But she wasn’t imagining it, especially because of another rider behind the first, the orange-haired woman who clung to a pale, creamy white horse with a deathly grip and poor riding form.
Something glinted in the pale sunlight as the man on horse approached, shining red against his dun-colored clothing.
A brooch!
The garnet shimmered as red as the sea at sunset.The Luckenbooth she gave William for their wedding!
The man on the first horse was William.HerWilliam.Tall and broad, with his wild blond hair blazing in the bright sun.As if he were an extension of his horse’s namesake, Lugh, William rode into the village resembling the mighty Celtic warrior-god, ready to rain down destruction.Only instead of the Celtic spear and shield, he bore his sword on one hip and his large knife on the other.
Most frightening was his iron face, hard, focused, and ready for battle, in whatever form that battle might take.
A second man rode next to him while poor Teagan bounced along on Bonnie Bride behind them both.
Another wave of relief washed over Ailith.She might not know exactly why William was here, but if he came with Teagan, then it had to mean something good for her.
Ithadto.
Good girl, Bonnie,Ailith complimented her horse silently.She guessed Teagan had ridden the horse to retrieve William, and the sweaty, weary-looking palfrey had performed as promised.
Ailith bit her lip to stop herself from shouting out to them, yet she didn’t need to.His ferocious gaze landed on her filthy, abused form, and the terse lines of his face grew impossibly harder.
He wasn't just angry, he was furious.Nay, beyond furious to a realm of anger for which Ailith had no words.She had never seen him in such an infuriated state.
William rode through the crowd, ignoring the abbot shouting at him, and slid off his horse in front of her.The Lukenbooth sparkled like the hope in her chest.Ailith’s breath caught at what the meaning of his wearing her brooch meant, her gift with a gem as crimson as her hair.
It meant he had never turned away from her.Never doubted her.Never betrayed her.He was announcing to her that he came there for her, and always would be.
Had he carried it with him to the Moray meeting?He must have brought it to keep her love token close, though she had not known he had done so.
Oh, William.No one deserves such love and loyalty.
Yet here he was.He had come for her.
Her body wracked with heady breaths at the sight of him.
As he moved toward her, he seemed to be limping.Was he favoring his right leg?
Giving Eoghan a hard shove away, William stepped close, pressed his finger under her chin, and lifted her watery, tear-filled eyes to his burning gaze.His eyes were chips of ice, as sharp and deadly as his knife as he studied her dirty face and mud-crusted hair.
Ailith blinked back fiery tears.She couldn’t cry in front of him.Shewouldn’t.However, she so needed to believe that he had come here for her, that his obvious fury was because of this situation she was forced into, not a result of her actions.
“What are ye doing here?”she asked in a wavering whisper.
“What do ye mean?”His voice was harsh and full of wrath.“Ye are my wife.”
He held Ailith’s gaze with his to ensure that she saw the truth of it, boring past her eyes to the depths of her soul.Her insides quivered and she wanted to avert her gaze.Yet if she was to confront him, she had to look him in the eyes.
“I was told ye had a hand in accusing me.That my behaviors drove ye to the brink and ye wanted no more to do with me.”
His chest heaved as his breathing huffed sharply from his tensed body.The muscle under his jaw twitched.
“Who has abused ye like this, lass?Who has told ye such a foul lie, and told it with such certainty that the reason for my existence, the reason my heart beats and keeps me alive, would believe that I’d betraymo ruaidh?”
Ailith shuddered in relief – William loved her just as much in this moment as he ever had.He hadnotbetrayed her.The brooch shining between them reinforced and reminded her of his vow that he spoke again in this perilous moment.Burning tears slipped from her eyes.
She did not answer aloud but flicked her gaze to Eoghan.
“Yefeckin’ bratach!”William spun and his long arm shot out to Eoghan.He grabbed the man by his neck, and his eyes bulged from their sockets.William’s expression was deadly enough to kill Eoghan where he stood.“Ye are one of her accusers?And ye claimed I did the same?And ye treat her this roughly?Ye are supposed to be my kin!My friend!”
