Sadness shimmered in her eyes. “I have given my word to my father. I cannot break my vow.”
A sword’s wrath! “So you would marry a man you do nae love to please your father?”
Red crept up her cheeks. “You do not understand. Over the years my father was always supportive of me when, as a bastard daughter, he easily could have overlooked my existence. There is so much I am thankful to him for, and I will not shame him by requesting to break a vow after all he has done.” She paused, her gaze searching his. “Ihave comfort in knowing he would never match me with a man who would be cruel.”
“So you choose to live a life of servitude?”
Hurt darkened her eyes. “Regardless of how I might wish to be with you, my vow has been given. ’Tis too late.”
“Nae!” He held up his hand when she made to speak. “You have a choice. You can settle and be unhappy or live the life you choose. Think about your choices. ’Tis all I ask. ”
Marie remained silent.
However much he despised the thought of her marrying a man she didn’t love, how could he intervene if he wasna ready to ask for her hand? Frustrated, Colyne paced the room. As he turned toward her, a new and troubling thought came to mind. “With the king’s guard protecting you, how was anyone able to abduct you?”
Worried eyes met his. “ ’Tis a question I have asked myself many times since I was taken. My conclusions were few and unsettling.”
“What happened?”
“A young girl came to my home in the middle of the night. She begged for my aid, explaining that her mother was in pain and that her baby was coming. When I explained she needed to seek the healer, she said she had tried and was told she was away helping another.” Marie shook her head, her eyes foggy with memories. “I accompanied the child to her home under the escort of my guards. When I entered, several men grabbed me.”
“And your guards?”
Her gaze grew troubled. “I am unsure.”
“What do you mean, you are unsure?”
“I heard no sounds of a struggle outside.”
With a sickening twist he understood. “You believe the knights assigned to you were Renard’s men and the girl’s story was designed to lure you to where they waited?”
“Oui,” she replied, anger sliding through her voice.“Which means someone within my father’s trusted circle is a traitor.”
Two days later, the ship groaned as storm-fed waves tossed the vessel higher before plunging it into the oncoming trough.
Water crashed over the bow with violent force. The solid mast severed the blackened sea rushing past. On the next swell, the craft was again hurled up.
Colyne braced his knees and clung to the line as another surge of seawater rushed past. “The rope is secure on this end,” he shouted to a man tying a knot on the opposite side of a crate.
The man gave a final tug on the knot. “Secure here as well.”
Another wave crashed over the bow. Water flooded the deck.
In an effort to keep from being swept overboard, sailors gripped the sides of the hull and braced their feet.
After the swell washed overboard, Colyne used the line and worked his way toward the stern.
“Is the cargo secured?” Logan braced himself as the ship angled downward and plunged.
Another huge wave swamped the deck and then poured over the side to join the churning water below. On a shudder, the ship again angled up.
“Aye,” Colyne replied, but even preoccupied by ensuring everything was tied down, he couldna help worrying about Marie. Since the onset of the storm two days past, she’d become seasick. With each passing hour, she’d grown worse until now she couldna leave her bed.
He damned every second he spent away from her. The day before, she’d been unable to keep down what little she’d attempted to eat. With her body continuing to purge itself, she couldna tolerate much more.
Once the crates were anchored, Logan shouted for less essential men to get themselves out of harm’s way, and then made his way to Colyne. “The sea is in a foul mood,” he said with a nod at the towering swell rolling toward them.
“Aye,” he agreed. “After two days I had expected we would have sailed out of the storm or at least left the worst of it behind.”
