“Then she will learn her error, will she no’?”
“Farlan said—”
“Just as she will learn the error o’ listening to a traitor turncoat.”
Rhian shuddered. “Ye would no’. ’Tis an empty threat. Even ye will no’—”
“Nay?” Inflamed, Rory tossed his head. “Would ye ha’ me prove it to ye?” He turned to the two men nearest him. “Go and fetch the prisoner from my quarters.”
“Eh?” One of them gaped at him.
“Fetch her now. We shall have it over and done.”
The men exchanged a look and went.
Rhian cried out and flew at Rory, hands made into fists. Leith caught her back and cradled her in his arms.
“Ye need to learn,” Rory snarled into Rhian’s face. “Ye and both yer sisters do. I mean—and do—wha’ I say.”
He watched horror bloom in her deep blue eyes, replacing some of the anger. She had not believed it, nay. But she would.
Mayhap it needed to happen here and now, the letting of Saerla MacBeith’s blood. Quite possibly he would not be able to do it otherwise. But in the heat of this moment, before so many eyes and to prove a point, so he must.
*
When the doorof the chamber burst open, Saerla stumbled to her feet. She’d been sitting at the window while the rain cleared, yearning for home—reaching for it with her mind and spirit.
She did not recognize either of the men who stepped into the chamber, big, heavily armed men damp with sweat. Not her usual guards, though she could see one of those behind them, looking alarmed.
Her fear spiked up through her, raw and bright.
“What d’ye want?”
“Come wi’ us.”
They left her no option. They seized her by both arms, one on either side. She struggled the way a hare did in a snare, thinking of her sgian dubh, which she’d hidden in her soft leather shoe. No chance of reaching that now. The man on her left, who reeked of sweat, shook her.
“Come along and we will no’ ha’ to hurt ye.”
“Where?”
“Be silent!”
Her guard, eyes wide with shock, backed off and let them pass, then followed. Saerla, continuing to struggle, felt her feet leave the ground. She gasped, “Why ha’ ye—”
“Chief’s orders,” grunted the man on her right.
Rory. Ah, so he’d decided on his revenge. As she’d known he must.
They dragged her through the stronghold and out the main doors to the forecourt. So it was to be public, then. Her punishment.
Her murder?
Her heart pounded so hard that she could not breathe. She looked to the sky, to the lowering clouds. At the colors she loved and the ever-present light trying to break through.
They hauled her out to the forecourt, and the world opened.
What looked like a small army had gathered, splotches of dark against the field of pure green. Beyond…
