“Both!” Sten said, raising his fist in the air. You are beholden to both! And to your people! How many more will commit crimes if they see their King is so lenient? Do not be weak!”
Bridei shot him a look that was as cold as ice, but he did not rise to the bait.
Nessa still held her breath, and the sound of her heart beating in her ears was nearly loud enough to drown out everything else, try as she might to follow the discourse. Time seemed to both slow down and speed up all at once, as if reality was fading in and out of her grasp. A tiny whimper escaped her throat. Would she live or die?
Meara held her hands out now in a gesture of pleading, her face turned up to look at the King. “Bridei! You must listen to me in this matter. The gods need her alive for their purposes, do not work against them!”
Nessa could feel the tremor run through his powerful body as he warred with his decision. A long time passed, or at least it felt that way to Nessa. Shefeltthe change in him the moment he made his judgement.
“Mercy”, he said.
The knife left her throat and Bridei stepped away from her, and Nessa let out her breath on a long, trembling sigh. The whole crowd seemed to sigh with her. The King had called mercy. She was saved, for now.She never fainted, but this time, she did. The world started to spin and her vision faded, and the last thing she was conscious of was the heavy thud of her limp body on the darkly blood-soaked platform.
Brideiwalked back to the broch, his arms full of soft, unconscious woman. He hadn’t been able to do it. He hadn’t even wanted to. Did that make him weak? Maybe. But nearly all of his people had cheered when he’d calledmercy. For some reason unknown to him, they hadn’t wanted her to die, either. Perhaps the gods really did have a hand in it. What purpose could they have for this lass, that they would not let him take her life?
He was almost to the broch when she jerked awake with a sudden scream. He tightened his arms around her to keep her from falling.
“Shhh…you’re all right. I have you.”
“Am I dead?” she whispered, still not fully aware of her surroundings.
“No. You are very much alive.”
He held her just a little bit closer and his body hummed where it touched hers. How had he ever thought he could have seen her dead at his hands? It would have devastated him to do it. He would have never been the same, if he had had to carry the memory of her blood on his hands. Still, he had been prepared to do his duty, even as the deepest part of his soul cried out against it.
“I just wanted to find Angus”, she mumbled softly, her eyes closing again, then squeezing tight. “He’s all I have…”
Sten was behind him, following closely at his heels all the way up the stairs of the tower. “You should have killed her, Bridei. Nothing good can come of letting her live”, he said, but Bridei ignored him.
When he reached his chamber, he laid Nessa carefully down on his bed, and Sten was still there, annoying fly that he was. This wasn’t the first time Sten had challenged him, and it likely wouldn’t be the last.
“I beg you to reconsider, my King. She stole yourhorse!”
“Borrowed.”
Sten threw up his hands in a gesture of irate disbelief. “Borrowed? No oneborrowsthe King’s horse!”
Bridei sighed and threaded his fingers through his hair. He had enough to consider without this bothersome man plucking at his conscious. A conscious that was already eating at him from all directions. By rights, Nessa should have died this night, and he knew it. But in his heart of hearts, he also knew she was meant to live.
“Leave, Sten. I will not defy the wishes of the gods. To do so would be foolish. Do you want their wrath to come down on us?”
“But…”
“Leave!”
As the door slammed loudly in Sten’s angry wake, Nessa sat up suddenly, drawing in a sharp breath and finally fully conscious. “What happened?”
“You fainted, Ashta.”
“No, I couldn’t have. I never faint.”
“You were about to die. A good enough reason to faint. Don’t worry, I don’t find you weaker for it.” No, she had stood there like a warrior, head held high and ready to die among strangers with all the honor she could muster, even though he could feel the frantic pounding of her heart beneath his hand. Brave lass.
She started to lay back down—obviously exhausted and still in shock—then suddenly sat back up with her eyes filled with horror. “Wait, are you going to kill me later?”
“No. I’m not going to kill you, but I want you to know that I’ve broken rules for you. Rules that should never have been broken.”
Everything had changed. Because of her. Because of him. Because the scent of her was one that tugged at his mind like a distant memory and would not leave him, even when he slept.
