“I won the challenge,” she panted, her gaze leveled at Alistair.“Let Teagan go.”
William slowed when he entered the center of Stonehaven and saw Alistair Keith standing on the center dais, his face frozen in shock.The orange-haired woman, Teagan, sat on the platform near his feet, her hands bound in front of her.She, too, was wide-eyed and panicked.
He sighed and dropped his chin to his chest.He pretty much knew what to expect when he turned to the spectacle at the center of the town and was grateful that the young MacDougal man at the market had the presence of mind to see Ailith challenge for Teagan, then run from town and ride toward Drumoak like all the demons of hell were on his heels.It was pure serendipity that William met him on the road not far from Stonehaven.
Yet not soon enough, from the looks of it.
Ailith stood over a rather round man lying on the ground near some broken sticks, her feet spread wide under her skirts, and hersgian-dubhknife clutched tightly in her right hand.Her garnet-red hair had come loose from her plait and curled around her pinkened face and shoulders.
The expression on her face was one of absolute triumph.
She looked like a small goddess standing victorious after a battle.
Feck me.What had Ailith done now?
He leapt off his horse and rushed to her side.
“Ailith!”
On steady feet but with her breasts heaving wearily under her kirtle, she turned to him.William said a quick prayer to God that the man on the ground lived.Senseless but alive, as evidenced by the movements of his burly chest.
“Seize her!”Alistair Keith shouted from the platform, but no one moved.
William had to force the smirk off his lips.Did they hesitate because of William and Robb?Or because of the spitfire redhead wielding the knife over their man?Or because they were in a state of immobile surprise at what they witnessed?Honestly, he could not begin to guess.Robb moved to join William at his side.
Holding a hand up to stop Alistair where he stood, William shifted his focus to Ailith, trying his best to temper his odd sense of pride and his greater rising fury.
“Ailith,” he said again, lowering his voice so only she might hear him speak.“What has happened here?Wee Arran raced like the devil chased him to find me.”
With a final, gratified look at the prone man in the dirt, Ailith peeked around William to the dais, then turned her flaming green eyes to him.She lifted her skirts inappropriately high and sheathed her new knife, and then wiped the sweat from her brow.If she was attempting to goad him more, it was working.
“They accused Teagan of witchcraft,” she answered with authority.“I knew that she would spend the rest of her life rotting in a cell if no one stood up for her, if not death, so I offered trial by combat.”
William inhaled deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose.“That I can see –”
“And I won,” Ailith boasted.
“That I can also see.”He tempered his voice.Truly, he didn’t know if he was angrier that she put herself at risk or proud that she had succeeded.Hell, she always was putting herself in some sort of risk ...
Moving to William’s side, Ailith pulled herself to her full height in front of the sputtering Alistair man.“I have championed the woman.She’s no witch.Release her now so we might take her home.”
William groaned loudly.Instead of confronting Ailith in front of an audience, he had to present a united front with his wife in public.In private, on the other hand ...
“MacDougal!Control your woman!”Alistair Keith shouted.
This time, William did free his smirk.The man was far too full of himself.“‘Twould seem my wife speaks the truth.I dinna even see a priest or Callum here to oversee this debacle.We shall take the woman with us and return her home on the way to Drumoak.”
“This will no’ sit well with the Keith.”
Ailith surged forward to speak, but William placed a gentle hand on her arm.“Ye can bring it up to the MacDougal.He would like to hear about how ye are abusing women this way.‘Tis the sign of a weak man, one who abuses women.”
Alistair quieted, his face a closed mask of anger.William’s words held weight, echoing what he and Ailbert had said before, and he wondered if Alistair had heard of the abuses against the Keith woman earlier.The crowd also fell silent, eagerly watching the battle of wills.Alistair broke first with a defeated frown and waved a hand at Teagan.
“Take her,” Alistair snapped, spun on his heel, and stormed off.
Ailith rushed to the dais and worked the ropes until Teagan’s hands were free.
Robb leaned into William.“What has happened here, William?Ye dinna seem surprised that Ailith was here, holding a knife over this man.”
