stumbled from the stands and headed blindly toward the castle.

Stryder had simply ridden off?

He had forfeited.

“Oh God,” she breathed. “Please let me be dreaming. Please, don’t let this be real.”

Yet, it was.

Stryder was gone and he didn’t want her. He who would kill over any little thing, had left her there alone to suffer the worst sort of humiliation.

He who lived to fight had refused to fight for her.

Unmitigated agony washed through her until tears streamed down her face.

What kind of fool was she?

Wanting to die, she made her way to her room so that she could just lie down and pretend that this day had never happened.

“Rowena!” Bridget pulled at her as she lay on her bed in a numbed cocoon of pain. “The song competition is beginning. You must get up.”

She refused. Rowena never wanted to leave this bed again.

“Up!” Joanne said, tugging at her. “King Henry himself said that he will send his guards up here to fetch you if you refuse.”

“Why bother?” Rowena choked on her tears. “Stryder wouldn’t joust for me, think you he will sing? I have no desire to go back down there where they can whisper and talk about me. I’ve had enough humiliation for one day.”

Her friends exchanged shamed glances.

Joanna tried again. “You are under royal command, Rowena. Please.”

Hating her birthright more than ever, Rowena forced herself to rise.

Her friends seized her instantly and started straightening her clothes and smoothing her hair.

“Nay!” She pushed them away. “I’m the bitch of Sussex. ‘Tis not my appearance that makes men desire me. ‘Tis only my lands.”

Bridget gave her a peeved glare. “At least wash your face.”

Shaking her head, she swung open the door and headed with angry strides down the stairs. Why should she make herself presentable?

At least this way, they had something more tangible to mock.

But as she reached the great hall, her courage faltered a bit. There was quite a crowd in there. A large crowd that turned to stare, en masse, at her as she entered.

Heads came together, but she cared not.

Holding her head as high as any queen, Rowena strode through them, daring them to laugh. Some did. But she didn’t care.

She couldn’t feel their condemnation. All she could feel was the breaking of her heart.

Determined not to cry, she sat down in the chair to the right of Eleanor’s that had been reserved for her.