“You need truth, not wisps of fancy. That the earl earns respect from his men reveals that however strict, his dictates are given with reason. His success in battle, along with the praise earned from your liege lord, reflect his cunningas a warrior.”
She gave a curt nod.
“My lady, Lord Balfour is a man of war and willna tolerate defiance on any level.” Expression grim, he paused. “With your headstrong ways, I beseech you to tread with care. You coulddo far worse.”
“A warning?” Furious he’d feel the situation warranted his caution, or that the time had come in her life when she’d need such, she stalked to where she’d drawn a line in the sand, turned, threw. A chunk of the charcoal-stained heart broke free as the dagger sank deep. “Iam not a fool.”
“Nay,” he said, his voice softening. “You are a woman whom any man would be blessed to have as his wife. Sadly, many nobles dinna want a lass beyond that of bearing their heir.”
She jerked her weapon free. “I willna be cast aside in my own castle, treated as if I were naught but a scullery maid fit only for the bedding. I need nay husband.”
Sir Pieres remained silent, the worry in his gaze easy to read.
Frustrated, she sheathed her dagger, faced the waves sliding up the shore tossing about stones and shells within the tangled rush. Bedamned this entire situation! “If only I could convince Lord Comyn that I dinna need to wed.”
Firm steps crunched on the sand. Pieres paused at her side. “’Tis too late; his decisionhas been made.”
The exasperation in his voice matched her own. “I know.” She wanted to scream at the injustice of losing her home to a stranger. In the weeks since the writ had arrived announcing her betrothal, she had tried to think of a way, often with Pieres’s aid, of negating the union and, at every turn, had failed.
On a hard swallow, Gwendolyn picked up a fragment of an abandoned shell. She cupped the fragile piece in her hand as the damnable frustrations weighed heavy in her chest. “Over the years my father would bring me here and tell me of his dreams, or talk about mine. He never laughed at what I shared, but encouraged me to achieve any goal that I could envision.”
“He was an extraordinary man.”
“Aye, he was.” Emotion welled in her throat, and she swallowed the rush of grief. “W-when my mother died during my youth, ’twas here my father consoled me, and years later, where he asked me to marry Lord Purcell to strengthen our bond with our neighboring clan.”
Pieres’s mouth tightened. “Your father was wrong to have forced you into a marriage, more so to a man who couldna see what an incrediblewoman you are.”
The soft fury in his voice left her humbled. Her fingers curled against the memories of how she’d pushed away Pieres’s subtle advances since their childhood. However much she’d wished otherwise, never had she felt more than friendship, nor would she dishonor him by offering false hope. She prayed one day he would find a woman who could give him the love he deserved.
“And ’twas on this stretch of sand,” Pieres continued, drawing her from her musings, “that you learned of your husband’s death but a month after you had wed.”
She grimaced. “With my father’s blessing, I was foolish enough to believe that never again would I have to marry for duty, that I could live the life I chose.” Anger twisted inside. “Yet with my father’s death, I have become little morethan chattel.”
“I am sorry.”
Mouth tight, Gwendolyn cast the fragment into the incoming wave. The battered, sun-bleached shell that once had held life tumbled beneath the current and was swept out to sea. Like her life, she was naught but a pawn tothose in power.
“I will do my duty and wed Lord Balfour,” she stated, “for my people’s protection and for that of my home, but I willna tolerate being treated like a fool.” She started toward the castle. “’Tis time I checked on Kellan.”
“With her girth,” Pieres said as he fell in alongside, “I thought your prized mare would havefoaled by now.”
“As did I. This morning I found her pacing in her stall. I expect her foal will come this day, and I want to be with her when ’tis born.”
Warmth touched her as she started toward the cave. She remembered when the coal black mare was born, how her father had gifted her with the filly. Emotion stormed through her. Now Kellan would have a babe of her own.
“I wish my father was alive. I—” She stumbled, and Pieres caught her, turnedher toward him.
“I am here,” he said, his voice solemn.
“I know,” she whispered, thankful for his friendship. “’Tis just that even though half a year has passed, I still struggle with his death.”
“’Twas a horrible loss,” he said, his voice somber, “but he died a warrior’s death,fighting for—”
A horse’s neigh sounded in the distance.
The slide of steel upon leather hissed as Pieres withdrew his sword. “Hurry inside thesecret tunnel.”
Gwendolyn unsheathed her dagger. “If there was danger, we would have heard warning shouts from the castle guards and the ringing of the church bell.” She scanned the lull of land and rock above that led to the castle entrance.
