“Bell!” the steward called out. “Ye, too? Ye betray me fer her, as well?”
“I canna let ye kill her, my lord,” Morgann stood up and faced him. “She is my friend and…so was the captain before I betrayed him.”
“After all I have done fer ye, ye ungrateful son of a whore!” her uncle accused. “I took ye in. I—”
“Ye asked me to kill a nun!”
“She isna a nun,” her uncle told him. “She wed the captain today.”
Morgann turned around to look down at her. A smile lit his face. She thought how handsome he was when he smiled like that.
“God chose well, Sis—Silene.”
She smiled at him. She would speak to her husband on Morgann’s behalf. She would—she heard a slight thump. Morgann’s smile froze on his face.
“Morgann?” she whispered, already bringing her hands to her throat. “Morgann. Nay!”
The young man folded to his knees and then his face hit the ground. A knife protruded from his back.
Silene wept for him and prayed he wouldn’t die. Though her vision was blurred with tears, she could make out her uncle walking closer.
“John!”
She turned at the wonderful sound of her husband’s voice. He lived! Oh, thank You! Thank You!
She took hold of the knife Morgann had used to try to free her and continued at the task.
Galeren appeared unhurt and handsome, wrapped up in his plaid. When she finally freed herself, she wanted to run to him. But their reunion would have to wait. Her husband was here to fight, proving it by wielding a sword and standing ready to battle.
“Ah, Galeren, old friend. Have ye come to try to kill me with the blade ye already have in my back, or with that one in yer hands?”
Galeren shrugged off the accusation. “In yer back, yer heart, whatever it takes to kill ye if ye hurt her.”
The steward’s pained expression grew darker. “Ye and Silene took everythin’ from me. I…I was goin’ to let ye live because yehave, indeed, become my friend, one who is dear to my heart.”
Her husband smiled and Silene remembered what he had said about his father.He isna the friendliest. He only makes ye believe he is. That is how he brought down the most English strongholds in the kingdoms. From the inside.
Galeren’s smile radiated with beauty, as his mother’s did. It was practiced and insincere like his father’s.
“Then come away from her,” Galeren said.
Her uncle shook his head. “I need her. This isna over.”
“Tis,” her husband corrected. “’Tis over now. We were wed earlier. She is now my wife.
“Annulled by Father Alphonsus.”
“It cannot be annulled, Uncle,” she told him. “’Twas consummated enough that I am likely carrying his babe.”
“John!” Galeren thundered lifting his sword to fight. “Come away from her or ye will force me to cut ye down!”
“Ye willna kill me. The king would—”
“Believe what I tell him,” Galeren shouted. “Fer I amhiscaptain, not yers.”
“Wh…what?” her uncle stammered.
Silene smiled. He was his father’s son.