“Make sure you drink it,” he ordered and gave her a quick kiss before he returned to where he had been standing.
He had kissed her endlessly since rescuing her as if he needed to assure himself she was safe and well. She’d been amazed that he had had the strength to carry her all the way back to the longhouse. He had suffered the brutal rushing river and its cold just as she had and yet it hadn’t hampered his strength as it had her. He had refused all help from those willing to carry her. He would allow no one to take her from him.
It had been sheer stubbornness that kept him going and—love.
Once in their bedchamber, he again, refused all help to tend her. He had stripped her bare, wrapped her in a blanket, and sat her before the hearth, then rid himself of his wet garments. He wrapped a blanket around his waist, dropped another blanket beside the chair before he lifted her in his arms and set her in his lap after he sat. He snatched up the blanket he had dropped and wrapped it around them both. And there they had sat in silence snuggled close together.
Passion may have tickled at them, but it wasn’t what either wanted at the moment. They simply wanted to hold on to each other, know the ordeal was done, know that all was safe, know that death had failed to claim them today.
Now she sat and watched her husband as he brought the whole ordeal to a close.
Greta came to stand in front of him and Fyn joined her, taking her hand as he stood by her side. She moved closer to him and he let go of her hand to wrap his arm around her waist.
“Fyn stands for the woman he loves,” Arran said, joining Raven on the bench.
“Fyn is a good man,” Raven said, proud of him and she, as well as her brother, turned quiet as Wolf spoke.
“How is Tait?” Wolf asked.
“He does well, sir,” Greta said. “Eria and George are with him now. He tells everyone that the evil man lied and that Fyn is his da.”
Fyn spoke up. “And he is right. I am his da now and always. Tait is my son, Greta will be my wife, and I will protect them both with my life.”
“That is honorable of you, Fyn,” Wolf praised. “But I will hear from Greta why she never told me the truth about Tait.”
Greta paled. “I feared for my son’s life. Brynjar was an evil and hated man. No one would have accepted Tait if they knew Brynjar fathered him. They would believe him evil as well.”
“She’s right about that,” Arran whispered.
As sad and unfair as it was, Raven agreed with a nod. There would be those who would want to see the lad dead.
“My son would be hunted and killed for nothing more than having an evil father. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to protect my son. My brother felt the same, which was why he told me to seek shelter with you. He told me that you were a great warrior who kept his people safe.”
“Why didn’t you tell me it was your brother we found frozen to death or that you also knew the other man who died?” Wolf asked.
“Fear,” Greta said. “Pure fear. My brother would have only come here for one reason—to warn me that Brynjar knew of his son. I prayed that Brynjar would meet your sword before anything was learned about Tait. Before the tribe demanded that Tait and I be turned over to Brynjar.” Tears started rolling down her cheeks. “I never meant for harm to come to anyone. I only wanted to protect my son and give him a chance to grow into the good man I knew he would one day be.”
Wolf scowled. “You believe I would have given Tait to Brynjar?”
“I’ve seen what Brynjar causes people to do. Toke had a chance of freedom here with you. But I think he must have been one of the men Brynjar captured from a nearby village a day or so after attacking my village and he remembered seeing Brynjar—” She stopped not able to say what had been done to her. “He must have realized Tait was Brynjar’s son and thought if he could bring Tait to him that Brynjar would free him. His fear of Brynjar was greater than his trust in you. Seeing that only made me fear more for my son’s life.” She wiped at her tears. “I am truly sorry for any harm I have brought you, but I am not sorry for protecting my son.”
“I would have done the same in her situation,” Raven said.
Fyn turned a smile on her for speaking up for Greta.
“No, you wouldn’t have,” Wolf argued. “You would have foolishly attempted to kill Brynjar.”
“I wouldn’t have attempted it. I would have succeeded at killing him,” Raven corrected. “Though I must say my brother did a fine job of seeing that Brynjar’s death was not an easy nor a painless one.”
A cheer went up in the room, though quieted when Wolf’s face turned menacing.
Raven knew her husband well enough to know he planned no harsh punishment for Greta’s deceit, but he couldn’t allow it to go entirely unpunished. Greta has also proved valuable to the tribe, her healing skills much sought after and Tait was adored by all, his sweet nature much like his mother’s.
“I cannot let this go unpunished,” Wolf commanded.
Greta grabbed Fyn’s arm and Fyn looked ready to argue, but wisely held his tongue.
“Fyn,” Wolf said with a nod to him, “will follow you wherever you go and report your actions back to me until I feel certain you are no threat to the tribe.”
“Aye, my lord,” Fyn said. “I will watch and tell you of her every move.”
Raven smiled and Arran chuckled.
“Your husband is a wise man,” Arran whispered. “He makes it seem that Greta is being punished while seeing she is protected against anyone who thinks to harm her or Tait.”
“Wolf is a better man than I first believed,” Raven whispered.
“Even though he held Royden and me captive for five years?” Arran asked, still angry at what had been done to him and his brother.
“You need to talk to Wolf about that,” Raven advised, feeling it better that her husband tell Arran the truth.
“And why would I want to do that?” Arran asked, annoyed.
“Because it wasn’t Wolf who held you and Royden captive—it was our king.”
Arran stared at her, speechless.
“Wolf can offer more detail than I can, though I think it would be better if he told you and Royden together. Perhaps then the three of you can make sense of it.”
Arran leaned closer to Raven and kept his voice to a whisper. “And tell me, dear sister, did you pose as the leper just today, or have you been posing as Brother Noble all along?”
Raven smiled sweetly. “All along, dear brother.”
Arran looked ready to strangle her. “So Purity and I were never truly wed the first time thanks to you.”
“But you thought you were and that was all that mattered and I told Abbott Thomas he better hurry and wed you properly.”
“Abbott Thomas knew you were the leper?” Arran asked, shocked.
“That’s a discussion for another time,” Raven said. Her brother’s smug grin warned her that she was not going to like his response.
“The discussion I wish I could hear is when you tell your husband that you’ve been the leper all along.”
Raven stood by the hearth in her nightshift, a shawl draped around her shoulders. “Rouard gave you no problem?”
Wolf shook his head as he undressed. “He seemed more relieved as did many of the warriors with him. He leaves in the morning for home. There is much he must see to, many who need to be freed.”
“All is settled then,” she said, avoiding his eyes.
“Mostly,” he said, shedding the last of his garments and walking over to her. “You are feeling well after your ordeal.”
“I have more aches than usual and a chill that refuses to leave me, but otherwise I do well,” she assured him seeing the worry in his dark eyes.
He cupped her face and ran his thumb gently over her lips. “I feared losing you.”
She rubbed her cheek against his hand. “I had no doubt you would rescue me.”
“I never expected to rescue the leper.”
Raven scrunched her eye
s shut for a brief moment, then took a step back. His arm went quick around her waist not letting her go far.
“I’ve waited until we were alone to ask you this—”
She didn’t wait to answer the question she knew he would ask. “Aye, I’ve been Brother Noble all along.”
His eyes shot open wide. “All along?”
Her eyes turned as wide as his. “Isn’t that what you thought?”
He stepped back. “No. When you revealed yourself, I assumed you posed as Brother Noble to distract Brynjar.” He shook his head. “Do you mean to tell me that you’ve been posing as a leper all this time?”
“I thought you would realize that when I revealed myself.”
Anger flared in his eyes. “Why would I when we agreed to be honest with each other?”
She cringed. “I thought it better you didn’t know.”
His eyes went wide again and an oath flew from his mouth. “You were there in front of me all along. I revealed much to you.” He stepped back rubbing his face. “You tricked me.”
“I admit I did,” she confessed, “but you have to admit it was wise on my part.”
He glared at her and shook his head. “The things I’ve told you.”
“Were wonderful to hear and made me realize you were a far different man than I had first thought. And when you confessed your love it made all the difference.”
He was struck by a thought. “The wound on your head,”—he shook his head— “it was Brother Noble who was struck.” He shook his head again. “That’s why your men got so upset and shouted out to the leper. They knew it was you.”
She hurried to explain, a slight cringe to her face. “I assumed, though I never saw him, whoever was after Gard didn’t want a leper interfering and when he spotted me, a rock was the best weapon of choice.”
Wolf groaned, turned his back on her, and continued to shake his head.
Raven approached him and laid a gentle hand on his back. “Please let me explain about Brother Noble.”
He turned, anger still sparking in his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.
His annoyed stance and silence told her he would listen and so she spoke. “I needed a way to discover things while keeping my identity unknown and staying safe. Charles came up with the idea of assuming the role of a leper, better still a cleric who was a leper. I took the name we knew Charles as… Noble. And he was a noble man, helping many. The disguise helped me gather much information and even visit with those I missed. I never set out to meet you. Our meeting was pure accident, but I did take advantage of it. I also will admit that I enjoyed talking with you. I think in a way it helped me decide to agree to wed you. I thought that if anything, there might be a slim chance we could establish a friendship.”
“I enjoyed talking with you as well,” Wolf admitted. “There was wisdom to the leper’s words—your word.”
“And there was a thoughtfulness to your words that at first I refused to see but could not deny once we were wed.” She reached out to him, though she didn’t touch him. She waited for him to reach out to her as well. “I did what I had to do to protect those I love, just as Greta did, just as you do, just as we now do together.”
His hand shot out and grabbed the back of her neck to yank her up against him. “You better never pose as the leper again.”
She scrunched her face. “You never know when Brother Noble might be needed.”
“Raven, so help me, I’ll give you a good beating if you ever do that again,” he threatened.
She laughed. “Don’t be foolish. You’d never raise your hand to me. You love me too much.”
He muttered several oaths. “You are impossible, kona.”
“I have been truthful with you from the beginning, husband. I am who I am and I make no excuse about it. You love me for who I am, or you don’t. The choice is yours to make freely. I made mine freely. I love you for who you are, Beast and all, even when your annoying I love you.”
“When I’m annoying?” he asked, his hand slipping off the back of her neck to rest around her waist.
“Aye, you can be annoying at times, but I manage to deal with it.”
“And how do you deal with it?”
She chuckled. “I ignore you and do as I please.”
“That is all the time.”
“See how well I deal with you,” she said, her chuckle growing.
She brought a smile to his face. “You’re lucky you stole my heart.”
“You mean you’re lucky I gave you my heart.” He went to argue and she silenced him with a faint kiss. “And I’m lucky you gave me your heart.”
Wolf grinned, scooped her up in his arms, and walked to the bed. “And now I’m going to show us how lucky we both are.”
Her arms coiled around his neck and she kissed him again, though not faintly this time. “You can show me how lucky we are tonight, tomorrow morning, perhaps mid-day and, of course, at night—”
“And for all the days to come,” he said as he went down on the bed with her.
Epilogue
Eleven months later
“The pain is not so bad,” Raven said.
Oria and Purity laughed.
“Your labor just started,” Oria warned.
“And do you forget attending my daughter’s birth and Oria’s son’s birth?” Purity asked with a raised brow.
Raven cringed, though not from pain, from memory. “I tried to forget that.”
“But look at the beautiful bairns a short time of pain brought you,” Wren said, folding cloths on a nearby table.
“Wren is right,” Greta said. “The pain is forgotten once you hold your bairn in your arms.”
“The pain faded when I looked upon Duncan’s sweet face and he rested his small cheek next to mine,” Oria said.
“I felt the same when I held my tiny Margaret,” Purity said.
Raven laughed. “I took such joy in seeing Arran so fearful of holding his daughter. And tiny or not she cried louder than Duncan when born.”
Purity laughed as well. “He thanks the heavens every day that we named her after your mother since she seems as sweet and kind as her. He worried she might be as stubborn as you.”
Raven went to laugh but grabbed her stomach as a pain hit her just as her husband entered the room.
He hurried to her side. “You’re in pain.”
“Of course I’m in pain. I’m having your bairn,” she snapped. “What brings you here? I told you I will do this with the help of my friends.”
“I thought you’d want to know that Iver has returned and—”
Raven threw the blankets off her and struggled to get out of bed while her husband tried to keep her in the bed.
“Let me go. I’ve waited too long to hear word on this,” she said and grabbed her husband’s arm to gain leverage to hoist herself up and on her feet.
“You should remain in bed,” Purity urged.
“You all told me it’s early in my labor. I have time and I will speak to Iver,” Raven insisted and went to grab her shawl off the end of the bed.
Wren snatched it up and draped it around her shoulders. “Let her be done with it so she can return to bed and birth the bairn.”
Wolf shook his head, knowing it would be senseless to argue with his wife.
“What is she doing out of bed?” Parlan demanded when his daughter entered the common room.
Arran cradled his daughter in his arm and laughed. “I’m glad she’s your problem now, Wolf.”
Royden shook his head, his son smiling as he bounced him on his knee. “I agree with Arran.”
Raven looked at her husband, a sharp warning in her blue eyes. “Pick me up and carry me back to bed and you’ll be sorry.”
Arran laughed. “I never thought I’d feel sorry for you, Wolf.”
The door opened and Detta entered holding on to Faline’s arm, a light snow covering their cloaks.
Faline hadn’t been here long with the tribe, but she was only too glad
to help Detta with whatever she needed. She was Sten’s wife and had arrived about six months ago with their son. She had been so grateful to find Sten alive and safe she had immediately sworn loyalty to Wolf. She was even more grateful when Sten had shown her the cottage he had been given and how thankful and relieved he was to have been forgiven and accepted into Wolf’s tribe… forever a loyal servant to the Beast.
Faline took Detta’s cloak she handed her and hung it on a peg before joining Ida to help her serve.
“Why are you out of bed?” Detta demanded, heading toward Royden.
“Because I want to be,” Raven shot back and cringed not meaning to be abrupt with Wolf’s grandmother. They had become friends, talking often, and finding shared interest—like the stubbornness that her husband insisted they both shared.
Detta smiled. “She’s a strong one and the baby will be as well. Now hand over my great-grandson, I haven’t held him in in ages?” She reached out to Royden who reluctantly handed his son over to her.”
“It’s a good thing Oria has such a forgiving heart. If it were me, I’d make you suffer a while longer for not telling her who you were when she lived it,” Royden said.
Detta grinned, her great-grandson smiling and tugging at her braid. “Oria is too kind for her own good, which is why I’m glad she has a strong and wise husband to protect her. Though, I am thankful she is so forgiving.”
The door swung open again and Iver hurried in, shaking a dusting of snow off himself before approaching Raven. Though, it didn’t matter. She hurried, as best she could, over to him.
“What did you find out?” Raven asked and grabbed her side as another pain hit her. She didn’t understand why it had come so close to the other one. She had time yet.
Wolf saw her cringe and slipped his arm around her. “You need to go back to bed.”
She shook her head unable to speak through the pain. Her breath was labored when she finally spoke, looking to Iver. “Tell me.”
Iver hesitated and looked past her.
She turned to see where his glance settled… Detta.
“I should have told you and Wolf,” Detta said and returned her great-grandson to Royden.
Highlander Oath Of The Beast Page 28