Page 24 of Leila’s Legacy

“She is safe at present,” Niall assured him.

“I want her released,” Lord Werrick said with the boom of authority. “I demand it.”

“Ye’ve no authority here.”

Pain shone in the older earl’s eyes. He knew well the limits of his power in Scotland.

“What is it you want?” Lord Werrick’s brows furrowed. “Ransom? If it’s prisoners released, know that we have none.”

Niall shook his head. “Nay. She’s being tried for witchcraft, for causing the spread of this pestilence.”

“That is the most fool logic I’ve ever heard.” Even as Lord Werrick said it, he did not appear surprised by the accusation. “Let me speak with Lord Armstrong.”

“Ye’re better off speaking to me.” Niall folded his arms over his chest.

“He won’t see me, will he?” Lord Werrick turned his bright blue eyes to the castle behind the curtain wall. “The coward.”

Niall did not reply to the slight against his lord. Especially because he agreed with Lord Werrick. The Keeper of Liddesdale was indeed a coward for not going to meet the English earl.

“We will stop at nothing to ensure her safety,” Lord Werrick vowed.

“I have been doing all I can to see to her comfort.” Niall spoke the words gently in an effort to put the older man at ease.

The Earl of Werrick studied Niall for a long moment, as though seeing him for the first time. “Who are you?”

“I am Deputy to the Keeper of Liddesdale,” Niall replied. “Niall Douglas, oft referred to as the Lion.”

“The Lion,” the earl whispered through lips that did not move and crossed himself. “Where is my daughter?”

Niall considered the man warily. “What is it ye’ve heard of me?”

“Where is my daughter?” the earl repeated.

While he had only a handful of guards with him, it would still be enough to overwhelm Brodie and the few clansmen at the prison. Niall crossed his arms over his chest. “I canna tell ye where she’s being held.”

“Please,” Lord Werrick said, a powerful man with a newly frail voice. “Do you have a child?”

Niall gave a subtle shake of his head.

“Then you do not know of the power of parental love.” The earl took a step toward him, his back straight, his lean body tall, his brows furrowed with the agony of his words. “I beg of you, let me see her. To know that she…” He swallowed. “To see for myself that she is safe.”

Niall thought of Lady Leila, of how delicate she seemed. If she had roused such a protective instinct in him—who had fought her, who knew firsthand how deceptive her appearance—how must her father feel?

It was far too easy to recall the depth of his own affection for his father, as well as the sharp regret of how it felt to have never said goodbye. Niall sensed in his gut how Lady Leila’s trial would go and was well aware this might be a father’s last chance to see his daughter. And how he hated the twinge in his stomach for his role in her demise.

“If I concede to allow ye to see her, I bring only ye,” Niall answered in a low voice. “And it will be done with the knowledge that she will be moved afterward. Ye willna find her in the same place again, aye?” Regardless of if the earl was taken to see Leila or not, she would need to be relocated into the castle. The prison was not sufficient to hold Lord Werrick’s army if he stormed Liddesdale for Leila, something Niall would not put past a father who clearly loved his daughter.

The earl nodded.

“If yer men follow us, or if ye try to attack, we’ll kill her and we’ll kill ye, aye?” Niall knew he could easily take down the older man. Doubtless, Lord Werrick knew as well.

“I understand,” he replied solemnly. “You have my word that I will not attack. Please. My daughter.”

Niall didn’t trust Englishmen, but he did put weight on reputation and the Earl of Werrick’s was pristine; a man who did right. With the seal of an honest man’s word, Niall led Lord Werrick to the prison to see his daughter. Most likely for the last time.

Leila had woken to the extreme cold, her body stiff and her mind confused at the surrounding whitewashed walls and iron bars. It took only a moment for her to realize where she was and what had happened. Understanding what would soon come to be, however, was the hardest to come to terms with. Especially when she’d spent a lifetime knowing.

There was nothing to do now behind the iron-barred door but wait for her destiny.