Page 34 of Trapped By the Exiled Bastard

“Tae feel pleasure from one who cares for ye?” She tilted her head to look up at him. “Surely it cannae always feel so wonderful.”

Keir kissed her forehead. “I dinnae ken. But I intend tae spend the rest of our lives findin’ out, if ye’ll let me.”

Elin smiled, and Keir smiled back, and that was all they needed to say. When sleep found them, it found them together, comfortable in each other’s arms.

The attack came in the depths of the night.

Keir awoke with a start to find his bed empty and Elin nowhere in sight. He heard the horses screaming and quickly pulled on his clothes, grabbing for his sword, and burst out of the door to an all-too-familiar sight.

The camp was ablaze, and chaos reigned. At least thirty Grant men swarmed the grounds, looting and destroying wherever they went. Noah was fighting five men at once, red blood blossoming from a thousand cuts as he refused to yield. Graeme burst from his own cabin a second after Keir and threw himself into the fray with a roar. In the distance, Keir saw Theon running to the stables and knew his brother had gone to free the horses and let them run rather than be killed or burned by the attackers.

Where was Elin? Keir didn’t know, but he had no time to think as two Grant men rushed for him. He fought back with fury.

How many times would his home burn around him?

How many times would these monsters try to destroy everything he held dear?

His sword pierced an attacker’s heart, then he ducked to avoid a punishing blow from another, swiveling to parry a second attack and slicing out to end it.

Where was she?

Noah’s knees gave out and he fell to the ground. Graeme pounced, stopping his attackers before they could finish him, and the two men were lost in a sea of death and blood. Keir could not take a moment to fear for them. He fought through the throng, his eyes roving as he searched for her, fighting off every attack that came his way. He heard a whinny and saw Theon on the back of one of the horses, pulling Briana up behind him. Confusion made him stand still as he realized what he was seeing—Theon, riding on Nightwind, taking his wife and abandoning the camp. Abandoning them. Surely that couldn’t be—

He swore as, in his distraction, one of the Grant men pierced his shoulder with the tip of a dagger. Growling in irritation, he twisted before it could do any serious damage and dispatched the man before he had a chance to finish him. He turned to see what he could do for Noah and Graeme, unable to understand the betrayal he had just witnessed, then froze.

Eamon Grant strolled across the ground, unconcerned by the carnage, toward a lone woman who stood with a raised sword in her shaking hand. Elin stabbed out, but Eamon laughed and swept aside her attempt as though it was nothing.

“Nay!” Keir roared. He bolted toward them and smashed into Eamon with his whole body, sending Grant tumbling to the ground. Without any time to think, he grabbed Elin and ran toward the woods.

His brothers were probably dead. Theon and Briana had abandoned them. All he could do now was keep her safe.

“Keir!” she exclaimed, tears streaming down her face as he pulled her along into the woods toward their freedom. “Keir, wait!”

But Keir didn’t answer. There was nothing left to do now but run.

16

The sun had shown itself to the sky by the time Keir felt safe to stop running.

He was panting, exhausted, his lungs burning, his wounds painful and bleeding. When they reached the shore of a small loch he did not recognize, he finally stumbled to a stop. Elin was panting heavily at his side, and as he knelt to drink and wash his face, she sank down at his side. It all felt too familiar. At least, this time, his wounds only felt superficial. He grimaced as he thought of the injuries he’d seen Noah take and prayed that he and Graeme had somehow made it out, but his hope was slim.

After a few minutes of reviving themselves, a small, delicate hand rested on Keir’s shoulder. He didn’t shrug Elin away, but neither did he look at her. His breathing returned to normal, but in place of the exhaustion and adrenaline pooled shame and self-revulsion. Because it was his fault.

It had to be.

He’d been so distracted when he was trying to teach Elin how to track, so caught up in her, that he hadn’t been careful. He’d left a trail, he was sure of it, and the Grants had discovered it. And now Theon and Briana were gone, he had no idea what had happened to Graeme and Noah…

Keir winced away from the pain of the thought. “I’m sorry,” he said, the words torn from his throat. “I promised ye a home, and I’ve taken it from ye with me foolishness. I’m so sorry.” His eyes itched, but no tears would come.

Elin was silent for a moment, but her hand tightened on his shoulder.

“I dinnae ken how I could be such a fool,” he went on, staring with disgust at his own reflection in the water. “I failed ye. I failed all of ye. I led the Grants right to us, led Eamon Grant right tae ye. I—”

“Ye didnae,” Elin said, so quietly her voice was almost lost in the wind. “Keir, listen. This isnae yer fault.”

Now he did look at her. Her eyes were brimming with tears, her cheeks pink, and her hair wild. She was so, so beautiful. “Dinnae try tae make me feel better for what I’ve done, Elin. I—”

“It was me fault. Me alone.”