Page 103 of The Darkland

Kirk could see that the man was deadly serious and more than being perplexed by his behavior, he was quickly approaching desperation. He knew that he had no real legal ground to stand on; the contract le Vay had accepted trumped a love story. His thoughts moved to the real problem in all of this; Edmund. His gaze moved to Micheline.

“Where is your husband, my lady?” he asked, grinding his teeth. “I have a need to speak with him.”

Micheline was pale and frightened but she met Kirk’s gaze evenly. “He is dead,” she murmured. “Both Edmund and Johanne are dead.”

Kirk didn’t react except with a flicker of confusion over his brow. Then his features seemed to slacken. “Dead?” he repeated. “How?”

Micheline sighed heavily, feeling exhausted and sick to the bone. The past few days had been too much to bear.

“Johanne went mad,” she said softly. “She did not know that you and Mara were in love. Edmund purposely kept the information from her, I can only assume, out of fear for you. When she found out that he had not told her the truth, she went mad and killed him. When she tried to kill me, Sir Spencer intervened and killed her in self-defense.”

Kirk listened intently. He was seriously shocked at the news but, oddly, he found he wasn’t particularly surprised. Nothing about events at the Darkland surprised him any longer; he’d grown numb to that place and its poison. He looked at Spencer.

“What were you doing at Anchorsholme?” he asked.

Spencer met his gaze evenly. “I was there to deliver Lord le Vay’s acceptance of the marriage offer for Mara.”

Kirk fell quiet, digesting the information. His mind was working swiftly, mulling over the facts, the results, and the future. He realized that he felt a great deal of relief at the news of Edmund and Johanne’s deaths, more than he ever imagined possible. He had no great love for Edmund and certainly no great love for Johanne. No, he wasn’t disappointed in the least. He was glad. But one thought became abundantly clear as he stood there and stewed; he looked straight at Micheline.

“You are Lady de Cleveley and I am sworn to you,” he said quietly. “You command an army of one thousand men and a great Irish empire. Long live Lady de Cleveley.”

Micheline, slumped against a chair, stared at him. But she could see the warmth in his dark eyes and she smiled wearily.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

Kirk’s warmth faded. “That also means that you are responsible for the contracts your husband brokered,” he said. “Should you wish to dispute the contract between Lord le Vay and Mara, it is within your right to do so but know he will expect compensation of some kind.”

Before Micheline could reply, le Vay interrupted. “I will not give her up,” he said flatly. “I am within my legal right to maintain the integrity of the marriage contract.”

Micheline showed surprising courage; she wasn’t courageous by nature but the past few weeks had shown remarkable growth. She was Lady de Cleveley and the empire of Anchorsholme was now hers. She could either fold or she could meet the challenge; she chose to meet it.

“My lord,” she said steadily. “It would seem that we have two choices in this matter; obviously, you know what my sister and Sir Kirk are in love and plan to be wed. Should you choose to go through with the wedding to my sister, Kirk will not fade away. As much as it is your legal right to enforce the marriage contract, it is Sir Kirk’s moral right to fight for the woman you are taking from him. He will challenge you and you will lose.In fact, you will die. Therefore, it would make more sense to dissolve this contract and find a bride elsewhere.”

Le Vay looked at Lady de Cleveley with some contempt as well as resignation. Then, his attention turned to Mara. She was still in Kirk’s protective embrace and he knew there was no way he would be able to wrest her from the man. But he also knew he didn’t have to; he had a champion.

“I choose to fight for what is legally mine,” he said quietly. “I feel strongly that I must. Spencer, it would seem you have a task ahead of you.”

Spencer knew that. In fact, he’d known all along that it would come to this. He was to face off against Kirk again and not at all looking forward to it.What an ironic twist of fate, he thought. Once, he had faced Kirk because he himself wanted Mara. Now it was because le Vay wanted her. He would fight Kirk because he was obligated to, not because he wanted to. If he was in Kirk’s shoes, he would want his woman back, too.

“I am not going to do anything with Lady Mara in his grip,” Spencer said. “He will have to release the lady before I make a move.”

Kirk didn’t want to go through the effort of another dark and bloody fight. He knew Spencer was cunning and sly; he also knew he was deadly. He couldn’t take the chance that the man would win. Before he could reply, a female voice interrupted.

“Father!” Lily gasped, squeezing around the twisted door to enter the room. “What have you…Kirk!”

Lily nearly stumbled in her surprise as her gaze fell on Kirk. The door was destroyed, Kirk had Mara in his arms, and there were women in the room she didn’t recognize. Her mouth fell open.

“What on earth is going on here?” she demanded, pointing to the door. “Father, did you do this? What has happened?”

Lionel could see her agitation and lifted an impatient hand to silence her. “Kirk has only just arrived,” he said. “Where have you been?”

Lily didn’t look pleased. She glanced at Kirk and Spencer as she answered. “I did not want to watch you extract Mara from this chamber as one would extract a rotten tooth from a gaping mouth,” she said, unhappy. “You would not listen to me so I left. I have been in the chapel most of the day, praying for a calm solution to all of this. I see that my prayers have brought Kirk returned from Ireland although I am not entirely sure that was the calm resolution I was praying for. I think it may be the more violent option.”

Mara let go of Kirk and went to Lily. The woman put her arms around Mara and the two of them hugged tightly.

“Lily, your father refuses to release me to Kirk,” Mara said. “Kirk will fight for me and your father has ordered Spencer to champion him. Please tell your father not to do this. Please tell him to let me go.”

Lily was inflamed. She looked accusingly at her father. “Kirk and Spencer are going to fight for your right to keep Mara?” she was outraged. “Father, I have never known you to be foolish or evil, but what you are doing is wicked. Do you hear me? You are being wicked!”