Phillip finished chewing his food and took a big gulp of wine before he deigned to look up and notice her.
“Ah, Elise,” he said. “So glad ye could join us. Please take a seat.”
She didn’t. “What do you want, Phillip?”
“To discuss something with ye,” he replied. “Something a little…alarming.”
He waved to the guards and two of them disappeared through the door, returning a moment later, dragging another figure between them.
Elise’s breath caught. “Andrea?”
The housekeeper looked at her with red-rimmed eyes. “I’m sorry, Elise.”
“What the hell is going on?” Elise demanded of Phillip. “What have you done to her? If you’ve hurt her, I swear I’ll—”
“Ye’ll do nothing but what I tell ye to do!” Phillip snapped. He rose from his seat and pointed a bony finger. “Do ye think I’m stupid? Do ye think I didnae know that the two of ye were plotting behind my back? Ye forget that I learned my trade in the royal court in Edinburgh. There was no better teacher of trickery and duplicity. Ye are amateurs by comparison.”
Beside him Ewan Bruce sniggered. “I’m sure King James will take that as a compliment.”
Elise’s pulse began hammering in her veins. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Phillip’s smile was cold. “Of course ye dinna. Ye dinna have any clue how guard rotas have miraculously gone missing from my study. Ye dinna have any idea about my men being assigned to the wrong posts at the wrong times. Ye are completely mystified as to why Andrea has been caught in places she shouldnae be more times than any ‘coincidence’ could account for.” His gaze sharpened. “So if ye dinna have any idea about this conspiracy to free Albie and the other traitors, I can only surmise that it was all Andrea’s doing and she’ll be punished accordingly.”
Elise’s horrified gaze sprang to Andrea. The housekeeper looked downcast but not beaten. Angry defiance flared in her eyes. “What did ye expect me to do?” she rasped at Phillip. “Just stand by and do nothing while ye stab us all in the back? How could ye? I’ve known ye for years! I trusted ye! How could ye betray us all like this?”
“Betray ye?” Phillip retorted. “I’m trying to save ye, ye stupid woman! Save ye from yer own stupidity and arrogance. Do ye really think the Isles can stand against what’s coming? Do ye really think tales of past glories will save the Isles when Ulster comes? I’m no traitor. I’m a realist. Everything I’ve done has been for Islay!”
“Tell that to Albie and the others rotting in the dungeon!”
“They brought that on themselves! All they had to do was accept the new order. But they couldnae, could they? Just like Jamie. Just like ye. I tried to show mercy. I could have had ye locked up with Albie and the others but I tried to be lenient. And this is how ye repay me? With conspiracy and betrayal?”
Ewan Bruce finished this cup of wine and set it down on the table. “Their guilt is clear. They have conspired against King James and must be punished.”
Elise’s stomach dropped. “Andrea had nothing to do with it!” she blurted. “Let her go. It was me. All me. Andrea was only following my instructions!”
“I know,” Phillip said, shaking his head. “But that doesnae alter the facts. Punishment is due.”
Elise swallowed thickly. “What are you going to do with us?”
“With ye?” Phillip replied, raising his eyebrows. “Nothing at all. Ye are a MacFinnan War Weaver and far too valuable to King James to risk any hurt. She however,”—he pointed a finger at Andrea—“is not. There is only one punishment for treason. Take her out.”
“No!”
As the guards began dragging Andrea out, Elise faced Phillip. She felt her power building inside her, demanding release.
“Damn you. I won’t let you hurt her.”
But before she’d gone two steps, something whacked into the back of her head, sending stars across her vision. Her power guttered out like a snuffed candle.
She was groggily aware of the guards grabbing her arms, of marching her out after Andrea, of leaving the keep and entering the courtyard. It was raining, the cold sting of the droplets feeling like barbs against her skin.
She raised her head. Her head wobbled on her neck but she fought her eyes into focus. A large chopping block had been placed in the center of the courtyard with a huge, double-handedax propped against it. A man wearing the black mask of an executioner stood beside it, arms crossed as he waited patiently.
Appalled terror shot through Elise. No. This could not be happening. It couldn’t.
Struggling and fighting, Andrea was dragged towards the chopping block and forced onto her knees. One of the guards held her arms pinned behind her as the other forced her head down and then lashed her to the block with a thick leather strap.
Time seemed to slow. Phillip’s words sounded slurred and elongated as he began speaking Andrea’s doom. Raindrops glinted on the head of the axe as the black-masked man lifted it high above his head. Andrea blinked once, twice, as her fear-filled gaze met Elise’s.
