“You seek to rid my womb of the child I carry when I am already nearly half done with the carrying. Losing a babe at this advanced stage can render a woman barren. ’Tis no guarantee I’ll become pregnant right away or at all. You’ve already claimed to all that the babe I carry is yours. If it matters not who I’m married to, why should it matter whose babe I carry? As long as I deliver a child, control of Neamh Álainn is yours. Why would you wait and risk my not becomg pregnant again?”
His frown deepened, as if he hadn’t considered such a possibility.
“I want my child to live,” she said softly. “Regardless of who it calls father. I’d do anything to protect him. In that regard you have the advantage, Laird.”
Duncan stood and paced restlessly in front of the bed. He stopped every once in awhile and eyed her as if trying to determine the truth of her words.
“ ’Tis often said a mother’s love knows no bounds. All right, Mairin Stuart. I agree to your terms. I’ll spare your child’s life, but from this day on you are mine. You’ll not fight me when I seek to avail myself of your body. You will never utter a single word to contradict the account I have given Lord Archibald. Are we understood?”
May God forgive me.
“I agree,” she choked out.
“Then be prepared to depart the castle. We leave in an hour’s time to return to Cameron land.”
“Ewan! Ewan! Wake up for God’s sake.”
Ewan found himself shaken roughly as he gained awareness of his surroundings. He cracked an eye open and glanced around only to find himself cloaked in darkness.
“Caelen?” he rasped.
“Thank God.”
The relief in Caelen’s voice was staggering.
“Mairin.”
The single word sent grief splintering through his head and chest. Bile rose in his throat at the knowledge that right now his wife was with her tormentor.
“Mairin,” he said again. “Where is she?”
The silence was oppressive. He heard his brothers’ breathing in the darkness, knew they dreaded the telling they must do.
“I’m sorry, Ewan. Duncan departed hours past, bearing Mairin with him,” Alaric said in a grim voice.
Ewan sat up, pain ripping through his head. His brothers caught his shoulders and guided him back down again when he nearly fell.
“Where are we?” he demanded.
“The king’s dungeon,” Caelen said, fury laced in each word. “The little bastard Archibald had us all tossed in here after his soldiers bashed you in the head.”
“Cormac and Gannon?”
“Here, Laird,” Gannon returned.
Ice filled Ewan’s veins as everything came back to him in a rush. “Diormid. Where is he now?”
“I’m not certain, Laird, but he’ll have gone from here. He knows any of us will kill him on sight. ’Tis possible he went with Cameron, since it looks that he was working with Cameron all along.”
“The attempts on my life. The arrow. The poison. It must have been him. He had orders from Cameron to kill me. When that didn’t work, he put his petition before the king.”
“I suspect he had the petition working even before Diormid’s attempts on your life,” Alaric said. “He had every angle covered from the start.”
“The question is, if David is involved in this along with Archibald or if Archibald acts alone with Cameron,” Caelen mused.
Ewan put his hands on the rough floor of the dungeon and pushed himself into a sitting position. “Archibald said that David was indisposed and castle rumor confirmed that the king is very ill. I wouldn’t be surprised if Archibald is behind that as well.”
“Are you all right, Ewan?” Alaric asked. “Does your head pain you overmuch?”
Ewan touched the side of his head, felt the warmth of blood, but it was thick and it no longer flowed freely. “I’ll be fine. What’s important is that Mairin not stay in Cameron’s grasp a minute longer than she has to.”
“I’ve sent a message to our men,” Caelen said. “ ’Tis my hope we hear from them soon.”
Ewan stared around the darkened dungeon. “How did you send a message to our men?”
“I might have threatened one of the guards who tossed us into the cell,” Caelen admitted. “I told him that unless he informed our men of our fate that I would spit him on my sword, castrate him, and feed his cods to the buzzards.”
Alaric chuckled. “The man couldn’t leave us fast enough to bear Caelen’s message to our men.”
“How long have we been down here?” Ewan asked as he rubbed more of the blood from the side of his head.
Caelen sighed. “Several hours. One of the guards who obviously feels ’tis best to remain on my good side informed me of Cameron’s departure a few hours past.”
“Son of a bitch,” Ewan swore. “I can’t believe that bastard allowed Mairin to fall into Cameron’s hands. This was all a setup from the beginning. Archibald never had any intention of presenting this matter before David, and he damn sure never had any intention of listening to Mairin or to me. Diormid’s testimony just gave him the sway of public opinion so that when he rendered his judgment, there was no backlash from the other lairds who might have thought he intervened unfairly.”
“I’m sorry, Laird,” Cormac said, devastation in every word. “I should have seen it. I spent every day in Diormid’s company. I fought with him. Ate with him. We trained together. We were as brothers. I would have never dreamed he would betray us.”