A Knight of Honor (50 page)

“Don’t,” Slane called.

And again, her body responded to his call.
 
She glanced at him, taking her mind off the guards for the moment.

“Taylor, put down your weapon,” Slane ordered.

But she refused to let go of the only thing she could trust.
 
The sword.
 
She blinked furiously, trying to clear her eyes of the tears.
 
“Traitor,” she hissed, pointing the blade at his neck.

Suddenly, Slane lunged forward, knocking her blade aside with his own, and pinned her body tightly against the wall with his.
 
She squirmed for a moment and he pressed his body harder against hers, trapping her to the wall.
 
Her agonized gaze locked with his determined stare.

“You can’t win,” he whispered.

For a long moment, they stood that way, Slane looking down into her eyes with a softness in his gaze, Taylor staring back with hurt and anger.
 
But the anger was at herself.
 
For ever trusting him.
 
For believing him.
 
She should have known better.
 
She should have seen through his soft looks.

He stepped back and two soldiers took her arms.
 
She felt the sword being wrenched out of her grasp.
 
It felt like her heart being torn from her chest.
 
She lifted her chin, hoping that it wasn’t quivering as much as it felt.
 
The soldiers led her away.
 
She glanced back once, but it wasn’t to look at Slane.
 
It was a last glance at the double doors.

And her freedom.

S
lane couldn’t move.
 
Frozen in the moment, he watched the guards lead Taylor away, back to the room.
 
It had all been a game, her dress, her behavior, a facade to deceive Richard so that she could escape!
 
A slap on his back jarred him.

“Well done, brother,” Richard congratulated, his dark eyes on Taylor’s retreat.
 
“Why, if it hadn’t been for you, she would have escaped.”

Guilt weighed heavily on Slane’s shoulders as Richard’s words rang in his ears.
 
She would have escaped.
 
She would have escaped!
 
He wished she had cut him down.
 
He had inadvertently prevented her escape.
 
This was all his fault.
 
And he could not let the mistake go on.
 
He turned full face to Richard.
 
“You have to set her free, Richard,” Slane proclaimed in a voice that brooked no argument.

Richard turned startled eyes to Slane.
 
For a long moment, neither said a word nor moved.

Suddenly, Richard began to laugh.
 
“You must be out of your mind!
 
I’ll not free her.
 
She is mine.”

“She is not yours, Richard,” Slane said possessively.
 
“She is a woman whose life you will destroy if you force her to marry you.
 
You will set her free.”

“I think not, brother,” Richard answered stiffly.
 
“You presume to know much of my betrothed.
 
Perhaps too much.
 
If you were any less than the honorable man you are, I would be suspicious.
 
I mean, after all, the two of you were alone for a long while.”

“Yes,” Slane whispered harshly.
 
“And I took the time to get to know her.”

“How well, brother?”

“Well enough to know that what you’re doing is wrong.”
 
Slane’s fists clenched, and he faced Richard with all the rage and fury and frustration pounding through his blood at the injustice.

“Did she seduce you?” Richard demanded.

“No,” Slane growled.

“Then what?
 
Tell me, Slane.
 
I’ve never seen you this passionate before.”

“I am defending a woman who has no one to defend her,” Slane said righteously.

Richard peered into Slane’s eyes as if he could see through to his soul.
 
“This has nothing to do with honor, does it?
 
Tell me, Slane, did you lie with her?”

Slane swallowed hard.
 
He could not lie to his brother.
 
And yet he could not tell him the truth.
 
But his silence was answer enough.

“I thought so,” Richard whispered.

Slane was surprised at the nonchalance of his brother’s reply.
 
Any other man would be furious at being cuckolded.
 
But Richard didn’t seem to care.
 
Not one bit.

Richard shrugged.
 
“I figured she would not come to me a virgin, but I must say I’m a bit disappointed that it was my own brother.”

“It had nothing to do with you.”

“Nothing to do with me?” Richard retorted.
 
“She is my future wife.”

“I will not allow you to do this,” Slane proclaimed.

“Not allow...?”
 
Richard all but roared.
 
His black eyes were wide with incredulity.
 
“I am lord here, brother.”
 
His voice steadily rose in pitch.
 
“Lest you forget! I run this castle!
 
I am lord!
 
You will follow my every command.
 
Do my every bidding.
 
This is my castle, Slane.
 
Not yours.”

Slane’s eyes narrowed as he met his brother’s rage head-on.

Richard’s breathing slowed and his voice lowered, but his face was as red as a beet.
 
“Is this disrespect how you repay me after everything I’ve done for you?”

Slane could no longer keep his anger inside.
 
After he had spent years bowing to his brother’s whims, the festering resentment would not be buried any longer.
 
“Done for me?
 
You’ve done nothing for me, except make me your slave!”

“I defended you before Father.
 
You would have been disowned if it hadn’t been for me.
 
You would have been disgraced.
 
I risked my inheritance for you!”

“I’ve repaid that debt and more.
 
I’ve come to your rescue a dozen times.
 
This castle is only standing thanks to me!
 
God’s blood, I’m the one the villagers turn to in time of need.
 
You are lord in name only!”

“Get out,” Richard snarled.
 
“Get out of my castle and never dare to show your face here again.”

A chill black silence engulfed them as they stared at each other.
 
Slane straightened up, dread cresting over him like the tip of a huge wave.
 
What had he done?

“Get out!” Richard commanded.
 
“You’ll never see her again.
 
She’s mine.”

Slane stood for only a moment longer staring at his brother’s coal black eyes; then he whirled and disappeared out the door, Richard’s scream echoing in his ears: “You’ll never see her again! I promise you.
 
Never again!”

***

Taylor sat on her bed as the two guards left her room, closing the door behind them.
 
Slane.
 
It had been Slane who captured her.
 
Slane!
 
Of all the soldiers, of all the servants, of all the strangers who could have thwarted her escape, she had never thought it would be Slane.
 
But why not him?
 
Why not that traitor?
 
Tears rose in her eyes at the thought.
 
But how could he be a traitor if he was never on her side to begin with?
 
She pulled her knees to her chest, trying to comfort herself, trying to find some semblance of the person she had been before.
 
But she felt hollow and lifeless.
 
And so very alone.

Suddenly, the door burst open and she lifted her head in surprise to see Richard standing in the doorway.
 
His chest rose and fell with his rapid breathing.
 
His brown eyes were wide with fury.
 
He stormed up to her and grabbed her arm, hauling her to her feet.
 
“Slut” he hissed.
 
“Prefer my brother over me, eh?”

He yanked her roughly to the window, pointing to the courtyard below.
 
For a moment Taylor thought he was going to hurl her out the window, and she braced her palms against the cold ledge.
 
Instead, he gripped her arm, pinching her flesh.

“Well, say good-bye to your lover,” he snarled.

In the pale moonlight, it was hard to see anything in the courtyard, but finally Taylor’s gaze locked on a rider moving through the middle of the inner ward, rushing beneath the walls of the gatehouse.
 
Instinctively, she knew who it was.
 
She knew it was Slane.
 
Stunned confusion washed over her, disorienting her.
 
Where was he going?
 
He fled the outer ward, riding hard toward the outer gatehouse.
 
A guard scrambled to get out of his path.

He was leaving her.

“Marry me,” Richard barked.

Slane must have told Richard about their night together, and now he was leaving her to her fate.
 
Taylor felt coldness spread through her.
 
“No,” she answered, her gaze still locked on the dark rider speeding through the night

“He’s gone.
 
You have no one.
 
Marry me.”

She felt his fingers digging into the flesh on her arm.
 
With the pain, a flash of her old self returned.
 
“I don’t think so,” she replied.

She watched Slane ride beneath the gatehouse, emerging onto the road that led away from the castle.
 
Away from her.

When next Richard spoke, his words cut through the air like the blade of a sharp sword.
 
“If I can’t have you, no one will.
 
You will marry me or burn.”

Taylor turned to face Richard, not really sure he had spoken the damning words.
 
His lips were curled into an ugly sneer.
 
His eyes were narrowed to pinpricks of black light.
 
His fists were clenched tightly.
 
But strangely, it wasn’t Richard she saw.
 
It was a man with dazzling blue eyes.
 
It was a man with golden hair that cascaded to strong shoulders.
 
It was a man she couldn’t have.
 
A man who didn’t want her.

She lifted her chin in the face of Richard’s threat.

With a roar of rage, he flung her to the ground.
 
“I shall enjoy watching you burn,” he proclaimed.
 
“And then we will see who is lord here.”
 
He stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him.

Taylor stared at the door for a long moment.
 
The wooden planks wavered before her eyes.
 
Burn.
 
She remembered the pounding drums announcing the execution.
 
She remembered the dark smoke, rising like spiraling clouds into the dawning red sky, like crooked black fingers scratching at the sun.
 
She remembered the screaming, the horrible screaming.