“Mother’s in love with Hagen?” Ronan asked incredulously.
“You had to say he was a good man,” Lachlan accused.
“He is,” Alyce insisted. “If only any of you would take the time to talk with him.”
“Does he love her?” Ronan asked.
“Don’t even suggest it,” Artair said.
“Why?” Honora asked. “Zia is right. Your mother has a right to love again, and I believe your father would want her to.”
“Not with Hagen,” Cavan said emphatically.
“Why?” Alyce demanded with a sharp tongue though she let no one answer. “Could it be because he’s a mercenary?”
“She deserves better,” Cavan said.
“She deserves to love whoever she wishes to love,” Honora said. “And Hagen is a good man. Ronan knows him and can vouch for his character.”
“Hagen is also an honorable man,” Ronan said. “I fought beside him in battle and would stand beside him again in battle. He would keep Mother safe, and though his large size might frighten some, he is a gentle soul.”
“I told you,” Zia said, with a poke to her husband’s arm.
“Not all mercenaries are what you think,” Ronan said. “Most are forced into the life out of necessity, some are sold into it and must fight to buy their freedom, but many are good men.”
“How did you come to be part of the mercenaries?” Lachlan asked.
“I was sold to them.”
“Why didn’t you contact us?” Artair asked. “We would have seen to your freedom immediately.”
Ronan knew they needed answers as to why he hadn’t returned home, and while he wanted them to have those answers, he wasn’t sure if he knew them all himself.
“There were things I had to do,” he said, hoping that for now his response would suffice.
“This discussion is better left for another time,” Cavan said. “We need to speak of more pressing matters at hand.”
Ronan was relieved though there was one more matter he felt he needed to address.
“You haven’t asked me about Carissa,” Ronan said, looking to his brother Cavan.
“I assumed you took care of the matter.”
“I have discovered information that could be vital in regard to her punishment,” Ronan said. “She took ill before we could return.”
“Is she all right?” Zia asked with concern.
“With your grandmother’s help, she got well,” Ronan said. “Unfortunately, she left to attend to an important matter and promises to return to face judgment.”
“You let her go?” Lachlan asked, stunned, while all remained dead silent.
“No,” he admitted with a sense of guilt. “She left without my knowledge.”
“Then how do you know she will return?”
Leave it to Artair to ask the most practical question. And while he had an answer, “she gave her word” would certainly make him appear a fool.
“This can also be left for another time,” Cavan said. “We have more important matters on our hands. We don’t know if these two groups are joining forces to attack us, or if they have a dispute to settle. Either way, I don’t like the fact that they are close to Sinclare land.”
Before the discussion continued, the women left to look in on the children, though Alyce was quick to return, assuring Lachlan that his son Roark was sound asleep and in good hands with Mia, the older woman who helped look after him.
Ronan wanted to take a moment to see to his horse, but Cavan had a lad see to it. And soon they were all in deep discussion again, arguing, anxious to decide on a suitable plan of action.
Hagen returned with Addie, and Ronan was surprised to see how their eyes sparkled when they looked at each other and how their hands remained clasped as Hagen spoke with the others.
Unlike his brothers, he was happy for his mother, but then he knew Hagen, and he knew that he would be good to Addie. He would protect her with his life.
Ronan stood as soon as Hagen and his mother reached the table and greeted Hagen with a bear hug.
“It is good to see you again,” Hagen said.
“And you,” Ronan said.
“I was surprised when Addie told me that you were her son.”
“I was surprised when I learned that you care for my mother,” Ronan said.
“I care for her very much,” Hagen admitted, while his cheeks flushed bright red.
“How is it that Hagen didn’t know who you were?” Cavan asked curiously.
“Where we came from and who we were is not important to our group,” Hagen answered. “It is who we are as a group that matters.”
Ronan couldn’t agree more with Hagen. Not one mercenary questioned another about his past. None were judged by past deeds or misdeeds. It was what they gave and shared with the whole of them that mattered.
“Mother explained what we want of you?” Cavan asked.
Hagen nodded.
“Before you present our request,” Cavan said, “can you find out why the two mercenary groups are meeting?”
“I already know,” Hagen said. “My troop has contacted me.”
“How?” Cavan asked, annoyed. “My sentries haven’t alerted me to anyone entering the village.”
Alyce laughed. “It could only be one of two people who could make it into the village without being detected. Evan your scout who remained behind at my village, or is it Piper, a young woman who knows the land as if she were born to it.”
“They both were on a mission for Septimus,” Hagen explained, “and learned of the problem before anyone else.”
“What problem?” Cavan asked.
“That the other mercenary troop has captured Dykar,” Hagen said.
“Your leader?” Cavan asked.
Hagen hesitated.
“Why has your leader’s identity remained a secret?” Ronan asked.
Hagen nodded. “You knew Dykar wasn’t our leader?”
“I surmised though I had no proof, only a gut feeling,” Ronan said.
“I don’t understand,” Cavan said annoyed. “If Dykar isn’t your leader, why was he taken captive?”
“They threaten to kill Dykar if our leader doesn’t meet with them,” Hagen explained.
“And how is that a problem?” Cavan asked. “Does your leader hide because he lacks courage?”
“I have known no other as courageous as my leader,” Hagen said.
“Then there is no problem,” Cavan said.
Hagen shook his head. “There is a problem. The men fear that the troop plans to capture our leader en route or while there.”
“Why?” Cavan asked, shaking his head. “It makes no sense. And how could they with his men protecting him?”
“Our leader is to come alone to the meet, or they promise that Dykar will die and not quickly,” Hagen said. “And as for why? There is a sizeable reward for our leader’s capture.”
“Who placed a reward on your leader’s head?” Cavan asked.
Hagen hesitated, then finally said, “You did.”
Chapter 23
Cavan shook his head. “I don’t know what you could mean? I have placed a reward on only one person.”
Hagen remained silent.
Cavan’s mouth fell open in shock, and it took him a moment before he said, “Your leader is Carissa?”
Ronan glared at Hagen. “All this time the woman I searched for was the one who commanded me?”
Hagen nodded.
Ronan didn’t know whether to be furious or relieved. Furious because he felt that once again Carissa had made a fool of him, or relieved because he knew she was safe with the mercenaries.
“Then there is no problem,” Cavan said. “Once the mercenaries have her, they will bring her to me.”
“Not before they do what they want with her,” Hagen said.
Ronan looked to Cavan. “That can’t happen.”
“She has done worse to us,” Cavan said.
Ronan shook his head. “Her
father did; she had nothing to do with it.”
“You defend her?” Cavan asked bitterly.
“Carissa is not who you think,” Hagen said.
“She isn’t?” Cavan laughed. “That’s funny since I saw her smile every time her father had me whipped. And she was the one who insisted on tossing a bucket of God knows what on my wounds that caused me to pass out from the pain.” Cavan slammed his fist on the table. “To me she is nothing but evil, so do not dare ask me if I care what becomes of her while in captivity of the mercenaries.”
“I care,” Ronan said.
“Why?” Cavan asked with a shake of his head. “Has she filled your head with nonsense since we left you at the village Black?”
“She escaped from the village and I had to go after her,” he said. Another fact he had to admit to his brother that made him appear a fool. And before anyone could comment, he finished explaining. “We were stranded in a cottage in the woods due to the snowstorm.”
“And she filled your head with nonsense and lies,” Lachlan said.
Ronan hesitated to respond. He still wasn’t certain who Carissa was. One minute she was the coldhearted Carissa, and another the kindhearted Hope. He simply didn’t know how to reconcile the two.
“You’re not sure who she is, are you?” Artair asked.
“Honestly, no,” Ronan admitted, shaking his head.
“The only one who truly knows Carissa is Dykar,” Hagen said. “And he does not share the knowledge with others.”
Ronan felt a twinge of jealousy and before he could speak his mind, Cavan asked what he wanted to know.
“Who is this Dykar to her?”
“I truly don’t know,” Hagen said. “All I know is that Dykar protects her with his life and would easily die for her. But then there are many in the troop who know her that would do the same.”
“Perhaps she bewitches men,” Lachlan suggested.
“Not in the way you suggest,” Hagen said defensively.
“The only way this matter can ever be settled,” Artair said, “is for Carissa to be brought here.”
“Unharmed,” Ronan added quickly.
“Why such concern?” Cavan demanded of his brother.
How many times would he appear a fool this night? When he had told Bethane that Carissa had taken his pride, it was truer than he realized. But truth be known, his wounded pride would need to wait to be healed. He first had to think of Carissa.
He admitted a concern that had suddenly dawned on him when Hagen had suggested that Carissa could suffer at the hands of the mercenaries before she was turned over to Cavan.
“She may carry my child,” Ronan said.
Faces couldn’t have expressed more shock than those around him did, and silence hung so heavily that Ronan thought it just might crush all of them.
“I have no time to explain it all now,” Ronan said. “My concern is to see Carissa safe, then I will discuss my dilemma with you.”
“This changes everything,” Cavan said standing. “An unborn child of a Sinclare could be in danger.”
Artair and Lachlan nodded in agreement.
“I think Zia should come with us,” Alyce said, “in case Carissa requires a healer.”
“I agree, and I’ll come along as well,” Addie said.
“That’s not necessary,” Hagen said, and for once, the Sinclare men sided with him.
Addie, however, would hear none of it. “I’m going, and that’s final,” she said.
“Where are you going?” Zia asked, returning with Honora.
Once Alyce explained the situation, Zia said, “I’ll get ready.”
Cavan looked to his wife. “Don’t dare tell me that you’re coming too.”
Honora shook her head. “No, though I would if I wasn’t with child.”
Cavan stared dumbfounded at her.
She went to her husband, took his hand, and rested it against her stomach. “I planned to tell you differently that you would be a father once again, but hearing about Carissa, I felt the need for you to know. And I ask that you protect Carissa, who may also be carrying a child, as much as you would me.”
At that moment Ronan dearly loved his sister-in-law, for nothing he could have said would have had as much impact on his brother as Honora’s words.
Cavan took his wife in his arms, hugged her, kissed her soundly, then said, “I give you my word.”
Honora smiled and turned to Ronan. “It will be wonderful to have another woman pregnant along with me.”
“I don’t know for sure if she is with child,” he said.
“We will know soon enough,” Honora said. “Until then, we will all get to know her.”
“Do not forget,” Cavan reminded, “that she is our enemy.”
Honora nodded. “Yes, but didn’t you tell me that it is wise to know your enemy well?”
“And you did say you wished to know the leader of the mercenaries,” Alyce said. “This would give you that chance.”
“I would like to know her myself,” Addie said.
“Her father was responsible for our father’s death,” Cavan said, annoyed.
“True, but not all the sins of a father,” Addie said, “can be left on a child.”
“The women have banded together,” Artair said. “We don’t have a chance.”
Ronan felt his heart swell, realizing how good it was to be home among family. This was what he missed. This was what he feared he had lost and could never regain, but these women, two of whom he had only just met, had made his dilemma theirs and offered their help, as did his brothers, even though they doubted.
Cavan looked to Hagen. “We need to reach your troop before Carissa takes leave of them.”
Hagen nodded. “I will show you the way.”
Cavan then looked to Lachlan and Alyce. “You will both remain behind to see to the safety of the village and keep. This may be a ruse, and I want our home well defended.”
They nodded. “You need not worry,” Lachlan assured him.
“I know. That’s why I leave you both,” Cavan said. “Now for a plan of action.”
Carissa rode alongside Septimus, six mercenaries behind them and a troop of thirty spread throughout the area. The remainder of men had not joined them. From the scouting report, the other troop totaled twenty and was a ragtag bunch that appeared thrown together with no clear leadership.
While it might appear an advantage to most, Carissa knew it was more a danger. Not one of them truly cared what happened to the other, and if one should fall, another one would step on him to get the prize, which was…her.
She wanted to be mad at Dykar for not informing her of the reward on her head. Septimus had explained that Dykar didn’t want her to worry. And she certainly would have when she learned that it was Cavan Sinclare who had offered the reward.
While she was grateful for the one night with Ronan and the beautiful memories it had left her with, she feared it had only made matters worse. And she wondered if she was wise in returning to Ronan or better off simply fading into oblivion with the mercenaries.
She didn’t want to cause Ronan any problems with his family. Her father had done enough to them. She didn’t want to injure them any more. And with the mercenaries wanting her surrender in return for Dykar’s life, it was obvious they intended to claim the reward. Though she didn’t doubt she would suffer at their hands before they gave her to Cavan.
Once Ronan discovered that she was leader of the mercenaries, any trust they had been developing would be destroyed. He would not want to listen to her, just as he hadn’t wanted to when he had first arrived at the cottage. He had trouble believing her then, and he would have even more trouble believing her now.
Her wisest choice was to disappear within the safety of the mercenaries and forget about Ronan. Her heart ached at the thought of never seeing him again, of never having him hold her again, of never making love, of never sleeping safely beside him.
She sighed and spilled not a tear. He
r hurt felt like a knife to her heart, but then she had suffered many times throughout her life and had learned to survive. She would survive this though she couldn’t help wondering how.
“Once you’re alone, they will attack,” Septimus said. “And they will not spare Dykar’s life.”
“I didn’t believe they would though they will keep him alive until I see him.”
“I agree,” Septimus said.
“Are the bowmen in position?” she asked.
“They lie in wait according to plan,” Septimus said. “The idiots don’t even have sentries stationed near their camp, and such stupidity worries me.”
“I agree,” Carissa said. “They probably have no organized plan and intend to kill Dykar as soon as I make myself known to them.”
“And you will have mere seconds to reach him if you are to save his life.”
“I know,” she said. “I will need to keep them distracted long enough to reach him.”
“How do you plan to do that?”
“My cold heart and sharp tongue work magic,” she admitted.
“But that isn’t who you are,” Septimus said.
“How long did it take you to realize that?”
“Longer than I care to admit,” he said, “though I credit that to your ingenious ruse.”
“I lived it every day,” she said sadly.
“So I realized,” he said. “We’re almost there. Are you ready?”
She smiled. “I’m always ready. I won’t let Dykar die.”
“I know,” Septimus said. “He told me how you saved his life once before, and he had no doubt that, if necessary, you would do it again, as he would for you.”
“He knows me too well.” She brought her horse to a halt. “We leave each other here.”
“I won’t be far.”
“Keep your distance until Dykar is safe and—” She paused for a moment and shut her eyes, then opened them, strength and courage shining brilliantly in them. “If a choice must be made, you will save Dykar. Do you understand?”
Septimus looked ready to argue.
Carissa held up her hand. “I have no time to argue with you. You will follow my orders.” Her horse pranced impatiently, and she easily controlled the skittish animal and looked once more to Septimus. “It’s for the best, so please give me your word.”
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