Henry looked up as the door burst open and his wife stumbled into the room, her face streaked with tears, her eyes wild. She looked at Longshanks, who was lying in bed. She ran forward and fell on her knees. She grabbed his hand. "My Lord!"
Skye stepped into the room behind her mother and shut the door. "Get out," she said quietly to the doctor.
"My Lord, I have come to beg for the life of William Wallace," cried Isabelle. "He is a good man! Please! At most, he was a worthy enemy. Show mercy, oh thou great King! Do this last thing and at last…win the respect of the people!"
Longshanks jerked his hand away from Isabelle. He coughed and gurgled as blood welled up in his mouth.
Isabelle turned away. She pressed her face into her hands and wept bitterly.
Skye had discarded her dusty habit and was dressed in brilliant white and gold. She had brushed the dust out of her dark hair and it fell in soft waves below her waist. She stepped forward slowly and knelt beside Longshanks' bed. "Even now…you are incapable of mercy?"
"Before my Father loosed his power of speech, he told me that one of his comforts was knowing that William Wallace would die," said Henry.
Skye's eyes where riveted on Longshanks. Her young face was hard as granite. "So you see," she said quietly. "Death comes to us…in the end." She looked at Henry. "Take your wife to her room. She's weary and overwrot."
Henry frowned but came forward and took Isabelle's arm. He managed to get her from the room, even as she still wept.
Skye rose to her feet. "Yes, death comes to us all. But I want you to die knowing that your blood dies with you."
Longshanks stared at her.
"Once you are dead and William Wallace…my Father is dead, I myself will kill your son. The child my mother carries is the child of my Father once again, William Wallace. He will sit upon the throne of England and I shall be Queen of Scotland. In the end, William Wallace will win."