“Ye traitor,” Anthony spat. He stood with his massive forearms crossed. “I will gladly lay yer throat across ma anvil and lop off yer head. I have a new sword to test. Then I will craft the finest iron pike for Dom to stick yer head on.”
“I’m nae the traitor. Dom is. He keeps bringing these bitches into our clan,” Stanley seethed.
“Even if she were that vile word ye called her,” Berta said as she joined the crowd, having heard the commotion in the kitchens. “What business is it of yers to judge her? We all ken how ye carry on at the alehouse. Ye’re the biggest whore of them all, and yer wife, bless her, is stuck with yer ugly heid. Dinna think we dinna ken ye have two bastards of yer own.”
“I’m a mon,” Stanley protested. His words garnered mocking laughter.
“This clan approves of Lady Emelie and loves her. It’s clear what she’s done for Dom,” Berta asserted. “She will make a fine mama, and Dom couldnae be more excited to be a da.”
“Her bastard’s father thinks differently,” Stanley spat.
Berta wielded the rolling pin she’d been carrying. “Speak another lie, and I will clobber ye. Ye are a vile liar.”
“I’m nae lying,” Stanley whined.
“Ye are a fool. And I dinna believe for a moment that bairn isnae Dominic’s. They canna keep their hands off one another. It’s nay surprise she wound up with child in a flash. It wouldnae make sense if she hadnae,” Alec reasoned.
“But you did betray us,” Dominic interjected, schooling his temper and his accent. “You told someone outside our clan where Lady Emelie and I were going. You were aboot to do the same tonight. Except there is no trip, and we now know who the traitor is.”
“Why would someone want to get rid of the whore if there wasna a reason, a secret needing keeping? Something they dinna want anyone to ken,” Stanley demanded.
That made some in the crowd pause as they considered the question. It was Alec who laid doubt to rest. “I heard a mon was courting Lady Emelie, but she picked Dom because she loves him. The mon must nae have accepted the rejection. What he canna have, he doesnae want Dom to have either. Jealous as an auld hag. That’s all. Ye would repeat his lies because ye have nay sense. He spews them because he’s whinging like a wean. He doesnae even want to get his hands dirty. He paid ye and Wallace to do the deed. He had men attack us, but there was nay lordling Lowlander dead on the road. Shut yer gob and hang from the gallows as the traitor ye are. I’ll raise the first pole to build them.”
“By your own admission, you are a traitor to Clan Campbell,” Brodie pronounced. “You will spend the night in the oubliette. You will not bid your family goodbye. You will die by hanging at sunrise. May God have mercy on you because I won’t.” Brodie nodded to Alec. The guard dragged Stanley to his feet as Garrett and Davey pushed through the gathered crowd. They took Stanley from Alec and led him to the trap door in the ground beside the dungeon entrance. With a scream, Stanley landed inside the pit, forgotten until the next day.
“He must have planned to meet whomever this is nearby,” Alec whispered to Brodie and Dominic. “He was going on foot toward the river.”
“Aye. You’re the same height and hair color as him. Do you think you could pass for him and learn where our enemy is?” Dominic asked.
“I can. I will tell them what ye told us. Ye set off at dawn to Fraoch Eilean. We can watch from the battlements to see if anyone sails down the river and through the bay,” Alec reasoned.
“We end this one way or another tomorrow. I won’t have my wife live another day in fear,” Dominic pronounced. He and Brodie watched Alec slip out of the postern gate before retiring to Brodie’s solar to wait.
Nineteen
Emelie’s eyes fluttered open to the sound of Dominic and Laurel whispering, then the door closing. She tried to roll toward the door, momentarily forgetting about her stitches. She groaned as Dominic came to sit on the side of the bed.
“Did you sleep, sparrow?” Dominic asked as he brushed hair back from Emelie’s rosy cheeks, warm from her nap.
“Like the dead.” Emelie smiled. “What happened? It’s dark. You were gone for hours.”
“Brodie and I talked for a while in his solar. We knew a man who traveled with us must be a traitor because there were men waiting for us on the road to the hunting cabin, and ones who chased us. I gathered the men and told them you and I were sailing at dawn to Fraoch Eilean, a keep on a wee island about half an hour down the loch. Brodie and I stood at the parapet over the postern gate. We watched Alec slip out.”
“No!” Emelie exclaimed as she attempted to push up on her elbow.
“Wheesht, sparrow. Dinna fash. I feared the same, but Alec was waiting for Stanley. He stopped him as Stanley came around the side of the keep.Hewas the one slipping away to tell Henry our plans. Henry or his mon. Alec stopped him, and Brodie and I heard them talking. I threatened to shoot Stanley. He made the same claims as Wallace, but he made them in the bailey.” Dominic watched the color leach from Emelie’s face. He cupped her cheek and kissed her. “Alec, Anthony, and Berta all denounced him. They said his claims were rubbish. I don’t know yet if it involves anyone else, but Stanley would have sided with Graham if there’d ever been a fight for the lairdship.”
“But what if people believe him after they’ve had time to puzzle through everything?”
Dominic grinned before kissing Emelie again. He swiped his tongue along her lips, and she opened to him. He plied her tongue with his, and she sucked on it. Dominic drew back with a groan. “Alec pointed out that we can’t keep our hands off one another. He said people would have questioned why you didn’t get with child rather than people questioning why you are with child. I tend to agree with him.” Dominic grinned shamelessly. “Berta warned Stanley that she would beat him with her rolling pin if he didn’t cease his prattle. And she may have called him a mon-whore since he has two bastards of his own, and the entire clan knows he hasn’t been faithful to his wife.”
“Disgusting pig,” Emelie grumbled before she forced a smile. “I don’t enjoy worrying that anyone will believe him.”
“I don’t either. But as Brodie and Laurel tried to tell us, everyone could see we were in love before either of us recognized it or admitted it. Only the men Henry paid are questioning you. Our bairn is ours, no matter what. What married couple doesn’t have secrets only they share? I don’t doubt there are things Brodie and Laurel know that they’ll never tell another soul.”
“I believe you,” Emelie conceded. “What will you do now that you have Stanley?”
“He, Brodie, and I have already had a more private conversation. We know he was meeting someone, but he didn’t know the mon’s name. He said the mon has light, wavy hair and green eyes.”
