Sylvie sighed wearily, wishing he’d go down to his office and leave her in peace. If he thought she was up to any love-making tonight he was mistaken, especially when he was seething with unspent anger like this.
‘I feel very sorry for her. You’re always on her back and I don’t think it’s warranted. I think there’s something else going on here but you won’t even consider the possibility. You’ve really got it in for poor Leveret.’
‘That’s not true and you damn well know it! I only got involved in the first place because Mother asked me to help sort out her bad behaviour, and I’ve tried to. Leveret was a lovely little girl but not anymore – she needs discipline. She’s been running circles round poor Mother and all I’ve tried to do is provide that discipline. She’s as out of control as some Outside World teenager and you know we don’t allow that sort of behaviour at Stonewylde.’
Sylvie sat silently, too tired to argue back. He looked down at her noticing how pale and strained she looked, wraith-like in this shadowy light in her white Imbolc dress. She may seem weak, he thought bitterly, yet she was always arguing with him, challenging everything he said or did, never accepting his judgement or good sense. She was making his life hell. He felt the anger, always bubbling inside him lately, well up again. All he’d ever done was love her, try to look after her and care for her. Why had life become a constant battle with her? What had happened to their peace and harmony?
‘I’ll speak to Mother in the morning and we’ll decide what to do with her,’ he continued. ‘Leveret may have to move in here with us or perhaps into a dormitory with some of the older girls as I don’t think I want her influencing our daughters. Or better still, I could send her to boarding school in the Outside World – that’d sort her out. She won’t get away with what she did today, bloody little nuisance.’
‘Have you heard yourself, Yul? What’s the matter with you?’ Sylvie felt her voice rising but was beyond caring. ‘Leveret’s a young girl – your own little sister – it’s her birthday today, she was terrified of the ceremonies and she made a silly mistake. It’s not the end of the world, no great crime, and yet the way you go on anyone would think she’d done something awful.’
‘She has! She completely ruined everything today! One of our eight festivals of the year was spoiled for everyone because of her behaviour. That’s something awful in my books. She’ll be punished for today – she deserves it.’
‘You’re a bully!’
‘I’m the magus! It’s part of my role to mete out justice.’
‘You sound like an arrogant pig-headed brute to me!’
‘So now you’re resorting to cheap insults? This is all your fault anyway!’
She glared at him, her head pounding with pain.
‘I wondered when you’d bring this up!’ she yelled. ‘I knew from the minute I saw Leveret falling apart that I’d get the blame. You couldn’t wait to say “I told you so”, could you?’
‘Not at all! I went along with your decision even though I didn’t agree with it. I let you have your own way yet again. But now we both know how wrong you were. You made a serious error of judgement and clearly you should’ve consulted me about it first.’
‘Why should I? You never consult me about anything! You never, ever ask my opinion. You’re as arrogant as your father was.’
‘No I’m not!’
‘Yes you are, Yul! You’re like him in almost every way. There are days when it could be him here and not you, dominating and pushing everyone around. Sometimes I wonder just how like him you’re going to become. Will you bring back whipping for anyone who stands up to you? Will you start taking girls up to the Stone Circle on their sixteenth birthdays?’
He’d stepped forward at her tirade, towering over her as she sat on the sofa. She leapt up to stand face to face with him, refusing to give him any advantage. Now they glared at each other, anger in their eyes and their hearts. Yul took a deep breath to calm himself; rage was making his hands shake.
‘Well, Sylvie,’ he said bitterly, ‘if I ever did resort to that we’d both know why. Being married to someone so cold and unresponsive who doesn’t want you