The Pendulum by Tarah Scott Read Free Book Online Page B

shift. The tightly knit fabric was perfect. Blue embroidered flowers decorated the collar. "Cerdwin," she breathed, "'tis beautiful."
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    The Pendulum
    by Tarah Scott
    "If anyone contests the marriage," Cerdwin said, "they will find everything in order, all the way down to the consummation before your father's death."
    Airin looked up. "You said he was well."
    "I said he was resting. There is no change. If he lives, it will be by God's grace."
    Airin stared at her in shock. "How can I perform wifely duties while my father lay dying?"
    The maid shrugged. "That depends on Sir Deryll. If ye are not cooperative, he can do the deed in minutes."
    "I look forward to tonight with great anticipation," Airin said in a voice dripping with honey.
    Cerdwin raised a brow. "Tonight? You will not wait until nightfall." She ran a critical eye down Airin's body, then sniffed. "Thank God ye do not smell."
    "Cerdwin!"
    "Och. Cease your bawling and listen. You love your father?"
    "Of course."
    She pinned Airin with a serious appraisal. "No man should carry his daughter into old age. Do your duty. Be a good daughter and wife."
    Airin felt as if she would cry.
    "Come now," Cerdwin said, "You have wanted children since ye were a bairn."
    "Children?" She handed Cerdwin the night shift and left.
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    The Pendulum
    by Tarah Scott

CHAPTER SIX
    At sight of Nathan guarding her father's door, Airin backed down a step on the stairway. Her heart pounded. Deryll feared for her father's life while he lay in his own bed? Her heart sank. Their safety—her safety—was truly gone. Live or die, her father had insured she now survived at the whim of another man.
    She remembered the young man Deryll had been. How had that chivalrous boy become the infamous Scarlet Knight, a man who had decimated an English village that gave a fugitive refuge? That same bloodthirsty knight had posted a guard at her father's door when it would have behooved him to let her father die.
    With a deep breath, she took the last stair and strode down the hall to her father's room. She nodded to Nathan as she opened the door and slipped inside. Airin paused. Douglas lay on his belly, face toward the door, eyes closed. The rise and fall of the covers was slight, but his breathing was steady. A low fire burned in the hearth. She crossed to the bed and lifted the covers. The bandage was fresh. Cerdwin was the finest nurse in the northern highlands. Airin returned to the door and opened it.
    "Nathan," she said, "fetch Cerdwin from my room. If she is not there, find her."
    He hesitated.
    "Do not worry. I will bolt the door and not open it until you return."
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    The Pendulum
    by Tarah Scott
    "Aye," he replied, and waited.
    She closed the door, shoved the bolt into place, then turned her attention to the fire. When she had finished and Nathan had not returned, she knelt at her father's side and rested her head beside him. His steady breathing recalled a childhood memory of lying in his arms as the rise and fall of his broad chest lulled her to sleep.
    She laughed softly. He used to tell Madeline and her that all children were born without guile. Fathers were the ones who taught them how to break God's law. Airin learned long ago her father lived as a pearl among swine. Why would such a man wed her to a killer? He insisted the stories about Deryll were rumors. She stroked his hair. Dark and wavy, like Deryll's, but peppered with silver. Her father was idealistic, but not stupid.
    She buried her face in the blankets, afraid the tears she could not contain would wake him. If only she could—A door scraped against stone. Airin leapt to her feet to see the hidden door in the corner of the room being forced open. She jammed her hand beneath her father's mattress, located the dagger hidden there, then raced around the bed, slamming into the wall just as the door opened. As the intruder emerged from the secret passageway, she slashed downward before recognizing the broad shoulder.
    Airin cried out as