When you are trained as a warrior, you learn to control your emotions, your thoughts, the very muscles in your body. My control was legendary in my kingdom and I was known for letting nothing rattle my calm. But listening to this female stand in front of my lady wife and claim that I had sired a son off of her brought me to the very edge of my control. Never had I come so close to killing a female like I wanted to do with this one who was spewing such lies. I could only imagine what Calissande was thinking and I hated the hurt I knew it was causing her. Again.

My hand itched to grab my sword and separate the camaspoza's head from her neck, but I could not do that until she admitted the truth for all to hear, and something told me that she would not give up her child's claim to my wealth easily. Coming here like this, making a claim like this was punishable by death if it was a lie.

And it was a lie.

For many reasons.

Calissande was likely not concerned that this child of a camaspoza could have a claim on my holdings and wealth. In other kingdoms, only legitimate children could inherit the man's titles and all his amassed wealth.

Not so in the kingdoms ruled by my king. My liege lord had been born a bastard, the only son of the king at the time, and when his father had died, a distant legitimate cousin had attempted to ascend the throne. My king fought him and won and had always thereafter been referred to as the Bastard King. He relished the name and called himself that so no one could forget his beginnings and what he had endured to claim his throne.

His first order of business, to the displeasure of many, was to set in writing a law that the first-born son, be he bastard or legitimate, was heir to everything his father held. And it was on this knowledge that the camaspoza made her false claim.

She stood so boldly, looking at my Calissande with a triumphant look on her face, that I withdrew my sword slowly and pointed the razor-sharp tip at her face.

"You will not look at my lady wife or you will soon find yourself without eyes."

She stepped back, her eyes widening, her mouth grim. "This is how you dare treat the mother of your heir?"

"I would never threaten my lady wife in such a way. But as you and that child are nothing to me, I dare anything."

"I have rights!" she asserted, her voice rising in frustration. "I know what I am entitled to as the mother of a warrior's heir."

Interesting. When the king had made his new law, he had also set up strict provisions for the mother of the heir, having seen how his own mother had suffered when the king abandoned her for another mistress. This camaspoza had clearly been investigating.

"Since you are not the mother of my heir, you have no rights. I suggest you contain yourself, and your mouth, before you find yourself unable to see."

Under my hand, I felt Calissande trembling, and my anger at the woman increased. What must my lady wife be thinking right now? That this was yet another sin I committed against her? Had I never fucked the camaspoza, I would not be standing here right now, being falsely accused. It would not even be a question. This is yet another way my traditions hurt my wife, and I felt my insides tighten in disgust.

When I had realized that my lady wife truly was hurt by my having a camaspoza and not simply playing the role expected during the Taming, I took steps to address the situation and remove the camaspoza from our lives.

On that day I was leaving for court, my steward accompanied me to my chambers to deliver the news to her, as per protocol.

"Lord Carrington is sending you back to the training center without censure. Pack."

She had broken a rule and looked directly at me then, her face shocked, my steward had told me. Then she immediately broke another rule and addressed me directly instead of going through Henrill.

"My lord Carrick, did I do something wrong?"

Henrill gasped at her audacity and snapped at her harshly. "You forget yourself! Do not ever allow my lord's name to leave your mouth again. You are leaving in the hour so you best pack instead of questioning my lord Carrington."

I should have known her boldness then did not bode well for me. I could have had her chained for both of those offenses, and looking back, I wish I had. Her behavior then was a sign of her boldness to come.

I nodded to two of my guardsmen. "Take her to the stone house. Guard her there to ensure no one enters or exits the house."

"I will not be kept a prisoner," she snarled at me. "I know my rights! I know how I should be treated!"

"If she will not go willingly, drag her," I told the guards, done with this female whose only intent was to cause trouble.

As they moved toward her, she realized they would drag her, baby or not, so she turned and walked, yelling to everyone as she left the common room.

"You will see! This baby is his heir! He can't deny me or my baby our just dues! My son is Lord Carrington's heir!"

When she was gone, the room was silent as a tomb, everyone frozen in place.

"I would that you all continue your evening meal," I announced. "My lady wife and I will be taking our leave and wish you a good evening."

They all stood as I helped a very quiet Calissande to her feet and escorted her from the room, her face pale and set.

Jannip and Mrs. Keystone, the housekeeper, were sitting quietly in the bed chamber, watching Felicity sleep in her cradle. We excused them and I sat Calissande on the end of the bed. Before I could sit next to her, she jumped up as if burned.

"I have no wish to sit on the bed where you and your camaspoza sported," she hissed at me.

"This is not that bed, Calissande," I told her calmly, hating the hurt she was suffering. "While you were visiting the estates, I had every piece of furniture, every rug, every window covering, every wall sconce, every piece of bedding removed and burned. The walls and floors and windows have all been scrubbed clean. Everything in this chamber, down to the candles, is new for my lady wife, so this bed is safe for you to sit on."

"Why did you do that?"

The infernal why with my lady. My men did not care about why. They accepted my word and did not ask questions. Learning to understand a lady wife was mystifying to me since her mind did not work like mine or my men's.

"Because, Calissande," I said with a heavy sigh, "I realized how deeply my actions had hurt you and I wanted to erase what I could of that pain from existence. When I brought you back here, I wanted you to know that I would change everything possible to help ease your suffering. Everything was made new, and I was hoping we could start fresh."

"Yes, you so wanted to start fresh that you stayed here and did not care where I was until I wrote you of the babe."

Sitting beside her tiny form, I gently turned her face toward mine. "I was advised to give you time, Calissande, time and distance to help you heal from the pain I had given you. I did not want to, but I trusted those who advised me."

"And who gave you this advice?" she practically spat at me.

"It was your parents."

That seemed to deflate her. "They came for a visit?"

I shook my head. "No. I went to them. I kept trying to catch up to you on your travels once I returned from court and found you had left me. But you were wily and kept giving the stewards of my manors false information about where you were visiting next and you did not stay long enough at any of my estates for me to make it there before you left again. I was most frustrated and my stallion was most tired as we tried to hunt you down. After a while, realizing how greatly you did not wish me to find you, I traveled to your parents' keep to talk with them about how best to win you back."

"And what did they say," she asked, as always my curious little cat.

"First I had to explain to them the tradition of the camaspoza to them so they could understand the source of your upset." I looked her in the eye. "They were most displeased, and they spent a good deal of time explaining why you would find my tradition most unacceptable. Had I not already come to understand how I hurt you, they would have clarified the issue for me. Your father was particularly pointed in his comments."

She almost smiled. "I can only imagine what he had to say on the matter."

"You mother had words for me, too, Calissande. I made them understand that I had given up the camaspoza and would be sharing my bed chamber only with you going forward."

"I see."

"They then advised me to let you have your separate time for a while, for they know of your temper and your need to think on things. I did not want to give you that time, Calissande, but because I had hurt you so badly and had not cared for you properly as a husband, I felt that I must. You parents had advised it and seeing as they had known you for twenty-two years and I had known you for only four months, I followed their advice."

She nodded solemnly but said nothing.

"Now we need to talk about what happened at dinner, though I do not like to. I want you to know, Calissande, that her child is not mine. She is lying."

At that, she did look at me. "How can you be so sure, warrior? You were with her."

"Not like that, Calissande. And you should know, though it is not a subject for a lady wife, there is an herbal concoction that is given to the camaspoza daily to prevent her from conceiving a child. This same concoction, when taken by a man, works on his seed for several hours, rendering it useless. So it is double the prevention. In the hundreds of years that it has been used, this concoction has never failed. And my lady, you can be sure that I dosed both her and myself every evening without fail."

My lady looked away from me and I wondered if I would ever stop bringing her pain.

"Up until the day she left, even though I was not with her, I gave her that concoction. The day I rode for court is the day I stopped. So it was on her journey to the training center that she became pregnant, Calissande. I was nowhere near her and I was, in fact, headed in a different direction."

Before she could respond, Henrill knocked on the door. "My lord, he is arrived," he called out.

"I must go take care of some business, Calissande. I would not leave you now had I a choice, but this matter must be dealt with immediately."

She nodded at me, silent and absorbing my words. I took my leave of her, pressing a kiss to her forehead, hoping that this unpleasant matter would be settled shortly.

Alcarn paced in my private chamber, then turned when I walked into the room.

"My lord," he said, "I was told you wished to see me immediately upon my return."

Before he could say another word, I pulled my sword and placed it under his chin, tipping his head back and drawing a bead of blood.

"I did, indeed, wish to see you, Alcarn. I had a most disturbing evening that resulted in my lady wife being upset. And Lady Carrington being upset is unacceptable to me. So I have been pondering how this upset came about, for I know with certainty that I did not cause it, which left me to wonder who could have been responsible. As I considered the matter, I determined the only person it could be was you, as you were the only one tasked with seeing the camaspoza returned to the training center for me."

His face paled and I knew he was beginning to grasp that he was in greater danger than just having my sword at his throat. What he had done was a capital crime.

"Tell me, Alcarn, for I know I was in a rush when I gave my orders to you and I may have forgotten some details, but refresh my memory, if you would: did I give you instructions to fuck the camaspoza on the journey?"