"Go clean up."
Dermot nodded and left.
Sin followed and paused as he caught sight of a servant taking Aster's body upstairs for burial preparation. His wife stood in the foyer, leaning against Lochlan. But as soon as she saw him, she ran to him for comfort.
Sin held tightly to her and felt her shaking in his arms. She didn't speak, but he knew her thoughts. In one night, over one act of foolishness, she'd lost her brother and her uncle.
He only prayed she didn't lose her clan as well.
"Braden," he said softly to his brother, "I need to get a message to Henry. Will you dress in some of my clothes and deliver it?"
"Aye."
Sin inclined his head in thanks. Callie lifted her head and it was the look in her eyes that scorched him. She was terrified and grief-stricken.
"You're going to give Dermot to them." It was a whispered statement.
"Henry will demand someone be given to him. He can't let such actions go without punishment. This was an attempt on his life and many men were killed over it. If he does nothing, he will be seen as weak and ineffectual. Two things a king who is fighting for his throne can't afford."
"I know." She trembled even more, but her tears were gone. "I need to speak to Dermot."
Reluctantly, Sin watched her go, then went to write his missive to Henry while Braden dressed as an English knight.
With every word he wrote to Henry, Sin knew in his heart he was going to lose his wife. She might say she understood, but she was choosing between brother and husband. A husband she barely knew and a brother she had loved for almost a score of years. True, not all siblings loved one another, but she and Dermot did. Much like he and his own brothers. Even though distance and time had separated them, they had always cared for each other.
Nay. In time, she would grow to hate him for this.
Growling, he tore up his note and quickly wrote another. In his heart, he knew what needed to be done. It was the only way to see her happy.
* * *
Chapter 17
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It amazed Callie that Sin didn't send her brother straight to the king.
But in the morning, she knew why. Henry, his guard, and all the Englishmen who had inhabited Oxley came to rest outside her castle. Her people gathered in the bailey, terrified of what the English army wanted.
Sin had ordered the gates closed and manned, and had left her so he could don his armor. Her heart hammering, she did her best to keep everyone calm.
But inside, she was shaking and terrified.
She stood on the stoop of the castle, with Braden, Lochlan, Dermot and Ewan by her side. Simon, looking a bit pale and weak, joined them. "Henry is out there, eh?"
Callie nodded. "Aye and wanting MacNeely blood." Her gaze went to Dermot, who stood proud beside her. She saw the fear in his eyes as he held tight to Jamie's hand.
The door to the castle opened and everyone present fell to silence. Callie turned to see what had them transfixed.
Her heart stopped.
Standing in the doorway was her husband. And he was dressed in her father's dark blue, green and yellow plaid.
The magnitude of that gesture tore through her. I will not be owned. How many times had he said that to her?
Tears welled in her eyes at the sight. In that instant, Sin had declared his allegiance to her in a way that shook her soul deeply. The man who wanted nothing to claim him, and nothing to own, wore her colors.
She'd never loved him more.
Their gazes locked, but it was the emptiness of his that scared her even more than the fact that Henry was waiting outside to kill her brother.
Sin was hiding his feelings from her.
"I am ready to go," Dermot announced bravely.
Sin inclined his head to him. "Let me speak to Henry first."
"You think you can talk him into sparing Dermot?" Morna asked, her tone thick with hope.
"I shall see what I can do."
Sin moved to Callie and cupped her cheek in his warm hand. "Wish me luck."
"I do, Sin. You know I do."
He dipped his head and kissed her lightly on the lips, then walked down the steps and through the crowd. Callie didn't move again until she saw him leave her castle by the small postern gate.
She ran to the wall and up the wooden stairs to the parapets with Simon, her brothers and the MacAllisters behind her. Her heart hammering, she watched her husband approach his king.
Silence held the air and not even the wind itself dared to stir the tenseness of this morning.
Sin took a deep breath as he surveyed the English knights around him. The few he knew frowned at his garb, but said nothing as he made his way slowly toward Henry, who regarded him curiously.
"Henry Plantagenet, King of England, I, Sin MacAllister of the Clan MacNeely, greet you."
Henry looked less than pleased. "Are you trying to amuse us or anger us with your clothes?"
"Neither, Sire. I am here to set right what happened last night."
Henry slid from the back of his horse and approached him so that they could speak without being overheard. "Then you know about it?"
"Aye. Unfortunately, I found out too late to stop it."
Henry nodded as he led him farther away from the crowd. Two of Henry's personal guards fell in behind them, but kept a discreet distance. "Then you know we've come for the Raider. Hand him over."
"I can't do that."
Henry stopped dead in his tracks and arched a censoring brow. "Is our hearing failing or did you say what we think you said?"
Sin stiffened his spine, prepared to bear the full brunt of Henry's anger. "The MacNeely is dead. He was killed in the fighting last night. Those who remain have learned their lesson. Believe me. There will never be another raid by the MacNeelys against you."
"Who is the new MacNeely laird?" Henry asked curiously.
"They have yet to vote, but I can assure you, the new laird will want nothing but peace from you."
Henry narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "And the Raider? Was he killed as well last night?"
Sin stood in silence. Lie, damn you, lie. If he told Henry the Raider was dead, then the matter would be dropped. Instantly. But he had never lied to Henry before.
You could have her forever. No one would ever know.
But it would be built on a lie.
What kind of future would they have if he knew he had deceived the very person who had given him his freedom?
Nay, he couldn't do that. He refused to. All he'd ever had in this world was his honor, and no one would take that from him.
"The Raider is finished," Sin said simply.
"But is he dead?"
Sin shook his head slowly.
"Then we want him. Now."
Sin closed his eyes at the words he'd known Henry would speak. Facing his king without fear or remorse, he said slowly, "Then you'll have to come through me."
Henry scoffed and glared. "Are you mad?"
"Nay, Sire. But I am in earnest."
Henry gaped in disbelief. "You would die in his place?"
"If need be."
"And if he raids after your death, you will have sacrificed yourself for naught."
"He will not raid again. I know it."
Rage darkened Henry's face. It was a look Sin knew all too well.
Sin summoned the last of their friendship as he spoke to his king. "I will sign a full confession of treason claiming that I was the one who raided you from the very beginning. My enemies at court will gladly believe it and you will have your Raider for public execution. All I ask is for your word of honor that you will not retaliate against the MacNeelys once I'm gone."
"If I refuse?"
"You will lose face and I will fight you with every ounce of my ability."
Henry's eyes showed his respect at those words. They both knew Sin had no equal in battle. Not even Henry.
"Very well, then, we proclaim you the Raider."
"Do I have your word, Henry? You will leave the MacNeelys in peace?"
"Aye, old friend. I give you my word that so long as they refrain from further attacking my people, I will leave them in peace."
Sin nodded. Henry might be a lot of things, but he, too, was a man of honor.
"Guards," Henry ordered, "take him."
Sin didn't protest as they seized his arms and led him away.
His only regret was that he didn't dare turn and look up at his wife. He was afraid that if he did, he wouldn't be able to go through with this. He wanted her more than he wanted anything else in the world.
But in his beleaguered heart, he knew this was what had to be.
Callie watched in terror as the royal guards grabbed her husband and tied his hands behind his back. "What are they doing?"
"They're taking Sin," Simon whispered.
Fear tore through her. "What does this mean?"
Simon refused to meet her gaze. She saw the fear and pain in his eyes as he watched them put Sin on a horse while the king remounted his steed. "It means he refused to give Henry Dermot's name."
"Nay," she breathed, her heart shattering. "Why would he do such a thing?"
"I have no idea."
"Because he's a bloody damned fool," Lochlan snarled. "He's planning to die in your brother's stead."
Callie couldn't breathe as those words assailed her.
"Wait!" Callie shouted down to the Englishmen below.
She saw Henry kick his horse forward. "What say you?"
"Why do you take my husband?"
Henry arched a regal brow. "He has proclaimed himself to be the Raider and as such he is to be executed for his attempt on our life."
His words ripped her heart into pieces. Nay, this couldn't be real. It had to be some horrible nightmare. And yet she knew it wasn't.
She glared at King Henry. "Sin didn't do it and well you know it."
"He says he did."
"He lies to protect…" Her voice faded as she caught herself before she betrayed her brother.
Henry leaned forward in his saddle, very interested in her words. "Tell us, my lady, whom does he protect?" Then he said the crudest thing of all. "Caledonia, if you have any love in your heart for your husband, then give us the name we need to save his life."
She stiffened her spine as she looked to where Sin sat on his horse with his spine rigid, his shoulders proud and determined. She would never betray Dermot, nor did she intend to see Sin suffer for a crime he hadn't committed. "I want my husband released. Now."
Henry smirked at her. "Then offer us another to die in his stead."
She looked to Simon, whose face had gone pale. "What can I do?" she asked frantically.
"Nothing. Henry must have a scapegoat. It's either your brother or your husband, milady. There's no way around it."
Uttering a fetid curse, Ewan grabbed Dermot and moved to toss him over the wall.
Lochlan and Braden grabbed their brother and pulled the squirming Dermot from his hands, then stood between the two of them.
"Nay!" Ewan roared, reaching for Dermot, who was now cowering behind Braden's back. "I won't see Sin killed for a stupid lad who has no more sense than a leek pea."
Lochlan grabbed his brother and hauled him back. "Calm yourself, Ewan. None of us wants to see Sin dead."
Tears fell down Callie's cheeks as she watched the king withdraw from her castle and give the order for them to leave.
Oh, Lord, nay! The protest choked her as she watched them leading her husband away. To die.
All his life, Sin had been sacrificed to save others. He'd lost his innocence, his childhood, his freedom, his very soul, and now he would lose his life.
And for what?
"Oh, Sin," she breathed.
Callie turned around on the parapet and looked to the people who stood along the walls with her. The people gathered in the bailey below. These were her people now that Aster was gone.
She would be leader. There was no one else to take the seat of power over the MacNeely clan.
What is your first act of duty?
It was her father's voice she heard in her head. Her father's philosophy that came back to her with an alarming clarity.
Safe by my strength. 'Twas the motto of her clan. The motto she and Dermot had been raised with.
For the first time in her life, she truly understood those words.
No one threatened a MacNeely. She would die before she saw her Sin sacrificed in protection of her brother.
Her heart fired by an inner strength and certainty she didn't understand, she pulled back from the wall.
"I have a plan," she announced to the men. "Lochlan, I need a favor."
"It appears your wife has abandoned you already," Henry said as he rode beside Sin.
Sin refused to let Henry know how much those words hurt him. He would never admit to anyone, not even himself, that what he had really wanted was for her to stop him.
Right until the moment the castle had faded from his sight, a part of him had longed to hear Callie cry out that she loved him too much to see him die. That she would do anything to see him safe.
It was a fool's dream and well he knew it.
"She does what she must to protect her people, much like someone else I know."
Henry snorted. "We never thought we'd see you self-sacrificing for a putrid Scot. Nor bearing their mark. Tell us, Sin, what brought about this change in you?"
Sin didn't answer. He couldn't.
What had brought about this change? The gentle smile of a winsome maid who had reached deep inside his dead heart and restarted it.
Closing his eyes, he summoned an image of her face and held it dear.
What he did, he did for her. Now she would be able to have the peace that meant so much to her. Dermot would never again dare to raise MacNeely arms against England, and Callie would have her people safe and whole.
There would be no more bloodshed.
Henry let out a slow breath, and when he spoke, it was without the cold formality of a king. "Sin, don't make me do this. You are the only man I truly don't want to kill. Give me something to save your life."
"I can't do it, Henry."
"Can't or won't?"
"Won't."
"Damn you!"
Sin laughed at that and repeated the king's words back to him. "If I am damned, it is surely for more than this small matter."
Henry's jaw flexed. "Very well. We shall take you back to London, where we will make quite an example of you. Our only hope is that when your innards are being scraped from inside you while you're still alive to feel it, you will still think this sacrifice a noble one."
Henry kicked his horse forward and left Sin alone with his thoughts.
They rode through the day, only breaking for a small repast at noon. As expected, no one bothered to offer food to Sin. There was no need to waste supplies on a dead man.
Ostracized by all, he was left alone until they made their camp that evening.
Sin spent the night lying on the cold ground out in the open, chained to a log. He should be cold and uncomfortable, but thoughts of his wife stayed in his heart.
He'd always assumed he would die in battle. Felled by an enemy sword or arrow. He'd never dared to dream that it would be love that killed him.
He'd known love for such a short time that it hardly seemed right it would be the death of him, and yet he could think of no better ending.
He couldn't stand by and let Callie's brother be taken and killed, nor could he have killed Dermot himself.
His days as an assassin were over. He'd left that part of himself in England, and his heart he had left with his wife.
Now there was nothing left of him. He was an empty shell that existed only to remember Callie's gentle face.
Closing his eyes, he took comfort in the knowledge that though he wouldn't live out his life with Callie, at least he'd been fortunate enough to have her for a small span of time.
Dying was inevitable, but until the day she had turned that breathtaking smile on him, he had never really lived.
In the morning, Henry gathered up his troops and they began the long march that would take them home. With every league they passed, Sin felt the distance from his wife profoundly in his heart. How he wished they could have had one more day together. One more night when he might hold her close and love her.
Why had he fought against her? It seemed so foolish now, and if he could only have the time back, he would spend it in her arms, holding her close and loving her with the whole of his body. His heart.
Aye, to feel her lips one more time…
A strange sound from the woods alerted them.
"What was that?" one of the guards asked.
It had sounded like some sort of hoarse bird. Sin looked up to see a movement in the trees. Knights made ready as the royal guard encircled Henry.
From the foliage, they heard the sound of a single horse approaching. The air around them was rife with tension as the knights prepared themselves for battle.
The horse drew closer.
Closer.
Then, from the dense green forest before them emerged a large black stallion and a rider who wore ill-fitting black armor that was covered by a solid black surcoat.
But what caught his attention most was the banner the rider bore that flapped in the breeze.
It was the same dark green color found in the plaids his brothers wore and in the center was an oak trunk with a heart and four swords piercing and uniting the two with the words strength in fortitude embroidered across it.
It was a banner he'd not seen since his childhood, only then it had borne four gold swords: one for Braden, Kieran, Lochlan and Ewan. Now the second-born sword was done in black, representing Kieran's death.
His heart pounded at the sight and in an instant he knew the small-framed form on the back of his horse.
It was Caledonia—the pride of her people, wearing his armor and brandishing the MacAllisters' banner.
She reined to a stop just outside the small copse of trees and removed her ill-fitting helm. Tucking it under her arm, she leveled a scowl on Henry that would have made any shrew envious.
Born In Sin Page 27
