“This is revolting,” Giefroi said. “No real man would choose to stay a woman for any reason.”

“That is rather the point,” Aelfeva said. “It’s open to question whether I ever was.”

“I suspect we could all come up with memories that show that,” Guillen said, and Aelfeva saw her friends and brother nod.

“The problem is,” Ferrand said, “you’re considering ‘real man’ to be a compliment and ‘woman’ to be an insult, and I’m fairly sure you’re the only one in this room doing that. I think if Aelf had been born a girl, she and Jos would be a lot like Rich and Teoda. And I assume that your idea of a ‘real man’ is why you don’t like Guillen and I being together, which mostly just proves that you have no idea what you’re talking about and you’re more interested in bluster and posturing and anger than you are in listening. Jos and Aelf have always been close. Aelf is absolutely a woman right now, as I understand it, so I really don’t understand why you’re calling Jos names. Guillen and I realized ages ago that we were in love and have been seriously frustrated over being unable to do anything about it, and you are the main reason we kept it a secret.” His voice shook, and the volume began to edge upwards. “Not Rosebridge as a whole. Definitely not his family. You, and all your hate and your certainty that you’re entitled to be in control of everyone around you and that you know the only right answer to absolutely everything.”

Aelfeva wasn’t the only one startled into silence, though she felt more like cheering. Guillen reached up to seize his hand, a reminder of presence and support.

Giefroi crossed his arms, but Aelfeva saw his fists clench until the knuckles whitened, and he re-crossed them to bring them into better view.

Ferrand flinched; Guillen scrambled to his feet and braced himself on the arm of the chair, his arm draped around Ferrand’s shoulders in what looked like a protective gesture to Aelfeva as much as it did reassurance. Maybe it helped, or maybe he had the bit in his teeth and wasn’t going to be stopped now.

This was a good moment for her own intended statement. She dropped back towards the stairs and the out-of-the-way corner where she’d been leaving her practice sword. She saw Sadrilde lying on one of the comfortable benches, but the cat’s ears were back and her tail lashed side to side. Aelfeva didn’t have time to linger and try to reassure her; she needed to get back quickly.

“We’re getting married tomorrow,” Ferrand said. “Neither of us cares what the rest of Rosebridge thinks, because it doesn’t matter. We can live together and have a life together and I guarantee we’ll be happier than you ever made my mother. And I am absolutely sure that Jos and Aelf are going to be just as happy, and that they don’t care what you think. And there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop it, so for once, keep all your spite and threats and manipulation to yourself and just shut up.”

“I second every word of that,” Josceran said.

The soft sound of Aelfeva’s sword sliding out of the leather-wrapped wooden sheath drew the attention largely of Ximeno and of those facing towards her as she strode back.

Giefroi’s red-faced spluttering attempt at a retort died only halfway-formed when the point of the sword hovered a handspan from his throat. Annoyingly, the weight meant she couldn’t keep it as steady as she wanted and the point wavered a little, but that probably wouldn’t detract from the message. His eyes nearly crossed as they tried to stay focused on the sharp steel, and she saw him swallow carefully.

“About that,” Aelfeva said. “I want something absolutely clear right now, and I’m doing this deliberately in front of plenty of witnesses. If you ever, ever again raise a hand to my husband or his brother or me or, gods help us, any children, or any of our now-tangled collection of siblings by marriage, or for that matter any maid who comes into your house or literally anyone, ever again, I will kill you, and I will make it painful even if I can’t give it the weight of countless bruises and Hrethe knows how many tears and the nightmare you put Jos through for over a year for not blindly obeying and probably having a hand in Ferrand’s leg healing wrong, maybe even being how it got broken in the first place. I’ll take my chances on whether either of your closest kin decides to claim wergild. It would be worth it, but I think you’ve made sure that is extremely unlikely. If anyone even threatened our father, let alone attacked him, Rich and Leo and I wouldn’t stop until we had every penny or every drop of blood or both, but that’s because, even if he keeps saying the wrong things right now, I know it’s because this is big and confusing and he’s afraid for me. I doubt you’ve ever done anything out of love in your entire life, and both of your sons are standing back and letting me do this without a word. Are we absolutely clear on this? If you strike or molest, or even threaten to strike or molest, anyone, I will track you down and kill you and take full and open responsibility for it. And the rest of you can witness that.” She retreated one step and lowered the sword, which suddenly felt heavy and she realized she was shaking.

Josceran abandoned his father to take both sword and sheath from her, and gave her a quick kiss. “I should have been expecting that, really.”

“Witness it?” Guillen said, with a growl in his voice, arms tight around Ferrand, who was leaning back against him. “I’ll be right there with you doing it.”

Teoda slid forward out of her chair, then caught Josceran’s eye and tilt her head towards it.

Josceran twined his fingers into Aelfeva’s and drew her towards it, using one foot to nudge it far enough that she could reach it without tripping over Teoda and Richold; she automatically sat down. Never releasing her hand, he laid the sheathed sword on the floor next to the chair and stayed on his feet, standing over it and beside her.

“Bruises?” Melisend said. “Is that... did you hit Jehanne? Is that what she wouldn’t tell me? Is that why she miscarried twice, and the second time killed her?” Her voice climbed rapidly. “Jehanne was my friend, for more reasons than the same first language! I told her she should not have consented to marrying you, she struggled too much with the language and felt too isolated, but she was so determined to please her family that she wouldn’t even consider leaving you when it was clear she was unhappy. And those good-for-nothing brothers of hers just accepted it as a natural event and didn’t look past that... I was with her when she died! Did you kill her by hitting her when she was pregnant?”

“That is a very good question.” Vituccia’s voice was more ice than the fire in Melisend’s. “If you have been leaving bruises on your sons that they were, I assume, too intimidated to tell anyone about, were you doing so to Jehanne as well?”

Giefroi said nothing.

Josceran said, “I don’t know about that day exactly, but it... other days, he did, so...”

Melisend’s expression made Aelfeva glad that her very real, very sharp sword was out of her mother’s reach.

“You despicable little man. I do know this: Josceran and Ferrand are her sons too, and she would be delighted to have them marry one of my children and one of Vituccia’s.”

“No one has ever been willing to bring charges against you,” Einwulf said. “My hands were tied without that, but I’ve been wishing someone finally would.”

“How about,” Josceran said, “you just give Ferrand and I the mill and, obviously, our horses and all, and we won’t look into exactly what we could get for two lifetimes of violence that goes well beyond an occasional reprimand, and quite possibly our mother’s life?”

Ferrand glanced up at his brother, and nodded.

“I think you should add to that,” Einwulf said. “Since they’re entitled to that much anyway.”

“A man is entitled,” Giefroi said tightly, “to maintain discipline in his own house, and is responsible for correcting the bad behaviour of his wife and children. That obviously failed, since they’re both disrespectful and ungrateful to go with being a pair of unmanly perverts not interested in real women, but that doesn’t make the effort a crime. You want the damned mill? Fine, take it, and I’ll find blackmail money for you since I wouldn’t get any kind of fair hearing with the reeve backing you. I’m done with this.” He strode towards the front door, flung it open so hard it crashed into the wall, and left without closing it.

Richold got up to do so, and Aelfeva saw him throw the lock as well before he came back to Teoda’s feet.

“I don’t know where he’s going,” Vituccia began.

“Tavern, most likely,” Ximeno said. “And without knowing him they might not throw him out early.”

Vituccia nodded. “Quite likely. All the more reason that I don’t want you boys anywhere in his reach without witnesses present. I don’t trust him not to try something foolish. Meli, you have an extra bedroom with Leofeva not here, yes?”

Melisend nodded. “And it’s yours for the night, Jos. I am not expecting you to sleep knowing he could turn up.”

“Good. And I’m going to leave it up to Guillen and my girls to decide who’s going to share a bed tonight with whom, I trust you and I’m not going to ask. You two are going to fetch your things and stay out of that house. He just contaminates any space he’s in, I swear. Gods, that man reminds me of my father, and that is not a compliment.” She sighed. “I wish we’d known. I’m sorry we didn’t pick up on it. But I do understand learning to hide very effectively, and I don’t see much point to dwelling on that—you know that we would have acted if we’d known.”

“Yes,” Ferrand said.

“I think if I were him,” Ximeno said, “Aelf’s threat would make me think twice, but I’m not sure how much he thinks anything through rather than just reacting, so I suppose we’ll see. Is there anything else that needs to be clarified right now? We know which three couples are getting married tomorrow and that Aelf prefers to stay a woman. That was all we needed to hear?”

“It is,” Teoda said. “We just wanted to be certain that there are no surprises tomorrow. And Aelf wanted it clear that this is her choice, not a curse. We weren’t... well, most of us weren’t expecting an additional surprise.”

“Right now,” Guillen said, “let’s go pack up your things before he gets back, so we know you two are sleeping somewhere safe and I don’t have to sit up all night with my sword in reach. Once that’s done, Leofeva still needs to know what’s happening. I don’t know that I want you out of my sight right now. Come with me?”

Ferrand simply nodded. “Dara should come too. She can get in to talk to her. And would probably like to see her.”

“Yes, please,” Ilduara said.

“All right,” Guillen said. “Any further questions, I guess just... ask someone? But I think that’s everything.”

Josceran dropped to one knee beside Aelfeva as a lot of bodies began to move in a careful dance within the limited space. “I may be exasperating, but you’re half mad at moments.”

“And he’s scared,” Aelfeva retorted. “So it was worth it. We need to go get your room cleared out and I don’t want you alone. Given what he’s already done and the mood he’s been in, it wouldn’t surprise me if he tried to get out of you two getting marriage settlements by making sure he has no living sons to claim them. I want someone watching your back.”

Josceran straightened. “Ah... I think you might have to leave that to Rich. I think your father wants to talk to you.” He leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Stay out of trouble, I’ll be back soon. Rich? Could you give me a hand?”

“Absolutely,” Richold said promptly.

Einwulf dragged a chair over to face Aelfeva’s and dropped heavily into it. “Keeps saying the wrong things?”

“What?” Aelfeva said. “Oh. Well, yes. But I more or less expected that and it’s all right. I actually do understand. I was injured by Herlinde in an incomprehensible and unexpected way, and instead of jumping at the first chance to have it reversed, I’m embracing it and choosing to hold onto it despite the likely long-term complications and consequences. Right? Of course it’s confusing. I’ve been struggling for the past few days to figure it out and I still don’t understand how or why or... really, much of anything, I just know what I need to do. I’m not expecting you to get it today and maybe not soon. What I do know is that you want me safe and happy and this looks like it jeopardizes that, but when it doesn’t it’ll be easier to try to understand it without that worry being in the way. I know you.”

“Possibly better than I know you.” Einwulf startled her by wrapping both of his hands around one of hers. “I couldn’t prove anything against Giefroi, but I’ve had enough hints... all I could do was at least try to keep Leofeva out of that house, and I couldn’t.” She heard his voice crack, and laid her other hand over his. “I didn’t want you there either, although maybe not for quite the same reason. I should have known Josceran would keep it from happening, but I didn’t think to ask. You’re right. I don’t understand. I do think it’s a mistake. But if it matters so much, then... well, Jos is a good man. If it weren’t for his father, I’d have had no issue with him marrying Leo, so I suppose I can’t argue if you are.” He heaved a sigh. “I’ll probably keep saying the wrong things though.”

“Wrong things but right reason. I can live with that.” Purely to break the mood, because Einwulf wouldn’t know how to end this and was definitely uncomfortable, she smiled. “So can I have the pasture behind the inn?”

That caught him off guard, and he laughed. “Yes, I think we can make sure that’s included.”

“Good. With the mill and the inn and our new house and the pasture all right there, between us we can keep an eye on the bridge and collect tolls. We’ll have to build a gate at each end that locks, with room for people to get through on foot, but if we set up a couple of bells on ropes or something, someone can run to the bridge and take care of any other traffic. It’s all going to work out, and the King will leave us alone, and we can all get on with our lives.”

“You’re right. We should have sorted that out before. Ximeno was still a relative newcomer when the ruling came in, and might not have wanted to push it. Giefroi, well... if he could avoid it, of course he would. I should have done better.”

“I can’t argue with that. Not dealing with the situation was almost catastrophic. It did work out in a way that’s actually better in ways no one saw coming, but there’s no way anyone could have anticipated that and it was a very near miss. It shouldn’t have happened. It did. I don’t think anyone is holding grudges. I’m pretty sure everyone just wants to get the ceremony finished tomorrow and have a day or two to recover and then just focus on the future. Which is looking pretty bright for everyone except Giefroi.”

“That’s the least he deserves.” He sighed heavily. “Just... be happy.”

“I’m trying my best.” She let go of his hands and leaned forward to give him a hug. “And I know I’m not doing it alone.”

He returned the hug, somewhat awkwardly, then let go. “You’d better go keep an eye on Josceran.”

Josceran didn’t need her right now, but her father needed space, and extra hands to keep Ferrand from having to carry even one end of a trunk would be helpful. “You’re probably right. And Mother was really upset. You might want to check on her. I think she’s gone upstairs. Could you take my sword up? I’d like to take it with me but that’s a bad idea in the city.” Even if Giefroi came home while they were still there, he was unlikely to try violence against five.

Einwulf nodded as he rose, and accepted the sword Aelfeva handed him. “Maybe instead of killing him, you can just persuade someone to actually lay charges and stand by them, hm?”

“That doesn’t sound as good as a threat, but I’ll keep it in mind." She smiled at him, laid her hand briefly on his shoulder, then went in search of Josceran.