Page 58 of A Temptress in Tartan

There was an edge in her father’s voice that Elizabeth had never heard before and it made her heart freeze. She could see the battle going on in her father’s mind as he clenched and unclenched hands that were held firmly at his sides by the guards.

Ignoring her father’s outbursts, the king motioned to the panel behind him. “Reid Douglas and Hugh Godfrey, please stand facing each other before these two men.” When they were in position, King James picked up the sieve and shears. “This device is said to combine the natural world with the divine. What results it gives us come directly from God.”

The king placed the large shears between the two men. “Hold the shears suspended, using only your middle finger.” Once the shears were in place, he positioned the wide outer rim of the sieve between the cutting edges of the blades. As soon as the sieve was in place it was impossible to keep the contraption still and it started to shift back and forth.

King James picked up a piece of parchment from which he read: “Dies, Meis, Juschet, Benedoefet, Dowima, and Enitemaus.” As soon as he finished, the sieve started to shudder first left, then right. “Now I will call out each of your names. The moment the guilty party is pronounced, the culprit will be instantly known to us.” The king set down the parchment and straightened. “Let us proceed.”

Fear and hope twisted through Elizabeth in equal measures. Either her father or Lachlan would be pronounced guilty. She feared either outcome for very different reasons. If Lachlan were guilty, he would definitely hang. If her father were guilty, then he might ultimately hang as well.

Hugh Godfrey and Reid Douglas stared at each other, locked in a battle that fate would soon decide. Each man willed the device between them to prognosticate in their favor: Reid for Lachlan, Hugh for Donald.

Elizabeth’s heart was beating so hard she could feel its thunder in every part of her body.

“I present,” the king said, raising his voice so that all could hear, “Lachlan Douglas and Donald Ruthven. Do as you will, oh divine device, as you are guided by God’s own hand.”

A hushed silence fell over the chamber, and everyone leaned forward to see the device twist left toward Lachlan and then right toward her father. It shuddered, then stopped, directly in front of her father.

The crowd gasped.

Instead of relief, Lachlan’s features were still strained as his gaze sought out her own. What she read there—the sympathy and love—made her heart pound all the harder. He understood how difficult this moment was for her. This moment hurt her deeper than she had expected it to. Her father had lied to her. She didn’t need a strange divining rod to tell her that. She’d come to realize almost immediately after her wedding to Lachlan, that her father would do just about anything, even use his only daughter, to continue to exact revenge upon his enemy.

His enemy, not hers.

Even so, the man was still her father. She stepped forward, and dropped into a deep curtsy. “Please, Your Grace, I beg you to have mercy upon my father. He has not been honest, but that does not mean he is beyond redemption.” Elizabeth was so nervous she was shaking.

“You would have me be merciful to your father after all he has done to both you and Lachlan? That is not how justice works. And I have looked the other way with matters concerning the Ruthvens for far too long.”

Donald Ruthven scowled at the king but remained silent.

Despite the fact she knew she should do the same, Elizabeth felt compelled to at least try to influence the king in some way. She looked at him and hoped he could read the sincerity in her eyes. “I can forgive my father for all he has done. Can you . . .” Her voice trailed off when she saw the king’s expression harden at what he regarded as pleading. If she continued, she would only make things worse. “What will you do to him?”

The king regarded her with indifference before he addressed her father. “Donald Ruthven, you are guilty of not telling the court the truth in its pursuit of justice. And on top of that, I have had my fill of you and your Ruthven brethren over the years. I had thought the marriage of your daughter to a Douglas would end your scandalous behavior. Obviously, I was wrong. So instead of imprisoning you here so that your daughter and her husband can have any kind of life, I will grant you your freedom,” he paused, as if for effect, before adding, “by banishing you to the Shetland Islands.”

“The Northern Isles of Scotland!” Donald Ruthven cried. “I’ll never find my way home from those distant shores. Might as well put me in chains here.”

“You would be wise to make Shetland your new home. I hear Lerwick on the east coast of the mainland is not so bad. I will send you with a sum of money that should be enough to buy you a fresh start.”

Elizabeth could see the white-hot flash of anger that swept through her father. “I won’t go! You’ll never make me board that ship!”

The king straightened, his own cheeks turning red. “For that outburst, I will now send one of your kin along with you. Keddy Ruthven.” The king motioned that Keddy was to step forward from the back of the chamber. “You are banished along with your ex-clan leader.”

Donald Ruthven’s face paled as Keddy came forward. “Who will lead the clan if I am gone?”

“You are but regent for the true clan leader, John Ruthven. How old is John at present?”

Donald Ruthven winced. “Fifteen, and too young to manage a clan with the size and complexity of the Ruthvens.”

“Then I will send one of my advisors to assist him until he is fully prepared to take over,” the king stated with a note of triumph in his voice.

Donald Ruthven opened his mouth to object.

“One more word out of you, Ruthven, and I will banish your entire clan.”

Her father snapped his mouth closed. He stared at the king a long time until the anger faded from his eyes and was replaced by worn resignation.

Knowing he had won that battle, the king turned to Lachlan. “You are free of all charges against you, Lachlan Douglas. And while I will not banish you from Scotland, I would suggest you and your bride take a trip of some sort—perhaps travel around the continent for a time—until the anger over Donald Ruthven’s banishment settles down, or until you have a Ruthven-Douglas child to bridge the divide between your two families.”

In that moment, the reality of their situation hit her—Lachlan was free, her father would not be able to hurt either of them anymore, but he would be gone from her life forever.