Page 144 of Feathers in the Wind
After they had left she sat in the large chair at the long table and looked up at the portraits of her Felton forebears. What did you do when you could see both sides of an argument? She didn't think Truscott deserved to hang for being complicit in a lovers' tryst but on the other hand they had four hundred men at their gates intent on their destruction. As Luke would say, this was war, in all its brutality, and it was about setting an example. Putting her personal feelings to one side she understood that they could not afford to risk such a breach of discipline or there would be deaths, more deaths than just the life of one man. However pure his motives, Truscott had to be punished.
Her fingers tapped the table. Maybe a good flogging might have the desired effect? She had never seen a man flogged. Her guts clenched at the thought, but surely it had to be better than hanging.
She rose and went in search of Luke. From the top of the stairs leading to the residence she saw him striding across the courtyard towards the Hawk Tower. She caught up with him as he entered the staircase.
“Luke.”
“Good morning, Mistress Felton,” he said without breaking stride.
“I have to talk to you about Truscott,” she said.
“You talked to me about Truscott last night. There is nothing more to be said.”
His pace and her skirts made the climb up the narrow circular staircase difficult, and she was panting with the exertion, which made pleading a cause extremely difficult.
As she puffed behind him, he continued to ignore her, taking the stairs two at a time.
A light breeze fluttered the Felton pennant at the top of Hawk Tower, and Deliverance leaned against the doorway catching her breath. Luke crossed to the wall and laid a hand on one of the weathered hawks that glared out at the besieging forces.
Deliverance joined him.
“Luke, please. I am asking you to show clemency for Truscott.”
“Tell me again why I should do that?” he said, his gaze not moving from the enemy encampment.
She considered going down on her knees like a true supplicant but that thought galled her and she decided to leave that measure to the last.
“What he did was wrong, but you have to understand he has known Penitence since she was born. He, or any of our men, would do anything for her.”
“Just because a pretty woman asks you to do something you know is wrong is no excuse, Deliverance.”
“I know this is a war and I know Jack Farrington is our enemy but before that he was our friend and betrothed to Penitence. This is a civil war, Luke. It's not as if the Farringtons are a foreign enemy. Jack has been coming to Kinton Lacey since he was a boy.”
“Someone within this castle is prepared to sell all our lives to the enemy, Deliverance. I know it's not Truscott, but an example has to be set.”
“Surely some lesser punishment?” She swallowed. “A flogging?”
Luke straightened.
“Luke—”
“This is not the time for discussion. Get down!”
Luke turned, leaping at Deliverance and taking her to the ground as the Thunderer let off a mighty roar. The world exploded around them.
Deliverance hit the stonework with such force it knocked the breath from her. Instinctively she put her arms over her head as showers of dust and pieces of stone rained down around her. Hawk Tower had taken a direct hit from the Thunderer.
She lay face down on the cold stone flags for a long time, her eyes tightly closed, fighting for breath, incapable of moving. She drew a shaky breath and tentatively moved her fingers and toes. She felt no pain but there appeared to be a heavy weight lying across body and she couldn’t move her arms or legs. She opened her eyes blinking at the brightness of the sky.
Twisting her head, she saw that it was Luke who lay sprawled across her, pinning her to the ground.
“Luke?”
When he didn’t respond, she freed her pinioned arms and pushed at him, but he didn't move. He lay quite still with his face turned away from her.
Dear God, he couldn’t be dead…could he?
“Luke?” She twisted beneath and touched something warm and wet. She looked at her fingers, sticky with Luke's blood and the breath stopped in her throat.
