Fostering Faust 2, page 37
part #2 of Fostering Faust Series
“My father won’t be climbing it this year, so they’re going to use a ladder instead. I assured them you and I would have no problems using a ladder,” Clark said, turning to look at the platform.
Wait, what?
“Ah, Clark, while I appreciate the gesture, I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be up there with you,” Alex said.
“What? Why not? You’re the best adviser I have at this point. Everything you’ve done and said has worked out splendidly,” Clark said.
Right. Except all those soldiers you sent to the front just joined the mass that was already there and changed nothing.
But I suppose if you’re happy with that result, it is what it is.
“Clark, let me ask you a few questions first, before I answer that,” Alex said cautiously. He had to talk the man out of this. Now.
Him being on the platform wouldn’t do for the plan. Not at all, in any way.
“Okay,” said the other man slowly.
“Did your father ever ascend the platform with anyone?” Alex asked.
“No, he always did it alone.”
“Has anyone else other than the ruling duke ever gone up there?”
Clark appeared to be considering that, his brow furrowing and his eyes dropping to the ground.
“Not that I can recall,” he said after several moments.
“Then why would you have me, an unaffiliated count who serves your father’s enemy, go up there with you? It doesn’t make sense. It would take from your own power and prestige,” Alex said. “In fact, your people may view it as me having so much power that you had to let me go up there with you.”
“No,” Clark said, shaking his head. “They wouldn’t view it that way at all. My people value me and know me for my father’s son.”
“Are you sure, Clark?” Alex asked, deciding to change tact a bit. It was time to take a risk—Alex couldn’t afford to go up on that platform. At all. “You do realize there are many in your homeland that consider you a kin-slayer? I’ve been asked many a time if it was true, and I’ve professed knowing nothing of the situation.”
“What?” Clark asked, his tone growing dark. “How dare they—I’ll have them all hung for their treasonous words.”
Alex shrugged, doing his best to look completely unconcerned.
“It is what it is, Clark. If you were to add that to me climbing the platform with you—when as you yourself have said, I’m apparently a champion of the commoner—wouldn’t that possibly take from your own stature?”
“No, that isn’t a concern. I’ll make a decree while we’re up there. They’ll understand. I know it,” Clark said.
“And what about your father? Would he take umbrage with it?” Alex asked.
“Even if he did, I wouldn’t care. I think he’ll abdicate his titles soon. He mentioned it in a letter recently. I may be the duke by next spring,” Clark said, clapping one hand in the other. “No. It’ll be well. Thank you for your concern over my well-being, but you’ll join me on the platform.
“Come, we have a few more stops to make.”
Clark smiled and clapped Alex on the shoulder, then turned down the boulevard.
Damn. We’ll need to figure out how to get around that.
Think Alex, think.
I can’t go up there with him. I just can’t.
Shit.
***
Alex was sitting in his apartments with all his Numbered, everyone thinking hard. There was no way they could let Alex go up on that platform.
Except the festival was only a few hours away now.
What had felt like forever away two weeks ago when they’d first talked about sabotaging the platform now felt far too close.
“And he didn’t care about the repercussions at all?” Sylvia asked.
“He brushed Master’s worries away as if they were nothing,” Rebekah said. “He didn’t even seem to consider them.”
“What about his kin-slayer title ?” Valeria asked, coming back once again to that question. “You said he hesitated a bit on that one?”
“A little,” Alex said. “But even then, it seemed he was madder for what was being said about him than he was worried about losing respect.”
Nannie growled and folded her arms across her chest.
“He’s an idiot then. If he isn’t listening to Master, then there’s only one thing to do. Let’s just kill him and be done with it before the platform happens,” Nannie said.
“Coffin isn’t back yet,” Valeria said, shaking her head. “And when she does get back, I don’t think she’ll sneak into the room again as easily. Security has gone way up since the earl died.”
“Speaking of that, I forgot to mention it. Slipped my mind,” Alex said, remembering his conversation with the duchess.
All eyes turned to him. Carla, Valeria, and Sylvia looked annoyed at his memory slip. The rest of his Numbered just looked curious.
“When we pull off Clark’s death, the duchess is granting me the barony of Rift and the barony of Lin,” Alex said with a sheepish grin. “So, we’ll have two more of the peerage rolling up into us.”
“Lin, as in Holly’s family?” Carla asked.
“The same. It’ll be fun to bend Katherine to my desires. Feeling like having another Lin in your bed, Two?” Alex asked.
“No, my bed is full. No room for anyone else ever again, except a Numbered with you in the middle. But the thought of it is fun,” Carla said with a shrug and a smile.
“The barony of Rift?” Eleanor asked, her voice cracking on her family’s name.
“Indeed. Supposedly it lies to the east, along the border of Northern Ridge?” Alex asked.
Eleanor laughed suddenly, then grew absolutely silent. “My family is going to be your vassals.”
“Yes,” Alex confirmed.
“I’m your knight,” Eleanor said.
“That you are,” Alex agreed.
“And a Numbered,” Riley said, clapping her hands together happily. “Everyone knows the Numbered are Master’s private harem. We’re only a very small step below his wives.”
Eleanor shook her head and pressed her hands to her temples.
“How am I ever going to look my father in the eye when he comes to swear his vassalage to you?” she muttered.
“At my side, as my knight and Numbered. And if he’s a smart man, he’ll realize how stupid he acted toward you,” Alex said. “Forgive me, but I didn’t mean to derail the conversation.”
“Ah… what if…” Rebekah said, getting everyone’s attention. “What if Master hurt his leg?”
“Beg your pardon?” Alex asked.
“What if you hurt your leg. If you’re hurt, there’s no way you could go up that ladder. Not without Clark looking like a villain,” Rebekah said.
“That’s… not a great idea, but it isn’t terrible either,” Valeria said, looking thoughtful. “But the question becomes: how much ‘hurt’ would qualify for a decline on the ladder?”
“I’m not really a fan of getting hurt, or feeling pain,” Alex said, holding up his hands.
Valeria rolled her eyes and gave him a knowing smile.
“It’ll be fine, Master. We’ll take care of you regardless of what happens. Now, how much hurt would it take for Clark to let it go?” Valeria asked.
“He seemed really determined,” Rebekah said, frowning.
No one said anything after that.
“I could break his leg. We used to do it to people when I was a bandit. So people couldn’t escape when we were going for ransoms.
“Got pretty good at it after a while,” Carla said. “And that was back then. I’m far better with a club or a mace now than I ever was. Far better than I could even attempt with a sword. I could break his shin cleanly.”
“Yeah?” Nannie asked, leaning across the table toward Carla. “You sure, Cunt? What if you really hurt Master?”
Surprisingly, there was no hostility in Nannie’s tone or the name she’d called Carla.
Carla grinned at Nannie. Apparently “Cunt” really was just a nickname now between the two of them.
Carla nodded and held out a hand to Nannie.
“I can do it, Twat. Care to make a wager on it? I do it right, you let Master take you to bed with me, and you have my boxed lunch while he plows you.
“I mess it up, I’ll take the junior position in our team and you can lead us.”
Nannie’s brows came down, frowning at the other woman.
“Why do you keep trying to get me to go to bed with you and Master?” she grumbled, looking around the room. “You three, too. You’ve asked a couple times as well. I don’t go in for that. I’m the Master’s.”
“I’m going to bet it’s because you’re looking prettier by the day with your hair growing out, Five,” Alex said. “As for breaking my leg, I really don’t think that’s the best answer here.”
“I disagree, Master,” Sylvia said sadly. “I think Two should break one of your legs. I believe it’d be for the best. In fact, I would argue that if we don’t break your leg, we’d be at risk of causing you harm. That platform will collapse, and then our contracts would all come into question for getting you hurt.”
Everyone’s features changed with that statement, and they all looked to Alex for his agreement now. Rather than looking to him for direction.
Groaning, Alex pressed his hands to his face.
“Two, you swear you can do it without causing lasting damage?” Alex asked. Having a broken limb in this world didn’t seem like a good idea. Not a good idea at all.
In fact, it sounded like a really easy way to get himself killed.
“Master, I can’t promise that. But I can promise to do everything in my power to make sure it’s the best I can do,” Carla said.
“Damnit. This is really going to suck,” Alex mumbled. “Ok, ok. I… ok. Break it. Just… ugh. Please, for the love of Leah, make it clean. A bad break and I’ll be just as dead as if I fell from the platform.”
“I have no intention of losing you, Master. You and I have many years left that I need to make you happy in. I owe you much for my family,” Carla said.
Alex felt someone pull his left leg out from under the table and hold it up.
Not willing to open his eyes, Alex kept them firmly shut.
“Hey, go hold him. This isn’t going to be fun for anyone,” Carla said. “Here, hold his ankle, then turn it to the side. I only want to break one of the bones.”
“Got it,” Nannie said as Alex felt strong hands wrap around his booted foot.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Riley muttered from somewhere. “I can’t bear the idea of Master being hurt.”
A pair of arms wrapped around his head and cradled him tenderly, drawing the back of his head into what felt like someone’s warm and soft chest.
“It’ll be alright, baby,” Rebekah whispered, then pressed a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll take good care of you. Good or bad, I’m your comfort wife.”
Then there was silence. Absolute and complete.
As if everyone was staring at Carla and she was battling with herself over the action.
“Do it, Two,” Alex said as bravely as he could. “Do it perfect and I’ll eat your boxed lunch myself.”
As soon as he finished speaking, there was an almost deafening cracking noise.
Then it felt like he wanted to throw up, and his leg was a writhing ball of agony.
Groaning, Alex snapped his teeth together and bit back a scream. It wouldn’t do to alert the guards outside the door.
Instead he screamed with his mouth shut, his hands pressed over his face.
His head was forcibly turned to one side and Rebekah pulled him face first into her bosom, her hands stroking the back of his head and shoulders.
“It’s ok, baby, all done. I’ve got you, and I’ll take care of you. I’m here all for you,” Rebekah whispered into his ear between his screams.
“There,” Carla said, Alex almost missing it entirely. “Clean break, only the front bone. See?”
“Oh god, it was so loud,” Riley said.
“I don’t feel so good,” Nannie muttered.
“Neither do I,” Valeria said. “I can’t believe we just did that.”
Everyone fell silent after that, except for Alex.
Who continued to scream into Rebekah’s chest as the pain in his leg boiled through him.
***
Clark stared at him with wide eyes. Then looked down to Alex’s leg.
The doctors in residence of the Gaelis keep had been called right after had Alex figured out what story to feed them.
They’d inspected his leg and ruled that it was indeed quite broken. Though it seemed to be clean, they advised him not to put any weight on it that he didn’t need to for a few days.
Then they’d put him in a split, tied it shut, and affixed it to the inside of his boot. It was effectively immobilized.
He wouldn’t be climbing any ladders.
Rebekah was pressed up into his side, acting more like a walking stick than his retainer right now.
“It’s my fault. Master would never have tripped like that if I’d moved the chair like he’d asked me to,” she said.
The lie was terrible in Alex’s own head. No trip could cause a tibia to break like it had. Leg bones were fairly solid things, he thought.
Isn’t the thigh bone supposed to be like concrete?
“No, it’s my own doing. I wasn’t paying attention,” Alex grumbled. “My apologies, Clark. It would seem I’ll not be able to join you atop the platform today. My sincerest apologies.”
“It’s not a concern, Count. I think this is something no one could fault you for,” Clark said with a small smile, his shock finally going away at the report Alex had given him about his leg. “I truly just wanted the legendary Count Inferno to help me light up the blaze.
“There’re a number of rumors going around about your attendance at our little bonfire ceremony. You’re Count Inferno, after all, the man who controls fire.”
“Oh? I hadn’t heard any,” Alex said. And he really hadn’t.
“Yes, apparently they’re expecting some announcement, proclamation, or something monumental,” Clark said, his excitement quite clear. “Personally, I’m hoping Father announces that the duchess has surrendered. We’ll see, though. He only arrived an hour ago and is still resting.”
Alex nodded politely at that.
Personally, the only thing Alex was hoping for was the announcement he was going home.
Now more than ever.
Clark turned away from him and moved over to speak with someone else. Giving Alex a much-needed reprieve.
“Do you want to sit down, baby?” Rebekah asked, her right arm slipping around his middle.
“You like to use pet-names for me,” Alex grumbled as he motioned to a nearby chair. “Over there.”
“Of course I do. Master is so… boring… after a while. It’s fun when we’re playing in the bed sometimes, but… it gets stale.
“Besides, you like it,” Rebekah said, helping him down into the chair. Alex sighed in relief as he got the weight off his broken leg and set the walking stick he’d been given to one side.
Leaning down, Rebekah pressed a warm kiss to his lips and then nuzzled his neck.
“Thank you for doing what we wanted you to, Alexander Brit. I promise you’ll want for nothing,” she murmured. “I’m your comfort wife, and you’ll pass from this world in comfort no matter what.”
Once more feeling very strange about Rebekah and her effect on him, Alex hugged her, patting her back gently.
“Thank you, Seven. Get a chair and join me,” he said.
Chapter 34
Sitting in his chair as frequently as he could, Alex was more often seated than not. Which he thought was a wonderful blessing for his poor aching leg.
Breaking a leg is far more painful than I thought it would be.
Wishing for pain medications, or even just some damn over-the-counter stuff, Alex grit his teeth and changed his position in the seat again.
If he held still too long, his leg would start to throb and ache until he moved.
“Is it hurting again?” Rebekah asked from beside him. She’d pulled a chair up directly to his left and became practically a hip attachment to him.
“Yeah. It’ll go away in a second,” Alex grumbled.
Rebekah’s right hand slipped into his left and interlinked their fingers.
“I’ve got you, baby. Don’t you worry,” Rebekah said, rubbing her shoulder against his. “I’ll take care of anything you need, and Six will make sure you’re safe.”
Eleanor was indeed several steps behind him and armed with her longsword. They’d also allowed her some chain mail and a breastplate. She was infinitely more dangerous today than she’d been in months.
All the rest of his Numbered were with the ambassador to Regina.
He figured his host was rather nervous about all of them being around with Alex in the open. It would be their best chance for escape.
Glancing over his shoulder, Alex caught sight of Eleanor standing behind him. Sword in hand, helmet on her head. Looking very much like the imposing woman she was.
Catching him watching her, Eleanor lifted her left hand off the hilt of her weapon and gave him a small finger wave. Immediately crushing the persona of the fearsome knight and replacing it with the red-faced, endearing woman who now liked to snuggle in the mornings.
Grinning, Alex went back to facing forward.
“It’s getting colder,” Rebekah said, pressing in even closer to his side. “At least it won’t snow.”
“Yeah. For the dead of winter, it doesn’t seem so bad,” Alex said, pulling his left hand out of Rebekah’s grasp and then wrapping it around her shoulders. “Though you’re right, it’s definitely getting colder. Maybe we should see if we can convince Clark to let me have a blanket. Or a hearth.”
“Oh, poo. I liked cuddling,” Rebekah muttered even as she snuggled into his shoulder. Sighing, she pulled his arm off her shoulders and put it back down at his side. Sliding fully into her own seat, Rebekah adjusted her clothes and sat up straight.
