At least her bird was safe. Mariota wasn’t. The look on Alber’s torn face promised a painful death if he managed to get his hands on her. He staggered a step, his hands outstretched to throttle her, but he swayed before he reached her. His skin, what of it that wasn’t bloodied, had gone a pasty white. Mariota forgot her fear of being grabbed. She might see this man die before her— so much blood coated Alber’s face and neck. Instead of rushing Mariota, he pawed at his face, then turned back to his horse, and clung to its saddle, no longer able to taunt or threaten her.
Valkyrie had given her time to escape him. She dared not waste it. Mariota ran to her mount, heart pounding louder in her ears than her footfalls. She glanced back and took her first easy breath since Alber’s arrow had narrowly missed her hawk. He still clutched his saddle. She mounted and rode hard the way she’d come, her hawk pacing her in the sky above her.
Still at a gallop, she found Seamus, pulled on the reins and wheeled Epona to a stop.
“Mariota! What’s wrong?”
Breathless, she told him what had happened. “He may be coming behind us,” she warned, “but Valkyrie did some damage. He’s bloodied. I dinna ken how bad.”
Frowning, Seamus said, “I’ll ride double with ye. My mount can run without a rider on his back. We need to get back to the keep. Ye are nay safe out here.”
“Da will never let me out of MacKay’s walls again.”
“If Alber catches ye, yer da will be the least of yer worries.” He mounted up behind her. “Now let’s go.”
They reached the keep safely,but Mariota knew that wasn’t the end of her peril. She still had to tell her father what happened.
“I told ye to stay inside the gates,” he raged, pacing his solar after he sent men to look for the injured Alber. “Ye disobeyed me yet again. Must I lock ye in yer chamber?”
“I did as ye asked, Da. I wasna alone until Seamus’s horse threw a shoe. And Valkyrie spotted prey, so I went after her. But Alber found me. He threatened me. I had to call Valkyrie down to stop him from… hurting me.”
His frown and the way his jaw clenched told her he understood what she hadn’t said. Alber would not get out of this unpunished, either.
“If ye had stayed in the keep as ye ought, this wouldna have happened. Seamus will be punished for aiding ye.”
“Ye canna do that, Da. Blame me if ye must. I convinced Seamus to ride with me. But no’ for what happened to Alber. He did no’ have to follow. Or threaten me. He tried to kill Valkyrie, first, but his arrow missed. He got nay more than he deserved.”
“And so shall ye. Get ye to yer chamber. I’ll deal with ye after the men return.”
Mariota realized she’d get nowhere arguing with her father. Meekly, she nodded and did as he ordered.
An hour later, he called her back. His men had found Alber.
As she approached the solar, she heard her father’s voice and one of his councilors, as well. James was one of the men her father trusted to advise him, a strong and experienced warrior. Mariota paused outside the door.
“Ye are going to have to do something about him,” James was saying.
Mariota knew who he meant.
“I am considering it. He would deserve lashes, but according to my daughter, her hawk may have taken care of that already.”
His bark of laughter elicited a chuckle from James, but sickened her. Would her father do something to Valkyrie?
“Perhaps he’ll have a scar on the other side of his face to balance the one he got at Harlaw,” James said. “’Twould only be fair.”
“He canna go unpunished for this,” her father said, “but nay matter what I do, lashes, time in the dungeon or the stocks, it will just make Alber angrier and more determined to do harm. He hasna been himself since Harlaw, but never this bad.”
The silence stretched long enough that she knew James must have simply nodded or shrugged.
“Ye might want to name atanist,” James said.
The change of subject surprised her. Why had he brought that up?
“If the worst happens, he can take over, and Mariota willna have to be in control,” he continued.
Her father gusted out a heavy sigh. “Aye, I’ve thought of it.”
He had? Why hadn’t he discussed the idea with her first? She could have been open to the assistance atanistwould give her, but now? She could feel her muscles tensing and her heart race with her growing fury. She considered bursting in on the meeting and confronting her father over his betrayal, yet again, of the trust that should exist between a laird and his heir.
