In a moment her eyes had taken in the situation--the man at the stake, the upraised lash--and Nathaniel.
With a sobbing, breathless cry, she flung herself in front of MacDougall and threw her arms around the kneeling man, her hair covering him in a glistening veil.

For an instant her eyes were raised to Nathaniel and he saw in them that same agonized appeal that had called to him through the king's window.

The striking muscles of his arms tightened like steel.
One of the guards sprang forward and caught the girl roughly by the arm and attempted to drag her away.

In his excitement he pulled her head back and her hair trailed in the dirt.

The sight was maddening.