Bold (The Handfasting) (17 page)

She
had killed the man, avenged herself when Talorc should have kept her safe. 
Vowed to keep her safe.

Talorc
fell to his knees, oblivious to the stunned silence surrounding them, the
sudden halting of those returned from the chase.  He lifted her lifeless form, curled
her body into his heaving chest.  He shut his eyes against the fear her body
would stay that way forever.

Diedre
approached.  The only one with the courage to do so.

“Let
me look.”  She eased Talorc toward a boulder, to sit, as she gently pulled
Maggie back from his shoulder. Blood streamed from the wound to her forehead, a
wound that would soon grow large and dark with bruise.

“You
should leave her here, Bold.  Let the carrion get her, let those sods come back
for her”

Talorc’s
head snapped up.  “Are you mad?”  He hissed.

Diedre
stood firm. “At best, she’ll die from that wound.  Worse, she’ll be a half-wit. 
She’d not thank you for saving her for that. Leave her here, tell her kin she
ran away, straight into this band of men.  Tell them you tried to retrieve her,
to save her.”

Douglas
approached.  “Laird,” his eyes focused on the wound. “You’ve seen it before,
wounds to the head.  This is a bad one and if anyone knows the consequences,
it’s Diedre.”

“No.” 
Talorc stood, shaken from shock.  “I’ll not tell the MacKay’s I left her dead
on the road.”

Diedre
leaned in, forced him to focus on her. “You wed her for life, Bold.  You did
not give her half a vow but the whole of it. She refused that. She refused you,
has done her best to be free of you.  Let her death be measured by that.”

“Aye,”
Douglas argued, “you’ve not joined.  You’re free to leave her.”

The
woman nodded. “There’s another you could marry, Bold.  You know it, we all know
it.  Give this one up before you return and the breach between the two of you
can be crossed.”

Give
this one up?  When he’d just found her.  For what?  To appease gossip of the
past?  Gossip that held no truth?  There was no other but Maggie.  Never would
be.

Tired
of the old pressure, Talorc ignored it. “I’ll not leave her here for those
heathens to dishonor.” He brushed at Maggie’s hair, locks coated in blood.  Too
much blood.

“And
if she’s a half-wit?”  Diedre challenged.

“Then
she will be my half-wit.”  He vowed for life.  He would honor that vow.

Diedre
tried to speak, Douglas stopped her with a shake of his head.  Talorc understood
their exchange.  Maggie suffered a double crack to the head, worse than the
blow that widowed Diedre.

No
sense in fretting whether she’d be a half-wit or wife when she was sure to die.

“My
half-wit.” Talorc echoed and strode off with Maggie in his arms.

Find out what happens to
the Bold and Maggie in Book 2 of

The HANDFASTING SERIES:

TANGLED - To be released
March 2013