In an instant, Magnus seemed to regain his faculties and suddenly came to life, advancing on Gibson, sweat covering his brow. He had the dirk in his hand now but held it with the blade facing away.
Leah heard the scrape of steel around the room as Gibson’s men drew their swords, but Magnus merely pushed the handle into Gibson’s chest as he spoke.
“I would never have hurt her,” he whispered darkly. “I would never have harmed Elizabeth.”
“Ye’re a liar!” Gibson shouted.
“She was carryin’ me child!”
Leah watched Gibson freeze in place, staring at MacWatt in bewilderment. He had clearly been unaware of Elizabeth’s condition.
“I would never have hurt me own wife. Especially nae when she was carryin’ me child. I only ever wanted to protect her.” Magnus shifted his gaze to Leah. “And I failed at that as well.”
He shook his head, his good eye glassy and filled with sorrow as he looked at Laird Gibson.
“I never told ye,” he said, his shoulders drooping as he took a step back. He sheathed his blade, even as Gibson’s men kept their swords drawn. “I didnae wish for ye to suffer more than ye already were. That’s why I spared ye of this knowledge. But it’s true.” He backed further away, glancing around at the crowd. “She was me wife, and I wished to do right by her. I never laid a finger on her, that I swear.”
After a long pause, Gibson’s eyes darted to his man-at-arms, and slowly, his men sheathed their weapons.
“She was with child?” he asked, the catch in his voice showing the emotion he was battling against.
“She was. For what it is worth, I would have cared for them both and any other bairns we might have had if we hadnae lost her.”
Everyone around them was utterly silent. The crowd barely moved.
Magnus straightened up to his full height and nodded to Gibson. “If ye wish to, ye are welcome to stay and celebrate with us. But dinnae threaten me bride again, or I’ll kill ye.”
He turned to Leah then, as if he might take her hand and they could resume their waltz together as though nothing had happened.
She felt as though the ground was opening up beneath her. The pounding of the waves returned in the back of her mind, and she was floating on an endless ocean again, unknown, lost, and alone.
She stared at Magnus, this stranger to whom she was now bound for life, and could not bring herself to move toward him. He stared at her, a frown etched on his face, the livid scar all the more prominent behind his eyepatch.
There seemed to be eyes everywhere around the room, every single person now staring at her as the slighted bride, thepitiable English girl who had been enticed into the sordid world of lairds and their wars.
She shook her head, not able to look at her father or anyone else.
“That is why everyone warned me about you,” she said, her eyes seeking out Oskar at the back of the room. “That’s whyyoutried to keep me away,” she stammered, feeling fear overwhelm her as the walls of the room began to close in on her.
“Leah… please,” Magnus said, slowly approaching her, his hand outstretched. But she could not go to him.
With a stifled cry, she turned away from her new husband, turned away from her father and her friends, and ran out of the room.
CHAPTER 16
“Leah!”
Magnus slammed through the door she had just passed through, seeing the train of her wedding dress disappear around the corner in the distance.
He could barely drag in a full breath as he ran to keep up with her. He would never have imagined that Gibson would arrive at the wedding, particularly with how little notice he would have had to travel there.
Magnus felt bitter shame and guilt warring inside him that he had not had the presence of mind to be honest with Leah before now. All this confusion might have been prevented if he had just opened his mouth and told her the truth instead of pushing her away out of fear.
Imagine hearing that accusation hours after yer wedding. That yer new husband is a murderer and a liar. Nay wonder she is fleein’ from me. Any woman would!
The door to her chambers slammed shut behind her, but he knew he would not be allowed admittance if he knocked. He pushed the door open forcibly, hearing a startled gasp as Leah turned around. She glared at him as he closed the door behind him.
It looked as though she had been in the act of ripping her wedding dress off her body, the many folds of the dress hanging from her hands, her fingers curled around the fastening at her shoulder.
