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“The king has discovered alost daughter,” Lochlan said delicately “He finds her an inconvenience at court, and wishes her to be married at once To you, ht”

Duncan sat a long ti moment

“Connor, what do you ht

“I think you are about to becoroom, my friend”

“I do not wish it I would rather send her back”

Thecommands—”

“Yes, the king commands me as he commands every Scotsman, but if he wants to know if I welcome his bastard as my wife, the answer is no How old is she?”

“Uh, he to be wed”

“Well, that’s so request?”

“That is all, e to be conveyed back to him”

“Proof?” The Devil frowned “What kind of proof?”

Lochlan blushed “I believe a signed document will suffice Have you a priest in your keep?”

“There is one in town proper” He nodded to his man, who stood and had some quick words with a servant by the door He turned back to the still-reddening er “And you ait here for this document?”

“I am ordered to do so, my lord”

“Well,” said Duncan, his lip curling distastefully “We must all do as we are ordered, must we not?”

Duncan strode through the corridor cursing under his breath His servants and men-at-arms all wisely stood clear By God, he wanted to take soain, a wife His last one had nearly driven him insane

Duncan was not a god-fearing man In fact, there was very little in life that Duncan feared, but by so more like, he had found hiious shrew in Scotland Judgmental, obsessive, ridiculously stupid It was cruel of hiard her that way even after she’d died trying to bear his child But Lenore had been a demon sent to torment him, perhaps from the devil himself

She’d been beautiful enough on the outside—blonde like sunshine, ide green eyes that sparkled like ee and been the most biddable of brides until he’d taken her to his bed Fro he did or said to her could have turned her back It wasn’t as if he’d been cruel to her, as if he’d done anything that first night any man wouldn’t have done to his wife She called hienerate, any insult at all that she thought ht keep him away But he used her anyway, as anyher to his coarser desires

Finally hehis husbandly duties with her Instead he found relief with the oddin the town only too happy to share herself for a bit of coin Now, even that was taken from him No woman would come near him with a moniker like Devil attached to his name Attached forever to hi even in the throes of death

She had died yowling and cursing him so the whole town could hear it Devil, you’re the devil! Get away! Get away from me! she’d shrieked with the last of her breath Black hearted, evil devil! She had raved on and on as the last moments of her life bled away He’d been nowhere near, but he’d heard her screaainst him just as everyone else in the town had, and so now that was his name Devil Deserved or not He had buried the baby boy and his wife the nextwith an honor and reverence he did not feel

Devil She hadn’t known the half of it There was a side to him Lenore hadn’t even seen, a side that would have sent her running home in hysterics to her father Perhaps he should have shown it Perhaps then she would still be alive

He shoved thoughts of Lenore from his head and put his ht, and a priest on the way A wedding to be perforood haste back to the king He didn’t want the king’s oily er than they needed to be He had a deep distrust of the king’s court and all who moved in it

This wife on the way to him raised his suspicions too He’d not once heard even a whisper of a bastard daughter to the king Perhaps that was by intention, which made hihter when she arrived, question her thoroughly before they wed He would not be a party to any intrigue or strangeness He was just a simple man anted to be left alone, who fulfilled his duties to the king and took good care of his townspeople Yes, he would sit her dohen she arrived and get to the bottoue of a wife

“Duncan,” called Connor from the end of the corridor “They’ve arrived They are in the courtyard”

“Tell them to wait”

Duncan put on a fine black velvet surcoat Pure vanity But to meet a wife, even an unwanted one, a little vanity was allowed He armed himself and strode back down the hall to theto battle and cah-edged soldiers He felt intense, inexplicable anger Was his neife so poorly regarded that she’d be sent across Scotland protected like this? He knew the low respect afforded to bastards, had lived with it his whole life, but it still provoked him to see it applied to someone as to be his wife

His storain His anger was replaced by confusion She wasn’t even there They hadn’t even brought her as the er said

But no, she was there His eyes found her as one of the king’s s as if she ht collapse Her shoulders sluriht for a princess, even if she was a bastard one If that could even possibly be her—she looked nothing at all like the king But yes, perhaps in the shape of the eyes, the slant of the forehead His gaze narrowed in distaste Of an age to marry? If she w

as twelve years old he would be shocked Noher anyway Not now, not ever

“Bring her inside,” he said brusquely before turning his back on her and walking away

Cait tried to s the knot in her throat, tried to will the tears from her eyes She would not let him see her cry She didn’t want hi’s soldier take her horse while she tried to find her land legs No one else ca darkness

And he was not old, no He was not old at all, although white could certainly describe the pale blond color of his hair He was quite young and strong, and hale enough to do her great harm if he wished it From the look on his face, he wished it very much He had scowled at her like he was the devil hiaze

He had looked at her in disbelief, as if she were so vile he could barely stand to look upon her, then turned fro to him at all She was unwanted by him just as she was unwanted by her father and everyone else

At last an old woman cae The height of the great keep soared above her head, up over the banks of the firth, the pocked stone walls grey and bleak The doors shut behind her with a crash and she blinked to adjust to the darkness She heard his voice just a few feet away

“The priest coirl up as much as you can And if you would,” he added with barely veiled distaste, “be sure there are no lice”

Cait was pained by the indignity of her situation She knew she ht after days on the dusty roads with no bath

“Yes, I will, irl should be clean when she’s wed What’s your name, then, lass?” the old woman asked Cait She was a plu face and small but friendly eyes Cait tried to smile back at her