“But would it not be more chivalrous, Your Grace, to make a bloodless end to the rebellion?Earn the loyalty and admiration of your subjects by not…killing them?”
Eve understood what he was trying to do.It was the same thing he’d done at Perth.Avoid battle and bloodshed through diplomacy.
It was a worthwhile endeavor.An honorable effort.Maybe peacemaking was Adam’s Greater Purpose.
The king chortled.“A Rivenloch advocating for peace?”
Eve tensed.The king was right to doubt him.The Rivenlochs were a warring clan.Negotiation was the last thing a warrior of Rivenloch would suggest.
“We may be a clan of warriors, Your Grace,” Adam replied, “but our motto isAmor vincit omnia.”
“Love conquers all,” the king translated, amused.
Adam gave a further assurance.“If Fergus breaks the truce, Your Grace, summon my clan.They can be here by the new month, and together we can lay siege.”
Eve wondered how he was going to pull that off.And how did she figure into his scheme?Was she just meant to be, as he’d said, a “useful pawn”?Did Adam intend to sacrifice her to protect the king?
If he deserted her, leaving her with Malcolm, she was doomed.A ransom from Fergus for her safe return would never come.Fergus didn’t know her, much less value her.The king would eventually execute her as a spy.
Eve stared at Adam, unable to decipher his intentions.It seemed he was willing to dismiss her as a sacrificial lamb.He refused to look at her, and she could read nothing in his expressionless eyes.
“Very well,” Malcolm said.“The Rivenlochs have served us faithfully for generations.We will entrust this matter to you.We will wait till after All Souls Day…as long as Fergus abides by the truce.”
Adam bowed his head in thanks.“Your Grace will keep the lass safe and unharmed?”
Eve’s heart lightened with hope.If he was concerned for her welfare, perhaps he did care for her.
Then he added, “Her value must be retained.Otherwise, leverage will be useless.”
Her value?Leverage?Was that all she was?
Eve began trembling then.Whether it was from hurt or fear or fury, she wasn’t sure.
Adam still wouldn’t look at her.She knew why now.Guilt had made a coward of him.He meant to abandon her and couldn’t look her in the eye to do it.
“We’ll keep her safe,” the king said, “if she’ll put away her weapon.”
Eve had forgotten she was gripping the eating knife in her fist.At the moment, she wanted to hurl it at Adam.But that would gain nothing.
Instead, she dropped it to the ground.
“Take her to the physician’s pavilion,” the king commanded.
“She’s a wily wench,” Adam warned.“Your Grace would be wise to put her in chains.”
Eve’s trembling was definitely rage now.Chains?
“Do so,” the king ordered.
The guards sheathed their swords and grabbed her by the arms.
“Wait,” Adam said.“I’ll need proof for Fergus.”
He picked up her dropped knife, seized a lock of her hair, and cut it off.
Then, before she could glare and spit out an epithet at the man who had condemned her to imprisonment for the next fortnight, they marched her roughly out of the pavilion.
Thank God she was too furious to feel the pain of her broken heart.
