Eyes frantic with fear widened. “Spare me!”
Fury pouring through him, Cailin ached to shove harder until every last drop of blood was emptied from his worthless carcass. “However much I want to kill you, shame is a fitting penance.” He hauled him to his feet, shoved.
Gasping for breath, his unclestumbled back.
“From this moment on,” Cailin roared, “as Earl of Dalkirk, I banish you from my lands, and all will know your shame!”
Desperation darkened his uncle’s gaze. “I have naught.”
“You have your life.” Cailin sheathed his sword. “Which is more than I should allow after you killed my parents.”
Hand trembling, his uncle reached for his broadswordon the ground.
Cailin stepped on his weapon. “Keep your dagger, nay more. Go!” Gritting his teeth against the pain in his leg, he picked up the broadsword, then strode past Gaufrid, ignoring his eyes dark with hate. ’Twas done. Now to check on Elspet,then he would—
“Cailin, behind you!” Sir Donnach called.
Cailin whirled as he withdrew his blade.
Dagger clutched between his fingers, a merciless smile creasing his face, Gaufrid angled his hand as he started to throw.
Before the blade could leave his uncle’s hand, Sir Donnach’s dagger whipped past Cailin, sank deep in the earl’s chest. Blood trickled down his garb as he gripped his chestand collapsed.
Silence fell upon those onthe wall walk.
“The earl is dead,” a man shouted from above.
“The true Earl of Dalkirk lives!” Sir Donnach walked over to Cailin, bowed in deference, then stood. “Longlive the earl!”
Cheers rose from the castle, and the church bellbegan to ring.
Cailin stared at his uncle, a man whose entire life was devoted to power, to evil. “’Tis over.” He nodded to one of the guards. “Take him away.”
“Aye, my lord.” The guard hurried towardGaufrid’s body.
Cailin met Donnach’s gaze.“I thank you.”
“’Tis unnecessary,” the knight said. “You wonthe challenge.”
“You saved my life, an act Iwillna forget.”
A wry smile touched Sir Donnach’s mouth. “As I remember, you rescued me when I almost drowned in our youth. We are even.” He knelt. “I swear my fealty toyou, my lord.”
The other knights dismounted andfollowed suit.
* * * *
Streaks of dawn broke through the sky before Elspet was settled in his chamber at Tiran Castle. At her moan, Cailin strode over and sat beside the bed, his combat with his uncle but a memory. “I am here.”
A frown wedged upon her sweat-laden brow, then smoothed as she continued to sleep.
“Elspet,” he rasped, the hours of watching her, praying for her fever to break strangling hisevery thought.
The thick, deep gray blanket seemed to swallow her as she remained still, the dark hues of the weave at odds against her pallor.
Panic rising, he glanced at the healer, wanting to scream his frustration, understanding too well that caught in the throes of fever, her life could be lost in a trice.
Aged eyes dark with concern held his. “You havena left her side all night. The bed in the next chamber awaits you. Try to rest, my lord. If she awakens, I will alert you.”
