“All right, Raudrich. I’ve decided that I believe you. I will have your back when Callum arrives here ready to slit your throat, but I still don’t understand why all of that resulted in the need for me to hang out in the stables while you said hi to him.”
“Lass, I’ve heard stories of the way Drustan treats the women he meets. If ye met him, the only way I could protect ye is to say ye are my wife, and he knows that I’ve none. Ye will stay here tonight, and I shall sleep in the stables. I just ask that ye lock the door when I leave so no one will disturb ye.”
“Oh no, please don’t do that. You must be exhausted. I really don’t even know how you’re standing there. You take the bed. I’ll sleep on the floor. I won’t be able to sleep at all if you sleep in the stables.”
He frowned at me then moved to grab one of the blankets from the bed.
“I’ll sleep on the floor. Ye will sleep on the bed. That is the furthest I will compromise, aye?”
I nodded and yawned at the thought of sleep, but there were still other questions I needed answers to.
“Raudrich, why did you not say anything about the way I was dressed? It’s strange to you, yes?”
He laughed and spread the blanket on the floor, far away from the bed and against the back wall of the room.
“Just as I’ve heard stories of much that goes on in the Highlands, I’ve also heard stories of Cagair Castle and the strange lassies that appear there by magic, all to marry men much like myself. Aye, I thought it odd, but I simply supposed ye were one of those lassies.”
“You seem to know everything. Why didn’t you know about Macaslan’s death until I told you?”
“I’ve a seer that tells me all, but she canna verra well do that while I’m in Spain. My distance from her prevented me from knowing as much as I usually do. Now, I am verra tired. Let us rest for now.”
I nodded and turned toward the bed, one last thought lingering on my mind.
“Okay, but what’s the plan? How do we get rid of the new Laird Macaslan?”
His voice sounded sleepy as he answered, and I knew he would be asleep in a matter of seconds.
“Doona ye worry about that, lass. Just have my back as ye said.”
I laughed and collapsed into the bed as I heard him begin to snore.
CHAPTER 38
Morning took forever to arrive, as Raudrich’s snoring kept me up most of the night. Not that I minded, I was glad to see him sleeping. After the number of hours I witnessed him go without shut-eye, I was starting to worry that he was some sort of supernatural insomniac. Even if he wasn’t, I was pretty sure that he and Cooper would be fast friends.
He did rise early, though, just as the sun began to peek through the window. When he did wake, he sprung up with more energy than any person had a right to have before coffee.
“Do ye hear that, Sydney?”
I sat up and listened as closely as I could. I didn’t hear a thing.
“Do I hear what?”
“Yer people, lass. They’ve arrived.”
I stood and marched over to the door, opening it without hesitation to listen more clearly.
Still, everything out in the hall was completely quiet.
“I don’t hear anything. I think maybe you need a few more hours of sleep.”
“I assure ye, they are here and storming the castle at this verra moment. Are ye ready? I doona believe Callum and the others will wait long. They will be eager to find ye and the others if they believe I’ve held ye captive here”
“If you can hear them, you seriously got bit by some sort of weird spider as a child. Are you about to pull out a red suit or something?”
He twisted his head to the side like a confused puppy.
“What?”
I shook my head. “Never mind. What are we going to do?”
He shrugged, and my eyes widened in shocked surprise.
“You don’t have a plan, do you?”
“No, how could I? I doona know for sure what Callum and the others will do. All I know is that Callum and his men should have no trouble overtaking Drustan’s, as I instructed my own men to abandon the castle while everyone slept last night. Just stay close to me as I follow the noise, and we are sure to find them.”
We crept down the long hallway together. We made it down the main staircase and through one of the ground level hallways before I heard anything. When Callum’s voice reached my ears, I had to resist the urge to run straight for him.
“Drustan, ye know that I doona care for ye, but I am not the sort of man that believes the sins of the father should be paid by the son. If ye tell what ye’ve agreed to with Laird Allen, if ye tell us where he is, we willna harm ye.”
Raudrich leaned forward, pushing my head toward the doorway so I could see where he was pointing.
“Do ye see the door on the back side of the dining hall? We will enter there.”
I nodded in agreement as we walked around the outskirts of where Callum and his men stood with Drustan backed against a wall in the dining room. When we reached the door on the other side, Raudrich paused and looked over at me with kind eyes.
“If ye are not able to stop them in time, doona feel guilt over any of it. I will have given my life doing exactly what I was meant to do.”
“What?” I looked at him nervously, confused by his words. He acted like he intended to run straight for Callum’s sword. As I watched him charge through the door from which we stood on the other side, drawing his blade as he went, I realized he might very well be doing just that.
I stood in the open doorway trying to understand what he meant to do, trying to watch his fast movements as he ran toward the cowering Drustan, not hesitating a moment as he plunged his sword into the young laird’s stomach.
Raudrich pulled his blade out and threw it to the ground, and I knew then what he meant. He would kill Drustan to end the real evil in the room, but he wasn’t willing to raise his weapon to any other.
I jerked my head toward Callum as I watched him draw his own blade and raise it over his head in anticipation of swinging it straight through Raudrich.
Screaming for him to stop, I ran directly into the path of Callum’s swing and threw myself in front of Laird Allen.
CHAPTER 39
If not for the power of Morna’s magic, Callum’s blade would have split Sydney right down the middle. He heard her screams, even saw her running toward Laird Allen, but the witch’s quick thinking was all that stopped the momentum of his downward swing. The blade left his hand suddenly, flying to the side and striking against stone as he fell to his knees as relief swept over him.
In an instant, Sydney was there, holding his face between her hands, kissing him as she wrapped her arms around him before whispering in his ear.
“I’m all right. I’m all right, Callum.”
“What is the matter with ye, lass? Why would ye protect him? Has he done something to yer mind? Ye know what he’s done.”
“No. It wasn’t him.” She clung tightly to him, pushing him back as he stood and tried to lunge once more toward Laird Allen. He could see the man’s lips moving, but he couldn’t hear anything past Sydney’s urgent cries as she continued to push him back.
“Callum, listen to me. He didn’t do anything. It was Drustan—all of it.”
It couldn’t be true—not after finding the tartan of Allen’s clan on those that attacked the Conalls.
He turned and walked away from Sydney. He needed a moment to gather himself, to recover from what he’d almost done and think through what to do next. The McMillan men stood next to him at the ready, but he knew they wouldn’t move without his command.
The ride here had been long and tiring—his worry over Sydney’s safety so overwhelming that he’d been ready to draw blood immediately if it meant seeing her safe. But now that he knew she was, he knew there was still much he didn’t know—much that didn’t make sense to him. If there was any chance Sydney was right, he didn’t wish to send an innocent man to hi
s grave.
He gathered himself as he walked over to his sword, retrieving it from the ground before pointing it soundly in Laird Allen’s direction.
“What have ye said to Sydney to give her cause to believe ye? Yer men attacked and killed one of the Conalls only a day after ye sent Macaslan’s head to my steps. Ye mean to take over Macaslan’s territory and punish me for the part I played in yer brother’s death by causing harm to those who came to my aide, aye?”
Callum watched Raudrich closely. He saw no malice in the man’s eyes, no trace of the same evil or anger that so often lay behind Macaslan’s and other men who committed similar heinous acts of violence. During all his years of traveling, Callum had seen his fair share of evil men. Laird Allen, despite all evidence to the contrary, didn’t strike him as one of them. It was why he so easily trusted him the first day they met.
Laird Allen didn’t respond to him right away. When he did speak, he addressed Sydney first, moving to her side and placing a hand on her shoulder so she would look at him. Callum had to refrain from running the man through out of jealousy alone.
“Are ye mad? Had I known what ye meant when ye said ye would ‘have my back,’ I would’ve chained ye up in the stables. Ach, lass, my life is not worth ye losing yers.”
Sydney swallowed and shrugged, apparently unfazed by any of it. “I’m sorry. It was just a reaction.”
Callum took a step toward him, placing the point of his blade against the center of Raudrich’s chest.
“Ye doona need to have a hand on her to speak to her. Now answer me question.”
Raudrich nodded and slowly removed his hand from Sydney’s shoulder, holding up both hands in surrender.
“All I told Sydney was truth. Ye are right that ’twas both my men that brought ye Macaslan’s head and that attacked the Conalls, but they dinna do so on my order. Drustan paid them off. I am ashamed to say that I doona fully have the trust of my men as of yet, though I intend to rectify that when I return to my territory.”
Callum lowered his blade and motioned for those gathered around him to do the same. Much needed to be discussed, and no truth would be found if everyone continued to cling to their weapons. Only words would bring understanding among them.
I’d never seen Callum with such a stern expression on his face. It looked painful, in truth. To contort his muscles in such a way must require great effort. If he meant to hide what he was thinking, the furrowed brow, tight lip, and downcast eyes certainly did that. I couldn’t tell if he wanted to scream or cry, or if he just had a massive headache.
After he explained everything, Morna insisted on shoving the same horrific liquid drops she’d snuck into my coffee down Raudrich’s throat just to make sure he wasn’t lying. Once they had proof he was not, the tension in the room dissolved quickly.
No one would grieve the loss of Drustan Macaslan. Even his own men put up no resistance to Callum or the McMillans after they learned of his death. As far as I could tell, relief was the overwhelming emotion throughout the territory, and since the MacChristy’s, the McMillans, or Laird Allen had no interest in laying claim to the land, it was up to those living in the territory to decide who controlled it.
“We canna stay here. Not even for the rest of the morning. Morna is already preparing our horses to ride out once again. She canna stand knowing that Jerry is with Grier. Raudrich claims he saw Grier and Jerry to one of the makeshift cottages we built during the castle’s repairs. Morna is ready to head that way at once.”
They were the first words Callum said in over half an hour, but he continued to look down as he spoke.
He leaned against the ledge of a tall window, down a long hallway just off the dining room where everyone else remained. They all had instructions to leave us be. While Callum made haste to get me alone, he sure took his time letting me know why.
“I know. I didn’t expect for a moment that we would stay. Callum, are you all right? You look…well, I’ve never seen you look that way.”
When he looked up, the anger in his eyes made me wish I’d not said anything.
“No, lass, I am not. I doona know whether to slap ye or tup ye.”
I walked over to him and gently rested my hands on his shoulders. His sort-of-threat didn’t worry me for a moment. “If you choose the former, just know that you will soon thereafter have to remove your testicles from your arse.”
He choked on his own spit and continued to cough as he looked at me with wide eyes. For the first time, he smiled.
“Ye women of the future say whatever comes into yer mind with no hesitation, even for a moment.”
I shrugged and moved to run my fingers through the hair just above his ear. “Guilty.”
“I would never lay foul hands on ye, but I’m so angry with ye, I can scarcely breathe.”
“Angry?” I truly thought that after he knew the truth he would understand.
“Aye, angry. Ye promised me ye would not go back, and ye did. Why? Not a thing Laird Allen said gave me the answer to that.”
I leaned in to hug him and continued to hold his head against me as I spoke.
“Callum, Jerry was dead set on going back, and I couldn’t very well stop him. I told him that I would wait for him to go quickly and come back, but he fell down the stairs, and I knew he was hurt. I couldn’t leave him to bleed out in the stairwell. You’ll see when we reach them. Raudrich said he required stitches.”
I felt the air go out of Callum’s lungs as he relaxed against me.
“Ach, Sydney, I can forgive ye for that. I truly wondered if ye did it to spite me for making ye swear to stay put.”
“No.” I pulled back and kissed him gently. “I wouldn’t do that. I’m sorry I frightened you. Did Morna know we were here? Is that how you were able to head straight for Macaslan Castle rather than go to Cagair?”
He nodded and pulled my body flat against him and kissed me with an urgency that caused my head to spin.
When he broke the kiss, he moved his lips upward and spoke huskily into my ear.
“What do ye think the chances are that I could take ye right here without someone walking in on us?”
I reached around to my back and fumbled with my laces.
“I have no idea, but let’s risk it, shall we?”
CHAPTER 40
“I can see ye missed one another, aye?”
I grinned sheepishly as I stood on the tips of my toes to reach high enough to hug Raudrich before he mounted his horse and left with his men.
“How can you see that?”
“Ye’ve some hair sticking up quite wildly, lass. Doona worry, no one can blame the two of ye for it.”
I hurried to smooth out any stray hairs, but everything felt rather flat and tidy. He laughed as he watched me pat all over the top of my head.
“I was only teasing, but I see now I was right.”
I smacked him gently on the arm as I clucked my tongue in disapproval.
“Not cool. Still…thank you.”
He twisted his head to the side much like he’d done the night before.
“For what, lass? I’ve brought ye nothing but a sore arse and a few restless nights of sleep.”
I knew he referred to the long horse ride and the lack of true rest while sleeping atop such a beast, but I could tell by the ornery glint in his eye he knew how his words sounded.
“You are awful. It’s a good thing you didn’t say that in front of Callum.”
He smiled and winked at me as he moved to secure his pack on the side of his horse.
“Aye, lass, I’m a scoundrel, but ye must admit that ye’ve grown rather fond of me over these past days. Have ye not?”
It was true, and it saddened me to see him leave knowing that his territory was so far from Cagair Castle.
“I have. You are a good man, Raudrich.”
He reached out and gave my arm a short squeeze.
“And ye, lass, are one of the bonniest women I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. If ye and Ca
llum should ever find yerself north, please do stop by.”
“We will.” I reached to rub his horse as he situated himself for the long ride. “So, you really don’t have yourself a lady-friend, huh?”
He bobbed his head playfully toward Callum.
“No, I doona. Are ye offering lass? Did ye tire of Callum so quickly?”
I waved a dismissive hand at him as he gathered up the reins.
“You know very well that’s not what I was saying. It’s just surprising is all. You’re very likeable.”
“I doona know about that, but I hope ye are right. I’ve much work to do, many people to win over in my brother’s territory if I am to care for the land in his stead. I hope they all come to think of me as kindly as ye do.”
I had no doubt that they would.
“They will. Please send word to Cagair when you reach your destination safely. If you ever need anything, I know Callum and his men will be there for you.”
He nodded and slowly turned his horse away, only to turn it back in my direction after a few steps.
“Ach, I almost forgot, lass. I’ve carried this with me since my brother’s death, but I think now perhaps the babe Nora would be better off with it than I.”
He leaned over to grab something from inside his pack then handed me a small painted portrait of a man that very much resembled Raudrich and a woman that I knew had to be his wife.
He spoke again before I had a chance to say anything in response. It was a special treasure. The fact that he was willing to give it up so Nora would have some piece of her parents touched me deeply.
“I doona know if the lassie’s Ma and Da will wish for her to see her birth parents or not. They may not want her to ever know. That is their choice, but if they wish to tell her, I thought it might be nice for her to have it.”
“It’s more than nice. I know Jane and Adwen both. They will be happy to show this to her one day.”
“It pleases me to know it. I hope that we meet again, lass. Until then, farewell.”
Love Beyond Belief (Book 7 of Morna’s Legacy Series) Page 18
