“What reason would I have to go into the woods at night? I slept after Bethany left and didn’t wake until dawn,” Clive said, his smile gone.
“Maybe you saw to your nightly duties before falling asleep and perhaps spotted the men we searched for last night,” Royden suggested and turned to his wife. “And why do you tense at these questions? Is there something you both keep from me?”
Oria had had enough. She turned to Clive. “I won’t lie to my husband any longer.”
Royden stepped away from her. “Any longer?”
Oria looked to Clive.
“To my solar, the both of you,” Royden ordered and turned away to climb the stairs, not waiting for them to follow, but expecting them to. And they did.
Once in the solar, Royden turned to his wife and ordered, “Tell me.”
Clive responded, “She can’t. She swore to keep her word and she has, even as difficult as it has been to do so.”
Though annoyed, Royden admired his wife for honoring her word. Now, however, since they were husband and wife, he expected no secrets to be kept between them.
“I wanted to tell you so badly, but it meant the safety of others,” Oria said.
Royden could easily see that it had troubled his wife and that troubled him.
“I need someone to explain, now!” Royden demanded.
“That’s the problem,” Clive admitted. “We can’t.”
“You aren’t a merchant, are you?” Royden more stated than asked.
“No, but that cannot be divulged or others will suffer, for while I would like to think that I could withstand torture, I fear everyone has a breaking point. Oria’s breaking point is lying to you.”
Royden reached out and took his wife’s hand from where they sat beside each other at the round table.
“I made a promise,” she explained. “One I was honor bound to keep for the good of many. I never meant to intentionally keep anything from you.”
Clive went on to explain. “She gave me an ultimatum. A week’s time no more or she would reveal—”
Oria interrupted, wanting her husband to know, “What was safe for you to know while continuing to keep the deepest of trusts, the deepest of promises.”
Royden knew the cost of promises. He had one he had yet to keep. “There is much I wish to ask you—”
“I ask that you don’t,” Oria said, squeezing his hand.
“This has been a burden for you,” Royden said, seeing the torment in her eyes.
“Not until you returned home. You should know—”
“But it is best you don’t,” Clive finished.
Royden looked from one to the other. “I don’t like not knowing.”
“I don’t know everything myself,” Oria admitted, leaning in to press her shoulder against his, needing to be as close as she could to him, needing his strength.
Royden sensed and felt her need for him. It stirred in his gut and tore at his heart. He moved his chair closer to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders to keep her tight against him.
“Is there anything you can tell me?” Royden asked.
Oria couldn’t keep it from him any longer. “Your da is alive.”
Royden’s heart slammed against his chest, catching his breath.
“He was severely injured in the attack, but he has healed well,” Oria said.
Clive shook his head. “You should have waited.”
“His da would want him to know just as he would want to know his son has returned home,” Oria argued.
“My wife is right,” Royden said. “When will my da return home?”
Clive appeared reluctant to say.
Oria spoke up. “Your da will not want to leave Wren.”
“Wren?” Royden shook his head, the name unfamiliar.
“The witch in the woods,” Oria explained.
“What has the witch to—” He shook his head again. “She healed my da.”
“If it hadn’t been for her, he would have never survived,” Oria said and looked about to say more but stopped.
“Tell me,” Royden encouraged, thinking he was indebted more than he ever thought possible to a witch.
“Your da fell in love with Wren and she with him,” Oria said. “And I doubt he’ll want to leave her.”
“Then let him bring her home with him,” Royden said and Oria voiced his own thought.
“The clan might not accept her.”
“I will take the message to your da that you are home and wish him to return home as well,” Clive said.
“You are a messenger then, not a merchant?” Royden asked.
“I am whatever I need to be,” Clive said.
“Tell my da to come home and bring Wren with him,” Royden said. “Her skills will serve the clan well.” He looked between the both of them. “What else do you keep from me?”
Oria shook her head. “I have sworn an oath and, as much as I want to tell you, I cannot break it.”
“And you?” Royden asked, turning to Clive.
“I know nothing more,” Clive said.
“I don’t believe that, but something tells me to let it be for now,” Royden said.
“You’re a wise man, Chieftain Royden,” Clive said with a nod.
“Don’t mistake wisdom for patience that will last only so long,” Royden warned.
“Time will reveal what you need to know,” Clive offered and stood. “I need to be on my way. If all goes well, your da should return home in about a week’s time.”
“And if he doesn’t?” Royden asked.
“Then he will have made his choice,” Clive said and with a bob of his head left the solar.
“I’m sorry,” Oria said as soon as the door closed behind Clive.
Royden placed his hand on the back of her neck while he brought his brow to rest against hers. “You have no reason to be sorry. You gave your word and it protected my da and for that I am grateful. It took courage for you to keep that oath when you knew what it would mean to me, yet you kept it, continuing to protect my da. I’m proud of you, Oria.”
She didn’t know what to say, the guilt of knowing more that could further assuage his pain, hurting her.
He kissed her lips gently. “When the time is right, you will tell me the rest. What matters now is that my da is alive and Arran will return home soon. Then we will search for Raven together.” He drew his face away from her when he felt her tense again. “It’s Raven. You know about Raven.”
Oria nodded, knowing she could say no more.
“You fear for her.”
Oria didn’t answer.
Royden smiled. “That means she’s alive, which means Arran and I can find her, return her home, and finally keep her safe. This is good, so good. Da will be relieved to learn that his only daughter is alive. And I am overjoyed that our family will one day be reunited.”
He kissed her, a strong and solid kiss, then rested his brow to hers once again. “I missed you there beside me when I woke this morning.”
“It was difficult for me to leave you when all I wanted was to,” —she smiled— “wake you and hurry you inside me.”
“The place I most want to be,” he said and kissed her again.
She loved when they kissed. Their lips strong against each other’s. The way he would nibble along her bottom lip or tug at it with his teeth. It was when his tongue entered her mouth or hers entered his first that all but guaranteed they’d soon be making love. Like now, his tongue having pushed wickedly fast past her lips.
She tore her mouth away from his with reluctance. “If you don’t stop kissing me, I will expect to find you inside me very soon.”
“Then you won’t be disappointed, wife,” he said, pushing her chair out from the table and snagging her around the waist to hoist her off the chair and onto his lap.
Oria rushed her hands to his shoulders to steady herself, her smile spreading. “I wondered how it would be to ride you.”
He was a lucky man that she had g
iven thought to the possibility and that she didn’t shy away from different ways or places to make love.
“You’re about to find out,” he said and smiled when her hands left his shoulders to reach down and yank her garments up.
A knock at the door had a mumbled curse leaving his lips and a scowl settling over Oria.
“Chieftain Galvin demands to see you,” Bethany called out.
Royden seriously wanted to kill the man and it took great restraint to stop himself and not to stop his wife from slipping off his lap.
“Later,” she said and kissed her fingers to press against his lips.
Royden stood and turned his back to his wife, knowing if he looked at her his shaft would never soften. With his anger getting the better of him, he stomped to the door.
Oria’s hand covered his when it settled on the latch. “You look ready to kill.”
“I am,” he said, staring at her slender fingers that should be wrapped around his shaft and guiding it in her just about now.
“Duty before pleasure, husband,” she said. “Besides, I’d rather a longer ride than a short one.”
He turned and looked at her, his anger dissipating. “Then it’s our bedchamber we’ll seek right after Galvin leaves.”
“With great anticipation and pleasure,” Oria said and with her hand still rested on his, opened the door, not trusting either of them to leave the solar—just yet.
“Wise move, wife, since a thought struck me that a short ride now would suffice until you could enjoy a longer one later,” he said as they walked to the Great Hall.
“I was thinking the same myself, husband, and was the reason I opened the door so fast,” Oria admitted.
He laughed. “I’m glad we think alike.”
“You must help me, Royden,” Galvin said as soon as the couple entered the Great Hall.
Royden hid his shock at seeing Chieftain Galvin. He was not the man Royden had remembered. He had been a sizeable man, thick in the chest and waist with dark hair that hadn’t showed a sign of age. No more, though. He was half the man he’d once had been, His cheeks were hollow and there was a darkness beneath his sunken eyes that didn’t bode well. And his hair had turned completely gray, not a shred of darkness could be seen.
“Sit, and we’ll talk,” Royden offered, pointing to the table close to the hearth, thinking the frail man needed its warmth.
Galvin stared at Royden’s stump. “I had forgotten you lost your hand, perhaps you’ll be of no help to me.”
Oria left her husband’s side to step toward the man. “How dare you enter our home without so much as a greeting and congratulations for our marriage. And then you insult my husband implying he isn’t the man he once was,” —she shook her head— “it is beyond offensive. Royden is a more skilled warrior than he had been when he had two hands. Now you will apologize to my husband or take your leave and never return here.”
Royden was shocked, impressed, and proud of the way his wife defended him, not that Galvin would think so. Any minute he expected to hear the man’s booming voice reprimand Oria for daring to chastise him like a child and order her to leave the talk to the men. He was taken back by Galvin’s response.
“Forgive my rudeness, Mistress Oria. I was pleased to hear not only of Royden’s return, but your marriage to him as well. It is good you both have been reunited.”
“Thank you, Chieftain Galvin,” Oria said with a nod. “Now please sit and enjoy a hot brew while we discuss what help you need from my husband.”
Royden waited for Galvin to object that his wife would join them and when he didn’t, Royden knew the man definitely wasn’t the man he had once been.
“What can I do for you, Galvin?” Royden asked once they were all seated at the table.
“I am not a well man, Royden. I fear I don’t have much time left and while death is inevitable, I more fear being the last of my line, that no one will follow me. That I have failed my ancestors. A new chieftain will be named, but he won’t be of my seed. My only hope to continue the true Macara name is through my daughter. I need you to find her and I need Arran to wed her when he returns home.”
“Have you even heard from Purity in these past five years?” Royden asked.
“No, but I believe my daughter was either wise enough to stay away or too fearful to return home,” Galvin explained. “I don’t care which, either way, kept my land from being claimed. Now that I am ill, I need my daughter returned home and wed so I can die with the knowledge that my blood will run through the bairns she eventually will birth. And with her husband taken over as chieftain, the Clan Macara will rightfully live on. I know Arran would make sure of that.”
“I can’t speak for Arran,” Royden said. “And you don’t even know if your daughter survived.”
“Purity survived. She was in the woods. I saw her sneak there with Raven before the attack came. She knows those woods better than most around here, always preferring to be alone or with animals,” Galvin said, shaking his head as if still trying to understand it.
“It’s been five years,” Royden reminded. “That’s a long time for Purity to last in the woods on her own.”
“I don’t believe she’s alone. Some of your women and children were never accounted for and many believe they made a safe escape. Somewhere my daughter is alive and along with her possibly some of your clansmen. As chieftain it is your duty to see they are brought home safely.”
“That I can do, but I can do nothing about your request that Arran wed Purity,” Royden said.
“You’re chieftain now, you can order him to wed,” Galvin reminded him.
Actually, he wasn’t chieftain, not with the news that his da still lived, though that wasn’t news he would share with Galvin.
“I won’t do that, Galvin,” Royden informed him. “Arran has a right to choose who he weds.”
“Even when our land is at stake?” Galvin argued. “What if I die with no heir? Does this mysterious man who has taken so much from us sweep in and take my land and disperse my clan? And what of your clan, Oria? It should belong to your husband now with your father gone and yet you are told you have no right to it? And what of Clan Learmonth? We are told that a distant relative will inherit, yet Burnell had mentioned time and again he had no family. So who truly is laying claim to his land? Then there’s the Clan MacDonnegal that now has—Fergus—forced upon the old Chieftain Thurbane. And what of the warriors left among the clans, like Penn was left here and Freen was left with my clan? Is this man who swept in here and tried to lay claim to all the land in the area actually succeeding? Will he eventually surround your land, Royden, and you will have no choice but to pledge your allegiance to him?”
Royden detested the thought and was annoyed that Galvin actually made some sense. Was this man that Fergus had said many called the Beast, biding his time to eventually get what he wanted?
He always gets what he wants.
The memory of Penn’s remark sounded clear in Royden’s head.
“Your words certainly have relevance and are well worth considering,” Royden said.
“Aye, but we don’t have sufficient warriors to stop him and there’s something else we should consider. King David continues his desire to control the far north, Orkney and Caithness is already in his control. What if he has hired the mercenaries to take control of our land so they will swear allegiance to him and fight with him against the Highlanders if it comes to that?”
“I don’t think the Norse people will give up that area they have settled so easily. He will continue to have his hands full there,” Royden said. “As for the King hiring mercenaries, I suppose it’s possible, since he’s been spread thin with trying to get a foothold into northern England.”
“I tell you the King has made a pact with the devil,” Galvin insisted. “Please, I beg you, find Purity and explain the importance to Arran of him marrying my daughter when he returns. He’ll be chieftain of an established clan and have land and the wealth and importance t
hat goes with it.”
“I will discuss it with Arran when he arrives home, but as I’ve said, it will be his decision. I will not force him to wed,” Royden said, making it as clear as he could to Galvin.
Oria sat contemplating what had just been discussed while Royden saw Galvin to his horse. By her da having had her wed Burnell, and Raven and Purity unable to be found, it had no doubt upset the plan of whoever had devised the whole plot. Elsewise, she, Raven, and Purity would have been married to men that had been chosen for them and the clans and their lands would have been lost to the chieftains. But whose rule would the chieftain then had been under?
Royden entered the keep and went straight to his wife and kissed her. “I don’t want to think any more on this. I just want to be with you, feel you naked in my arms, and know it’s real and not a dream.”
Oria smiled. “I’ll race you to the bedchamber.”
Royden laughed. You always lost when we raced.”
“I think this time you just might let me win.”
He laughed again. “You’re right. I will.”
Oria got to her feet and was about to run when Angus hurried into the Great Hall. Her husband looked ready to kill him until he spoke.
“Some of our warriors and women return home,” Angus shouted with joy.
Chapter 16
“Have you a count?” Royden asked as he watched the group of people enter the village to smiles and warm welcomes.
“Fifteen of our warriors have returned and all are in fine shape,” Angus said. “A few brought women they’ve wed. I was glad to see Cadell, the metal worker, among the group.”
“Aye, that is good, we need his skills,” Royden agreed.
“He brought a wife with him, Huberta and their two children, two lads three years and one year,” Angus said, nodding at the woman standing beside Cadell, a sleeping bairn lying against her chest and a little lad clinging to her tunic. “Lona, the lass who spun such fine wool returned with a husband, Wilfred.” Angus nodded toward a tall, thin man.”
“He appears uncomfortable and not at all sturdy,” Royden said, the man’s eyes wide and darting about as he kept close to his smiling wife, who barely reached his shoulder.
Pledged to a Highlander Page 15
