“I accused her, so I’ll fight ye,” Eoghan announced.
Ailith’s insides turned to jelly, and she grabbed at the back of William’s tunic.“Nay, William!Ye canna fight your own cousin!”
His face was still clenched tightly as he looked over his shoulder at her.Eoghan may have been a dear friend and kin, one he would do anything for, but he had overstepped.He had threatened the one person William held above all others.She could tell that by the look on William’s face.
“I swore to defend ye, Ailith.Today and every day.And if Eoghan forces my hand in this, I’ll defend ye even against him.Ye are my heart, and he threatened to remove it from me.”
He swung his severe glare to Eoghan.
“She’s dangerous, and she’s bewitched ye,” Eoghan offered as a paltry excuse for his accusation.“There’s only one way to make sure she canna harm your soul or anyone else’s.”
The idea of fighting his cousin, perchance to the death, was not a welcome thought for William.He tried one last time for reason.
“Why are ye like this, Eoghan?Ye were just celebrating at my wedding a sennight ago!Yield!If ye yield the trial, ‘tis over and I’ll take her home.”
William’s chest heaved.He moved forward as Eoghan did, both stopping short to leave less than an arm’s length of air between them.
“I am doing this for ye.For all the clans in the Highlands.”
Eoghan may have been convinced of that, but his words were hollow to William’s ears.
“Yield, cousin,” William pleaded.“’Tis no’ a game of picks.”
“I know this all too well,” Eoghan replied as his right hand reached across his body to grasp the handle of his sword.“Dinna count on a water bucket to save ye this time.I fear nothing will.”
William’s eyes followed Eoghan’s hand and copied the movement, not risking being caught at a disadvantage.With the Highlands having spent years with the clans at each other’s throats, William loathed drawing his sword against his own cousin and friend to perpetuate that conflict.So much blood had already been spilled.To do battle this way with Eoghan seemed such a waste.
Yet the warrior within him leaned into the training and survival instinct beaten into his hands.The smoothness of his sword handle caressed his palm as he drew his blade.
“I must, to protect the Grants and all the Highlands,” Eoghan announced.“‘Tis the best for everyone.When I win, I’ll make sure she’s in a Grant dungeon for the rest of her days.”He cut a sharp glare at Ailith.“Many an accident can happen in a dungeon.”
Eoghan did not bother to hide his smirk as he spoke.He had overstepped, and rage blazed in William’s head.
“Nay!”William roared at his cousin’s implication.
What had driven Eoghan to this dark end?He seemed mad in his belief of Ailith’s guilt.What had changed so much in so few days?But then, hadn’t Eoghan made more than one comment about Ailith’s behavior?And William, the friend that he was, had not realized the malicious intent behind it.
William spun his sword easily in his hand.“I’ll have to best ye, again.Then she’ll be free of ye, and I’ll take her back to MacDougal lands.”
Eoghan snorted.“Ye’ve seen how she is!Bucking convention and her own safety!”His eyes narrowed into slits.“How long before she uses another as she uses ye?Or before the violence of the Highlands claims her as a victim?”
He was suggesting that not only might Ailith leave him or cuckold him, but that someone else would find their vengeance against her in their own way.A Grant.Someone like Eoghan, if not Eoghan himself.
Fury burst through him in a red explosion, and William’s vision was bathed in his rage.
Eoghan struck first without warning, thrusting his sword straight and fast, aiming for William’s heart.A twinge of shock at Eoghan’s deadly thrust entered William’s mind, then passed through just as quickly as William reacted.He swept his left leg back and crossed his sword over his body to knock Eoghan’s sword to the side.
His cousin wasn’t fighting for a win; he was fighting to the death.That was how intent he was on bringing Ailith low.
His behavior was unimaginable.
William continued the strike with a backswing that brought his sword around, blade parallel to the ground.It careened straight and fast, designed to remove Eoghan’s head from his shoulders fast and clean.
If Eoghan fought toward a deadly end, then William would follow suit, no matter how these actions pained him.He’d not leave Ailith’s freedom, her safety, her very life to chance.
Eoghan had no opportunity to bring his sword up in time to block William’s blade, but leapt back without a scratch from the lethal tip.Pain exploded in William’s right knee from his movement, and he was forced to shift his weight to his left leg.Eoghan stood poised, ready for William to attack, but when William did not advance, Eoghan’s eyes dropped to William’s favored knee.
William grimaced.If his combatant had not known about William’s injury at the start of the combat, he did now.
