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With the next step back, David felt a hard, rough wall pressing against his back. He was cornered. He couldn’t swing properly to defend himself.

Philip brought his sword back for the final thrust that would finish David. “Rot in the swamps of Bannockburn, ye bastart…”

As the blade came at David in a metallic arc of death, the memory came.

The swamps of Bannockburn.

Bannockburn…

That was what Rogene had told him and what he had struggled to remember. He hadn’t made the connection that Bannockburn was near Stirling.

But now he knew. Bannockburn would be where Bruce would have the most important battle of the war.

And it was here, by Stirling.

Because the deal had to be about the battle, not about the girl.

He brought up his sword to block Philip’s, but he didn’t have enough swing. Philip was pressing David’s own sword into his neck, and only the sheer force of muscle allowed David to hold him off.

“Stop!” David grunted. “Stop!”

Philip’s face was a mask of fury, his eyes dark under his eyebrows. His bared teeth were white against his bloodstained face and beard.

David’s own blade was ripping into the flesh of his neck.

“You’re right, man,” David croaked. “I was wrong to sleep with your betrothed, and I don’t blame you for wanting revenge. But I love her! It’s not just about lust. And I know you’re a good man who doesn’t want more people to die.”

Philip’s face lost some of its anger, and the pressure against David’s neck subsided. “Once ye’re dead, I will stop this.”

David grunted, “I have a proposal.”

Philip frowned. “Ye have nae right or place for proposals.”

“Just listen to me, please. You’re a man of honor. Let’s make another deal.”

Philip narrowed his eyes and David continued. “Give him one year. If Stirling isn’t rescued by the English, you will give it to the Scots freely. You would avoid unnecessary bloodshed. It also means if England wins the war, you’re still in their good graces. Your people have already suffered a lot. You will live in peace for a year and the Bruce will back off. Isn’t it what you wanted with the wedding in the first place?”

Philip blinked several times, thinking hard. He squinted his eyes at David. “How—?”

“This will give you back your power.”

Philip cursed under his breath and released the sword.

“Stop the fight!” he yelled, and as his voice carried across the church, men were lowering their weapons. “Bruce! Where are ye? I need a word.”

As Bruce made his way to Philip, he looked sideways at David. “This doesna mean ye are forgiven. I imagine ’tis nae a good thing to have the King of Scotland as an enemy whose daughter ye dishonored.”

David swallowed hard. As he watched Philip and Bruce talk, he caught many angry eyes on him. Aulay came to talk to Bruce and Philip, too, but Colum was by Anna’s side and was glaring at him.

Finally, Bruce and Mowbray shook hands. Mowbray looked around at his troops and Bruce’s warriors.

“Be witness, everyone. Robert the Bruce and I just entered a chivalric agreement. He will retreat from Stirling, but if within a year, by John the Baptist in the year 1314, we are nae rescued by King Edward II, I will freely give Stirling to Robert the Bruce’s command with nae fight.”

As Philip and his men looked through the wounded and the dead and started leaving the church, David’s body flooded with relief. Anna was unharmed. She hadn’t married another man. And further bloodshed had been prevented.

But his relief died when he met the furious gaze of the King of Scotland.

CHAPTER 29