by Ashley York
“—ye and Sean and a score of yer best warriors will come to me spring next. Ye’ll be my warriors to command until the Hunter’s Moon. Are ye agreed?”
Tadhg turned toward Tisa. He swore he could see tears on her cheeks. He opened his mouth but no words came out.
Roland reached toward his daughter and she came to stand by his side, her hand white where she gripped his as if her life depended on it. Tadhg felt the knife in his back as it was shoved in deeper and deeper, piercing his very heart.
Tadhg stood erect. His face tight against the emotions he dared not show. “Aye, Roland. ‘Tis agreed.”
“I will see to yer provisions this very night.”
Footsteps to the left caught his attention. The final blow. His Uncle Ronan stood in the doorway. Confusion overtook Tadhg as he counted through the days since his sister had left for the Priory. It wasn’t possible for their uncle to be back from escorting her.
“Why are ye here?” Tadhg feared he was about to lose control. “Why are ye not with Brighit?” He was in the man’s face in two strides. “What have ye done with my little sister?”
Tadhg swung a hard fist into the side of the man’s jaw. Pain shot up his arm and he shook it off.
Ronan staggered back. Roland was there grabbing at Tadhg’s arms, pulling him away.
“This is a powerful man of great influences. Dunna lay hands on him.”
Tadhg jerked his arms out of the older man’s hold. How dare that adulterous swine touch him?
“Why aren’t ye seeing to Brighit’s protection?”
Ronan reached toward Tadhg. “Settle down, boy. Brighit is fine. I found another to take her.”
“How do ye ken she’s fine? My father trusted ye to take her and none other.”
“‘Tis my own man, Ivan. He will guard her with his life. I swear it.”
“Nae! Ye were to guard her with yer life. My father’s dying request and ye lie to him?”
“Nae, Tadhg. A simple matter. She is safe.”
His blustering assurances meant nothing to Tadhg.
“Without the protection of her family? Nae!” Tadhg struggled for composure. He needed to keep control here of all places. “Ye are no longer welcome on MacNaughton land.”
He took a last glance at Tisa. Her shoulders back. Her head held high. Surely they had not been tears of sadness if there had been tears at all. This was a woman determined. Determined to make the most out of her situation. Whoever she had married, she would give him children and see to his home. She would live a life without Tadhg. Without even thinking about him. She would go on with her life. That’s what women did.
“See to the provisions.” Tadhg pushed past his uncle, shoving him out of the way, to the door.
If he never saw this place or these people ever again, ‘twould be too soon.
Sean stood in the small bailey, casually wrapping an arm around Roman’s snout.
“I thought ye had a horse get away from ye.” Tadhg took the reins from the stable boy’s hands but addressed his friend.
“I just wanted to see the old man. See how ye were doing.” Sean followed Tadhg’s lead and mounted his horse. “Not well.”
Urging his horse toward the opening with a slow gait, Tadhg said, “We have food for winter.”
Sean smiled, “Fine. And Tisa?”
Tadhg could barely spit the words out. “She has been given to another.”
“Nae!” Sean shot up alongside him. “Who? Could ye not break the betrothal?”
“‘Tis more than a betrothal. ‘Tis already been done.” His world was falling apart. “My Uncle Ronan was within as well.”
“What?” Sean roared his disbelief. “Is he not the one accompanying Brighit?” He yanked at Tadhg’s reins. “Tell me!”
“That devil’s spawn had another bring my sister to the Priory.”
Sean’s eyes scanned the area. Tadhg could see his anger mounting and his assessing the situation. “I’ll kill him.”
“Nae!” Tadhg ordered with authority. “We will not spill blood this day. We will go find my sister and see to her protection ourselves.”
Sean’s face tightened in determination, but his eyes held a haunting disbelief. Clearly, Ronan was a dishonorable man but before they could take their revenge against him, they needed to get to Brighit, to protect her.
“But. Ken. This. If anything has happened to her, we will hunt Ronan down, and we will kill him.”
CHAPTER SIX
~
TISA DIDN’T DARE TO move. If she even breathed, her mouth would open and she would began a tirade at her father that may never end. Her body stiff, she turned toward the stairs.
“Wait!” Her father approached but stopped short of actually touching her.
Her hands gripped the material of her dress. She clenched her teeth to keep from opening her mouth. How dare he address her now? She had spent the entire night alone in her bed, rolled into a ball. Petrified. Imagining that every sound in the hall was her husband coming back. In the light of morning, she realized that was the most ridiculous part of this whole thing. Her husband would not come back. Her husband wanted nothing to do with her. He had no desire to be with her even to prove that she was chaste.
“I think we should talk.”
Pain shot through her jaw. She would not be speaking to him now. Not ever.
Tadhg’s face flashed through her mind. The look of betrayal. The look of pain. Then intense anger. Tisa was not to speak. Her father had trained her well. But she prayed with all her strength that her father would speak. That he would explain to Tadhg why she had wed another. Tell him how she had been forced to marry against her will. That her father had given her no consideration in the choosing of her husband, in replacing the man she loved more than life itself.
The tears had started as soon as she recognized Tadhg. A man full grown. Broad shoulders filling out his leine that hugged nicely across his chest. A heavy broadsword at his waist where she’d last seen a lighter, training blade. His strong legs strapped with leather ties over firm calves. He was more handsome than she could have ever imagined he would be. And he was lost to her. Forever.
“Please, Tisa.”
She whirled around to face her father. “I dunna wish to hear anything ye have to say—”
“I tried—”
“Not hard enough to spare me the humiliation I experienced at the hands of my husband.” She spat the word at him. “He dinna care for shielding me from his men. He bared me in front of all of them and their...their leering...their taunts.” She gulped down the tears that threatened. She would not cry. Not now. “I have been disgraced before the very people that I will soon be living among.”
Her father’s eyes widened. His mortification tugged at her heart. She tugged right back.
“And when the only man I have ever—will ever love comes to ye? Ye dunna even have the decency to tell him of my objections to this forced marriage?” Her nostrils flared as she pushed past the pain. “Nae. I have no words to alleviate yer guilt. Ye are dead to me.”
With a stiff gait, she crossed to the stairs. Her husband had informed her they would be leaving within the hour. She needed to finish preparing. Alone in her room, memories assailed her. The happy times. The warmth of her father’s loving embrace when she’d tumbled off the horse. The sweetness of her first kiss from Tadhg. All this she was expected to walk away from? Just leave it behind?
The impossibility of her situation pricked like pins into her skin. Tadhg had come. He was here. She got to the hall and ran to the other stairs that followed the back of the great room. She could not just let him leave. She nearly tumbled forward with the speed that she flew down the wooden steps.
Her breath caught in her chest, she wove around the men filling the narrow space behind the castle. If she could get through the crowd, surely she would be able to get to Tadhg before he left. The smell of unwashed bodies closed in on her as she pressed between men whose faces she ignored. Tadhg was the only face she needed to see.
Around the corner she spotted him. He had paused in the shadow of the passage. She moved toward him taking in the sight of him. The great height. The wide breadth of his shoulders. The solid warrior stance. Her young lad had grown into a formidable man.
“Tadhg.” She but whispered his name and he turned toward her as if attuned to the sound of her voice. One riding glove on, the other grasped between his fingers, and a deep scowl on his handsome face. His fierce anger slowed her step. “Tadhg.”
“Aye. So ye admit ye ken me?” His eyes held hers and she saw his pain. His loss.
“My father would not allow me to speak to ye.”
“Or yer husband, I would assume.” It was painful to hear his biting tone.
Tisa glanced down, unsure what she should say. Or what she should do. He came to stand before her. She closed her eyes and breathed in the male scent of him, leather and horses. Her Tadhg. The lightest touch of his finger against her cheek, he caressed her. She opened her eyes. He cupped her cheek and she turned into it wishing she could place a kiss there.
“So ye’ve wed another?”
She longed to reach out, to place her hand flat against his solid chest, to feel his heartbeat beneath her palm, to know the touch of his lips if she could but lean closer. She did not move.
“Not by choice.”
He dropped his hand and her heart lurched at the loss of his touch.
“Yer father ordered it.”
The words would not come. How did she tell him she would never belong to anyone but him? That he would always be her love, the husband of her heart? And she would spend the rest of her life empty for want of him?
Tadhg turned and walked away from her. She watched him go.
“Ye go below and wait for me there.” It was Darragh. He was coming into her room.
She wiped at the tears, her back to the door when he entered. “Ye’re not ready yet?’
He huffed behind her. She turned to him, her eyes downcast, her hands folded before her.
“Beg pardon. I have been sorely troubled with deciding what to leave behind from a lifetime’s worth of memories.”
He barked a laugh. “‘Tis simple.” He pulled her arm and pushed her toward the door. “All decided.”
He came up behind her, urging her toward the stairs despite her struggles against him. “What? I bring nothing?”
“Ye bring the clothes on yer back. ‘Tis more than enough.”
“But—” Tisa grabbed at the small basket that hung on a peg at her door. Her herbs. Her medicines. Precious cuttings were being knocked onto the floor as she struggled to take hold of it.
Darragh grabbed it at the last moment. She nearly tumbled down the steps with his shove but was able to right herself just as she entered the hall. Her father-in-law stood there, a scowl on his face as he met her gaze. “What is amiss?”
“Darragh will not allo—”
“We are ready, Father.” Darragh glared at her. “Let us be gone from this place.”
Aodh puckered his lips in a disdainful scowl. “Ye need to settle yer temper, Darragh.” He glanced around the now empty hall. “Be civil at least until we’re on the road.”
Tisa’s stomach dropped. The reality of how bad her life was going to be slammed into her gut like a fist. Civil? Her husband was a cruel whoreson with not a bone of kindness anywhere in him.
“Damn it. Can ye stop taking exception to every word I say?” Darragh actually whined. God help her.
“Still yer mouth. Not another word until we have departed this place.” Aodh’s words left no room for disagreement.
Aodh turned his irritation on Tisa, glancing around her. “Have ye nothing to bring with ye.”
“I—”
Darragh lifted the small basket. “She has this. Let us be gone!”
Aodh glowered at his son, no doubt for speaking when he’d just been told not to. It certainly had nothing to do with his treatment of his wife. Of that, Tisa was quite certain.
Flanked by both men like a prisoner approaching her death, Tisa felt nothing as she was led to the bailey. The villagers had come to say their goodbyes and filled the small space, spilling out through the open gates to the road beyond. Some had tears. Most had sad smiles. One little girl carried a small bunch of flowers but Darragh stopped her from approaching. It was Hannah. Tisa had seen her through a terrible sickness winter last. They’d become quite close. Her young eyes teared at his treatment.
Tisa stepped forward and smoothed the girl’s locks, accepting the flowers. “Thank ye, Hannah.”
“I will miss ye.”
“And I ye.” Tisa kissed her lightly on the forehead before standing.
“Say yer goodbyes to yer father.” Aodh gave the command.
Tisa glanced at the man standing beside his captain. Fergus’ side was well bandaged where her father-in-law had tried to run him through. She wondered who had seen to his wounds since she had not been called on. Fergus was tight lipped, looking neither left nor right. He was livid. No doubt he had voiced his strong objections to her father regarding his decision to marry her off to Darragh. That would have been in the privacy of her father’s solar, with no unwanted listeners. Here, Fergus would display total loyalty and support to him even if he had to do it with a stiff back.
Tisa sighed. She would miss him. Searching the crowd, her eyes fell on Caireann. Her face puffy and swollen, probably from crying.
“One thing.” Tisa withdrew in fear at the angry look her husband gave her even though she had addressed Aodh but she pushed on. “Please.”
Aodh frowned his disapproval. Tisa quickly stepped toward the crowd. “Caireann?”
Caireann’s eyes widened and she shrunk back at the sudden attention turned on her. Those closest pushed her forward.
“Come with?” Tisa clamped her hands tight. “Please?”
Caireann glanced to the men on either side of her. Tisa prayed she would consent but knew she couldn’t blame her if she said no. Caireann’s throat constricted with her hard swallow before she faced Tisa.
“I will come.”
Darragh gave an exaggerated groan. “Well, then, let us get on with this.”
Aodh lifted Tisa onto her horse. With his eyes on her face and his hands lingering too long about her waist, she was reminded of the man’s earlier announcement. Tisa shoved the man’s hands aside which got her a sharp look of disapproval.
Darragh’s sudden concern when he moved in closer made her realize he may have been remembering the same thing. If her father-in-law did expect to share his son’s wife, no doubt there’d be hell to pay for his only pretending to see to his husbandly duty. Repulsion shivered through her body. She would not be letting this man anywhere near her and she hoped Darragh was thinking the same.
The long line of Meic Lochlainn warriors surrounded the group as they set off. Caireann was tossed up into the small cart already packed tight with their weapons and supplies. Tisa was surprised to see Breandan riding up on a palfrey. He shot her a nasty look and faced straight ahead. With a start, she realized he followed close behind her husband. She also noticed that his features softened considerably when Darragh turned to speak to him. Her husband’s laughter surrounding them at whatever Breandan had said. Uneasiness tightened her gut when her father-in-law glanced disapprovingly at his son.
Tisa closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Whatever mess she was being carried into, she could not allow it to overwhelm her. She would get through this. If Darragh had no use for her, and by all indications that was true, then she just needed to keep his father away as well. Darragh must want the same thing otherwise his little farce would be uncovered. She had no reason to want it known either. The only thing she would miss would be children. She had longed for a large family but that had been with Tadhg. Sadness settled into her chest and refused to leave.
By nightfall, they were stopping nestled among the evergreens, protected from the coastline they’d been following. Aodh again came to lift her off
her horse. He was an older man but his strength was unquestionable.
“Father, can I not be allowed to see to my own wife?” Darragh’s hand rested on his hip. He shook his head, his eyes wide, waiting for his father’s response.
The older man set her beside him, an arm around her waist holding her fast. Tisa forced down the panic making its way up her throat. Surely her husband would win this battle. The men gathering around them would be reason enough. Certainly Aodh would want his son shown the respect due him.
“Ye can stop the pretense now.” Aodh swept his hand along the many men surrounding them. “They ken yer disposition as do I.”
The men around nodded in agreement. Their tight expressions showing their obvious disapproval of her husband’s dislike of women.
Aodh turned a smile on Tisa who dared not breathe. “And as yer new bride does as well by now.”
A few of his men glanced her way. One tugged at his tarse. Another licked his lips while he perused her up and down. Tisa shifted as far away from the man as his firm grasp allowed. They were a pack of wolves ready to devour her.
Tisa had one chance. She turned wide, innocent eyes toward Darragh. “Husband? I ken not what yer father is speaking of.”
Darragh’s crestfallen expression changed to one of scrutiny. “He believes I may not have done my husbandly duty by ye.”
The hand at her side faltered just enough that she was able to break free and reach her husband’s side in three steps.
“I dunna understand.” She took his hand, her eyes pleading for him not to recoil at her touch. “Did he not see the bedding sheet? If I had not been there myself, I’d have believed ye’d killed me with all that blood.”
The men around them laughed. She smiled toward them.
Darragh’s hand gripped hers tighter, his eyes on her face. “Aye.” He turned on his father. “Did ye not see the sheets, Father? She’s well and truly bedded.”
“And eager to have ye in my bed again.” She dug her nails into his palm at his look of horror. His frown turned into an awkward smile but she feared he had taken too long to catch on. She refused to glance at Aodh and confirm her fears.
