…
Mari awoke only a few hours after she’d managed to finally fall asleep. She’d always had trouble sleeping over the years, whether from excitement or fear. But last night was different.
It was difficult to spend the precious little time she had left in sleep. Today she would be found guilty and ordered hanged for murder. And those few hours she’d spent sleeping could have been better spent thinking of her husband and daughter. Or her sister and her wee nephews.
It led her into thinking of all the time she’d wasted. Such as all those nights after she’d first come to Dunardry. If only she’d known how short their time together would be, she would have spent it loving Cam from the very first minute.
She knew there was no sense worrying. What was done was done. And in several hours, her life would be over, too.
Cam would take care of their daughter. As would her sister. She trusted them both to do the right thing for Lizzy.
As Mari was led into the chambers to face her punishment, she’d expected to feel somewhat at peace. There was nothing else she could do, after all.
But that wasn’t the case. She found herself wishing she’d made plans to escape with Cam. She wasn’t ready to give up. She wanted to be alive, to have a life with her husband and daughter.
It wasn’t fair. She’d only done what she had to do to survive. But to those who judged her, that meant nothing.
She gasped when she saw Cam’s head towering over the rest of the crowd.
He was still here. He hadn’t left her as she’d asked.
Which meant there was still hope. A chance he might come up with some miracle to get her out of this.
She met his gaze and nodded, wishing they had a moment to speak in private. To plan.
She wanted to apologize for giving up. If only there were time…
The booming voice of the head magistrate cut through the air. “If there are no other witnesses to be heard, we shall—”
The justice was cut off by a single word from the back of the room. It was much too soft and feminine to have come from Cam, and it came from the opposite side of the courtroom.
The crowd murmured and parted until a small, regal woman made her way toward the front, her head held high and her lips pinched. Her cane clicked against the floor as she approached the men who were to decide Mari’s fate.
“I will be heard,” the dowager duchess demanded, and stepped closer. “Bring me a chair. This will take some time.”
Mari sat there in shock. This woman she’d finally befriended—or so Mari had thought—the person they’d just months ago shared a warm and companionable Christmas with, had come to put the final nail in Mari’s coffin. A sliver of betrayal sliced through her heart.
But Mari had killed her son. So she couldn’t rightly blame her.
One thing Mari knew, now that she had a child of her own, was that she would punish anyone who harmed her daughter.
But as the dowager began to speak, it soon became clear she was not there to condemn and convict, but to defend Mari.
Mari felt dizzy with surprise and gratitude. Even if it came to nothing, she felt humbled and thankful for the dowager’s support— She was so incredibly brave, sitting there in public court in front of everyone telling her grim tale.
Mari wept for the mother who chose to spill her family’s darkest secrets in order to help Mari. The pain the woman must have lived with all these years!
As Mari listened, so many things began to make sense. She felt vindicated, certain in the knowledge that she hadn’t done anything to earn her unhappy marriage or her terrible fate. The man was sick and twisted. It wouldn’t have mattered whom he’d taken to wife; that woman would have ended up one of two ways—dead at his hands, or a murderer herself. Just like Mari.
When the dowager had finished, the whole room hovered in silence for a few moments, then erupted in an avalanche of outrage. Mari didn’t hear all of what was being said, only snippets.
“Disgrace to his title—”
“Monster—”
“Beast—”
“—should be thanking her for ending him.”
And then, booming out above everything else, she heard the words she hadn’t ever dared to imagine.
“Marian MacKinlay, you are free to go.”
Mari was escorted out of the main room into a side chamber. The dowager followed close behind. When they were alone, she hugged the woman. “Why did you do this for me? You’ve brought scandal down on your family to save my life—someone you’ve always hated.”
The dowager’s lips—always pulled into a scowl before this—relaxed as her sharp eyes landed on Cam, who stood nearby, making arrangements for their departure.
“I attempted to stop him when he was leaving the house to come here today. He was very angry, and I knew he’d do something…manly and unwise. He finally confessed his plan to run off with you—a terrible life for a woman and a baby, mind you. Then he asked for my help. He told me swords and bravery could not save you. He could not save you. He didn’t try to bully me into coming forward. Instead, he went to his knees and simply asked me to save his life, and Lizzy’s life, by saving yours.”
To Mari’s surprise, the dowager reached for her, pulling her into an embrace with more strength than expected for a woman of her age and size. “Oh, Mother. Thank you.”
“I’m ashamed to admit, at the time I told him no. I let him go off to put into motion his ridiculous plan to rescue you. But I couldn’t sit there and let him sacrifice his life. Not when I knew you were innocent.”
Mari shook her head. “But I’m not. I did kill him.”
“Only because he left you no choice. I didn’t hate you, Marian. I never have. I hated the helplessness you made me feel inside. I knew I couldn’t save you from Mathias any more than I was able to save Eliza. It was easier to ignore you, so as not to feel responsible for your fate. I’m so sorry.”
Tears brimmed over Mari’s lashes. “I understand. I forgive you.”
The dowager swallowed. “My dear, I may have shared my awful story to save you today, but in truth, you freed me when you killed my son. Freed me from worry that it might happen yet again. And today you saved me from the guilt of living with that terrible secret. A debt was owed, so a debt was repaid.”
Mari pulled the other woman close as they cried together, both in joy and sorrow, and from all the other emotions swirling around them.
They were both free to live again.
And to love.
…
“Wife. Your Grace.” Cam gently interrupted the embrace his wife was sharing with her savior.