Page 20 of The Champion

His gaze turned arctic. “I won’t marry you.”

As if she would have him!

“And I won’t marry anyone at all,” she snapped. “The only way I can have my choice of husband, it seems, is for you to win the singing contest at month’s end.”

He laughed aloud at that.

“‘Tis not an amusing matter, my lord.”

“I will not sing for you or anyone else. Ever.”

“Then you shall be my husband.”

“As I said, I shall withdraw.”

“Henry won’t allow it. He told me so himself. And even if you do run, then I shall insist you be my husband. My uncle and the king will have you brought to the altar in chains, if needs be.”

He curled his lips at her. “Why? You despise me ever as much as I despise you.”

“Because I want my freedom and my only hope lies in you. So, you will either sing like a bird and win me my freedom, or I shall see us both tied into wedded hell. Together.”

Stryder cursed. “I don’t believe you, milady. Either way of it, you win. Either way, I lose.”

“How do you figure?”

“I either have to be a horse’s ass before the entire court, or you will make my future life miserable, while you, on the other hand, either get your freedom or you get marriage to me.”

She was aghast at his logic. “And you think I would relish marriage to you?”

“Aye. I know it for fact.”

Rowena scowled at him and hoped the full disgust she felt was evident on her face. “Your arrogance knows no bound. This may come as a shock to you, Lord Stryder, but I do not find you attractive in the least.”

He laughed in disbelief.

Rowena ground her teeth at the fact he knew she lied. “You are insufferable.”

“And yet, you would marry me. As I said, my lady, you win either way.”

Suddenly, all of this became more than she could stand. The mockery in the hall, her uncle and king’s dictates and now even Stryder the Horrible mocked her.

All she had ever wanted in her life was to make other people happy with her words and songs. To maybe show other people that they could live without warfare. That peace was infinitely better than bloodshed.

And what did it get her?

Laughed at. Mocked. Ridiculed.

She knew what others called her behind her back. The Lady of Nonsense. But most oft they called her the Bitch of Sussex.

Someone needs teach her to heel and fetch. She’d be tolerable enough to bed, provided you gag her first.

She had always prided herself on being above their insults. But she wasn’t. In spite of what they all thought, she was human and those words wounded her. Deeply.

Just as her uncle’s betrayal this night hurt. Why couldn’t she be left in peace?

Why did she have to conform to the dictates of men and be forced into marriage with a man who held no regard for her, whatsoever?

Overwrought with it all, Rowena wanted to cry in frustration.