The Hawk (Highland Guard #2)(102)

“And this Hawk never told you his name?” her father asked.

Ellie almost wished he hadn’t. “The only name I heard him called by was Hawk.” It was the truth, though finely parsed.

“Randolph said as much,” Ralph added.

“This Hawk never spoke to you of his plans?” her father asked. “Where he intended to go after bringing you home? Whether they were planning anything?”

“No,” she lied. “I’m sorry.” She felt the tears gather in her eyes. Lying to her father was the hardest thing she’d ever done. But she tried to tell herself that they were small lies compared to the threat the truth could bring to the man to whom she’d given her heart.

Her father mistook her tears of guilt for sadness at her inability to help. He put his arm around her awkwardly and patted her shoulder. “Do not fret, daughter, if he still lives we will find him.” His face hardened. “And when we do, I will hang him from a rope myself.”

Ellie’s pulse leaped with alarm. “No!” She felt five pairs of eyes on her and heat rose to her cheeks. “He saved my life. He had no choice but to do what he did. He didn’t know who I was, and when I finally confessed my identity, he was furious. He had no wish to make an enemy of you, Father.”

Her father gave her a long look. Normally not a very perceptive man, she wondered how much he’d guessed. “It won’t matter,” he concluded. “If he lived through the storm, once King Edward finds him, he will wish he hadn’t. None of Bruce’s followers can expect any mercy.”

Something in his voice caught her attention, and when she looked into his eyes she knew something was troubling her father deeply. He stood from his place beside her and walked to a small window that looked out over the Firth. “I received a missive from the king a few days ago. In it he told me what has become of your sister.”

The room stilled. Ellie’s heart hammered hard in her chest, bracing herself for the news of Elizabeth they’d been awaiting. But if her father’s expression was any indication, it wasn’t news she would want to hear.

“Is she in Norway with Robert’s sister?” she asked hopefully.

Her father shook his head. “I’m afraid not. Elizabeth, Bruce’s sisters and daughter, and Bella MacDuff—the Countess of Buchan—were captured some months ago in Northern Scotland as they attempted to make their way to Norway.”

The room was deathly silent. Captured? Dear God.

“How?” Matty asked with a broken sob.

Her father’s gaze hardened. “In the worst, most treacherous manner imaginable. They were betrayed by the Earl of Ross after they’d taken sanctuary at St. Duthus’s Chapel in Tain.”

“Ross violated sanctuary?” Ralph asked, appalled.

Her father nodded.

It was an egregious offense in the eyes of the church.

“But they are alive?” Ellie asked, hope high in her voice.

Her father nodded, but she could tell there was something else.

“But why have we only just heard of this?” Matty asked. “You said they were taken months ago.”

Ellie didn’t think she’d ever seen her father look so grim. “I suspect the king didn’t want me to know and only decided to tell me once I came to Scotland, realizing I would hear it anyway.”

“Hear what?” his son John asked.

Their’s father’s eyes blazed. “Hear the vile and despicable manner in which they’ve been treated.” He gripped the stone windowsill until his knuckles turned white. “Edward ordered all of them—even Bruce’s nine-year-old daughter—to be lodged in cages hung high from a castle tower.”

Ellie’s gasp was joined by the others. Her horror was so complete, she couldn’t manage even a word of disbelief.

“The king has gone mad,” Ralph said. “Surely he relented?”

“He did for Elizabeth, Bruce’s young daughter Marjorie, and his sister Christina. But the countess and his other sister Mary Bruce were not so fortunate. They have been hanging in wooden cages over Berwick and Roxburgh castles for months.”

Ellie’s relief that her sister had not been subject to such cruelty was tempered by the knowledge that two women she knew had not been so fortunate to escape Edward’s barbaric form of justice. Or perhaps she should say vengeance. She had no doubt that Bella MacDuff was being punished so cruelly for her part in Bruce’s coronation.

“Can you do nothing?” Ellie asked.

Her father shook his head. “I managed to persuade him to move Elizabeth from her dungeon in Roxburgh to a manor in Burstwick, but on the others he will hear no pleas for mercy. The king is determined to crush this rebellion and see the traitors punished in the most horrendous manner possible. No one is safe. Not women, children—no one.”

Ellie shivered as Erik’s words of warning came back to her. She never imagined how prophetic they would be and how closely they would strike.

Dear Elizabeth.

“The king learned nothing from Wallace,” Ralph muttered.

He was right. King Edward thought to win Scotland by fear and intimidation, showing no mercy and killing with barbarous cruelty, but in doing so he only ignited the country against him.

Fear, even deeper than what she’d felt before, turned Ellie’s blood to ice. She didn’t want to think what Edward had in store for Robert and his companions if whatever they had planned failed.