Now I am in greater danger. Alec Buchanan threatens to expose me as a witch to the king if I do nae wed him. The king would have me burned, James. I ken it in my bones. Aye, that solves the problem of nae ageing, but I wish to live a joyous life and am nae ready to die to end my curse. And Alec would use my secret to keep me bound to him for all my endless days as long as he draws breath. He wants Renfrewshire, and he wants me as a means to keep it.
I ken I am about to ask a great deal, but if ye love me, if there is any part of ye that cares for me, I beg ye to come. Help me flee somewhere I might be safe from the threat of being named a witch and from being forced into Alec’s bed. I can nae bear the thought of his hands on me when I have keened yer touch.
Yers, with all my heart,
Katreine
I went still on my horse, the parchment clutched in both hands, my knuckles whitening at the edges. My chin dipped toward my chest as the full weight of her words settled over me. I had left her there. I had walked away because my pride was wounded, because I’d thought myself unworthy, because I’d believed the lie Buchanan told me. I’d let her face this alone.
“I am a fool,” I said aloud, my voice breaking on the words. “God’s blood, I am the greatest fool in all Scotland.”
“Oh, I do nae ken if that is true,” Munro said. I knew he was trying to ease my guilt. “There are many fools in Scotland, James. I doubt ye are the greatest.”
I could not even muster a smile at his jest. “Buchanan told me Katreine had bedded him,” I continued, the rage building in my chest. “He looked me in the eye and said she was a lusty lass. And I swallowed the poison he fed me.” I crushed the missive in my fist, then smoothed it out again with shaking hands, as if I might erase the creases. “I should have seen the truth. I should have fought. I should have—”
Rage surged through my chest and out of my throat in a sound more animal than human. I wheeled my horse toward the column, my voice carrying to every man present.
“We ride for Renfrewshire!” I bellowed, my hand already reaching for my sword. “We ride to save the woman I love from a man who would make her a prize!”
The words were bitter on my tongue, since I had once intended to use Katreine. I turned my horse toward Renfrewshire and drove my heels into the beast’s flanks as the men’s chorus of “Aye, we ride” resounded. My destrier broke into a full gallop. “Any man who would stand against us will face the full wrath of Clan Ross!”
Munro pulled alongside me without question, his mount breaking into a run. “To Renfrewshire!” he shouted, and the Ross warriors behind us took up the cry, a wave of sound rolling across the mist-shrouded hills.
The road unspooled beneath us, the mud flying from the horses’ hooves in great dark chunks. The Ross banner cracked hard in the speed-driven wind, the white and blue of it like a slash of lightning against the gray sky. We thundered down the road, a wall of steel and fury to protect the woman I loved, because I was a Ross, and if she would have me, she would be a Ross as well.
My thoughts came in short, hard bursts as we galloped. I could not lose her. She was mine. If Buchanan had touched her, I would tear the heart from his chest with my bare hands. Theimage rose in my mind of Buchanan’s hands on Katreine’s skin, his mouth on hers, and I urged my horse faster, leaning low over its neck as the wind tore at my hair.
“Once we have her,” he shouted. “We’ll bring her home where we can protect her.”
“Aye, thank ye for granting her protection.”
“There is nae a need to thank me, James. As my wife’s friend and the woman ye love, she is as much a Ross as ye are. She will be family, as ye are.”
The words struck me like a physical blow. For so long, I’d dreamed of a place to call my own, a clan name that was truly mine, and a stronghold where I might build a life. I’d thought I needed to earn them, to prove myself worthy before I could ask for them. And all along, they had been here, in the steady presence of the man who rode beside me and in the loyalty of the warriors who thundered at our backs.
“We are family,” I said, the words barely audible over the pounding of hooves.
Munro grinned, the fierce smile of a warrior riding to battle. “Aye, clot-heid. It took ye long enough for it to finally sink into yer thick skull. I can nae wait to meet yer lass. She must surely be a prize.”
“The greatest one,” I assured him, her face in my mind. I would fight a thousand wars for her, go to the ends of the earth, relinquish all possessions in my name, if only for one more moment with my lips to hers and her gaze upon me with trust.
Chapter Twenty-seven – Katreine
I pressed my head against the cold glass of the window in my bedchamber and stared across the horizon, over the rolling hills and into the descending darkness of night, as I had for the last two days. I held my breath and my hope, then released both with a mournful sob when I was, yet again, greeted by a picture devoid of James.
All the hoping and praying to the gods I had done for two days had been useless. He was not coming for me, and there was no time left to wait. The priest Alex had called to Renfrewshire would arrive tomorrow, so I had to flee tonight.
A pounding at my door startled me, and I swung around just as Alec shoved the door open. His dark gaze met mine, and he scowled. “The guards tell me ye’re ill and do nae want to come to supper.”
I swallowed the knot of fear in my throat as I forced myself to push away from the window and walk to him. I had to appear glad to see him if I wanted him to believe my lies. I crossed the distance across my bedchamber as my heart pounded so loudly I feared it would give me away. Once I stood directly in front of him, I looked up and met his gaze. “I fear it’s my time of the month,” I said, biting my lip to show embarrassment and looking away from him.
He frowned. “Ye will be done with that tomorrow for our wedding night.”
The man was a clot-heid. As if a woman had the power to control her flow, but I merely nodded and said, “Aye.”
He gave a curt nod. “Rest then, and I will see ye in the morning.”
If things had gone according to my plan, I’d never see him again, so conjuring a real smile at that thought did not take much effort.
