Ghislaine nodded. “I will do it with or without your help, but with your help, it would be much easier.”
Antillius believed her implicitly; she seemed like a rather stubborn female. He certainly didn’t want to lock her up like a prisoner but he wasn’t sure how else to keep her here if she wanted to follow Gaetan. He’d also heard from Lygia that Gaetan and the lady were betrothed, so he knew her request wasn’t purely from concern.
It was from devotion.
Antillius had seen the way Gaetan had looked at the lady and he knew a man in love when he saw one. He could only imagine the lady felt the same thing for him, else she wouldn’t be willing to risk her life so. But men in love were fickle things because he’d seen it enough to know and men like Gaetan de Wolfe couldn’t truly fall in love; war was their lover, their mistress, and their life. Women like Ghislaine, while beautiful, were only an infatuation to these war creatures.
They were another conquest.
Moreover, the survival of Ghislaine’s family didn’t depend upon her marrying Gaetan. But the survival of Antillius’ people very much depended on new blood and, with that thought, he began to formulate a plan of his own.
“Even if you go, if they are truly under attack, you cannot help them by yourself,” he finally said. “You would become a casualty, too. What you need is more men.”
Ghislaine nodded, trying not to look too scared or miserable in that knowledge. “I know,” she said. “Gaetan has two thousand men but Alary knew we were following him and he threatened to kill his captive if Gaetan did not stop following, so Gaetan left his army at Westerham. We cannot summon them in time.”
“You have not asked me if I will help.”
“But I have. I asked you for a weapon and….”
He cut her off. “You did not ask me if my men would help.”
Ghislaine looked at him as if the thought hadn’t occurred to her. There was astonishment and hope in her eyes. “Would you?” she gasped. “If you and your men would go to help him, surely he could win. Surely he could regain his man. My lord, if the Tertium were to go to battle as Gaetan’s army, then victory is assured.”
Antillius nodded. “Mayhap,” he said. “At least, Gaetan and his men would have a fighting chance against Alary and his hundreds. But even as I suggest this course of action, you must know that there is a reason behind it. I have explained such things to Gaetan but I am sure he has not spoken of it to you. You see, my lady, my people are dying out. I fear that my daughters’ generation will be one of the very last unless we are able to bring new blood, new life, into our tribe. I have nearly three hundred men in the village now but in the days of my father and his father, there were thousands. If I take those three hundred men into battle against your brother, I will lose some. There is no doubt that some will die. And that is an extremely expensive price to pay. As it is now, I can never replace those men.”
Ghislaine wasn’t quite following his line of thought. “I am very sorry to know that, my lord,” she said. “But I assure you, if you and your men go into battle for Gaetan, he will reward you greatly. Mayhap that reward will help save your people somehow.”
“That is what I am hoping. But I will name my price.”
“Of course, my lord. Anything you wish.”
“I understand that you and Gaetan are to be married.”
Ghislaine nodded, but it was with some embarrassment. She hadn’t known Gaetan had told him that. “Aye,” she said hesitantly. “I have agreed to be his wife.”
Antillius put his hands on her shoulders in a fatherly gesture. His expression, when he looked at her, was quite serious.
“Then only you can tell him to pay my price.”
“I do not understand.”
Antillius eyed her a moment before continuing. “I wish for a grandson or two from a magnificent warrior like de Wolfe,” he said. “I will ride into battle for you and I will help Gaetan, but I want something in return. I want you to give Gaetan permission; nay, I wish for you to command him to marry Lygia and give her many sons. If you truly love him, then no price will be too high to save his life. If you would like for me to help you save him, then this is my price.”
That wasn’t what Ghislaine had been expected. She felt as if she’d been hit in the gut, unable to breathe, unable to think. But his words settled deep and she yanked herself from his grip, hardly believing what she was hearing. It was the most horrific proposal she had ever heard in her life.
“You… you want Gaetan to…?” She couldn’t even finish.
Antillius could see her revulsion, her horror, and it infuriated him. “Do you think this is a simple thing for me to ask?” he said. “That I am willing to prostitute my own daughters must speak to you of my desperation that my people should continue. Even now, old men die and new men are not born. It is rare that male children, or any children, are born these days. As a reward to Gaetan and his men for defending us against the Homines Ossium last night, I offered them all three of my daughters in marriage. Before you judge me, understand how difficult that was for me to do. But a desperate man will do desperate things.”
Ghislaine stood there, looking at him with her eyes swimming in tears. Antillius had ceased to become their benevolent host and had now become something vile and wicked. She couldn’t understand a man who would propose such a terrible bargain, something so dastardly and ignoble.
“How can you ask me to do that?” she hissed.
“If you love him, you will do what is necessary to save him. Do you wish for a dead betrothed or a living man though he may be married to someone else?”
“But what you are asking is pure madness! Are you truly so cruel?”
“You asked me to name my price, my lady. It is your choice whether or not to pay it.”
“I will not!”
“Then de Wolfe will die.”
She blinked, tears running down her face, but inside she was filled with rage. He was asking her to make a decision that would change the course of her life. Her jaw began to tick, so enraged that she was grinding her teeth.
“He saved you from those horrible raiders last night,” she said tightly. “You owe him a debt!”
“And I saved you from bleeding to death. What he did last night was to repay that debt and now we are even. If you want something from me, Ghislaine of Mercia, then I want something from you. Look at you; you are injured and weak. Even if you rode to aid him, alone, you would be of little use with that bad leg. But I can offer you as many men as Alary carries to support Gaetan. He will have a far better chance of survival.”
Ghislaine was struggling not to break down because she was coming to realize that she may not have a choice in all of this. If she wanted help for Gaetan, then she would have to sacrifice him in order to save him.
Oh, God, is it true? Must I do this?
“But why Gaetan?” she asked, her lower lip trembling. “Why not one of the other men?”
“Because you do not hold sway over the other men. If you ask Gaetan to marry Lygia, then he will.”