Page 68 of Lost with a Scot
“Anna!” Aiden bellowed. He fought the men who were already dragging him away.
“No...” She spoke the word to him and him alone. “No,Aiden,” she repeated. She wanted to make him save his strength, to just give her time to find a way to save him.
“Captain, spare that man and the Englishman. He is not truly my husband. He is but a lovesick fool who thinks a declaration of affection is binding. It isn’t. You and I both know, I need a marriage to a strong man with power. It’s what a princess deserves.” She softened her voice and lowered her gaze, not in submission but to hide the anger she knew he wouldn’t miss in her gaze.
Fain held up a hand to stay the men attempting to drag Aiden away.
“Nowyou see the advantage of marrying me?” Fain asked, his voice just as soft.
“Yes,” she said as she curbed her anger and lifted her face to peer up at the captain from beneath her lashes.
“What would you have me do with these men? Especially the one who claims to be your husband?”
“Put them on a ship bound for England. Send them away. They would not dare come back. And since he is not my husband, he has no legal claim to me.” Anna felt Aiden’s eyes on her, and she knew he understood that her words were empty. Those vows at the fairy pool were etched on her heart so deeply they would never be undone. But Fain would never know that.
Fain seemed to briefly consider it, and then he chuckled darkly and looked at Yuri. “She is a convincing liar. I almost believed her.”
“I warned you, women are duplicitous creatures,” Yuri said. “Take your bride away, Fain, and do as you will. I will see these three men dead within the hour. You have two days to enjoy the girl, then you must report back here for duty.” Yuri dismissed Fain and Anna with a wave of his hand.
Anna was pulled away from the dais despite the priest’s insistence that the ceremony was not finished. Fain dragged her from the hall and out to the courtyard, where a coach waited for them. Fain wrenched the door open and shoved her inside before climbing in after her.
“I will enjoy you however I like, princess, and it’s in your best interest to please me.”
Fain shouted at the coach driver to move. The horses bolted, and Anna fell back against the seat. The dagger was still strapped to her thigh, out of sight. All she had to do was wait for the right moment to strike.
* * *
Aiden and Charleswere shoved to their knees on the execution platform.
“Well, this is not how I imagined dying,” Charles muttered. “I always thought I’d go out in a duel, or perhaps a noble battle fighting the French. Bloody shame, this is.”
Anna’s brother was already in front of the chopping block, his face blank of emotion. Aiden knew what the young man must be thinking about.
Anna was in the hands of the man who had murdered her parents. None of them wanted to think about what horrors she would face as soon as Fain had her completely alone. Aiden tried to calm down and think rationally, but his blood was roaring in his ears. All he wanted to do was go after his wife and save her.
The gathered crowd was quiet, the nobles forced outside to watch. Alexei’s hands were bound behind his back. The executioner towered over him as he tested the edge of his sword with a fingertip.
“This is bloody medieval. Even the French use a guillotine,” Charles said scornfully, but no one but Aiden seemed to hear him. Not that Aiden was fully listening. He was focused on Yuri, who stood on the platform facing the crowd.
“Today, you shall witness the end of the old ways that held us back. Tomorrow, Ruritania will become a nation that others will fear and respect. We will show our might by growing our army. Growing our borders. This is Ruritania’s future,” Yuri declared proudly, then faced the executioner.
“You may begin.”
The executioner pushed Alexei’s neck down onto the block and leaned in close, as if to say something to him. Alexei’s jaw flexed and the rope that bound his hands creaked as he fought his bonds.
Aiden’s heart pounded against his ribs as he pulled at the rope around his own wrists. The rope began to tighten as he pulled on it. The executioner took a few steps back and practiced his swing. His face was hidden beneath a mask that made him a target for Aiden’s blind rage. Aiden had but one instant to notice that the executioner’s boots were shiny and... expensive looking? Not like the sort of boots an executioner in a rural country would have.
The executioner lifted his blade high in the air. Aiden’s anger roared out of him like a tidal wave, smashing into the rocks and sending a wall of water towering into the air. The ancient blood in him, the blood that came from the Vikings who had settled Scotland centuries ago, left a berserker’s power in him. Always before he had held back, but not today. His hands would have the blood of his enemies upon them before the day was through.
The ropes on his wrists tore free against the sudden pressure he forced on them, and he surged to his feet with a mighty roar. But he didn’t aim for the executioner—instead, he flung himself at Anna’s uncle.
Aiden hit the would-be king hard, sending both of them flying off the platform. He didn’t give Yuri a chance to fight back. He swung his fist down, striking the man. Blood exploded from the Yuri’s shattered nose. Aiden raised his fist to strike again.
“Aiden! Go after Anna!” someone shouted.
Aiden looked up at the platform. Alexei was on his feet, and the executioner stood beside him. The man had ripped his mask off to reveal that it was Godric who had yelled at him.
“Go, man! We have control of the castle. Save the princess!” Godric shouted again. As he shouted this, men in the crowd were throwing back their farmer’s cloaks and revealing the white-and-blue uniforms of Alexei’s loyal guards.
