“We will not allow for it to subdue us,” Angus promised. His eyes narrowed. “We will kill it and be done with it.”
Angus and Octavia slept in the tent that eve. All of the riders made camp around the tent, though ‘twas his five favored men plus James who took turns keeping watch in pairs. He had taken a chance in telling even that many, but he held no regrets. He kenned his clansmen well. They would never break the confidence he had placed in them.
Octavia spread out her cloak on the ground and all but fell onto it. She was nigh unto exhausted. Angus had thought to finally consummate their marriage this eve, but the troubled expression upon her face told him ‘twould be best did he wait until the morrow.
“Tell me what you’re thinking, wife.”
She sighed. “I’m thinking I can’t fight in a dress.”
He came down to the ground and laid beside her. “I dinna want for you to fight at all.”
“I know.”
“But you wish to gainsay me?”
“Yes.”
He smiled as he placed a kiss on her forehead. “Mayhap I dinna wish for you to gainsay me.”
“I know, but…”
He sighed. “I understand. You think of this killing as your duty and you canna rest until the deed is done.”
“Exactly. Plus, I know what we’re up against. I was in their slave labor camps for two years.”
His heart ached for her. “What was that like? Being in their prisons?”
She was quiet for a long moment. A single candle was left burning nearby. He drew it in closer then brushed some curls away from her face so her expression was clear to him.
“Lonely,” she whispered. “Hopeless. Death was everywhere around you. All you could do was work as hard as possible so they wouldn’t kill you off quite yet, while all the while realizing your time could be over at any second.”
“But you had James and Doctor, didn’t you?”
She shook her head. “I thought James was dead until the night we escaped. I didn’t meet Dr. Kincaid until we released you three from prison.”
“I dinna ken that.”
“We were prisoners in the same death camp, but didn’t even know it.”
“I see.”
Silence.
“Now tell me what you’re thinking,” Octavia murmured.
That he did not wish for her to put herself in harm’s way. That he understood she would regardless so ‘twas better to work with her than try and countermand her. “That you need sleep,” he said. Angus blew out the candle and wrapped his arms around his wife. “So let’s get some.”
Chapter Ten
The new day brought another dead body. As Octavia and Angus rode toward the village, tons of curious eyes were on them. The clanspeople had come out of their huts to see their laird’s new wife—as he’d warned her they would—though Angus stopped before the caravan reached the gathered throng. He had more than introductions on his mind.
“Is it one of ours?” Angus bellowed to two approaching riders.
“Nay,” a soldier briefed him. “’Tis one of the Donalds.”
A Donald. Octavia’s eyebrows rose. Their party had crossed the border from Donald land over to Karrik land just last night. The fucking thing was heading right this way. It had slowed down a great deal, but it was definitely heading toward—or planning to pass through—Karrik territory.
James sidled his horse up next to Angus. “Not good,” he said under his breath to the laird and Octavia. “Not a good sign at all.”
