“I can’t believe you would refuse us this,” Willow said.

“These people you speak of no doubt owe their allegiance to Slatter. They would protect him and possibly lie for him. There is enough lies being spoken and spread without more people to attest to them,” James said.

“Are you accusing me of lying?” Willow asked.

“You are an honest woman, Willow, but you have changed since being with Slatter and I must do what is best for the clan, and at one time you would have advised me to do just that.”

Willow couldn’t argue with his logic. She would have done what he said, advised him against it. And she would have thought the woman foolish for believing a man who was known to lie. She could beg him to trust her on this, but again there’d be no logic to it. James would be right in refusing her. So what did she do?

“I understand, James. Your clan counts on you to protect them, keep them safe as do my people,” Slatter said.

Willow heard a low warning in her husband’s voice that she doubted James recognized.

“Once your innocence is proven, I’ll gladly offer your people sanctuary,” James said.

Sanctuary, not a home, Willow thought and from the way her husband tensed beside her, he thought the same. Which meant that James didn’t expect Slatter to be proven innocent. He was placating her, letting her believe he would accept her marriage to Slatter, when he agreed with Tarass. Both men would see her husband dead.

“Now if that is all, I need to get done with this chore before the heavy snow falls,” James said, dismissing them.

Slatter nodded and Willow turned with him, their hands having remained joined, to take their leave.

“A private word, Willow,” James said, stopping the couple.

Slatter kissed his wife’s cheek. “Go speak with your brother. I will be in the keep.”

Willow didn’t want to leave Slatter’s side. He wasn’t pleased with what James had said and she wasn’t either. James and Tarass thought Slatter guilty and they intended to see him punished. That was why Tarass had sent for the Slayer.

Willow returned to James and didn’t give him a chance to speak. “You lied to me. You want my husband dead.”

“What I want is the truth and for you to be safe and not regret a decision made on a whim in a moment of madness,” James argued.

“If you believe one thing I say, James, believe that my decision to wed Slatter was not decided in a moment of madness, nor did I fall in love with him on a whim. He won my heart just as you won Eleanor’s heart, by being a good and kind man to her. And I hope you do not waste time in letting her know that you love her and make her your wife. Time with the one you love is too precious to waste even a moment not acknowledging it.”