Page 32 of Outlaw Ever After

“Peigi, I nay understand… he ?”

She didn’t miss how his voice dropped from worried to ominous.

Illness threatened to roil her empty belly. She gripped it, doubling over as her brother’s iron arms banded so tightly around her they held her up, his molars grinding so hard she could hear the dull abrasion. His body began to tremble with unchecked fury. When he snarled so softly his next words.

“Who’s the whoreson?”

Alexander, if that was even his real name, wasn’t coming. And she was the Reaper’s fool. God, she was ruined, and now, her brother knew! It didn’t matter if it was by Alexander or by a reaver.

“I need his name, Pegs. As God is my witness, he will be made a eunuch by my own blade.”

But she didn’t want anyone paying for more crimes. Didn’t want more enemies made. Retaliations. Bloodshed. She’d lived her whole life in fear of those things. She didn’t want to think or feel. And what if Alex had planted his seed within her? Bastard born or nay, could she ever admit to a babe of hers that its uncle had so harmed its blood sire?

Nay, she just wanted to slip back into her shadows and lick her wounds and pray that God would help her forget the biggest mistake she’d ever made: falling for a selfish blackguard who’d spoken every magical thing her desperate ears had wanted to hear. Teased her with promises of the life she’d dreamed of having. Mayhap if she woke on the morrow, she’d find this had all been a nightmare.

But when she woke the next day, and the next, and the next , she soon discovered: her nightmare was just beginning.

Chapter Ten

“But lo behold our lovers dear whose worlds collide on three…”

– A Song of Samhain Nights

Three months later. The beginning of Allhallowtide. Freuchie Castle Bride Tourney. Thirtieth day of October.

“Peigi!”

Peigi’s younger sister threw her arm around her in a blur of auburn hair that glowed like fire, having dashed through the cacophony of men at the registration table paying Seamus their fees.

“Aileana .” Peigi’s face split into a smile. “Ye came.”

Drinking grew boisterous as traveling guardsmen dispersed into the hall to find a tankard or a lass to sit upon their knee.

“Of course I came, Peigi. Ye’re to be handfasted in three days’ time. How could I miss it?” Peigi looped her arm through her sister’s, petting the old wolfhound who rested against her thigh, a dog who’d befriended her easily when she’d first arrived here a fortnight ago. “Whatever caused ye to agree to this fanfare? It’s most unlike Seamus to pressure ye to marry, and ye’ve gone and agreed to it.”

Peigi’s smile fell an inch, swallowing the distress her sister was skilled at deciphering. Of course, Aileana had worried. Her sister seemed bold, but her fire was drawn from her soft heart for those she loved.

“We shall have fun, Aileana. The ladies’ games will begin soon.” She’d planned these Hallowtide games and tasked a serving girl with arranging them in hopes of sowing camaraderie, but these Comyn folk had cause to hate her clan. Judging by the cool reception she’d received; they’d not forgotten what had transpired years ago betwixt their clans.

“Posh,” her sister scoffed. “Ye hate such frivolities.”

Welcoming dances would also ensue soon, where she’d dance with each suitor throwing his name into the ring to compete for her hand in marriage. A fast marriage. In three days, she would be married to a stranger who’d been drawn here at the prospect of winning the castle, lands, and her brother’s dower coin.

“Dear sister, I’m nay getting any younger.”

“Ye’re barely three and twenty. Hardly an old crone.” Her sister laughed. “Ye have no need to rush this.”

Peigi’s stomach clenched. Crone?

She pushed a smile back on her lips.

“Where is yer husband?”

Aileana sighed. “Peace talks. Since James made peace with the MacLeods, a summit gathers at Court in Edinburgh as we speak. The Earl of Arran is convinced that bringing MacLeod to the table will encourage more alliances with the outland clans and stabilize the monarchy. I am proud of his work, but I do miss him…”

A bundle squirmed against Aileana’s side, distracting Peigi from the trepidation she felt over this tournament.

Her sister, rosy-cheeked and still in her cloak and mittens, held the bundle out for her to see.