The Black Knight of Ashfern

Chapter 7

"I want you to be my Mistress," William replied, the words slipping from his lips as easily as if he were talking about the weather. He had thought to try and woo her into accepting the position of his mistress, and were he still in possession of his looks, he would have. But her responses had proved startling more than once. It was far simpler to just say what he wanted and gauge how to proceed with her from there. And if he were to be completely honest with himself, he wanted to see how she would react. Outrage, shock, fear. So he watched and waited. Gaining only a slight rise of her brow before she spoke.

"Beggin' ye pardon sir, but don't ye have Carrie for that?" she asked, staring at him baffled by his statement. A small smile tugged the corner of William's mouth as he rested his head in his hand to hide the expression from her view. Indeed, her reaction had not been what he had expected. She didn't seem the slightest bit ruffled by his words, a little surprised, but no more than she had been when he'd entered the room.

"Carrie is a woman whose bed I share when I feel the need to do so. Apart from that, my coin does not pay for her conversation or company, and I'd be a fool to let it." He admitted, dropping his hand from his face.

"So, ye'll pay for mine?" She questioned, her expression caught between amusement and disbelief as she raised a hand to her chest, indicating herself. "Isn't keepin' me as yer Mistress a bit more expensive than keepin' Carrie? I come with a child and not a penny to me name." She declared. "And I told ye once already, I'm no man's whore. I'll work for ye, and pay ye back as best I can—"

"Nan, I'm not asking you to share my bed, though I'd not be averse to the idea. Cleaned up and in something other than rags, you're not at all unpleasant to look at. What I'm telling you," He clarified. "Is there are few whose company I care to keep. And lesser still, who I can hold a conversation with. You, it would seem, are among those few. And if caring for you and that Brat you call a child is what it takes to keep you here. I shall."

"That's a lot to offer a woman I've only spoken to a handful of times. Surely, ye got friends somewhere, someplace that wouldn't mind staying with ye?"

"What friends I had are dead, or vanished when I received these." He gestured to the scarred portion of his face. "Much the same as my wife." He added his tone solemn and bitter as he stared at his desk. "Your answer, Nan. I would have it now." He said, looking back at her.

"Is there even an option to refuse?"

With a deep sigh, William leaned back into his chair, rubbing his jaw lazily.

"Of course. Though I don't recommend it." He remarked. "Life tends to go much harder for those who go against me. Such as your current living arrangements. Your little...house. My man tells me the storm did quite a bit of damage to it. Apparently, one would find it unlivable now. Such a pity." He tsked, though his tone held not the slightest shred of it. If anything his whole demeanor took on a dark malevolence that gave justification to his title as the Black Knight. And for an instant, Nan seemed to hesitate before him.

The idea of leaving her homeless, that she and her brat would have to hide away in alleys and barns for the winter, bothered him more than he liked, though he'd not show her the slightest inkling of it. He was keen on letting her, like most everyone else, believe he was capable of such cruelty, and letting that stir her fearful imaginings to his favor.

He watched with wonder as Nan's blue eyes flashed with stormy defiance, her jaw clenched, as her hands fisted at her sides.

"I don't take kindly to bein' threatened, Sir." She declared, her eyes burning into his. Looking as though she wanted to throttle him, though her voice remained level.

"Few do." He nodded.

"And I don't see how me livin' me own life, would be goin' against ye." She continued.