The Husband Poisoning Society, Chapter Forty: Doubts

A hundred soldiers swarmed at the broken door to the church. They shifted and shuffled about, kicking dirt from the floor into the air. They murmured to each other, whispering doubts and worries about the current situation. Dust floated about me. The air of the church had begun to heat up from the crowd of soldiers. I had begun to sweat from the rising temperature. I felt the sweat trickle down my back as I stared at Sven. I stared at the three feet of tempered steel that he had pointed at my throat. 

I resisted the urge to swallow. 

“Killing me won’t get Laila married. How do you expect to marry her now that you’ve given her a concussion?”

Sven glanced down at the fallen body of his daughter, and his face shifted from anger to frustration. 

“You’ve got us.” I added. “We can’t run. We can’t fight. March us back to the castle and put us in our cells. Then you can get healing potions for the two women you’ve beaten.”

“He won’t do anything of the sort.” Ada snorted as she stormed forward. 

“Another disobedient woman.” 

Ada stopped and stood, legs spread, and with her hands on her hips. “Go on then. Knock me out too, like the coward you are. A man who loses arguments to women and then hits them.”

Sven didn’t answer. Instead he spat and then sheathed his sword. 

“What do you hope to gain here? You have aided the foreigners and now you will be thrown into a jail cell beside them.”

“I do what is right. The lady Ren did not kill his grace, she was beside me the whole time. And you. What do you hope to gain?”

Sven placed his hands on his hips. “I hope to bring a rogue province to heel.”

“You imperialists.” I said. “Always claiming Ys is a province. We’ve never been a Hyperborean province. Hyperborea was a province in Brenin Arzhur’s empire, and Empire based in Ys. You were our province.”

“We are the heirs to Brenin Arzhur’s empire. Ys is ours by right.”

“Arzhur disappeared a thousand years ago. No nation today has any claim to being the heir to Arzhur’s empire.”

“Hyperborea is that heir. And you are subject to Hyperborean rule.”

“The only thing I’m subject to right now is the swords you boys have.” 

“Enough.” Ada stepped between us. “I have put up with many things from you. I have endured poor treatment, beatings. But your daughter lies unconscious at our feet. And this is your doing. You are conspiring to frame an innocent woman. You are scheming to force us into a fool’s war. You have defied the holy sanctuary of the church. You are a disgrace to Hyperborea. And I demand a release from our marriage.”

“You are nothing but another stupid woman who doesn’t know her place.” Sven answered. 

I had never heard a Hyperborean woman demand a divorce before. I wasn’t even sure if divorce existed in Hyperborea. For all I know, Ada might have demanded that Sven kill her. The two of them stared at each other. I couldn’t get a sense of what was happening. But the soldiers definitely didn’t like whatever was happening. 

I was still trying to decide what to say or do next when Ada moved. She stepped forward and drew Sven’s belt knife from its sheath at his waist. She took the knife in both hands and rammed it up into his stomach. Sven gasped and then gurgled. Ada twisted the knife in his guts. She dragged the blade across his belly. She tore the knife free underneath his ribs below the armpit. The wound opened up like a cracked egg. I turned away. Sven’s organs spilled out onto the dirt of the church floor. 

Sven dropped to his knees. His mouth wide open. Ada shifted the knife to her right hand, and grabbed Sven’s hair. She jammed the blade of the knife up into Sven’s head from beneath the jaw. I watched the light go out of Sven’s eyes. I had seen men die before. Sven was dead. He toppled over, the hilt of the knife still protruding from the bottom of his chin. 

“You will not marry my daughter.” Ada addressed Magnus “I know men like you. She would be a temporary plaything in your bedroom and then a victim for a lifetime.”

Magnus took a step forward. Ada reached down and drew Sven’s sword. Magnus stopped. I looked around. The soldiers weren’t moving. They had stopped whispering. This had crossed a line, and none of them knew what to do. Women in Hyperborea didn’t do this. 

My mind raced. We didn’t have much time. The soldiers wouldn’t stay stunned for long. We were still public enemy number one. 

But Ada, she had signed her death warrant. She had murdered her husband on church grounds in front of more than a hundred witnesses. And I couldn’t fathom why. Had she done it for me? That seemed unlikely. Despite her speech, I didn’t think she was willing to die to prevent a miscarriage of justice? Did she do it for Laila? But how did this help Laila? Wouldn’t she be married off to some abusive Hyperborean husband anyway? Had she done it to help stop the war? But again, why? 

Then I wondered, was she looking to make a bigger change in Hyperborea? She’d talked about it earlier. Maybe she’d hit a breaking point. Maybe she wasn’t willing to let things continue as they were. 

As I was mulling this over, Magnus yelled out over the murmurs of the soldiers. “Draw your swords!”

The sound of a hundred blades exiting their scabbards rattled through the church. The sound bounced off the walls. I stared at the wall of steel and shook my head. I was too tired to be surprised or horrified at this point. I just felt drained.