“Aye, and it’s glad I am to stop you from defying your father, Conor O’Byrne. I sensed you might be harboring some rash plan when I saw you enter your dwelling-house instead of making your way to your other lodging?—”
“Only because Orla brought me word in the feasting-hall that Annalise wished to see me. She’s feeling unsettled after the events of this night, so I thought some cooler air might soothe her?—”
“Enough, nephew, will you lie to me through your teeth? You’re nearly to the stable, where were you bound?”
Conor didn’t answer, only stiffened with tension and braced his hand more tightly around Annalise’s waist.
So tightly that her lower ribs hurt and she winced, Niall shooting her a look of concern.
“Are you accompanying him against your will, Annalise?”
“No, no…I?—”
“We are bound for Glendalough to wed,” Conor interjected as he took a step toward his uncle, as if to challenge him. “We both wish to marry—aye, and we will marry, so let us pass.”
Niall glanced again at Annalise and she bobbed her head, leaning against Conor with her hand pressed to his chest. “It’s true, I wish to become his wife. I believe he loves me…and I know now that I love him—oh, please let us pass!”
A look of pure astonishment lit Niall’s face and he seemed nonplussed for a brief moment until the same grimness settled over his features that looked so much like Conor’s.
“It’s impossible, our chieftain has decreed that a ransom will be sought for your release to your husband-to-be, Maurice de Saint Michael?—”
“No, by God!” Conor sidestepped his uncle so abruptly, hauling Annalise with him, that she nearly stumbled and cried out even as Conor drew his sword with a terrible ring.
Within an instant she was pulled tightly against him again, her heart pounding in her throat as Niall waved at the guards to lower their own weapons, drawn in swift response.
“Do you see this madness, Conor?” he demanded. “Clansman against clansman? You and I have always been as close as brothers no matter the twenty years’ difference between us. You know you cannot defy your father’s command?—”
“I will if it’s the only way Annalise and I can be together. You yourself wed another man’s bride-to-be years ago—Nora, my aunt!”
“Aye, and it brought Sigurd Skullcrusher down upon us with four hundred of his Norsemen, and Ostmen from Dublin as well. We were prepared for a siege and were stunned when Nora gave herself up to the bastard to spare us from attack—but thank God Duncan FitzWilliam heeded Ronan’s call and joined our forces to overcome our common enemies and save my wife. Yet your circumstances are different, Conor! This young woman is to be married to one of the most powerful barons in Éire, and if he gathered his allies to march against us to retrieve his bride, mayhap we would not be able to withstand them. Duncan was banished to Scotland because of his kinship with us and even so he would never have fought against his own kind?—”
“Then Annalise and I will leave Éire and make our home elsewhere.”
“That will not spare us from the Normans’ wrath if Saint Michael discovers what became of her, think! A ransom prevents needless bloodshed, but she must be turned over to him. Will you consign us all to warfare so you can wed a woman destined for another man?”
“Oh, Conor,” Annalise murmured with horror to cause such strife between him and his clansmen, but he seemed not to have heard her as he took another step, still wielding his weapon.
So sudden a step that her foot entangled with his and they both stumbled backwards onto the hard ground, Conor’s weapon knocked from his hand.
At once the guards set upon him, though he struggled mightily while Annalise felt herself pulled up by Niall, his grip tight upon her arm but not cruel.
His expression filled with regret as Conor was hauled to his feet with two guards on either side holding him fast, his face reddened with fury.
His darkened gaze fixed upon Annalise as Niall began to lead her away after ordering the guards to escort Conor to his own dwelling-house and bar him from exiting.
“Where are you taking her?” he demanded, though Niall didn’t respond, his expression grown somber again and his grip as firm.
Annalise could do nothing but hurry alongside him, Conor’s roars of outrage making her shiver but not from cold.
Her own horror growing at the fate she clearly would not escape and the stark realization that any future she had envisioned so briefly with Conor as her husband had turned to ash.
“You will stay with my wife and me until the ransom is agreed to and you are accompanied under guard to Athy. There is no other way, Annalise, I’m sorry.”
Niall had glanced at her with such pity that tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them away as Conor cried out her name, over and over.
“Annalise!”
Chapter 10
