Boadicea's Legacy by Traci E. Hall

to get in it.
    He was a cool one.
    What should she do? If she went to court, she could make a plea on behalf of her family. Thomas didn’t want to marry her—in fact, he seemed to abhor her. But marriage to him would be the only way she’d have any power at all.
    â€œHow would we travel?” Ela looked directly into Thomas’s eyes.
    â€œAs man and wife, of course.” Thomas’s upper lip curled.
    He doesn’t like me. He threatens my family, and yet he wants something from me now as well. What could it possibly be?
    â€œA summer wedding is always fair. But what happened to suspecting his motives for marriage?” Os lifted one hand. “A marriage he said himself that he didn’t want?”
    â€œI’ve changed my mind, my lady,” Thomas said. “Perhaps I was too hasty.”
    Ela looked from Os to Thomas. The pragmatic part of her accepted that there had been no other offers for her hand, and no wild love affair in her past to warm her heart on a lonely eve. Accepting Thomas not only gave her a chance to help her family, it also might give her children of her own.
    In exchange for her healing.
    The emotional part of her nature warned that such a match would crush her spirit, and any child born of that union would suffer from Thomas’s ill nature.

    Os kept his temper, though it was difficult. Did she not sense that the man was a man’s man? It was obvious she had her own reasons for pursuing such a tie—even now he could see that she was weighing the matter carefully. What if she was so innocent that she didn’t know?
    Did he tell her, so that she could make her decision fairly?
    The thought was there, and then the words fell from his mouth like marbles from a bag. “Ask your
lover
if he’s ever lain with a woman before.”
    Ela gasped and covered her pretty pink lips with her hand. She raised those brilliant green eyes to his, and he watched them widen with understanding. “Oh.”
    Thomas lunged across the hall floor, his sword drawn. His face turned red, and his beady eyes cold as a snake’s. “Fool. I’ll kill you for that.”
    â€œHe’s unarmed, Thomas, you cannot.” Ela stepped in front of Thomas, pleading on Os’s behalf. Sweet, foolish lady.
    â€œYou defend a stranger over me? You believe his profane accusations? I’ll kill you both!” Undone by his own emotions, Thomas swung his sword wildly and barely missed cutting Ela’s arm.
    Os calmly took Ela by the shoulder and put her behind him.
    â€œOh,” she sighed. He didn’t pause to understand what she meant by that but bent to get the small dagger in his boot. He knew better than to leave his room without hissword, but he’d heard Ela’s raised voice and hadn’t stopped to think.
    Looking at the small blade in his hand, Os knew he’d have to be quick. In hand-to-hand combat, size mattered.
    â€œTake mine,” Ela whispered on a cinnamon-scented breath. He felt the handle of a short sword being placed in his grasp. He leapt to a defensive stance—his dagger in one hand and the lady’s accurately balanced short sword in the other.
    â€œWhere did you get this?” He couldn’t help but admire the weapon.
    â€œCan we talk later, sir? After you’ve subdued Thomas? Please, Osbert, don’t kill him. I need the bully alive.”
    Her faith in him was astounding, though it was hardly a fair battle. He was a professional knight skilled in all forms of combat. He parried, disarming Thomas with a nick to the knuckles. Blood spurted and Thomas dropped his sword. It fell to the stone floor with a clatter.
    Ela started to run around him, but Os held her back with one arm. “I hope you’re not squeamish, my lady.”
    She giggled, a feminine sound that stroked his insides with unaccustomed warmth.
    Just then, the lady’s mother and father came down the stairs, her father brandishing a