Read Betrayed for Free Online Page B
Authors: Claire Robyns
the lord next door, no less. It wasn’t just uncivilised, it was…words failed her and the small smile of amusement vanished.
She looked inward, and it became personal.
For the first time, Amber saw her capture as more than a huge obstacle preventing her from saving Stivin. There was the pit, then the glint of steel so close to her throat. She’d assumed that no one had any reason to actually kill her…
A frown worked her brow and she nibbled her lower lip. She was a pawn, dragged from her home to be disposed of as the Johnstones saw fit. It mattered not if she were innocent or guilty of the great betrayal. No one was listening, no one cared. She was a possession, valuable enough to protect—for now. These were Stivin’s kin, but they’d been Jardin enemies for a half-score years or more. What would happen once they realised she was worth less than a crippled horse? What would they do when William Jardin rejected their terms of exchange?
“Leave me,” Amber ordered.
“I have nae wish ta be here, but the laird—”
“Asked you to help me,” she finished. Amber sat up straight and met the brown glare defiantly, wondering if the dour Isla honestly thought she wanted to be here. “Then help me to bathe in private.”
Isla didn’t need telling twice. She made a show of huffing and grumbling beneath her breath on the way out.
Amber hurriedly dried off and tugged her shift over her head. It had been sheer folly on her part to insist over and over again how worthless she was.
What was I thinking?
That they’d apologise for the inconvenience and send me back to Spedlin with a farewell pat on the shoulder?
She found her gown crumpled on the floor beside the bed. The rip all the way down the front was a reminder of Johnstone hospitality and how little her honour and dignity meant to these people. She dressed as best she could, pinching the bodice over her breasts with trembling fingers while she guided her feet into scuffed slippers.
The wind whipped the open flaps of her gown about as she stepped onto the rampart, the chill evening air cutting ruthlessly through her shift. Crouching low and close to the battlement wall, she ran, keeping a keen ear on the occasional shout and sound below lest it escalate to a raised alarm. The broody sky abetted the waning daylight and she was thankful for the cover.
Soon the walk broke away from the tower house and she was in the narrow passage dug along the top of the crenulated wall that enclosed the bailey. Approximately midway along the length of the bailey, Amber stopped and leant far over the side of the wall. The curtain wall had to be at least five or six men tall. Beyond that, the thickly wooded bog looked sinister with long shadows and the spongy ground of sphagnum mosses.
Amber experienced a moment of doubt about getting across the morass. Not that it mattered, she thought irritably, for in order to do that, she first needed to find a way down from this impossible height.
As soon as she pulled back from the edge, a blur of raised voices carried on the breeze. She couldn’t make out what was being said, but the direction it came from and the loud confusion set her heart racing.
She stilled.
She couldn’t go down and she wasn’t going back.
Her knees went hollow, cramped from excess energy at the thought of just standing where she was, a hare already snared and awaiting a predetermined fate.
Chapter 3
The squabbling voices lured Krayne from the north solar, a private apartment above his sleeping chamber where he conducted business.
“Enough,” he ordered from the threshold of his chamber, and all eyes turned on him. Isla, Mungo and even Little Jock, the stalwart giant who’d just left his solar with the letter of exchange, fidgeted nervously.
A glance around the chamber told Krayne everything he needed to know.
“Ye left her alone?” he demanded of Isla.
“I didna want ta.” Isla could no longer meet his eyes. She’d failed her laird and felt
She looked inward, and it became personal.
For the first time, Amber saw her capture as more than a huge obstacle preventing her from saving Stivin. There was the pit, then the glint of steel so close to her throat. She’d assumed that no one had any reason to actually kill her…
A frown worked her brow and she nibbled her lower lip. She was a pawn, dragged from her home to be disposed of as the Johnstones saw fit. It mattered not if she were innocent or guilty of the great betrayal. No one was listening, no one cared. She was a possession, valuable enough to protect—for now. These were Stivin’s kin, but they’d been Jardin enemies for a half-score years or more. What would happen once they realised she was worth less than a crippled horse? What would they do when William Jardin rejected their terms of exchange?
“Leave me,” Amber ordered.
“I have nae wish ta be here, but the laird—”
“Asked you to help me,” she finished. Amber sat up straight and met the brown glare defiantly, wondering if the dour Isla honestly thought she wanted to be here. “Then help me to bathe in private.”
Isla didn’t need telling twice. She made a show of huffing and grumbling beneath her breath on the way out.
Amber hurriedly dried off and tugged her shift over her head. It had been sheer folly on her part to insist over and over again how worthless she was.
What was I thinking?
That they’d apologise for the inconvenience and send me back to Spedlin with a farewell pat on the shoulder?
She found her gown crumpled on the floor beside the bed. The rip all the way down the front was a reminder of Johnstone hospitality and how little her honour and dignity meant to these people. She dressed as best she could, pinching the bodice over her breasts with trembling fingers while she guided her feet into scuffed slippers.
The wind whipped the open flaps of her gown about as she stepped onto the rampart, the chill evening air cutting ruthlessly through her shift. Crouching low and close to the battlement wall, she ran, keeping a keen ear on the occasional shout and sound below lest it escalate to a raised alarm. The broody sky abetted the waning daylight and she was thankful for the cover.
Soon the walk broke away from the tower house and she was in the narrow passage dug along the top of the crenulated wall that enclosed the bailey. Approximately midway along the length of the bailey, Amber stopped and leant far over the side of the wall. The curtain wall had to be at least five or six men tall. Beyond that, the thickly wooded bog looked sinister with long shadows and the spongy ground of sphagnum mosses.
Amber experienced a moment of doubt about getting across the morass. Not that it mattered, she thought irritably, for in order to do that, she first needed to find a way down from this impossible height.
As soon as she pulled back from the edge, a blur of raised voices carried on the breeze. She couldn’t make out what was being said, but the direction it came from and the loud confusion set her heart racing.
She stilled.
She couldn’t go down and she wasn’t going back.
Her knees went hollow, cramped from excess energy at the thought of just standing where she was, a hare already snared and awaiting a predetermined fate.
Chapter 3
The squabbling voices lured Krayne from the north solar, a private apartment above his sleeping chamber where he conducted business.
“Enough,” he ordered from the threshold of his chamber, and all eyes turned on him. Isla, Mungo and even Little Jock, the stalwart giant who’d just left his solar with the letter of exchange, fidgeted nervously.
A glance around the chamber told Krayne everything he needed to know.
“Ye left her alone?” he demanded of Isla.
“I didna want ta.” Isla could no longer meet his eyes. She’d failed her laird and felt