“You must know that I don’t truly want this marriage to Penrith,” Marguerite said, risking a glance back at him. “But no one hears what I’m trying to say.”
He knew exactly what that felt like. From deep inside, he summoned the words, tearing them free.
“Fight, Marguerite.” Fight for us. If you can’t tell the Duc what you want, then there’s no hope.
But those words were too difficult, too far beyond him. He took a breath and tried again. “You . . .”
She waited to hear him speak, her blue eyes filled with regret. In his mind, a thousand words sprang forth, words he wanted to speak. Words she needed to hear.
You are the only woman I’ve ever wanted. You kept me alive when I wanted to die. Without you, I was less than a man. But neither of us can continue this way.
He could see that she felt as trapped as he did.
“I what?” she asked, hoping for the words.
But his mouth moved without sound, his throat refusing to relinquish the words. He tried again, and the inability to communicate made him fight even harder.
In the end, he stared hard at her, unable to voice more than a single word. “Choose.”
“Your Grace, the messenger you sent to the English garrison returned a moment ago. He claims there was an attack last night. No survivors are left.”
“They’re going to blame us for the massacre,” the Duc said, pacing across the floor. He sent a dark look toward Xavier, the captain of his guards. “We’re the closest to the outpost.”
“My men were all accounted for last night,” Xavier answered. “Whoever did this was not one of ours.”
Guy’s face turned grim, and he ordered, “Assemble a group of soldiers, and find out who it was. It falls to us to mete out justice. Or else the King Edward will see to it.”
The Duc sat, reaching for a cup of wine. His hand curled around the silver while inwardly, he tensed. Though he held estates in Scotland, passed down from his Norman ancestors, his position here was untenable. He’d hoped to secure a strong marriage for Marguerite with the Earl of Cairnross. But his daughter had run off to live with a Scottish clan, for reasons he couldn’t fathom.
Oui, Cairnross had proved to have a cruel streak. But powerful men did what was necessary to maintain order.
From across the room, he saw Marguerite standing at the doorway, her face pale. She’d overheard his words, no doubt.
“What will you do?” she asked, moving closer. Xavier, the captain of the guard, exchanged a look with him, as if to ask permission. Guy inclined his head.
“We will find the murderers and execute them for their crimes,” Xavier admitted.
Her lips tightened into a line, and she pointed at his hand. “What is that you’re holding?”
The Duc hadn’t noticed the arrow until now. He sent his captain a questioning look, and Xavier held up the shaft. “We found this embedded in the wall.”
“Black feathers,” the Duc noted. “Interesting.” Few men used arrows with distinctive feathered tips. He tried to think of whether any of his archers used arrows like those, but he couldn’t quite imagine it.
Marguerite’s face whitened. She murmured excuses to leave, and her behavior struck him as unusual.
His eyes narrowed upon the doorway and he turned to Xavier. “She knows something. Follow her.”
“What have you done?” Marguerite demanded. It was nightfall before she’d been able to slip away from the castle. Over and over, she’d worried about the arrow, terrified of what it meant. Her throat ached with unshed tears, and her hands clenched as she tried to keep her hysteria under control.
Callum studied her, his eyes questioning. She went on, “Nearly a dozen men were murdered last night at the English garrison. They found one of your arrows there.”
His expression didn’t move a single muscle. Like a wall of granite, he revealed nothing at all.
Shaken by it, she whispered, “Were you there that night?”
He inclined his head in a nod, and her heart plummeted. She stared at him in disbelief. “And did you kill those men?”
He shook his head. Though she wanted to believe him, her pulse clamored within her chest. “Why would you go with them? There was no reason for it.” Knowing he couldn’t answer, she unleashed her anger. “Don’t you know that they’ll find out? My father plans to execute any man who was there last night.”
