Tarass’s arm once again stopped Owen from lunging forward and none failed to see the strength it took to stop him, Owen stumbling back from the impact.
“You lead the troop now, Owen. Return to the warriors and assure them that Rhodes’s death will be revenged and appoint men to come and get Rhodes and see him taken home for a proper burial,” Tarass ordered and Owen obeyed, though not before sending Slatter a nasty look.
“I’ll hear what Snow has to say and will decide then what to do,” Tarass said.
“What is there to do but find the culprit responsible for killing Rhodes,” Willow said, worrying that Tarass would forcibly take Slatter and see him hanged.
Tarass turned to head back to the keep, saying as he went, “Maybe your husband didn’t kill Rhodes, but I have no doubt he was someway involved with his death, and I intend to see him hang.”
Snow confirmed what Slatter had said and was quickly dismissed from James’s solar along with Willow who protested vigorously until her husband ordered her to leave to her surprise.
Leave now, wife.
His words still rang in her head as she sat with Snow in their mum’s solar.
“Let the men do what they will,” Snow said, petting Thaw, asleep in her lap. “And we will do what we will, search for the truth ourselves.”
Willow snapped out of her musings. “You’re right. I know the man who resembles Slatter exists.” Willow sat up straighter in the chair. “So does Devin, a longtime friend of Slatter’s and so does Walcott, another friend, though often pessimistic, but faithful to Slatter. Then there are all the people he has helped who would defend him.”
“They need to be here to help him. No one believes another like Slatter exists and, therefore, will not bother to search for him. But he must be close if he convinced Rhodes to meet him in the woods.”
Willow gasped. “I never thought of that, but you’re right. That man must be close by if he met with Rhodes under the pretense of being Slatter.”
“Have James send a small troop of men to escort them here. At least then you’ll have some who will defend Slatter,” Snow explained.
Willow laughed softly. “And here I thought I was the sensible one.”
“Love distracts,” Snow said, laughing herself. “And don’t bother to deny you love your husband. I can hear it in your voice when you speak about him just as I can hear it in his voice when he speaks about you.”
“You think Slatter loves me?” Willow asked.
Snow tilted her head at her sister. “Isn’t that why he wed you?”
Guilt poked at Willow for not telling her sister the truth. The three had always trusted one another, knowing anything they shared would not be shared with anyone else.
“I need to tell you something,” Willow said.
“I was wondering when you were going to get around to it.” Snow lowered her voice, though the door to the room was closed. “So tell me why you truly wed Slatter.”
It didn’t take long for Willow to explain it all and finish with, “How I fell in love with him I’ll never know.”
“Fate, I suppose. And truth be told when I spoke with him this morning I couldn’t seem to align him with the man who had set fire to our shed or did the many things said of him. I know his tongue can charm but he doesn’t strike me as a scoundrel.”
“I have seen him kill without hesitation,” Willow said, recalling the men who had meant them harm and explained to Snow.
“He killed to protect you. That is different from luring a man into the woods and murdering him.”
A soft rap on the door and Eleanor calling out that she had hot cider for them had Willow hurrying to open the door.
“Join us,” Snow offered. “We are trying to find a way to keep Slatter from hanging for this killing. Another’s thought is always helpful.”
Eleanor looked hesitant.
“The truth is, Eleanor, Snow and I know that you and James are falling in love.”
Snow giggled. “I so enjoy hearing you two tread lightly around each other, complimenting and finding reasons to be with each other. I don’t understand why James doesn’t admit he loves you and be done with it.”
Eleanor’s cheeks blushed red. “I think I lost my heart to him when I arrived here and he caught me after I almost collapsed once off the horse. He was so gentle yet strong. I never had a man treat me with such kindness. But it isn’t me we should discuss.”
“You have a thought on the problem with Slatter?” Willow asked anxiously.
Eleanor spoke hesitantly and in a whisper. “I overheard the Lord of Fire speaking to one of his warriors as he walked through the Great Hall.”
“Do share,” Snow urged.
Willow pointed to the chair, her sister Sorrell usually occupied, for Eleanor to sit, and she did.
As soon as Willow saw Eleanor worry her hands, she asked, “What’s wrong?”
“What is it? Did something happen?” Snow asked, leaning forward in the chair and causing Thaw to pop up out of his sleep to give a yawning yelp.
Eleanor spoke reluctantly. “I fear what I overheard.”
Willow’s stomach knotted. “What did you overhear?”
“Lord Tarass ordered his warrior to send a message to a man. That he would pay handsomely if he could get here as soon as possible and handle a disturbing matter.”
“Are you familiar with this man Lord Tarass sends for?” Willow asked, her apprehension growing.
“I know the name. A man showed up at the abbey one night begging for help. He insisted that one of the devil’s strongest demons was after him and the only place he’d be safe was on sacred ground. Mother Abbess allowed him entrance, thinking him ill of mind and once he calmed down she’d send him on his way. He ranted for two days, begging God to protect him, not to let the mighty demon get him.” She stopped and shivered. “One night the whole abbey woke to agonizing screams that seemed to come from the stone walls themselves as if they suffered along with the man. Mother Abbess had me and another postulant lead the way to the man’s room, her and only two other nuns following. I knew she meant to sacrifice the two of us if necessary.”
Willow listened intently, fear tugging at her stomach.
“When we reached the room, Mother Abbess ordered me to open the door and go inside. She kept the door locked at all times, according to the man’s instructions, but she didn’t hand me the key since we had all assumed someone had already gotten inside. I tried the handle, shocked to find the door locked. How did someone enter a locked room? Mother Abbess’s hand trembled when she handed me the key and she hurriedly stepped far away from the door with the others.
“My hand shook so badly that it took me several minutes to unlock the door. The room was dark, since the man had insisted on a room without a hearth. He lay on the ground dead, his body misshapen by all his broken bones, his eyes wide with fright, and his mouth open in his last scream. I could still hear the name he screamed over and over. I never wanted to hear that name again, but I did when Lord Tarass said, ‘send for the Slayer.’”
Chapter 16
Willow wanted to run from the room and warn her husband, tell him to get as far away from here as possible, but she feared that wouldn’t be far enough from what Eleanor had said.
“We need to solve this problem before this demon descends on Slatter,” Snow said.
“The man was right. The Slayer is a demon. How else could he enter past a locked door?” Eleanor said, a tremble running through her.
“You need to get Slatter’s friends here, and maybe his grandmother knows something that might help,” Snow suggested.
It didn’t surprise Willow that she had thought the same. The three of them, Sorrell, Snow, and herself often shared identical thoughts on a matter, though her approach had always been the most sensible. She didn’t think being sensible now would help her, especially if she was to face a demon to save her husband. Though she questioned the validity of demons, the horror that some men perpetrated on others
made one wonder if perhaps the devil actually did capture souls to serve him.
“Did Sara say anything last night?” Willow asked Eleanor.
“No, she was restless but silent. I wondered if she was fighting to wake, but she settled to my touch.”
“It worries me that she hasn’t fully woken,” Willow admitted.
“Don’t you remember that I barely woke after the accident that took my sight? I could hear Mum and you talking, and Sorrell when she came and sat and talked with me. But I didn’t want to wake and talk with anyone. I was in pain and sleep was the only thing that made it tolerable,” Snow said.
The door opened and Slatter filled the doorway. “A word with my wife.”
After a quick hug from her sister, Snow left the room with Eleanor, Thaw yapping at her heels as he followed her out.
Slatter shut the door and stood there looking at his wife.
“I know what you’re going to say and don’t even think of it,” Willow warned. “You’re not leaving. We will fight this together and clear your name.”
“You’re confident I am innocent?” he asked.
“Without a doubt and if we don’t clear your name Lord Tarass will forever hunt you. No, you must stay and see this done,” she insisted and walked over to him. “You also need to send for Devin and the others. You made mention that you didn’t have much of a home. Well you have a home now and so do your friends… here with the Clan Macardle.”
His first thought was to deny her, but that wouldn’t be fair to the others. He had promised them a home and they deserved a good one. They would find that here with the Macardle clan.
Willow began to pace back and forth in front of him. “Lord Ruddock left some of his warriors here to help with repairs and to protect us. They won’t do for this task. The Clan Macardle does have a few warriors of their own. We’ll send two or three of them to escort your friends here.”
His wife spoke as if they had decided this together, that they worked as one. That he was not alone. That they were family. The thought that she fought for him stabbed at his heart. He didn’t deserve her trust, and yet, he ached for it.
Willow stopped pacing. “What was discussed in the solar?”
“That they trust me less than before Rhodes was killed and that I’m not to go anywhere. That I’m not to venture off the grounds of the keep. That Lord Tarass’s men will keep close watch on me. And that if I harm you in any way I’ll hang for it. Lord Tarass made quite the point that hanging would be the easiest way to absolve our marriage.”
“So it didn’t matter what Snow said, Lord Tarass and James believe you guilty and the meeting consisted of nothing more than warning you.”
“Every minute of it,” Slatter confirmed, “though I was more concerned with what other horror this dastardly fellow has planned. I believe he wants me to suffer the blame. If I suffer no consequences for this killing, who then would he choose next to kill?”
Willow shook her head when she saw how his dark eyes focused so intently on her. “No. No. He would not come after me.”
“You don’t think if you were found dead that I wouldn’t be blamed and hanged almost immediately?”
“We’ll find him,” Willow said.
He stepped closer to her. “How?”
“As I first suggested, a trap,” she said. “We’ll think of something and when Devin and Walcott get here, they can help us execute it.”
“I’ll not see you put in harm’s way,” he said, reaching out to take hold of her arm and gently tug her toward him.
“Nor I you,” she said softly, her hand going to rest on his chest. “Have you ever heard of a man called the Slayer?”
His eyes shot wide with anger and his fingers tightened around her arm. “Where did you hear that name?”
“Eleanor heard Lord Tarass tell his warrior to send for the Slayer. She knew the name due to an incident at the abbey where she had been a postulant. She believes that the Slayer is one of the devil’s demons.”
“Come to claim the souls of the damned,” Slatter said.
His words sent a chill running through Willow. “You’ve heard of him?”
“Aye, his name is whispered in places where good men don’t frequent, but send men to hire heartless men, or soulless men as some believe the Slayer to be.”
“He must be soulless from what Eleanor said he did to the man at the abbey, which is why we must prove your innocence before he arrives.”
“You don’t doubt, not even a little, my innocence?” he asked, releasing her arm to slip his hand to rest at her back, nudging her closer to him.
“Not a trickle or hint of a doubt,” she said, easing into the comfort of his arms.
“Be careful, wife, with the way things are going, you may be stuck with me for the rest of your days,” Slatter warned with the hint of a smile.
“I could think of a worse fate.”
“And what would that be?”
“Never having met you at all,” she said softly.
Words failed him, though instinct didn’t. He kissed her, a gentle kiss, as tender and heartfelt as her words. But the ache for his wife that seemed to forever linger in his loins flared, demanding more. His kiss paid heed to the passion that flamed in him and demanded more as well. He might have been able to harness it and keep it at bay if his wife didn’t respond with an eager passion of her own.
His hands ran down along her back to cup her backside and squeeze it tight, pushing her up against his manhood that was growing hard with impatience.
He tore his mouth away from hers. “Once I make love to you, wife, our fate is sealed. Is that what you want?”
“Sensible or not, it is what my heart tells me… I love you,” she said a soft smile surfacing as she brought her lips to his.
A rap at the door sounded before a voice called out, “Sara is awake and asking for her grandson.”
Slatter felt pulled between the two women who meant so much to him. How did he brush aside what his wife had just told him and go to his grandmother and how did he not go to his grandmother who had to be frightened upon waking in a strange place?
Willow grabbed his hand. “Come, we must see to Seanmhair. Afterwards you can tell me how much you love me.”
Slatter shook his head and snagged his wife around the waist with one arm to lift her off her feet and kiss her quick.
“Damn it, wife,” he snarled playfully, “You don’t tell me to tell you how much I love you. I say it of my own free will.”
Willow chuckled, feeling good she had admitted what was in her heart. She grabbed his face in her hands and brought her lips near his, though didn’t kiss him. Instead she whispered, “Then show me of your own free will how much you love me.”
That brought a rumbling growl from him before he teasingly nipped at her lips. “That’s a challenge I can’t refuse.”
He placed her on her feet, took her hand, and wondered with things appearing so bad how he felt such joy.
His wife.
She had not only brought joy to him, she brought something much more… hope. Something he hadn’t felt in years.
Sara smiled as soon as she saw her grandson, her one arm reaching out to him with some difficulty.
Slatter hurried to her side, taking her frail hand, and sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over to kiss her pale cheek. “You are safe here, Seanmhair. You have nothing to fear.”
She shook her head and her smile quickly dissolved.
“Aye, you are safe,” Slatter assured her, wanting to chase the fear he saw rush up in her eyes that had aged through the years, lines framing them and wisdom buried deep in them.
Sara tried to speak but coughed instead and Willow quickly grabbed a goblet, off the small table, filled with a chamomile brew, to hand to her husband.
Slatter slipped his hand beneath his grandmother’s head and held the goblet to her lips to drink. He was surprised and pleased with how much she drank. Before he placed her head back on the pillow, Willo
w braced another pillow beneath Sara’s head.
The old woman smiled her thanks.
Slatter took his wife’s hand. “This is my wife, Willow, Seanmhair. She is a healer and tends you well.”
“Beautiful,” Sara said with a smile stronger than either Slatter or Willow expected.
“I am so pleased to meet you and tend to your care. With rest and some healing brews, you will do well. I look forward to talking with you about your grandson.”
“Many tales to tell,” Sara said with a soft chuckle.
“That’s not fair, two against one,” Slatter complained playfully.
His grandmother slipped her hand out of his and held up two fingers, then pointed one finger at Slatter. “Protecting one.”
His grandmother had always been there for him, had always listened to him, and had never preached to him. She had advised one thing over and over… heed your thoughts and your words, they make you who you are.
“I protect you now, Seanmhair,” he said.
Her eyes went wide. “Not safe.”
He was about to assure her that she was safe when she pointed to him.
“Not safe,” she said, jabbing her finger toward Slatter.
Slatter took her hand and leaned down as he brought it to his lips to kiss. “It’s all right. I understand. You feel it’s me who’s not safe.”
She nodded.
“Did the man who caused you harm come looking for me?” he asked, trying to keep his rising anger out of his voice.
Sara nodded again.
“He wanted to know where I was?”
Another nod gave him the answer and his temper flared even more. The man who had stolen his identity had caused her suffering and he couldn’t wait to get his hands on him.
Sara gave barely a shrug, her eyes starting to flutter with sleep.
He knew what she tried to tell him. What she told the ones who harmed her. She didn’t know where he was. He visited when he wanted, but where he went when he left her, she never knew, and he had purposely kept it that way. He hadn’t wanted her to know what he did.
Slatter felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up at his wife, knowing what she would say, and agreeing.
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