At the look of horror on Lily’s face, Emma began to cry harder.
“Nae, ‘tis all right now, Emma,” Elias promised her quietly. “I will bring them back.”
He straightened and turned to Lily, “Stay—”
“No. I will not stay. I will go with you.”
He shook his head. “Ye willna.” He spoke with command and authority she hadn’t heard before.
Still, she remained unmoved on her position.
Norman’s wife, Hild, covered her mouth, frightened that they would fight right there over her child’s bed.
Lily dipped her chin to her chest, ashamed of them both. She couldn’t help but look surprised when Elias tugged on her arm, pulling her to the door.
“Lily, I—”
She slapped his hands away from her. “What do you mean by dragging me away from my friends?”
“Ye would stay and bicker with me in their home?” he demanded with storm-colored eyes.
“No!” she argued. “You could have stopped pushing me about it. I want to go with you. You can use me against Bertram to get Clare and little Eddie back.”
He gave her an incredulous look and began to walk away. “I willnause yefor anythin’, Lily.”
“But I am what he wants! We must save little Eddie,” she demanded.
“I will find another way to save them!” he called back over his shoulder.
So he thought he’d be tough then, did he? She lifted her skirts over her ankles and marched to him. “How will you catch up with them? You have no horse.”
“I will run.”
“I can run, too.”
He shook his head. “Ye will slow me down.”
“She is my friend and I love that babe. Elias!” she shouted and he stopped and turned to her. “I cannot sit here and wait. He will kill them. I know what he wants.”
“Ye,” he said.
She shook her head. “He knows he will never have me. He wants to think he broke me.”
Elias’ face darkened and his hands balled into fists. “He willna get that. I will kill him.”
“Elias, he has little Eddie,” she argued. “What will you do while he holds him over your head?”
“What willyedo?” he countered.
“I will bargain with him.” She put her hands on his arm and looked up into his eyes. “You must let me go with you. I will not sit around waiting.”
He closed the distance between them in one giant step and took her in his arms. “Lily, if anythin’ were to happen to ye—”
“Elias, I could wake up sick tomorrow…and you would not be here.”
That seemed to shake him, as if it were he who was keeping the sickness away from them. She almost smiled at how little it actually took to turn him.
He pulled her close and inhaled her. “Our marriage will have to wait.”