Page 49 of The Daughters of Avalon
“Malcom… I don’t understand.”
Malcom laid one of his ribbons over her wrist, leaving it unbound as he explained. “It is my people’s custom to handfast. Whilst these vows must never be spoken lightly, they are lawful and true, and they are recognized by king and Church, so long as both husband and wife acknowledge they are bound.” He handed her the other ribbon, entreating her to take it, and she did so, her eyes round and bright as heather.
“It was the same with my people in the old days,” she confessed, holding her part of the ribbon before her, and neither did she shrug the one from her wrist. Malcom found himself desperate to convince her. “Men and women have been bound this way since long before there were priests in our land.”
Elspeth held her breath.
Somewhere, deep down, a tiny bubble of joy formed—relief, but joy as well, though not merely because she would have a true protector. She did, indeed, feel bonded to this man—in ways she couldn’t explain. But… what if this was all Rhiannon’s enchantment, and he would come to regret it later? And yet, for her part, she could never regret doing aught to help her sisters.She would lay herself prostrate before king and country and readily sacrifice herself to save their lives.
But… this… this was hardly any sacrifice. Malcom was a man any woman would be pleased to wed—even Dominique had said so. And despite that Lady Dominique had accepted their news so easily, it was clear to Elspeth that the girl had very much relished the thought of a marriage to Malcom. She’d hoped so much that she’d gone so far as to sew him a tunic as a wedding gift… and then she so selflessly gave it to Elspeth to give to him.
Perhaps he mistook her silence for reluctance because he endeavored to convince her. He held up his ribbon. “This would bind us as man and wife for one year and one day. If you find yourself regretting the marriage, I will release you from your vows without question.”
Married. Here? Now?
In the unlikeliest of places?
The notion was unthinkable. How could she have ever aspired to such a thing? Had Rhiannon known this would happen? Swallowing, Elspeth asked, “Are you not worried your king will be angry?”
“Are you?”
Elspeth shook her head quickly, for nay, she was not. She had no concern at all for what her cousin might or might not think of her. But that Malcom would do such a selfless thing for her—bind himself to her as a husband when it served him not at all. It made so little sense—no sense for him, but it solved so much for her.
And, of course, she was not a very good liar; if he would leave her in this place with Beauchamp, it would help to know they were truly wed. “Art certain?”
He smiled darkly. “As certain as any man could be who would wed a witch, though we haven’t time to debate this, have we?”
Elspeth’s face fell, so did her hopes. He’d said it as a jest, but it wasn’t particularly amusing—not to her, not when the very notion of a witch brought out the worst in others.
Malcom reached out, lifting her chin. “In one year’s time, we’ll each have the means to end this, should we wish to,” he promised. “But in the meantime, if aught should happen to me whilst I am gone, you should take this…” He removed the signet ring from his finger and handed it to Elspeth. “Take it to my kinsmen inChreagach Mhorand they will know what to do to help you claim what is rightfully your due as my lawful bride.”
Stunned, Elspeth took the sigil ring from his fingers, displacing the ribbon from her wrist. But Malcom lifted it up, handing it back to her, leaving the onus on her.
“If tis what you truly wish, I am grateful,” Elspeth said gently. “I, too, promise to release you if it be your wish.”
He smiled again. “Unless you have beguiled me, Lady Elspeth, I cannot see it will be so.”
But that, in truth, made Elspeth long to cry. Hewasbeguiled, though not by her. And yet, she could not turn him away when she needed his help so desperately. She nodded, knowing that once the time arrived, she would set him free.
He started to bind her wrist and Elspeth shook herself free. “Oh! Wait! Wait!”
If, indeed, this was meant to be, she would have him remember this moment as fondly as he was able. Remembering the tunic Dominique sewed for him, she scrambled from the bed to retrieve it from the chair where she’d placed it. And, as strange as it felt to be giving him a bridal gift from the woman he was supposed to have wed, she unfurled it to show him.
“A gift for you… from Lady Dominique.” A match to the dress Elspeth had worn tonight, and it was only now that she saw them together that she realized they were meant to be a pair. She waswearing Dominique’s wedding gown. “It seems oddly fitting you should wear it now.”
Malcom lifted both brows but took the garment from her hands. He considered it briefly before setting it back down on the bed, and for a long moment, Elspeth feared he would rescind his offer, in favor of the woman who’d fashioned such a generous gift.
But then, he removed the tunic he wore, and traded his plain one for Dominique’s finely sewn regalia. Once he had it on, he smoothed a palm over the embroidered front and said with a sheepish grin, “If I did not know better, I would think this preordained.”
Aye, that, or her sister’s spell had robbed him and Lady Dominique of their future together, but Elspeth dared not speak those thoughts out loud, lest he change his mind. He offered her his wrist and she accepted his offer, lifting up her ribbon to bind it around his wrist.
“Do you enter this union freely, bringing truth, love and trust?”
There was nothing in those words that gave Elspeth a moment’s pause. “I do,” she said, as she then wrapped her ribbon about his wrist, binding it with a knot. And then afterward, she offered up her own wrist, and asked, “Do you enter this union freely, bringing truth, love and trust?”
Malcom lifted up his ribbon from the bed, wrapping it gently about her wrist and then tying it firmly with a binding knot. “I do,” he said.
Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.
