Medieval Ever After

by Kathryn Le Veque

Large hands encircled her shoulders and turned her away from the horrendous scene. Then all she could see were Daniel’s stormy blue-gray eyes, which shimmered in the candlelight.

  “I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered, pulling her to him in a rough embrace.

  “Never,” she choked out through the tears that once again overcame her.

  He hugged her tighter, and she couldn’t prevent a moan of pain from escaping her lips. She’d been suspended in a haze of terror, which muted the pain, but now as relief washed over her, all the wounds Warren had inflicted returned to her.

  Daniel instantly released her at her moan. “What is it, love? Did he hurt you?”

  She took a shaky breath. “Aye, but I survived.”

  He gently took her face, bruised, blood-crusted, and swollen as it was, into his hands and locked eyes with her.

  “Aye, love, you survived. I’ve never known anyone as strong as you.” His voice was thick with emotion, which sent her reeling into overwhelmed tears once more.

  Daniel pulled her back into his arms once more, this time softly, and held her for several long minutes as sobs racked her body. Just as the tears began to ebb, she heard Robert conspicuously clear his throat nearby.

  “I know you’ve been through hell, Rona,” Robert said, stepping forward. “But we must move. Can you tell us anything else about Warren’s plan?”

  Rona dashed a shaky hand across each cheek, careful of her bruises.

  “He was counting on you coming to Dunbraes ahead of any ransom negotiations,” she said, running her mind over all she had overheard. “I think he expected you to bring at least a small army, not just the four of you. He was hoping you’d leave Loch Doon more vulnerable. He sent every one of the English soldiers stationed at Dunbraes, plus his hired men-at-arms and castle guards.”

  Garrick cursed quietly at that, and Burke let out a breath.

  “Warren wanted to go himself,” Rona went on. “But his face… He wasn’t well enough. So he kept me with him as protection—a sort of guarantee against you killing him immediately. He must have known that he would die one way or another. He was buying his army as much time as he could by using me as a shield and keeping your attention here. His men left hours ago…”

  “Loch Doon is as defensible as Dunbraes, if not more so,” Robert said, exchanging a dark look with Daniel.

  “Aye, but theirs will be a surprise attack. There is no one within Loch Doon to lead the men in the castle’s defense against Warren’s army. Plus, they have several hours’ head start on us.”

  “Meredith,” Burke breathed. “And Jossalyn and Alwin and little Jane. We have to get back to the castle and get inside somehow.”

  “Can you ride?” Daniel asked quietly, turning to Rona.

  She nodded, though in truth she wasn’t confident that she’d be able to keep herself upright in a saddle. Renewed terror for the fate of Loch Doon and its inhabitants mingled with her utter exhaustion, leaving her shaky and overwhelmed.

  “We’ll return the way we came, around the south end of the loch and to the village on the western shore. Warren’s men are no doubt cutting due northwest and will reach the loch’s eastern shore before we get to the village, but they’ll have no way to cross the loch to the castle,” Daniel said, shifting into the familiar attitude of commanding authority. Normally that tone made Rona bristle, but instead she found it comforting. She trusted him.

  “And if the siege on the castle has already begun by the time we reach the village?” Robert asked grimly. “What will we do if we can’t get into the castle?”

  Daniel stood and gently helped her to her feet. Keeping one hand on the small of her back, he bent and retrieved his sword, which he must have dropped when she’d made her bold play to escape Warren’s clutches. He sheathed the sword and turned his hard gaze back to Robert.

  “An army will be forced to move slower than we can. We must reach the castle before it becomes inaccessible under their siege. There is no other option.”

  Robert nodded gravely, holding Daniel’s gaze for another moment before turning to the chamber door. One by one, they exited. She didn’t look back at the ruined, lifeless body of her captor on the bed.

  HIGHLANDER’S RECKONING

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Daniel whistled sharply, causing Rona to jump in his lap. He reined in his horse as Robert, Garrick, and Burke followed suit in response to his whistle.

  The weak mid-morning sun struggled to break through a layer of gray clouds overhead. He dismounted stiffly and pulled Rona down with him. She’d been dozing against his chest as they’d ridden west toward the southern tip of Loch Doon. She was still limp and weak in his arms as he set her on her feet in front of him. His chest pinched painfully as she swayed slightly.

  Her cloak had been nowhere to be found when they’d left Dunbraes just before dawn, so he’d wrapped an extra length of his plaid around her shoulders as they’d ridden west. He pulled it tighter around her now, trying to hold in what little heat she had.

  “Have some more water and food, love,” he said soothingly to her. He reached for his waterskin and a piece of dried venison from his saddlebag.

  It had taken nearly all of her remaining energy to eat and drink a little when they’d first reached the horses tethered in the woods outside Dunbraes. Luckily, they hadn’t needed to scale the castle’s curtain wall again like they had on their way in. Instead, they’d used the unguarded postern gate. Daniel doubted if Rona would have been able to make it over the wall if they’d needed to.

  She took a swig from the waterskin and then gnawed on the dried meat, her bruised eyes heavy with exhaustion. She didn’t even seem to register where they’d stopped in the Galloway woods.

  “We need to keep moving,” Robert said quietly as he dismounted next to Daniel. He looked pointedly at Rona, a question on his face for Daniel.

  “Aye, but I need to get Rona someplace safe first,” Daniel replied.

  Rona looked up at them, confusion slowly transforming her face.

  “Aren’t I going with you to the castle?” she said.

  “Nay, love, you’re not,” Daniel said, placing his hands on her shoulders. “It’s too dangerous.”

  “But all the other women are there.”

  It was actually a relief to hear the tinge of stubbornness and indignation coloring her voice. Despite everything that had happened, his spirited Rona was still inside somewhere.

  “They are safe behind Loch Doon’s walls, with a loch separating them from Warren’s army,” Daniel said gently but firmly to her. “We still need to reach the village, cross open waters without being seen, and get inside the castle. I don’t want to put you in the middle of all that.”

  “Then what are you going to do with me? What am I supposed to do while I wait to learn the fate of my husband, my family, and my home?” Unconsciously, Rona crossed her arms loosely over her chest, and Daniel couldn’t help but smile.

  “What? What’s so amusing?” she said with a frown.

  “I love you,” he said without thinking.

  Robert, along with Garrick and Burke, who had also dismounted nearby, suddenly became very interested in the forest a few yards away.

  “What?” Rona whispered. “What did you say?”

  Daniel sobered and held her with his gaze. Her blue eyes were bright and intent, all traces of weariness vanishing as she stared back at him.

  “I said I love you, and I have for some time,” Daniel replied, brushing a tangled red lock of her hair back from her face. “I should have told you before…before all this, but—”

  “I love you too,” she blurted out.

  He blinked at her, struck by how powerful it was to hear the words from her.

  “Say it again,” he said softly.

  “I love you, Daniel,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck. “And I have for some time, too.”

  He embraced her slowly, gently. What had he done to deserve such luck? He had the love of the
bravest, strongest, most maddeningly, wonderfully willful woman he’d ever met. He loved his wife. What an amazing blessing.

  Mindful of her lower lip, which was cut and sealed with dried blood, he leaned down and brushed a tender kiss against her mouth.

  She pulled back suddenly, a frown on her face.

  “You never answered me. What are you going to do with me if you won’t take me with you to the castle?”

  “Look around you,” he said with a raised eyebrow.

  She glanced up as if noticing their surroundings for the first time. Then realization dawned across her face.

  “Ian and Mairi’s cottage?”

  “Aye, you’ll be safe there,” he replied. “Warren’s men will be on the eastern shore of the loch. They won’t come around the southern tip and up into the forest on this side of the loch. But,” he said, pinning her with a serious look, “you must stay here until I come and get you. It could be days or even weeks, but I don’t want you coming to the castle until it is safe.”

  Her brow furrowed slightly, likely at being told what to do in no uncertain terms.

  “Very well. I won’t go to the castle,” she said reluctantly.

  Daniel took his horse’s reins in one hand and clasped her hand in the other. Robert, Garrick, and Burke fell in behind them, guiding their horses on foot.

  “…and what of the Bruce and his army?”

  Daniel doubted if Burke intended for him to hear his low question to the others, but his ears picked it up. He’d been thinking about the Bruce and his men since the moment Rona told them Warren had sent his army to Loch Doon.

  “They’re still at least two days north of us. Since they don’t know how urgently they’re needed, it could be three or four days before they reach the castle,” Garrick responded quietly, his voice tight with frustration. “All we can do is pray that they hurry, and that we can hold off Warren’s army until they arrive.”

  Rona tilted her head slightly, unable to conceal the fact that she too had overheard the conversation behind them. She cast a look up at Daniel, but for once, he couldn’t read her face. He was about to ask what was forming in that willful head of hers when she turned forward abruptly and quickened her pace.

  He followed the line of her gaze and saw Ian and Mairi’s small cottage through the trees ahead. Smoke curled from the chimney cheerily. He breathed a silent sigh of relief. Her friends were safe and apparently unaware of the gathering army on the other side of the loch, or the mounting battle that was about to ensue.

  At Daniel’s knock, Ian opened the door.

  “My lord! What a pleasant—”

  Ian’s voice faltered and his face fell in shock as he absorbed the sight of those gathered outside his door. He took in Daniel’s ragged, exhausted appearance, and then flicked his gaze across Robert, Burke, and Garrick, who probably looked like enormous, rough, and deadly warriors to Ian. But it wasn’t until his warm brown eyes fell on Rona that he actually staggered backward.

  “Rona! What has happened?”

  “Ian, what’s wrong?” Mairi’s bright voice filtered through the door from farther back in the cottage. A second later, she joined her husband in the doorframe, and Daniel watched as she went through a similarly horrified survey of their visitors.

  “We can’t explain everything right now,” Daniel cut in calmly, “but I need your help.”

  “A-anything, my lord,” Mairi managed.

  “I need you to look after Rona for a while. I don’t know how long, but you must keep her safe.”

  Ian nodded slowly. “Of course, my lord. But wouldn’t she be safer with you at Loch Doon?”

  Daniel swallowed the lump in his throat. Bloody hell, he hated leaving Rona here. Selfishly, he wanted to keep her by his side—forever. But he had to do what was best for her, no matter how much he longed never to be apart from her again.

  “The castle will be under attack shortly, if it isn’t already. You all should be safe on this side of the loch. I’ll return as soon as I can,” Daniel gritted out.

  He turned to Rona, the lump returning to his throat.

  “I’ll come for you,” he said quietly, pulling his plaid tighter around her shoulders again.

  She swallowed and nodded, her face pinched with worry and pain. She threw herself into his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck in a savage embrace. He hugged her in return, but all too soon, he forced himself to step back and set her away from him.

  As he turned to go, out of the corner of his eye he saw Mairi approach and wrap her arms protectively around Rona. They would take good care of her until he could return, he told himself. But a voice whispered in the back of his head that he may never see her again. If they couldn’t reach the castle unseen before Warren’s army started their attack, or if their siege was successful and they captured Loch Doon, or if the Bruce’s men didn’t arrive in time, all would be lost.

  He forced one foot in front of the other as he led his brothers and cousin away from the small cottage. As they mounted and spurred the horses toward the village, he dared one last look over his shoulder. The cottage was already almost completely obscured by the thick forest. With a prayer for her safety, he hardened himself for the battle ahead.

  Rona sank onto a stool by the hearth as Mairi pressed a bowl of warm stew into her hands.

  “You must have been through something horrible,” Mairi said as she took the stool next to her. “But you’re safe now. Try to eat, and then you’ll need to rest.”

  Despite the weariness, the aches, cuts, and bruises, and the storm of emotions raging inside her, Rona felt a spike of energy and clarity course through her body. She took a spoonful of stew into her mouth, savoring its heat. Only a few bites in, she could feel the stew giving her the energy she’d need to complete the task ahead of her.

  Ian was watching her closely.

  “We’ll not pressure you to tell us what happened,” he said carefully. “But you look to be hatching a plan. What are you thinking?”

  She swallowed another spoonful of stew and shook her head. “I need to help,” she said as a warning. “Don’t try to stop me.”

  Mairi stood and looked down at her with a frown.

  “We’ll not let you endanger yourself, not when we gave Daniel our word to protect you, and certainly not when you’re in this state.” Mairi gestured from Rona’s head to her toes, encompassing everything from her wild hair to her dirt- and blood-encrusted skin to her tattered dress and boots.

  “I promised Daniel I wouldn’t go to the castle—nothing more,” Rona replied levelly. “I’ll stay away from the attacking army to the east. But I have to do something. I can’t just leave the castle and everyone inside to fend for themselves.”

  Ian and Mairi exchanged a look, and Rona knew from years spent with them that they were silently disagreeing. Finally Mairi turned back to her.

  “At least rest a little while, dear,” she said, a crease in her brow. “Eat more. Try to sleep. Maybe visit Bhreaca.”

  The falcon’s name made Rona’s chest squeeze painfully. What she wouldn’t give to take Bhreaca on her arm and send her soaring over the forest without a care or worry.

  But she couldn’t escape into her own pleasure and comfort now—not while Daniel and everyone inside Loch Doon were in danger.

  “You can help me pack more food and a waterskin,” she said with a heavy heart. “And saddle up old Bella.”

  Ian exchanged another long look with Mairi before nodding slowly.

  “I’ll see to Bella,” he said.

  He crossed to the back of the cottage and exited through the rear door, which led to a small stable where they kept their old mare.

  Mairi didn’t say anything but went about gathering several apples, a loaf of bread, and some smoked meat. She placed each item in a kerchief, and then tied the cloth ends together snugly. As she filled a waterskin from a bucket of fresh water she kept in the kitchen, Ian reappeared from the back door.

  “Bella isn’t as fast as
she used to be, but she’s steady. She’ll take care of you,” Ian said, his voice unusually gruff.

  Rona quickly knelt on the floor next to the bucket and splashed water over her hands and face. Her cuts stung, but the water was surprisingly refreshing. It would have to take the place of getting any real rest.

  She stood and dried her face and hands with the length of Daniel’s plaid around her shoulders. She let herself inhale against the fabric, savoring his masculine scent. Forcing the tears back down her throat, she gave first Ian and then Mairi a quick hug.

  “Stay close to the cottage. When this is all over, I’ll come check on you to make sure you’re safe,” she said, her voice pinched.

  Mairi cupped her cheeks for a moment, holding her gaze with shimmering eyes.

  “Fly, little falcon,” Mairi whispered to her.

  Rona nodded but couldn’t speak around the tears threatening to choke her. Instead, she turned and strode through the cottage’s back door.

  Bella stood calmly in front of the small barn at the back of the cottage. Ian came to her side and tucked the kerchief of food and the waterskin into one of the horse’s saddlebags. Silently, he gave Rona a boost into the saddle.

  This was it. She knew what she had to do.

  She had to reach Robert the Bruce’s army as fast as she could. She had to tell them that Loch Doon was under attack, that the Bruce’s army must somehow race to the castle’s aid and beat back Warren’s men. She had to save Daniel, her love, her life.

  With one final wave to Ian and Mairi, she pointed Bella due north and dug in her heels.

  HIGHLANDER’S RECKONING

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  “One, two, three—heave!”

  Daniel lifted the wooden rowboat with a grunt. The others hefted it at the same time so that the boat swung upside down over their heads. With the boat hoisted above them, they shuffled as quickly as they could toward the village’s docks.

  The villagers, seeing the gathering swarm of soldiers on the far side of the loch, had dragged all the boats ashore and hunkered down in their crofts and shops, praying that the attacking army wouldn’t cross to their shore.