Deliver (The Blades of Acktar Book 4)

by Tricia Mingerink

  That started the murmuring and shifting again. One of the men glanced at Renna. “Is this true?”

  Squeezing Leith’s hand tightly, Renna nodded. “Leith is the one who suggested it. I will retain the full duties and title as lady of Stetterly.”

  The townsfolk muttered among themselves.

  Sheriff Allen stepped forward, planted his feet next to Renna, and faced the crowd. “I once tried to kill this Blade. But over these past few months, I have come to respect him. His preparations for this latest attack saved this town. For that reason, I stand with him now.”

  Leith raised his eyebrows. A year ago, he never would’ve guessed the sheriff of Stetterly would stand at his side.

  Michelle Allen joined her father, sending Ranson a smile as she did.

  The rustle of footsteps sounded behind him. Shad and Lord Alistair joined him. For a moment, Lord Alistair rested his good hand on Leith’s shoulder. “A year ago, Leith Torren became my spy in the Blades. Now, he is like another son to me. I would trust him with my life and the lives of my family.”

  A son. Leith sucked in a breath. Something deep inside him—something that had been broken his entire life—stopped aching.

  King Keevan stepped past Lord Alistair and Shad. Leith’s stomach clenched with a blizzard’s ice. King Keevan’s words would carry the most weight of anyone’s, and he had no reason to speak for Leith.

  The torch light glinted down the length of King Keevan’s scar, from his cheek and down his neck. Evidence of Leith’s knife.

  When King Keevan spoke, his voice rasped, another reminder of that night and all the reasons King Keevan had for clinging to his anger. “Five years ago, I lost my entire family to Blades. I nearly lost my life because of Leith Torren.”

  Leith swallowed. If not for Renna’s tight grip on his hand, he would’ve hung his head again.

  “But,” King Keevan turned to face Leith, “I have seen the courage in him. For his actions at Nalgar Castle, I pardoned him, and for that, he has the full rights of any citizen here. More than that, I have forgiven him.”

  Really? Leith studied King Keevan’s bright blue eyes. Did he mean it?

  King Keevan stuck out his hand. “And I welcome him into my family.”

  Slowly, Leith took it. King Keevan’s hand was firm, the grip of someone who trained with his sword relentlessly.

  Before Leith could react, King Keevan pulled him in for a guy hug, their hands clasped between their bodies. Leith stiffened. This had to be the most awkward hug ever. But that wasn’t the point. All it was meant to be was a symbol.

  “Let’s never do this again.” King Keevan hissed.

  “Agreed.” Leith muttered. As soon as he could, he stepped back.

  Renna had her hands fisted in her skirt as she faced the crowd. When she spoke, her voice was fierce. So beautifully fierce. “Do you trust your sheriff? How about your king? Or me? You trusted me during battle. So trust me now. I am going to marry Leith Torren. You can either accept him or both of us will leave Stetterly. The choice is yours.”

  Leith was never going to deserve a girl like Renna. Not if he fought a hundred battles and carried a thousand scars.

  Brandi marched forward, rolling her eyes. “And don’t think you’re going to plant the lady of Stetterly title on my head as a replacement. I’m sticking with Renna and Leith.”

  That widened the eyes of the men in the crowd, as if Brandi and Renna had just threatened their livelihood or something. Leith got the feeling he was missing something.

  Shad leaned over and whispered, “They’d lose their representation in the Gathering.”

  Leith nodded. Now he understood. The Gathering of Nobles voted on things like taxes and land distribution. Without representation, King Keevan could do whatever he wanted to Stetterly without anyone standing in his way. And if they’d just kicked out Renna, he wasn’t about to be kind.

  One of the men strode forward. “Seems we don’t have a choice, do we?”

  “No, you don’t.” Renna slipped her hand into Leith’s once again.

  “Stop and think for a moment. Seriously.” Brandi huffed, crossed her arms, and planted her feet in front of Leith. “Leith has been living here for six months. If he was going to go all Blade and kill everything in sight, you’d think he would’ve done it long before now. What did he do? Hmm…built a church. Harvested the crops. Protected you from Blades. Seems to me you should be the ones thanking him for staying here.”

  Leith rested his free hand on her shoulder. Only Brandi. He couldn’t ask for a better sister.

  One of the women stepped forward and swatted her husband’s arm. “Stop being bull-headed. Have you forgotten how Daniel Grayce spent hours helping you rebuild our dugout after it collapsed under all the snow?”

  “And shoveled the snow from my door every day.” Another woman, one of the war widows, straightened her shoulders, her hands resting on the shoulders of her two young daughters.

  A young man crossed his arms and grinned. “And chased away those Rovers during the Corn Festival. Without killing any of them.”

  Among the crowd, shoulders relaxed. The frowns faded, and in some cases, smiles returned.

  “Now that this is settled, please return to your tasks.” Renna waved her hand toward the town, the dugouts and church dark against the brilliance of all the torches. “We have a lot of work to do to set our town to rights.”

  As the crowd dispersed, Leith breathed out a long breath. After months of dreading this moment, he’d survived, and Stetterly now knew the truth. Maybe he wasn’t considered one of them yet, but maybe someday.

  Shad stooped, picked up Leith’s shirt, and tossed it to him. “You Blades have no sense of propriety.”

  Leith grinned as he tugged his shirt on. Finally. “The bossy lord’s son is back. And here I thought I was the leader.”

  King Keevan glanced between him and Shad. A twitch to his mouth might’ve been a smile. “You might be a leader, but you will never be the Leader. And don’t forget it.”

  Leith’s grin widened, and he saluted King Keevan. Perhaps not all of the hurt was gone, but this was a start at least.

  37

  Martyn was seriously tired of waking up in some random bed, in pain and missing his clothes.

  At least this time, the bed was warm and comfortable, not the cot in the tent or a jolting one in the back of a wagon. Was Kayleigh there, waiting for him to wake up? He let himself picture her face, framed with her gleaming, brown hair and lit with her soft smile. There was something nice thinking about her sitting there, caring about what happened to him.

  Well, it probably was time to get around to opening his eyes and finding out. Martyn pried his eyelids open, blinking at the brilliance stabbing through his eyelashes.

  Once he could see, he turned his head. Someone sat in the chair a few feet away, but it wasn’t Kayleigh. Martyn couldn’t help the disappointed frown that crossed his face.

  Leith grinned and stood. Turning the chair around, he sat and leaned his arms on its back. “I know I’m not the first person you wanted to see when you woke.”

  “No, I was hoping for someone a bit prettier and female.” Martyn struggled to hold a scowl in place.

  Leith’s smirk grew. “She’ll be here soon. She’s at church with Renna and your brother. It’s been months since she was able to attend a church service, so I volunteered to stay behind with you.”

  “You could’ve gone. I would’ve been fine.”

  Leith shrugged. “I think the townspeople need a bit more time to get used to having a Blade in church with them.”

  Martyn nodded. As he’d suspected, Lord Norton had wasted no time in informing Stetterly about Leith’s past.

  “I heard from Owen that you might be joining us in church eventually.”

  “Eventually. It takes a bit of getting used to.” How many years had it been since Martyn had gone to a church service with his parents? Too long.

  Martyn pushed himself onto his elbows
and tried to scoot himself higher on the bed with his feet. Agony raced up his skin, needling into his toes. He flopped back onto the pillow, fighting a cry of pain. “Blistering soapsuds, that hurts.”

  Leith raised an eyebrow. “Soapsuds? No swearing?”

  “If you’d ever washed your mouth out with soap, you’d know what I meant. Not that the taste is horrible, it just never goes away.” Martyn grimaced and forced himself to take deep breaths to steady the pain thundering through his body. “I really don’t understand your fascination with heroics. Next time, you can keep them. They hurt too much.”

  Leith’s smirk crossed his face again. “When Kayleigh returns, you might understand the appeal.”

  “Maybe.” Martyn adjusted the pillow behind his head.

  Leith was right about one thing. Thanks to Kayleigh, Martyn understood a lot of things. If Martyn had to choose between saving Kayleigh and betraying Leith, what would he have done?

  Martyn would never have that choice. If their roles had been reversed, Leith would’ve acted much like Owen. Follow with barely a question until he could get an explanation.

  Instead, Martyn had been so scared to lose Leith as he’d once lost Owen that he’d nearly done just that.

  Leith sobered and eyed Martyn. “Renna, Michelle, and Sierra’s healer all agree you need to rest. Looks like you’ll be stuck in Stetterly for a few months to recover.”

  Martyn folded his hands behind his head, matching Leith’s casual tone. “I don’t know. It’s a nice place you got here. I don’t think I’ll mind sticking around a while.”

  Perhaps they couldn’t start over. Too much had happened. But they could move on.

  Because that was what brothers did.

  Footsteps padded on the floorboards outside the room a moment before Kayleigh peeked inside. She wore the green shirt with a black skirt Martyn didn’t recognize. Probably something she borrowed, considering the hem fell only midway down her shins. Her hair curled in glinting brown waves over her shoulder, and Martyn got a strange urge to run his fingers through it to see if it was as sleek and soft as it looked.

  He had it bad. Any worse, and he’d start spouting some of the romantic nonsense he’d heard Leith tell Renna in the Tower.

  Leith grinned and stood. “I’ll see if Renna needs anything.”

  In other words, I’m giving you time alone with her. Don’t bungle it up.

  Kayleigh turned the chair the right way, scooted it closer to the bed, and took a seat. She stared at her lap, fidgeting with the fabric of her skirt.

  Don’t bungle this up. Yeah, right. As if Leith hadn’t tripped all over his words trying to talk to Renna. Martyn would rather face Respen’s knives again. It was safer.

  He cleared his throat. “Uh, how was church?”

  “Nice. I’d forgotten how much I missed it.” Kayleigh’s head remained bent.

  Martyn fought a scowl. Talking was hard enough even when he could read her expression. How was he going to say the right thing if he couldn’t see her reaction?

  “I…” Kayleigh trailed off, and Martyn bit his tongue. Good thing he hadn’t started talking. She hadn’t finished yet. She smoothed her skirt over her knees. “I told Lady Faythe who I was. She gave me a hug.”

  Martyn owed Renna for that. “That’s Renna for you. She cried over Respen’s death, if you could believe it.”

  “She told me about him, and what he’d told her about Aunt Clarisse. Doesn’t change things, but it helps.” Kayleigh’s fingers kept curling and uncurling until all Martyn wanted to do was grab them to hold her still. She hunched forward. “She also told me I could stay at Stetterly if I wanted.”

  Martyn’s heart spooked into his throat. Did Kayleigh want to stay at Stetterly? And would she like him to stay as well? “Do you want to?”

  “I don’t know. I mean, it kind of depends on if you…well, you can do what you want, but I’d…” She shook her head and hunched further. “I guess you won our deal after all. After what happened in Flayin Falls, I can’t go back there. But I don’t know…”

  Even Martyn recognized a must make some kind of commitment moment.

  Was this what he wanted? What did he want, anyway? A home and a wife and a pack of screaming children? Or did he want to go back to wandering?

  No, he didn’t want the wandering and loneliness. And Kayleigh was…well, she was Kayleigh. Strong. Tough. Besides, he didn’t know what she wanted. She might just want to be friends, and wasn’t thinking anything beyond that at all.

  Best just to get it all out, and deal with the consquences. “I’m stuck here for a while. But when I can, I’ll take you wherever you want to go, whether that is Nalgar Castle or Walden or the farthest reaches of the Sheered Rock Hills. But if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to stay here. Or Surgis and visit here often.”

  “Your family is here.”

  “Yes, it is.” It was good to say that. Leith and Renna, they were his family. Martyn didn’t know where Owen would end up. Probably Surgis. Or maybe he’d go wherever Martyn did. Little brothers could be worse than burrs.

  She finally looked up. She smiled, but something in her eyes remained hesitant. “I hope you were planning on a chaperone for all that traveling. We were barely proper with the whole separate cabin thing. Traveling together would be beyond what even I would consider proper.”

  Why did his tongue have to feel so thick and sticky in his mouth? He swallowed. “Well, in a couple of years, maybe we won’t need a chaperone anymore.”

  Her smile bloomed all the way into her eyes. “That sounds all right by me. If you’re saying what I think you’re saying. And, if you are—and you had better be, because I’d owe you a punch in the jaw if you were implying anything else—I expect a better proposal than that when the time comes.”

  He couldn’t help the grin that tugged at his mouth, even though it probably looked just as lovesick and loopy as Leith’s did when he looked at Renna. “Don’t worry. I’ll get Leith’s advice. Obviously he did something right because Renna actually agreed to marry him.”

  Martyn gave in to the temptation to take her hand in his and still its nervous fidgeting. Her fingers fit in his, warm and rough with callouses.

  She slid off the chair and knelt on the floor beside the bed, putting their faces level. This close, he could see the faint sprinkling of freckles on her nose and the varying shades of brown in her eyes. He stretched his free hand and gently ran his fingers through one lock of hair. Yep, just as soft as he’d imagined.

  All right, now he understood Leith’s thing with heroics. If Kayleigh kept looking at him like this, he might be tempted to go out and do something brave and foolish just to keep that look on her face.

  “I guess it’s a deal then. I’ll get around to asking that certain question one of these years if you can manage to put up with me.” Martyn trailed his fingers from her hair to her cheek. “Though I think this is the kind of deal that needs to be sealed with a kiss.”

  “It might be. The kiss might even be a dealbreaker.” She leaned in closer, so close he caught a hint of that floral something scent in her hair. It smelled like the soap had tasted, and for some reason, he was starting to like it.

  And when he kissed her, he finally understood why Leith didn’t care who saw him kissing Renna. Because nothing else mattered at that moment.

  When they pulled back, Martyn glanced over her shoulder. The doorway remained empty. “Bother. I was hoping Leith would stumble in. I owe him a few awkward moments.”

  Kayleigh sat back on her heels and rested her hands on her hips. “Really? That’s what you were thinking about while we were kissing?”

  “Well, I had to distract myself somehow. There are temptations, you know. We have to have some propriety.” Martyn fought his grin. He was going to enjoy bantering with her for the rest of their lives. Especially when all he could think about was planting a kiss at the end of that reddening nose.

  “Martyn Hamish! You—You—”

  “What
has my brother done now?” Owen leaned a shoulder against the doorjamb.

  “He’s being a nuisance.” Kayleigh hauled herself to her feet and flopped into the chair.

  Martyn didn’t try to deny it.

  This was where he belonged. With Leith, Owen, and especially Kayleigh.

  With his family.

  Epilogue

  Leith paced back and forth across the kitchen of the cabin he would soon share with Renna. Two steps one way, three steps another.

  “Seriously, Leith. Sit down. You’re going to be on your feet enough once the wedding starts.” Shad sat on a bench leaning against the wall, his legs propped up on the table.

  Martyn huffed from his own seat near the fireplace. “It’s not like Renna won’t show up. What do you have to be nervous about?”

  Nothing. That didn’t help the tension curling in Leith’s stomach. So many things could go wrong. Rovers could attack. Some of the townsfolk might have second thoughts about their lady marrying a former Blade. King Keevan could change his mind about welcoming Leith into the family. Thanks to Lord Norton’s attack, the wedding had already been delayed three weeks so Lord Alistair and King Keevan could escort the prisoners to Nalgar Castle and arrest Dean Westin.

  When a knock thumped on the door, Leith spun on his heels. It creaked open, and King Keevan stepped inside. He eyed Leith. “I might change my mind about having you for a cousin if you keep drawing knives on me.”

  “Sorry.” Leith forced himself to relax and slide the knife he’d drawn back into its sheath.

  Shad dropped his feet to the floor. “Martyn and I will be outside.” He crossed the room and helped Martyn stagger upright. “Come on. We can sit on the porch.”

  Martyn grimaced. “Good. Because I have to save all my standing for the ceremony.”

  Leith crossed his arms and watched them go. Something was up. Shad and Martyn were acting like they knew why King Keevan was showing up here two hours before the wedding was to start.