The Duke's Unwanted Second Wife

Xenia counted the coins they had gathered since morning, her fingers moving swiftly across the copper pieces. ”We sold fifty lamps today,” she said, a brief smile breaking across her face. ”That leaves us with fifty sheels.”

”Are we rich now, sister?” Lara asked, looking up with wide eyes.

”Far from it,” Xenia replied with a quiet laugh. ”To be rich, we would need to earn this tenfold for the next ten years.” She gathered the earnings, secured them tightly inside a leather pouch, and tucked it safely into the inner pocket of her heavy wool coat.

Lara climbed onto the wooden lip at the front of the cart while Xenia took hold of the handles behind her. On their way through the market, Xenia stopped briefly at a confectioner’s stall to buy a stick of spun sugar candy, handing it over to her sister, who accepted it eagerly.

”This is so sweet, sister!” Lara declared, tasting the sugar with delight while swinging her legs.

Xenia only smiled, leaning her weight forward to keep the heavy cart moving through the cobbled street.

After moving some distance, Xenia noticed three men troubling a group of three. She decided to ignore them and quietly steered the cart past the commotion.

”Hey, stop right there!” shouted one of the men, a fellow with a protruding belly and a thick beard.

Xenia kept going until a stone struck her square in the back. ”Ahh!” she cried out, halting the cart immediately. Lara whipped her head around toward the men, instantly jumping down to rush to her sister’s side.

”How much did you make today, young lady?” the pot-bellied man sneered.

”Not much,” Xenia replied, resting a firm hand on Lara’s shoulder to keep her close.

”Give us half of what you made if you want to leave here in one piece,” the second man demanded, stepping forward.

”I have no reason to hand over a single coin unless you are the King’s tax collectors,” Xenia replied firmly.

The three men burst into rough laughter, while the group of middle-aged men standing nearby watched in visible fear. ”Just hand it over, girl,” one of the bystanders urged quietly. ”They are ruthless.”

”Did you hear the man?” the third extortionist sneered, drawing a heavy iron knife from his belt. ”This road belongs to us. If you want to get back home unharmed, you pay the toll.”

Xenia did not flinch, even as the man closed the distance between them. He used the flat tip of his blade to hook the lapel of her woolen jacket, searching for where she kept her earnings. Keeping her composure, Xenia reached inside and withdrew the coin pouch.

The man grinned and reached out to snatch it, but Xenia yanked her arm back out of his reach. In the same quick motion, her free hand seized the wooden stick resting against the side of her cart. She swung it with all her strength, striking him squarely across the side of his head.

”Lara, under the cart! Now!” Xenia shouted, turning her weapon on the other two men before they could recover from their shock.

Drawing on her years of training in self-defense, Xenia moved with sharp precision, fending off two of the men at once.

”Behind you, sister!” Lara screamed from beneath the cart as the pot-bellied man lunged toward Xenia’s back.

Xenia reacted instantly. She ducked beneath his swinging arm and drove her elbow backward into his sternum, knocking the wind out of him. Pivoting on her heel, she swept behind his off-balance frame and delivered a kick to the back of his knee, sending his body crashing onto the stone cobblestones.

She thrashing the three thugs with her timber stick without holding back. Encouraged by her defiance, the three middle-aged men joined in, raining blows on the men who had been terrorizing them. A crowd quickly gathered around the melee, murmuring in confusion as they tried to piece together what was unfolding.

The thugs howled and begged for mercy, but the beatings continued unabated until two constables pushed their way through the crowd.

”Halt! What is the meaning of this?” one constable barked, brandishing his baton.

Xenia and the three men lowered their improvised weapons at once.

”These thugs were trying to rob us of our hard-earned money,” Xenia said, keeping her voice steady despite her quickened breath. ”They threatened our lives with a blade.”

”The lady speaks the truth,” the three men chimed in together. ”They have been demanding tolls from everyone passing through.”

”Forgive us!” the pot-bellied man sobbed, clutching his bruised ribs on the cobblestones. ”It hurts... this woman is a demon.”

The constables looked between the battered thugs and Xenia, their eyes widening in disbelief. Recovering their composure, they hauled the three weeping thugs to their feet.

”You three are coming with us,” one of them declared, before turning his gaze back to Xenia. ”And as for you, young lady, since you were central to this brawl, you will need to come to the station to give an official statement.”

”What? Why?” Xenia asked, her eyes widening in disbelief. ”We were defending ourselves.”

Lara scrambled out from under the cart and threw her arms around Xenia’s waist, clinging to her tightly. ”Sister, where are they taking you?” the girl whimpered, looking up at the constables with frightened eyes.

”I cannot come with you,” Xenia said, standing her ground.

”You must respect the law, young lady. Self-defense or not, you thrashed these men within an inch of their lives,” one of the constables said sternly. He turned to the others and added, ”And you three are coming along as well.”

”And what of my cart? I cannot simply abandon it here in the open street,” Xenia replied, gesturing to her wares.

”Xenia! What in heaven’s name is happening here?” Oliver called out, cutting through the onlookers as he hurried to her side, a heavy sack of vegetables cradled under his arm.

”They are taking my sister away!” Lara sobbed, burying her face into Xenia’s skirts.