“I believe it is Sir Fergus.”
Cecily could not hide her surprise. Sir Fergus did not seem to be the sort of man who would leap into the saddle to chase anyone anywhere. He certainly had never shown her the sort of attention or interest that would drive a man to do so. A little voice in her head suggested that the man was not chasing her, but chasing a fortune, and she struggled to ignore it.
“I have come to a decision,” she said.
“Oh, aye? Have ye decided to believe me now?”
“Nay, not completely, and especially not about that last club ye hit me with ere we had to flee for our lives.”
“Then what is your decision about?”
“I shall travel with ye to Glascreag. I willnae keep trying to run away, not that I have had much opportunity to do so. Nay, I shall agree to go to Glascreag and give ye no more trouble about it.”
He sprawled on his side and rested his head on his hand as he studied her. “But nay because ye believe all I have told ye.”
“Nay, but I will do it because I cannae see that ye need to die just for doing what my uncle asked ye to. ’Tis evident that the men chasing us intend ye harm and would nay hesitate to kill ye if given the chance.”
“So ye think to be my shield?”
She sighed at the hint of mockery in his voice. “In a way. I ken I willnae be much of one, but I will be enough to make them at least take care. E’en if ye arenae right about Sir Fergus, he doesnae want me dead. And if ye are right, weel, he still doesnae want me dead—not yet.”
Artan wanted to protest this idea she had to protect him but bit back the words. She had agreed to go to Glascreag willingly. He certainly did not want to risk her changing her mind. It would make the journey a great deal easier on both of them if she was willing, and a lot less dangerous as well.
He moved away to get them something to eat. They had enough supplies to last a few days, but then he was going to have to find them more. Hunting was a possibility, but it took time and he did not think it would be wise to lose too much time in the pursuit of food. He would have to lose Sir Fergus and his men so that he could get some more supplies from some cottager or in a village. It should not be too difficult to lose his pursuers for at least a little while, he decided. Sir Fergus might know where he was taking Cecily, but he did not know exactly how Artan would get there.
“Do ye think we can get to Glascreag without confronting Sir Fergus and his men?” Cecily asked as they shared some bread and cheese.
“There is a good chance of that. I ken this land weel. I dinnae believe Sir Fergus does.”
Cecily frowned. “I dinnae think so, but I now realize that I ken verra little about the mon I am to marry.”
“Ye willnae be marrying him so I wouldnae worry about it.”
“If what ye have told me about him is true, then, aye, I willnae be marrying the mon. I have yet to decide that it is true, however.”
“Ye are a stubborn lass,” he muttered, and had a big drink of wine to still his annoyance.
“I cannae believe something just because ye tell me it is so.”
“Why not? Ye can trust me.”
“As I did when I went to the burn?” She held up her hand to silence his angry protests. “I ken that ye believe ye are helping me. I may e’en go so far to say that ye truly believe all ye say. Howbeit, I have lived with these people for twelve long years, and although I willnae say it has been pleasant, I cannae think of anything that happened in those years to make me believe they want me dead.”
“And I think ye were kept verra sheltered from the truth.”
Cecily sighed and had to acknowledge that. “Mayhap I was. I do ken that I wasnae allowed to mix with servants or go anywhere. That feast ye walked into was one of the first I have e’er been allowed to attend.”
“And ye ne’er questioned why ye were being kept so close, as if ye were some secret no one should ken about?”
“I assumed it was because I was only a child and then because I was ill-mannered, something Anabel was always accusing me of being. The first thought that came into my head was not that they had had a hand in the death of my father and brother or that they planned to kill me. ’Tis still not the first thought.”
Artan quelled the urge to ride back to Dunburn and strangle Anabel. “I have not made this all up in my head. I heard the three of them talking. So did Old Meg.” Seeing the stubborn look on her face, he sighed. “Think on it some more, then. But think on this as weel and see if ye can come up with an answer. If Anabel and Edmund consider ye such a burden, why didnae they send ye to Angus? Why did they work so hard to keep ye and your uncle apart?”
It was not something she wanted to think about, but Cecily just nodded. “I will think about it as we ride to Glascreag. Then if I still cannae believe all ye say, I shall make a short visit with my uncle and ride away with Sir Fergus when he arrives at Glascreag. I am betrothed to be married and I cannae just walk away from that. ’Tis a bond, isnae it? And I willnae be the one to break it unless I have a verra good reason.”
“I dinnae think ye were worrying much about that bond when ye came down to the burn to meet me.” He could tell by the narrowing of her eyes that he might have been wiser not to remind her of that just yet.
“’Tis clear to me that I am paying a penance for that sin.”
