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“I’m fine,” her father lied. “I’m more worried about ye than me. What happened to ye, Nimue? I canna believe that brute just took ye like that!”
“Me neither,” Nimue said with a sigh. “I told ye that man wasna good for me. I told ye that ye shouldna side with him, but ye didna listen.”
Her father frowned at that. “Who are ye talkin’ about?”
“Who are ye talkin’ about?”
“Why, Laird MacIntosh, of course!” her father said, and Nimue couldn’t stop the groan that erupted out of her.
How can he na understand anythin’ still? After everythin’ the Sassenachs have done to him, he’s still on their side!
“Faither, I am married to Laird MacIntosh noo,” Nimue said. “And yes, perhaps he took me from our home by force, but he’s a good, honest man. I am happy to be his wife, and I dinna want anythin’ else for meself. I canna believe that ye’re still sidin’ with the English! Look at ye . . . ye look like ye havena eaten or slept for days, Faither.”
“I was worried about ye!” the man said.
“Is that all there is?” Nimue asked. “Is it only because ye were worried or because of them, as weel?”
Her father didn’t reply, but that was enough of an answer for Nimue. She hated Wentworth and his men for what they had done to him, and she couldn’t understand how her father didn’t share the sentiment.
“Nimue . . . all that matters is that ye’re here,” her father said. “Noo ye can marry the Earl, and everythin’ will go back to normal.”
“Faither, will ye na listen to me?” Nimue said, her tone laced with desperation. “Please! I willna marry him, na matter what ye say. I am already married. I have a husband and I am happy with him. Wentworth is nothin’ but a spoilt wee bairn that willna take na for an answer. But na matter what he wants, once Chrisdean finds out that I am missing, he will come to find me.”
Will he, though? He is hurt. Perhaps he willna even ken that I’m na in the castle until it’s too late.
Nimue couldn’t afford to think like that, though. She had to believe that someone would come out of all the people in the clan. If Chrisdean was too weak, then surely Brock would come instead. Someone would find her; she was certain of that. She only hoped that it wouldn’t be too late once they would.
“The Earl is determined,” her father said. “Dinna underestimate him. I’m sure he’s told ye that yer marriage to that man isna recognized by anyone. He doesna care if ye’re married, Nimue. He was promised that he could have ye, and noo he’ll take what’s his.”
“And ye’ll let him?” Nimue asked, shocked by her father’s behavior. “Even when I tell ye that I am happily married? That I love me husband?”
It was the first time that Nimue had admitted her love for Chrisdean to herself or to anyone else, the first time that she had spoken those words out loud, and they even took her by surprise. She couldn’t help but wonder if she truly meant those words or if she had spoken them just to convince her father. However, she didn’t have time to think about it, not when her most pressing worry was Wentworth.
Her admission of her love for Chrisdean seemed to take her father by surprise, too, and he approached her, placing his hands on her shoulders.
“I am so verra sorry, Nimue,” he said. “But there is na a thing that I can do. Besides, ye’ll learn to love the Earl, I’m sure. And in the war that is to come, ye dinna want to be on the wrong side.”
“Ye’re the one who’s on the wrong side,” Nimue said, moving away from her father. She didn’t want him near her, not when he was trying to convince her of such nonsense. He didn’t seem to take her feelings into consideration at all. “And to think that Chrisdean was certain that ye would be on our side once ye’d find out about our wedding. But na . . . na, ye’re na convinced that easily, are ye? What will it take for ye to see that those men are evil? Wentworth wants to have me by force, even after I’ve made it perfectly clear that I have na desire to be with him and that I love me husband. He would kill Chrisdean right in front of me eyes if he had the chance.”
“I’m na denyin’ that,” her father said. “Ye’re right, he’s na a pleasant man, and he has done many things to me that I wish he wouldna have. But it is what it is, and ye must accept it. The English will win, and they will win with our clan by their side.”
“I’d rather die before I see that happen.”
Nimue had never detested her father as much as she did at that moment. She wanted to get away from him, so she left the tent, but she didn’t know where to go once she was outside.
“You don’t seem very happy to have seen him,” Wentworth said from where he sat by the fire. “Oh well . . . I suppose that’s the thing with families. But you’ll come to see his side soon enough once you see what we’ll do to Scotland from the safety of your home.”
“Ye are delusional if ye think that I’ll go with ye,” Nimue said. “And Scotland is me home. I’m na leavin’ this place, so if ye destroy everythin’ else, then ye’ll have to destroy me, as well.”
“No. I think I’ll make you watch, though.”
For a moment, Nimue considered the option of grabbing the nearest sword she could find and trying to kill Wentworth with it. She would die, too, she knew, but at least she would have managed to rid the world of the greatest evil she had ever encountered, and that was enough to warrant her sacrifice.
But then she thought about Chrisdean and about how he had asked her to stay. She didn’t want to leave him, and she certainly didn’t want him to blame himself for not saving her, so causing her own death just to kill Wentworth seemed like a bad idea.
If she could only convince her father that he was making the wrong choice, perhaps the two of them could escape, she thought, but it seemed impossible to convince her father of anything. The man had made up his mind, and he was even more stubborn than Nimue.
“We’ll be leaving at first light,” Wentworth said. “Perhaps you wish to sleep for a while. The road is no place for a lady, really, but it will have to do until we reach your home.”
