The Pendulum by Tarah Scott Read Free Book Online

life, uncertain of what lay ahead. He met her gaze unflinchingly as if he understood her need to force sense into the situation being thrust upon her. She broke the stare. To lose a father and gain a husband in a single hour was more than she could bear. How could she expect joy at such a cost?
    "My lady," Cerdwin said.
    Airin startled from her thoughts. "What?"
    The maid stood at the door, a question written on her face.
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    The Pendulum
    by Tarah Scott
    The fire crackled, reminding her of her earlier thought to replenish the wood. "Forgive me. I—"
    "You should rest, my lady," Deryll said. "Cerdwin and I can make the necessary preparations."
    She shook her head. "Nay. I mean, the contract."
    Deryll's brow furrowed.
    "We have no marriage contract," she said.
    "Airin," her father rasped.
    She turned.
    "Do not wait," he whispered. "Wed now."
    "Now?"
    "Hand-fasting," he said.
    "But the contract."
    "Signed."
    "What?" She looked helplessly at Deryll.
    "We signed the contract the eve I arrived."
    Airin stared. "Signed?"
    "Aye, my lady."
    She frowned. "My signature is all that is required."
    "Aye, my lady."
    "What a fool I've been," she murmured. When he did not reply, she lifted a brow. "No aye, my lady? "
    "Nay, my lady."
    "Produce this contract," she said.
    "My chest," her father whispered.
    Airin's heart jumped into her throat. "Cerdwin, quick! We must see to the wound."
    Deryll grasped her shoulders. "Nay—"
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    The Pendulum
    by Tarah Scott
    "Nay?!" she shrieked. "You would have him die? And why not? You have what you will." She beat at his chest.
    "Airin," Deryll said.
    "Bastard! I will give you nothing." She beat harder.
    "Airin!" Cerdwin seized her arm, yanked her from Deryll's grasp, and slapped her.
    Airin's hand flew to her stinging cheek. She stared at her old nursemaid. Never in twenty years had Cerdwin lifted even a finger against her. Fury blurred reason.
    " How dare you?"
    "Cease," Cerdwin snapped. "Your father did not mean his chest." She pounded on her own chest. "He meant, the chest in his bedchamber."
    Airin gasped. "By the saints." She seized Cerdwin's hands.
    "Forgive me." She brought the nursemaid's hands to her lips.
    "I am a fool."
    "Aye," Cerdwin agreed. "But 'tis not me you have wounded."
    Airin nodded. She released Cerdwin and dropped her gaze, unable to look at Deryll.
    With a finger under her chin, he tilted her face up. "I would prefer to see my betrothed's face as she makes her vows."
    She wanted desperately to look anywhere but into his eyes, see anything but him, be anywhere he was not. Then she remembered her father. No daughter of Douglas Keith slinked from a battlefield. She gave a single nod. Deryll released her, then bent on one knee and tore a strip from the plaide covering her father.
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    The Pendulum
    by Tarah Scott
    He rose. "Cerdwin, stand with us and be witness along with Lord Arbothnott." The maid moved closer and Deryll clasped Airin's hand, then looked in her eyes. "I will honor and care for you. Never shall I break this bond."
    "I will honor you," she replied. "Never shall I break this bond."
    Deryll draped the strip of plaide over their hands.
    A tremor tilted the axis of her belly as she said in unison with Deryll and Cerdwin, "So the first binding is made."
    "I will share your pain and seek to ease it," he said.
    "I will share your pain and seek to ease it," she repeated, She watched Deryll's hand as he grasped an end of the plaide and wound it around their hands.
    Her belly shifted another notch as they repeated in unison,
    "And so the binding is made."
    Deryll caught and held her gaze. "I will share your burdens."
    His voice somehow seemed deeper, with a quality she couldn't quite define. "I will share your burdens," she repeated.
    Deryll, again, wound the plaide around their hands.
    "And so the binding is made," they chanted, her belly pitching with each word.
    "I will share your joy," he said.
    "I will share your joy."
    He wound the plaide a final time.
    "And so the