Onyx by Elizabeth Rose Read Free Book Online Page A

said Fenella. “Twenty years later and ye’re still sellin’ yer secrets fer money, ye bloody bastard.”
    Instantly, the guards surrounded his mother , and Onyx and his friends moved forward to protect her.
    “I see you have my mother’s ring on your finger,” said Lady Lovelle, pointing to Fenella’s hand. Onyx had always thought his father had given that ring to her. Or at least that’s what she’d told him through the years, and he’d believed her. Now he was starting to have his doubts about anything she’d ever told him.
    The baroness nodded to her guard, and the guard reached out and pulled the ring from his mother’s hand. He took a step forward to intervene, but stopped when his mother looked at him and shook her head.
    “Mathair, is the t true?” asked Onyx. “Did ye really steal the ring?”
    “I consider it a payment fe r the life of me husband,” she spat.
    “ You also stole something very valuable from my mother, and I want it back. I think you know what it is.” Lady Lovelle walked up to Fenella and crossed her arms over her chest when she spoke.
    “I’ll ne’er te ll ye where I hid it. I’ll go te me deith with me secret.” She spat at the guard’s feet, and he grabbed her and held out his sword when she started to struggle.
    “Take her away,” ordered the baroness .
    Onyx’s dagger was in his hand instantly, and his friends followed his action with their daggers as well. But before anything happened, Storm MacKeefe appeared at the top of the stairs and shouted.
    “There’ll be no blood shed here tonight.” He came down the stairs slowly, and joined them. “Now tell me, what is it this woman stole and why do ye think ye can just take her away?”
    “We’re taking her back to England where she’ll die by hanging,” said the guard.
    “For stealin’?” asked Storm with a chuckle. “A harsh punishment fer such a crime. I’d think ye’d put her in the stocks or the dungeon or perhaps dye her hand red, or even take off a finger, but no’ kill her.”
    “She’ll be tried by the court and j ust punishment will be served for the crime she’s committed,” said Lady Lovelle.
    “And what crime may that be?” asked Storm.
    “Twenty years ago,” said the baroness with her arm outstretched, “this woman murdered my father.”
     
     
     

    Chapter 3
     
     
    Onyx had never heard anything so ridiculous in his life. And he didn’t like anyone accusing his mother of doing something he knew could not be true.
    “Haud yer wheesht,” he said, telling the girl to hold her tongue. “Me mathair did no such thing as murderin’ anyone.”
    “These are strong accusations,” sa id Storm, stepping forward. As clan chieftain, he had the final say of what would happen to Fenella. “Ye have no right te accuse her o’ such unless ye hold proof o’ this crime.”
    “We have eyewit nesses who saw her leaving Worcester Castle,” said the guard, “as well as the dockman here who saw her escaping afterwards on a ship to Scotland.”
    “Dinna tell me ye took twenty years te find the lassie,” said Storm. “That I wil lna believe since ye say ye ken it was her.”
    “I was the one to pursue this after such a long period,” Lady Lovelle spoke up. “My mother decided not to continue the search once the guards told her that my father’s assailant had disappeared.”
    “Why would ye want to?” asked Onyx. “Why would ye do such a thing? Ye’re too young te e’en have ken yer faither, so I doubt it’s becooz o’ yer fond memories o’ him.”
    Everyone in the pub gathered around, and the Scots slowly pulled their dirks, daggers , and swords from their sides. The English guards did the same. The Scots outnumbered the English guards and it would be no trouble to take them down and silence them. Onyx knew the men didn’t have a chance for escape now.
    Mothers grabbed their children and held them close, and the young girls stayed far away from the Englishmen.
    “True, I didn’t