“Adam is mine,” Ian said to his brother. “I dinna want him killed.”
“Did she ask that of ye?”
“Nay. But I’d hate for our wedding day to be marred by the death of her one and only brother—even if he is an utter arse.”
“Aye. Understood. We’ll take him prisoner.”
Ian nodded. “The other man, though, he can go to the devil.”
Noah grinned. “My favorite place to send men of that sort.”
The Sinclair army mounted their horses, armed with their swords, daggers, battle axes and targes, and signaled for the gates to be opened.
It was time to make their enemies pay.
It was a good thing that Douglass held her hand because Rhiannon was ready to dart from where she stood on the steps into the sea of armed men on horseback and grab Ian. To tell him that maybe it wasn’t worth it. Perhaps they should negotiate.
But she knew that wouldn’t work. Not with Adam nor his gambling cohort. Neither of those men were willing to give her up. They’d risked bringing an army to the northern Highlands to prove that point. They weren’t going to say, “All right then, let us negotiate.”
“They will return.” Douglass sounded so calm and confident that Rhiannon tried to do the same.
She straightened her shoulders. “Of course, they will.”
“Would you like us to go to the ramparts?”
“Oh, thank heavens.” Rhiannon let out a long sigh. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Douglass grinned. “I have to do it every time Noah leaves.”
They made their way up to the ramparts, where Matilda and Iliana were already waiting, the two staring over the side as the sea of warriors left the castle to meet the army assembled on the horizon.
“Bastards were already waiting for them,” Iliana said.
“Bastards, indeed,” Rhiannon murmured.
They watched the men until they came to a stop. Their shouts back and forth carried on the wind, but not the actual words, leaving the women to use their imaginations on what was being said.
“Will your brother surrender if he knows Ian has wed ye?” Matilda asked.
“Nay,” Rhiannon and Douglass said at the same time.
“If anything, that will only enrage him,” Rhiannon said. “He’s pledged me to the other bastard down there to pay off a debt. Me being already wed means that he won’t be able to pay off that debt.”
“Ah, so either way, your brother will have to fight.”
“Aye.”
“And I assume he will hope to make ye a widow this day and cart ye off,” Iliana said.
“Likely so.” Rhiannon’s tone was filled with all the sadness she felt in her heart.
If only Adam had ever cared about her, maybe they wouldn’t be in this situation. But perhaps that wasn’t the issue. He was a gambler, and gambling men had debts. Gambling men were threatened with their lives, and they often became desperate. And desperate men did stupid things.
This was a stupid thing, for it was certain death for him at the hands of the Scots.
From all the shouting back and forth, it was evident the men were attempting to negotiate, and Rhiannon had to hand it to Ian for at least trying. He really did love her, didn’t he?
But the shouting stopped, and those sent forward to negotiate returned to their places in line with their men, and her heart stuttered to a halt.
