“There’s one thing no one has mentioned,” Reeve said. “How do we know for sure her da is there? Perhaps he has yet to arrive.”
“From all we have learned, that was where my da was being taken, and by now, he should be there,” she insisted.
“But we can’t be certain,” Reeve argued.
“I’m certain,” Charlotte snapped, and no more was said on it.
The talking and planning continued until finally Charlotte threw her hands up in frustration and marched out of the keep, Odin on her heels.
“She’s better off not being part of this,” John said.
“I know,” Bryce said, his eyes on the door closing behind her, “but she feels she owes it to her da.”
“Give her time, she’ll see reason,” Duncan said.
Reeve shook his head. “She’s a warrior at heart, and you can’t keep a warrior from battle.
Bryce woke up drenched with sweat, his nightmare still vivid in his mind. He immediately turned to reach for Charlotte, she having slipped from his grasp in his dream and he not able to find her. His hand touched an empty space beside him. He bolted up in bed and cast an anxious glance around the room. Nothing. He was the only one there. He rushed out of bed and into his clothes and went in search of her, his fear building with each step he took.
He told himself that Odin might have needed to be let out, but he could not find the dog anywhere. He was somewhat relieved since it meant she wasn’t alone. But any relief was short-lived since they both managed to get into trouble together.
Not having checked to see if her bow was gone, he returned to his bedchamber, almost colliding with Duncan as he did.
“What are you doing up?” Bryce snapped.
Duncan raised a brow. “Someone’s angry. Fight with Charlotte?”
“No!” Bryce said much too sharply, and shook his head. “I can’t find her. I woke up, and she was gone. I’m going back to my room to see if her bow is missing.”
“You think she took off to rescue her da on her own?” Duncan asked with concern.
“That’s exactly what I think she did,” Bryce said, confirming his fear aloud.
“I’ll wake Reeve and da,” Duncan offered.
“No, nothing can be done until morning, and I may still find her.”
“But you truly don’t believe that, do you?” Duncan said.
Bryce shook his head and walked away. He grew even more concerned when he found that her bow and cache were gone. He wanted to storm after her, but instead he sunk down on the bed. He’d not get far in the dark, and neither would Charlotte though she did have a head start.
There was a rap on the door, and it swung open.
Duncan walked in. “We should get the others and be ready when dawn breaks.”
Bryce nodded and reached for his sword.
Chapter 35
Charlotte watched, stretched out on her belly, from a rise in the distance. It hadn’t taken her long to find the place John had mapped for them, two days’ travel at the most. And after only a few hours of steady watching, she learned the guards’ pattern. Only one guard remained outside at all times, and there were three who alternated the shifts. She assumed more were inside.
She wished Bryce was with her. She believed together they could successfully free her da and the spy as well. They worked as a pair, knowing what the other would do without a word’s being exchanged. It bothered her that he hadn’t intended to include her in the rescue. He knew how she felt about it, and she knew that his worry over her safety was what brought him to the decision.
He should have known better . . . known her better. He could not lock her away because he feared she would come to harm. He had to allow her to be who she was, the tenacious lassie he had fallen in love with.
Odin gave a low whine, and his tail wagged against the ground where he lay stretched out beside her.
She smiled, knowing who approached, and perhaps she had delayed her plans, knowing Bryce would be on her trail soon enough.
She turned. “It took you long enough.”
He walked straight at her, reached down, yanked her up by her tunic, and marched a distance away from the prison, Odin happily trailing.
“I should throttle you,” he said once he placed her feet on the ground.
“Why be angry with me when it’s your own fault?” she asked, taking a defiant stance though unable to keep a smile from her face, so very pleased was she to see him.
“And why is that?”
“You have to ask?” she said.
“We made a vow to do this together.”
That he remembered made her smile grow though it faded some when she asked, “Then why, when you pledged your word, would you have left me behind?”
“Love.”
He didn’t shout it, but the force with which he spoke nearly had her stumbling backward.
“I expected peace, joy, contentment, not this wild insanity that plagues me at every turn. You invade my mind much too often, I ache to kiss you whenever I see you, even when you’re not in sight. And I cannot stop thinking about making love to you. And sleep?” He shook his head and laughed. “I need to be wrapped around you to sleep soundly.”
He threw his hands up in the air. “And I don’t remember any of this happening. It was as if it was always like this, that there was always you and me.” He shook his head again. “Stop smiling. I shouldn’t be spouting love when we have your da to rescue.”
“I have waited patiently to hear this from you.”
“Patiently? Hah!” Bryce laughed. “You are by no means patient.”
“When it comes to you I am,” she said. “I knew you loved me, it was only a matter of time before you realized it yourself and finally embraced the inevitable.”
“Then why drive me mad with worry and take off on your own? Did you truly believe you could succeed in rescuing your da alone?”
“I knew you would follow,” she said, “and I feared the longer we lingered, the more my da would suffer.” She raised her hand, stopping any response. “Don’t tell me you didn’t think the same. My da wasn’t brought to this prison to conjure. He was brought here to make certain he would conjure for the king. And once they learned he could not perform as they wished, he would suffer horribly.”
“You forget one thing,” Bryce said. “You don’t know for certain he is here.”
She pulled a stick from her belt. “I knew my da would find a way to let me know that he was here.”
Bryce reached for the stick, looking over the crude markings. “What does this mean?”
“It means he’s here.”
“Then we wait,” Bryce said. “Reeve and Duncan shouldn’t be far behind.
“No troop of warriors?”
Bryce shook his head. “Not appropriate for such a mission.”
“Why didn’t Reeve and Duncan come with you?”
“Plans needed implementing so that all will be ready.”
“When will they be here?” Charlotte asked.
“Tomorrow sometime, and we will proceed the following day,” Bryce said.
Charlotte shook her head. “Two days. To my da and your spy, that is two more days in hell.”
“We can’t do this on our own,” Bryce argued.
“We’ve taken on other difficult challenges and succeeded,” she reminded him.
“Not this difficult. The way in is the way out, which makes for an impossible escape and for almost certain capture.”
“If John got out, then so can my da.”
“John got out by sheer luck.”
“Then sheer luck will get my da out,” she said emphatically.
He grabbed hold of her as if he could hang on to her forever. “No, it won’t be luck that gets your da out. It will be your sheer tenacity. Now show me what we’re up against.”
Charlotte took Bryce to the rise, and they kept a watch on the entrance to the prison. Charlotte explained to him the routine of the three guards who alternated shifts
. She expressed concern over not knowing how many guards were inside, worried that it could prove troublesome.
As dusk fell they both pulled back and put a good distance between themselves and the prison, not wanting the guards to take notice of them.
Odin was sound asleep, while Bryce lay wrapped around Charlotte, talking.
“This is not the end,” Bryce whispered in her ear, “but the beginning of more to come.”
Charlotte rested her hand over his where it lay across her stomach. “I know. You will join the many battles to see that the true king sits the throne.”
“I will do what I must.”
She turned around in his arms and rested a gentle hand to his cheek. “As do I for my da and as I will do for you . . . always.”
Bryce was about to protest, but she stilled him with a kiss.
She rested her brow to his, and whispered, “We know not what tomorrow brings, but we have this night, you and I, and it is memories we should be making.”
Neither would say what they both thought. Tonight could be the last night they ever made love. They both would face death in their attempt to rescue her da and one or the other might only survive. This was a night for them to remember always.
The night sky, brilliant with twinkling stars, served as their canopy, the campfire gave them warmth, not that they needed it, as passion already heated their bodies, and the night creatures provided a lovely tune.
Bryce immediately took control, and Charlotte surrendered. She understood he needed it this way, needed to show her that he was a true warrior who could protect and love her no matter the circumstances.
As much as she would have preferred to be stripped of her garments, she knew that was not a wise thing to do. And so they made love, possibly for the last time, as they had the first time, though without the rain pummeling Bryce’s back.
Their never-ending kiss added to the fiery passion that burned deep within them, and touches were not hesitant or demanding. They simply addressed the aching need in them both.
Somewhere during it all, it turned more potent, as if they both realized this could be it; this could be the end, the last time they were together. They both demanded from each other, and they both gave willingly. And when Bryce slipped into her, she welcomed him like never before and urged him deeper than ever before.
Even after she climaxed, he didn’t stop, and so she was rocked by another climax more powerful than the first. And as the sparks exploded within her, he drove into her with a force that brought her to life once again, and this time they both exploded together, making a memory they would never forget.
They lay breathless in each other’s arms afterwards. No words were exchanged, no words were necessary. They knew at that moment their love had been sealed for eternity, and no matter what tomorrow brought, no one could take it from them.
Charlotte woke resolved. This was the day she would rescue her da. She felt in her bones, knew she couldn’t wait any longer. If she did, she feared she would find her da dead.
She told that to Bryce when he stretched awake. “It is imperative I rescue my da today. He has no more time.”
“We must wait for my brothers,” he said, trying to reason with her. “Extra hands will serve us well.”
“I fear I have waited too long already,” she said. “I must go now, or I will never forgive myself if I wait and discover that I had delayed too long.”
Bryce sat up and reached out to take hold of her arm. “A few hours, no more.”
Charlotte was about to argue when Odin turned and took a guarded stance.
Charlotte and Bryce grabbed their weapons and positioned themselves back to back, an instinctive reaction that had served them well on many occasions.
Odin relaxed his stance, and his tail started wagging just as Reeve and Duncan came into view.
Charlotte was never happier to see them. It meant that they could put their plan into action and finally rescue her da. She hurried over to them and gave them each a tight hug.
“I am so glad you are here,” she said, taking Bryce’s hand as he joined them.
“Everything set?” Bryce asked.
“The warriors are ready,” Duncan said with a nod.
“Do you need time to rest?” Bryce asked.
Reeve and Duncan shook their heads.
“Let’s get this done,” Reeve said.
Bryce nodded and explained the plan to them. One of them would dispose of the guard while another snuck inside to locate and free the prisoners. The problem was that from what John had told them, the entrance was narrow, tight for any large man. It would be difficult for one of sizeable width and height to blend with the shadows and attract no attention.
“That’s why it must be me who goes in,” Charlotte said.
“No!” Bryce said.
Reeve nodded. “She’s right, Bryce. She’s a good size and no doubt could move around with more ease than any of us.”
“And would you let Tara go if it were her?” Bryce asked.
“No,” Reeve answered honestly, “though I doubt she’d be stopped if it meant the life of one she loved.”
Charlotte pressed her hand to Bryce’s chest. “We always knew this day would come though never spoke of it. I need to do this for my da, and you need to let me.”
Bryce grabbed hold of her and almost hugged the breath from her, then held her at arm’s length. “You take no chances. You draw the guards out and let us do the rest.”
Charlotte nodded.
“I mean it, Charlotte, draw them out and leave it to us.”
“First my da, then the guards,” she said, not wanting to lie to him.
“It will take too long and be too dangerous,” Bryce protested.
“Not if I take Odin. He knows my da’s scent and will lead me to him.”
Bryce was ready to argue when Reeve clamped a heavy hand on his shoulder. “Let her do what she must. She has proven her worth many times over.”
“I can do this, Bryce,” she said. “I must do this.”
He hugged her even more fiercely. “You better come back to me.”
She laughed. “Hell itself can’t stop me from returning to you.”
Duncan laughed. “Hell won’t want such a stubborn lassie. It will just spit her out.”
“I’ll be waiting right outside to catch you,” Bryce said.
They all waited impatiently for the guards to change, allowing them more time to carry out their plan before the next shift change. Once the new guard was disposed of, Charlotte snuck inside, with Odin in the lead. She knew the narrow hall might not allow for use of her bow, but she had taken it anyway, feeling safer with it in hand. Her dirk was tucked in her boot, and Bryce had insisted she take an extra one; she hadn’t argued when he tucked it in her other boot.
She almost gagged from the stench that hit her like a blow to the face, and she worried that Odin might not be able to sniff his way through it, but he had no problem. She had ordered him, before entering, to go slow and remain quiet. He did so as he made his way slowly down the narrow passage, lit occasionally by a lone torch.
She listened for the sound of approaching footfalls and kept a keen watch for any moving shadows.
Charlotte jumped when a heart-wrenching scream pierced the tunnel, and even Odin stepped back and pressed his big, shivering backside against her legs. She reassured the animal with a comforting pat that all was well and slipped an arrow from her cache to hold with her bow.
She was relieved when Odin turned down the third passage to the right from the entrance and stopped in front of the second cell.
Charlotte almost retched from the odor that assaulted her. She put her hand in front of her nose and sniffed her skin. She could smell Bryce on her and a hint of their lovemaking had lingered along with it. It gave her a shot of courage and propelled her to hurry and be done with this, to return to him so they could love and so that he could finally meet her da.
“Da?” she called out quietly.
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Nothing, and she was about to try again when she heard, “Charlotte?”
“Da,” she said through the small square hole in the door.
“Good God, Charlotte, you made it. You’ve come for me,” her da said tearfully. “But you must hurry.”
“I’ll work on the lock,” she whispered, and slipped her dirk from her boot. She bent down and, remembering everything her da had ever told her about the workings of a lock, set to work. It was a simple matter of hitting the right part, and it would open.
“You haven’t much time. A guard will be coming soon for me,” her da said. “I have kept track of his comings and goings.”
She knew then what she had to do. She ordered Odin in the shadows and before she melded with them, she whispered to her da, “Do you know of a recent prisoner brought here, a supposed spy in the king’s court.”
“Next cell to my right.”
Footfalls and the jingle of keys could be heard, and Charlotte stepped into the shadows to wait, her bow ready.
Chapter 36
Bryce paced impatiently in front of the prison. “She should be out by now.”
“Let it be,” Duncan warned. “She knows what to do.”
Reeve hurried toward them. “I spotted a troop of soldiers headed this way.”
“How long before they reach here, and do they have more prisoners?” Bryce asked.
“Twenty minutes at the most and no prisoners,” Reeve said.
Bryce looked from one brother to the other. “If she’s not out here shortly, I go in.”
Just then, Odin burst out of the entrance with one cloaked figure and a short, wiry man following him, with Charlotte the last one out.
Not a word was spoken. They followed the plan, which meant they followed Reeve at this point. When Bryce and Duncan saw that no guards pursued them, they hurried off to trail the escaping group, though not before Bryce quickly informed Charlotte that soldiers approached the prison.
Horses awaited them when they reached the spot where Charlotte and Bryce had camped for the night. When they all mounted, they took off as if the devil himself were after them. Bryce had no doubt the soldiers would find their trail. He only hoped that they could reach the area where MacAlpin warriors waited before the soldiers caught up with them.
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