Panic wrenching through her, Marie elbowed her way through the crowd. “Colyne!”
The rumble of excited voices smothered her shout.
Mon Dieu! Water and mud streaked the hem of her gown and slapped against her legs as she pushed another person aside. As she rounded the well, through the sea of people, she caught a glimpse of the man she loved. “Colyne!”
He collapsed atop the platform steps.
Non!
The crowd cheered.
Fury swept her.He would not die!
“Marie!”
At her father’s shout, she turned.
With his long robes surrounding him, he stood on the distant steps of the castle, her betrothed at his side. His face red, her father motioned her toward him.
Panicking, she turned toward the platform.
Colyne swayed as a guard hauled him to his feet.
She fisted her hands. Why hadn’t her father halted the execution? As the crowd jeered, dread filled her and she understood. With the size of the gathering, the guard had been unable to deliver her message. “Father, halt the execution!”
Her father frowned and then motioned his guards toward her.
Tears burned her eyes. There wasn’t time to make her way to him and explain. She shoved her way forward.
A woman stepped back.
Marie slid past. A gap opened ahead and she rushed through.
A man and a woman shifted in front of her, craning their necks in an effort to see the macabre spectacle unfolding on the platform.
“Move aside!” Marie shoved between them.
The man whirled, recognition flared, and his outrage transformed into rapid apologies as he backed away.
She hurried ahead.
A cheer filled the bailey.
Panic whipped through her as she glanced forward.
In the distance, Colyne stumbled toward the center of the platform.
Mon Dieu!“Stop the execution!” Shouts from the crowd drowned out her command.
The guard seized Colyne’s wrists, wrenching them behind his back.
Another man secured his hands.
Tears blurred Marie’s vision as she pushed forward.
With his wrists bound, a guard pushed his head against the block. Cold, rough wood dug into Colyne’s cheek. He leveled his gaze on his executioner. If he were to die, ’twould be looking his executioner in the eye with the courage of a Scot.
On a hard swallow, he clung to the fact that once Marie regained her memory, she would tell her father the truth. Then the bastard Renard’s attempt to dissolve Scotland’s ties with France would fail.
