The Raven's Moon by Susan King

such?"
    She lifted her chin. "You will take me as a pledge for my brother."
    "I see." He did not. What the devil was she plotting here? "And just who is this important brother?"
    "The warden holds him prisoner at Abermuir Tower."
    He frowned. "For reiving?"
    She nodded, but Rowan saw the hesitation in it. There was more to this than beasts and household gear. "Was there murder involved?" he asked quickly.
    "Nay. Iain is falsely accused, but Simon intends to give him into English hands at the next truce day. But if I serve as the pledge for my brother, he could go free."
    "What of you, then?"
    She glanced away. "Simon will not harm me."
    He stared at her, trying to absorb all of this. "God have mercy," he said slowly, "you will have me ride to Kerr's castle with you, the highway rider, already in my custody? And then you want me to demand his prisoner's release in exchange for your wee bonny hide?"
    "Simon wants the Lincraig rider taken, and I am the one."
    "Are you so daft?" He tried not to laugh. She looked so earnest. "I am to say that a slip of a lassie took me down on the Lincraig moor? And others, for that matter? Simon Kerr would never believe it. And I do not have authority to release the warden's prisoners. That is his decision."
    "Please," she said quickly. "You can help us. I have been thinking about this."
    "I can see that. It is quite a scheme." He smiled.
    "Iain is one of your tenants. A laird owes right of protection to his tenants."
    "My grandsire handles the rents in my absence. Ask him to take you to Kerr and demand Iain's freedom. Granddad was always clever at gaining fat ransom fees."
    "You are the deputy. You do it." She held out her hands, wrists up, as if begging to be tied.
    His lips twitched. "If you have such a wild urge to be a pledge, go to Simon."
    "He said me nay. But he does not know that I have been riding out on the Lincraig road."
    "Then he's in for a surprise."
    She frowned. "I hoped that you might help me."
    He sighed, realizing the lass was utterly serious. Reivers' womenfolk sometimes took the news of their kinsmen's imprisonment hard. But she was willing to sacrifice her own freedom—though Rowan wondered if the truce day hearings might free this brother of hers.
    "Your brother will not be held for long," he said. "Cattle stealing does not run to hanging often as it should. He could be declared clean on truce day if he pays a fine. Except where murder has been done, the English wardens just want the satisfaction of pressing the charge. Truce day juries are mostly reiving men who look after their own. He'll go free."
    She shook her head. "Simon wants to hang my brother. He says he is a spy."
    He narrowed his eyes, considering that. So this was Kerr's errant spy? "And you claim he is innocent," he said softly.
    "He only helped Alec Scott bring back some cattle."
    "I am guessing you know Alec Scott is my brother."
    "Aye, and your brother rode off into the hills and let mine be jailed for Alec's crime." Her eyes flashed, fists tightening at her sides. "Simon told me he found Spanish gold among Iain's booty, but Iain knows naught of it. Your brother knows the truth of it. Perhaps you owe us a favor after all, Blackdrummond, for your brother's due." She folded her arms over her chest.
    "Alec should settle his own debts. So—this is why you ride the road, and why you seek a warrant of execution. To delay your brother's execution for treason over that Spanish gold."
    She lifted her chin, but Rowan saw a flicker of fear in her stormy eyes, and a tremor in her soft lower lip.
    "Few men would risk what you take on for your brother," he said softly. Honor burned bright in her eyes, he thought, fascinated. Though she might go about it in odd ways, she was capable of a fine and rare loyalty. The kind that did not exist in his own life.
    "He has been wronged, and no one to right it but me."
    "Is he as clean as you think?" he murmured, facing her. She backed against the door. "He took up wi' Border