Theara lies

Raina's parents were expected at First Fork any day now. Either today or tomorrow, she thought. But she didn't feel like throwing herself into preparations. She didn't feel like doing anything. She just wanted to sit in the tub and stare at the blank wall.

Raina sat in the tub until the water cooled and her skin grew pruney. Melilla sat beside her, never uttering a word.

When Raina eventually climbed out and returned to her chambers, she found Willy waiting for her. "Leave us," she told Melilla.

"Are you sure, my lady?" Melilla asked with a fearful glance at Willy.

"I am," Raina assured her.

"I heard you've been looking for me," Willy said once they were alone, eyes sweeping up and down her body.

"And I heard you knocked up a whore," Raina spat.

"That would be quite a feat, my dear," he said with a jocular smile. "I have never been with a whore, truly. It doesn't quite feel the same if you have to pay for it."

"You know the whore I'm talking about."

"That is just the problem, my dear. I don't know any whores."

"THEARA!" Raina screamed in his face.

Willy closed his eyes and angled his head back from the scream but otherwise seemed unconcerned. "I see you've met," he said with another smile. "Charming woman, isn't she?"

"Is this a joke to you?" Raina hissed.

"I thought it was but I haven't heard the punchline yet. Is it coming?"

"I will kill you, Willarn Bramyrlus Karkbhurg. I WILL kill you!"

Willy put his hands up in surrender. "Why on earth would you want me dead, my dear?"

Raina had had enough. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!" she screamed.

Willy sat there, watching her with an amused look on his face. "That's a very eloquent argument, my dear," he said. "But I'm a little simple. Could you use smaller words, if you please?"

Raina stopped mid-scream, shocked that he would even dare. Everything was a game to him. Everything. She wished she had a sword to slice him to pieces but even then, she feared he would just laugh as he parried her strikes. She channeled her rage, "You… You… You swore to my father. You swore that you would never take another wife as long as I lived. You swore!"

"And I have kept that vow. I haven't married Theara. I'm just fucking her."

"You don't even have the decency to deny it."

"What is there to deny, my dear? I have been fucking Theara for seven months now. And I fucked her for years before I married you. Would you rather I lied to you?"

"I would rather you weren't unfaithful to me."

"And what would you have me be faithful to, Raina? A wife who hates me? A wife who has never even kissed me and probably never will? If I wanted to be celibate, I would have taken a priest's vows. But silly me, I said marriage vows instead. A common mistake, I'm sure."

Raina looked at the man she had married. The man who killed Robyr. Sitting there, smiling off her accusations. Acting like she was a petulant child. This made her even angrier. "She's pregnant," Raina hissed.

Willy laughed and laughed. "Is that what she told you?" he asked. Then he laughed some more. "Theara is not pregnant. Theara has never been pregnant. Theara will never be pregnant."

"You seem so certain," Raina observed.

"I am certain," Willy said. "Theara is forty-three and barren. And she prefers swallowing my seed these days anyway. Says it keeps her looking youthful."

Raina tried not to form a mental image but it came to her mind anyway. It took all her self-control to not strangle him right there. "Why would she tell me she was pregnant if she wasn't?"

"Because Theara lies, my dear. She lies about everything, lies about lying, and then lies about that too. I expect she did it to rile you up. It's a special talent of hers. Did she tell you the tale of how we met?"

"She did," Raina said, eyeing him with all her rage.

"Which version was it this time?" Willy asked. "Did I violently fuck her brains out atop her husband's corpse or beneath a tree I had hanged him on while he swayed above us?"

"She said you two fucked on a table while her husband watched and slowly bled to death," Raina informed him.

Willy smiled. "That's a new one. Haven't heard that one before. She's always very imaginative with her tales."

"So you're saying the tale is false?" Raina asked.

Willy looked at her as if she had gone mad. "Didn't the fact that it's such a ridiculous tale already clue you in?"

"So you didn't kill her husband?"

"I did," Willy admitted. "He killed his neighbor and was in hiding. Theara told us where he was hiding. We went there, found him, and hanged him."

"And how long after hanging this man did you start fucking his widow?"

"The widow didn't love him. He beat her all the time. She was happy to be rid of him. She told us where the fool was hiding for gods' sake. We didn't even ask. She just told us."

"How long did you wait?" Raina pressed.

Willy shrugged. "About three months."

"Three months? That quick?"

"I couldn't find any guidelines on the appropriate amount of time to wait after killing a man before fucking his widow. How long do you think I should have waited?"

"You should never have fucked her at all."

"Her in-laws kicked her out and her family didn't want her. They thought she was a witch. I was in command of a fort near the Vaechian border. It wasn't a big fort, only twenty men. We spent our days hunting Vaechian raiders and the nights wanking. Theara journeyed for days on foot to come to the fort. She threw herself at my feet and begged for my help."

"And you fucked her?"

Willy cringed back. "No! I set her up in a nearby village. It had been abandoned because of constant raids and we were having trouble finding settlers. She had a decent house, a bit of livestock, and lots of land. Every time she cooked something good, she would bring it to me at the fort. This was every two days or so. We were surviving on hardtacks, salt pork, and the occasional deer. I was just happy to eat a freshly cooked meal. Whenever I was near the village, I would drop in to say hello and dip into whatever she had in her pot. One day, a thunderstorm trapped me in her house. One thing led to another and I ended up in her bed."

"Who started it?"

"My dear, I was fifteen, she was thirty-four. I was a ball of nervous energy and misplaced cockiness. I couldn't seduce a grown woman even if I could work up the courage to try in the first place. Theara will tell you as much herself if you ever talk to her again."

"And you had an affair with her for how long?"

"Nine years if you count this one."

"Nine years," Raina whistled. "Then you brought her with you to continue the affair?

Willy shook his head. "No. My father threatened to hang her if I brought her with me."

"How did she end up here then?" Raina asked.

"I expect she traveled, like everyone else. It can't be that hard to mount a horse or board a barge."

"And she came here?"

"She waited outside the gates. One day I went out for a ride and found her waiting for me."

"And instead of sending her away, you resumed your affair."

"I was sad and lonely and horny. Theara has always been eager to solve those problems for me. What did you expect me to do? Reject her and wallow in misery like you?"

"I am not miserable," Raina protested. She was. But she would never admit that. Not even to herself.

"Of course not," Willy said. "You derive all your joy from making me miserable."

"That's an unfair accusation."

"Is it?" Willy asked.

Raina didn't answer. Instead, she switched back to Theara. "You will send her away and we will never speak of this again," she instructed him.

Willy pursed his lips and shook her head. "I cannot do that."

"Cannot? Why?"

"I exiled her once when she annoyed me too much. When she returned, she made me swear a blood oath to never send her away again. I can't. My hands are tied."

"I'm your wife!" Raina yelled. "You will send the witch away or I will talk to your father about that hanging."

Willy grew solemn. "Do that and you're my enemy. You and my father both."

That statement chilled Raina. "Do you love her?"

"I don't know," Willy admitted. "Theara is the only woman I have ever been with. She is infuriating. Worse than you. I can't count the number of times I have wanted to strangle her with my bare hands. But she is worth the pain. When she puts her mind to it, she can make me a very happy man. But with you, it's all pain and no gain."

"Why did you marry me then?" Raina asked.

"Same reason you married me: my father commanded me to."

"And all those times you tried to charm and seduce me?" Raina asked. "Did your father command that as well?"

"No," Willy said. "I thought I could break Theara's spell if I buried myself in another woman. Seeing you so devoted to poor dead Robyr was irritating and yet heartening at the same time. If I could make you as devoted to me, who knows? But you were never interested. You rebuffed and rejected me at every turn. And then Theara returned and none of that mattered anymore. She's a demented old witch but I can't help myself."

"I was willing to try, Willy."

"When? When have you treated me with anything but scorn? You have rebuffed my every attempt at reconciliation and have completely refused to be a wife in anything but name to me. When have you ever put any work into this marriage?"

"Yesterday," Raina whispered.

"Yesterday?" Willy scoffed. "When you stood behind me and fumbled with my armor for half an hour while looking like you wanted to be anywhere but there? Is that your idea of trying?"

"I wanted to go on a ride with you. To start mending fences. But you rebuffed me because you wanted to go see your whore."

Willy glared at her, growing uncharacteristically angry. "I lost an ear last month, Raina. Did you even notice?"

Raina checked her husband's ears and sure enough, half his left ear had been sliced off. She had never noticed until now. She remembered Melilla mentioning something about an ear some time back but she hadn't been interested.

She had never bothered observing Willy enough to notice his new deformity on her own either. She felt like an absolute hypocrite. "I am sorry," Raina whispered. "How did it happen?"

"It doesn't matter," Willy said. "The fact you didn't know and never noticed until I mentioned it…" he trailed off, shook his head, and stood up to leave.

"Will you stop seeing Theara?" Raina asked.

Willy shook his head. "No."

"Then I will find myself a lover too," Raina threatened.

Willy turned, anger flaring. He had a hand around Raina's neck before she could react. She feared he was going to strangle her but he didn't squeeze. "I will not be cuckolded," he rumbled.

"So it's alright for you to have a lover but I can't have one?"

Willy nodded. "Yes, Raina. The world isn't fair. Men can marry five wives but a woman can't have two husbands. That's just how it is. I wanted to be fair to you, Raina. I really did. But you don't make it easy."

Then Willy tightened his grip around her neck and moved his face so close to hers that their lips touched. "That doesn't mean I will allow you to cuckold me. You may hate me with every fiber of your being but you're still mine. You will always be mine. Never forget that. If any man touches you, I will kill him. If any man looks at you in a manner I don't like, I will kill him. If your poor Robyr rises from the dead and lays a single hand on you, I will kill him all over again. No one touches what's mine. No one!"

Raina felt a rumbling in her gut, a familiar sensation she had felt once before on their wedding night. She felt her blood boil. It wasn't anger. It was something else. Something terrifying. She gazed into those gleaming gray eyes as thoughts swirled in her head and her heartbeat quickened. Then a knock came on the door. "My lady," Melilla called.

Willy released Raina and stepped back. The strange feeling subsided. "What is it?" Raina asked, loud enough to be heard from beyond the door.

"A message from Glory Point, my lady. Marked as urgent. Your mother's own hand."

What are they doing at Glory Point? They should be on the road. Or here, Raina thought as she rushed to the door. Melilla stood there with Carman the pigeon keeper. The pigeon keeper handed Raina a scroll.

Raina recognized her mother's handwriting at once. She unrolled the letter with trembling hands. It wasn't one of her mother's lengthy letters in which she asked Raina if she was pregnant yet every two sentences. This one was exceedingly brief:

Raina,

Your father is on death's door. He wants to see you and Sir Willarn. Come at once.

Love, 

Mother.