by Sasha Lord
“He was falling in with our plans perfectly until Kassandra arrived,” she murmured. “Why is such an odd child able to sway his mind? She must be using some trick we haven’t yet discovered. I heard tell that she dreamed about him and had visions about Liam’s death.”
The man turned to face her. “Dreams?”
“Dreams of the past. Dreams of the future. Mayhap even the power to change events.”
“Did she dream of us? Does she know who killed Liam?”
The woman frowned in irritation. “Of course not. No one can truly see what is not in front of them. It is a gypsy trick, and one we should use to our advantage. What do you think the populace would feel if they knew their new earl harbored a fey witch in their midst?”
The man sat back on his horse and stared at her with admiration. “You are a clever woman, my love. ’Tis why I could not let you go.”
She smiled, her lips twisting in a cruel smile.
Chapter 23
Cadedryn and Kassandra raced through the old ruins, then far across the open field, each bent low over their steeds as they urged the heaving beasts faster and faster. With powerful bounds, the horses soared over a tinkling stream and plunged through acres of waist-high grasses until they finally pulled up beneath the spreading branches of a red maple tree.
Kassandra laughed and leapt off her mare, collapsing to the ground. Triu-cair squealed and jumped down, his eyes tearing from the wind. He scampered up the tree and began searching for grubs.
Cadedryn swung down more slowly and took a moment to pull the saddles off the horses and hobble them before he joined Kassandra in the cool shade. “No woman should be able to ride like that,” he informed her. “Not only is it obscene to see you with your beautiful thighs spread around a horse’s muscled flesh, but it is highly inappropriate for a woman to beat a man in a horse race.”
Kassandra stretched her arms over her head, wove her fingers together and cracked her knuckles. “You wanted to get to know me better,” she said, giggling. “I am highly competitive and utterly ruthless.”
He sat next to her with one leg bent and the other stretched straight. He plucked a long stem of grass and put it between his teeth. “You were right,” he finally commented. “I had no idea that mare of mine was so fast. She looks too fragile for speed.”
“Wrapping her legs gave her the extra support she needed,” Kassandra replied. “Horse breeders have focused on strength and power because they primarily breed for war, but if you want speed, you should concentrate on lightness and agility.”
“Based on your summation, a woman should always outrace a man.”
Kassandra glanced up, assessing his words. “Are you challenging me again?”
He laughed and grabbed her hand before she could spring into action. “Not at all. If I concede the race, can we rest a moment?”
She relaxed and swept him with a sensual look. “Rest?”
He leaned over and brushed her lips with his. “There is one thing for which a woman needs a man.”
She smiled and closed her eyes. Lifting her arms, she wrapped them around his shoulders and drew him closer.
He kissed her more deeply, taking his time to explore her mouth and feel her responses. She in turn nibbled his lips, leisurely enjoying the special closeness of the afternoon as they kissed under the leaves of the great maple.
After some time, he rolled onto his back and pulled her across his chest. He held her close, rubbing her back as she took deep, relaxed breaths. “What do you want in the next ten years?” he asked her as he nuzzled her curls.
She rested her ear against his chest and listened to the steady beat of his heart. “I never thought about that,” she admitted. “I spent my time concerned about the present. The farthest ahead I planned was to find you.”
“What did you think would happen once you found and married your dream man?”
She tilted her head and rested her chin on his chest. “I’m not sure.”
He grinned.
“Is that silly?” she asked.
“I’m not sure I would call it silly,” he answered. “But I certainly would call it shortsighted.”
“What about you? What did you think would happen once you married Corine?”
He closed his eyes and pushed her head back down. “Not fair,” he grumbled.
She laughed and cuddled closer. “Now what are we going to do?”
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing at this moment.” She pulled back and sat up.
He opened one eye and looked at her warily.
“Why?” she asked seriously.
He was quiet for a moment, but then, when she thought he was not going to reply, he answered her so softly she had to strain to understand his words. “Because I don’t know what to do.”
Her eyes clouded and she looked at him thoughtfully. He closed his eyes again and feigned sleep, but she could feel the tension in his body. She had not thought of him as the one who was confused. He had always seemed so driven and self-assured. Could he have been as lost as she? She lay back down and wrapped her arm tightly around his waist. “I’ll help you,” she whispered. “We’ll help each other.”
He squeezed her back, some of his tension easing.
She slept with him that night.
They lay together in the master bed, entwined in each other’s arms. Gently caressing each other’s backs, they faced one another, alternately laughing and speaking quietly, and at other times saying nothing at all.
He traced the curve of her jaw and brushed his lips across her forehead while she tickled his earlobe and nuzzled his neck. It was a time of exploration, and both proceeded with languid hands, finding wonderment at the other’s sensitive areas.
Kassandra sighed as Cadedryn touched behind her knees and moaned as his fingers trailed along the backs of her thighs, while Cadedryn groaned in appreciation when Kassandra discovered the ridges of his abdomen, kissing and blowing softly over them.
“You are a dream,” he murmured to her.
“You are my dream,” she answered.
Rolling her around so that her back nestled against his chest, he tucked her head on his arm and pressed his lips against her hair. “What would you say if I told you I love you?”
“Love me?”
“I love you.”
“You do not believe in such tender emotions. You said that you never wanted to fall in love.”
Silence stretched between them, but it was a comfortable, companionable silence in which he smiled. “I believe in it now. I want to love and protect you.”
She grinned. “It is I who must protect you.”
“Shall we protect each other?”
“Very well.”
He turned her around. “So . . . do you love me?”
She stared up at his green eyes, her stomach doing flip-flops. She felt giddy and unbelievably happy. “I do. I do love you.”
“I want us to be together forever.”
Her heart caught. “It is not that simple,” she said softly. “You are an earl and I . . .” She pulled away and looked at him with a serious gaze. “I come from a place called Loch Nidean. Kalial is my half sister. We share a mother but both have unknown fathers, as is the tradition in our family. I live in the woods and sleep among the ferns. I play with bunnies and squirrels. I am not anything like Lady Corine. I will not make a good countess for you.”
“You will be a perfect countess.”
“I don’t think you understand.”
“I do understand. You are not a sheltered lass, raised by a strict family to be meek and mild. You are unusual.”
“Exactly.”
“Do you think this revelation surprises me?”
She drew her brows together. “Doesn’t it bother you?”
“That you do not come from a traditional family?” he asked. “No. My father married a peasant because he loved her. I want to marry you, and I do not care from whence you came, as long as we can live and love together.” He drew
her leg in between his and crooked his arm to pull her closer.
“I have dreams,” she reminded him. “Dreams of the future.”
“Ummm,” he murmured as he kissed her ear.
“I ride astride and hate to wear shoes!”
“Umm-hummm. Do you want children?”
“Yes.”
“Good. So do I.”
“I have red hair!”
Cadedryn took a deep breath as he shook his head. “Kassandra, there is nothing you can say that will change my mind. I love you for who you are, red hair and all. I want to see your forest and I’d like to meet your family. I need to know only one thing. Will you marry me?”
Silence spread through the bedchamber. In the distance, a horse whinnied and an owl hooted. Kassandra sighed and snuggled closer. “Yes,” she whispered. “I will marry you.”
Deep in the night, Kassandra sat up, her palms damp with sweat and her heart pounding. She had dreamed of Liam’s death, but this time she had seen the murderer’s face. She struggled to hold on to the image, to fix it in her memory, but the person’s visage melted back into the shadows, becoming obscured within a blue mist.
Kassandra slipped silently out of bed and stood staring out the window. It had been within her grasp. She had seen the malevolent spirit, but now her mind was stubbornly blank. She knew without a doubt, however, that the man who had attacked both Cadedryn and herself was linked to the person who had killed Liam.
Yet she couldn’t recall the person’s face. Tears of frustration trickled down her cheeks.
The danger was not past. It was coming closer.
And she felt helpless to stop it.
Several days later Kassandra and Cadedryn sat in the great hall, laughing at the bizarre antics of Triu-cair. The weasel was chasing a clever little mouse all around the hall, a mouse that had been able to elude capture for well over an hour. Just as Triu-cair pounced on the small creature, a horn announcing someone’s imminent arrival reverberated through the room and the mouse was able to scamper away.
Cadedryn rose and motioned for Robert to open the door. “Who comes?” he asked.
Robert stepped outside for a brief moment, then returned. “It appears to be Lord Curtis. And the ladies Fergus, as well as Laird McCafferty.”
Cadedryn’s expression tensed, and he reached for Kassandra’s hand. “Raise the gates.”
“Cadedryn . . .” Kassandra murmured. “I am nervous. I had a dream last night.”
“Don’t worry,” he replied. “Everything will be fine.” But he released her hand and began pacing.
Within moments, they heard the clatter of several hooves, then the strident voice of a female demanding immediate entrance.
“Open the door,” Cadedryn commanded and Robert once again swung the heavy door wide.
Lady Corine, Lady Morgana and Laird McCafferty swept in, followed more slowly by Lord Curtis and an elderly man Cadedryn did not recognize. “Good afternoon,” Cadedryn said, distrust clouding his voice. “What brings all of you to Aberdour?”
Curtis flicked his gaze toward Kassandra. “May we speak in private?”
“Anything you have to say can be said in front of my intended,” Cadedryn replied.
Curtis pushed the elderly man forward. “This man is an old shepherd who once lived in the meadows above Aberdour. He knows something about your father’s death.”
Cadedryn looked warily at the gray-haired man. “What information do you have?” Behind him, he felt Kassandra’s start of surprise and heard her intake of breath.
“I saw a lass kill your father that day in the forest,” the man said in a thick brogue. “I was walkin’ through the trees and saw him fall to his knees. A young woman had stabbed him in the chest and her hands were covered in blood.” He looked around the room. “A woman in red, like her.” He pointed toward Kassandra.
“How do you know this?” Cadedryn demanded as he gripped the man’s shirt and pulled him close to his chest. “What purpose do you have in speaking now? What is the real truth? Who paid you to lie?”
“I not be lying, nor hiding the truth!” the man cried as he attempted to pull out of Cadedryn’s vicelike grip. “At least, not now. Someone did pay me to keep quiet, but ’twas ten years ago. He said I should not be telling anyone what I saw, or I’d be lying at the bottom of a loch. Then a few days ago, a messenger came to me sayin’ that ’twas time to come forward, so I made me way to court and asked for ya. When the servant found that you had already left, he brought me to Lord Curtis.”
“When he told me that the woman wore red,” Curtis said, “I suspected that he had mistaken a red cape for red hair. It was my father that told me he suspected that Lady Kassandra and your red-haired mistress were one and the same.” Curtis looked at Kassandra and swept her with an angry glare. “I tried to catch up with you that night and followed you for several days, but you seemed to melt into the trees. I finally returned to court to tell Father, who insisted all of us come to Aberdour in order to save you from Kassandra’s deceitful clutches. We have already sent for the bishop. She should die for her crime.”
“The man speaks falsely,” Cadedryn declared as he flung the elderly man to the ground. “Kassandra would no more kill my father than I would.”
“He tells the truth!” Curtis shouted back. “Why do you insist on remaining blind? Kassandra has bedeviled you from the start, befouling all our plans!”
“You speak as a fool. Kassandra would have been a mere child. How could she have overpowered a man such as my father?”
“How do you know how old she truly is? Perhaps she is six and ten or perhaps she is six and twenty. Women have ways of changing their appearance. You cannot trust her!”
“She has done nothing. She is innocent. I would place my entire reputation—my title and my lands—upon that conviction.”
Curtis looked at him curiously. “You love her that much? Enough to risk everything?” he asked, but before Cadedryn could answer, Laird McCafferty shoved his son aside.
“You must not allow that wench to foil your ambitions, Cadedryn. Marry Corine. She is the woman you were always meant to wed. Forget Kassandra. She is guilty and will soon be dead. Your union with Corine will bring everything back to its proper place. I, as your foster father, demand it!”
Kassandra gasped and pressed a hand to her mouth. Her heart raced and memories of her dreams sped through her mind. Swords . . . blood . . . a red cape.
“Cadedryn,” Lady Morgana interjected. “If you don’t believe him, I brought something that is sure to convince you. Here is a letter you should read.” Her gaze slid slyly toward Kassandra. “Read this before you say anything more in Kassandra’s defense.” She handed Cadedryn a folded parchment.
Cadedryn frowned, recognizing the penmanship from the letter he had found earlier in the Bible. He opened it, scanned the missive, then sat heavily on a chair. The color in his face drained and his eyes began to glitter with suppressed emotion.
“What does it say?” Kassandra asked as she came forward.
“Stay back!” Cadedryn shouted, leaping to his feet.
Kassandra froze.
He paced to the other side of the room and shoved the letter inside his tunic. Silence filled the hall as he stared at Kassandra’s confused face. His chest rose and fell as he drew several breaths. Then his gaze shifted and he looked at Robert and his expression hardened with resolve. “Take her away,” he commanded. “I do not want to see her again.”
“Cadedryn? What does the letter say?” Kassandra asked.
“It is about you, Kassandra. It . . . it proves your guilt.”
“No! You know that is not true!”
“The words have convinced me not to defend you anymore. Good-bye, Kassandra.”
“I was nowhere near Aberdour when Liam died,” Kassandra pleaded. “I am the one who encouraged you to delve into the past and seek answers to his death. You know me. You love me!” She reached toward Cadedryn, but he flinched away.
&nb
sp; “Witchery!” Morgana exclaimed. “You flew through your dreams and stabbed him flush in the heart, then took your enchanted weapon back home with you.”
“Robert,” Cadedryn called sharply. “Take her to the cell in the old keep and guard her well, then hand her over to the bishop when he arrives. I want nothing more to do with her.”
“Cadedryn!” Kassandra cried as Robert began dragging her from the room. “Cadedryn! How could you believe them?”
“Burn her!” Lady Morgana screamed. “She is a witch, seeking to enchant an earl of Scotland! She must die for her crimes against the Caenmore family!”
A small russet creature streaked down the stairs and launched itself at Lady Morgana.
She shrieked and fell back, flailing her arms.
“Triu-cair!” Kassandra gasped as she ripped her arm out of Robert’s hold and snatched her friend off the wailing woman.
Morgana touched her bloodied face and looked at her red hands in horror. “She controls beasts!” the lady screeched. “The animal has been possessed and does her dastardly will!”
“ ’Tis only a weasel,” Kassandra snapped back. “There is no witchery! Your fears rule your mind.” She swung around and glared at Cadedryn. “And you! You are not fit to be my friend much less my husband! Marry Lady Corine. Wed her and forget me, for as soon as I exit this hall, I will have forgotten you!”
Cadedryn clenched his hands, his own anger surging. “Have you so little faith in my judgment?”
“If your judgment tells you to throw me to the wolves, then no, I don’t believe in you!”
“My word is my honor,” he growled, hoping she would understand and believe him.
Her blue eyes shimmered with unshed tears, but she held her chin high. “I despise you! You said you loved me and that you would protect me. Keep your love! Keep it, for I want no part of it! Your words are meaningless and without honor.”