Page 64 of His Forgotten Highland Bride

He scrunched up his nose. “The poor women who follow the drum and offer their company for coin have hard lives. I’d not wanted to be part of that or succumb to one of the many unpleasantries they shared with the other men.” He’d seen more than a few soldiers suffering from the effects of a few moments of pleasure that ended in painful diseases.

She smiled at him. “I thank ye for not bringing such horrors to our bed.”

He realized then he should have voiced a more personal reason. But he knew she would have seen through such a thing. Years ago, when they’d wed, she’d asked him for honesty. He would do his best to honor that vow.

When her brow pulled together in a frown, he thought perhaps he’d been hasty, but he quickly saw she wasn’t upset with him.

“What is it?”

“I seem to have lost one of my arrows. I’d thought I had five, but only four are in my quiver.”

“You are welcome to one of mine.”

She chuckled. “Yours are too long. Mine are made specifically for my size. That’s why I tip the feathers with woad. No one likes to get one of my arrows by mistake.”

He pointed to her four remaining arrows, white swan’s feathers tipped blue.

“I’ve seen you hunt and know you’ll show me up with the four arrows just fine.”

She blushed under his praise and headed into the dim coolness of the forest. They stood side by side, waiting and listening. She tilted her head and lifted her bow. The flash of blue sailed through the air, silently hitting its mark.

“Good job. I’m afraid I am not one for stealth,” he said as they walked together to retrieve her arrow and the rabbit she’d taken.

“War is very loud, I imagine.”

“Yes. But amid the chaos and noise, I often found moments of quiet when all else was blocked out. In those brief moments, it was possible to hear a single breath from an enemy as he drew his sword, hoping to end my life before I ended his.”

She placed her hand on his chest and looked at him. In her hazel depths, he didn’t see pity or fear. Just understanding. He knew she couldn’t know what war was like and was glad she never would.

He opened his mouth to say something, but she turned. Her eyes narrowed on something he couldn’t see, and then, with a gasp, she quickly stepped closer to him and pushed him to the side. She jerked and then looked at him in surprise.

“What…?” he managed to say as blood bloomed across her white shirt.

“Run,” she said as she slumped to the soft, dark earth. An arrow stuck up from her back. White swan feathers tipped blue. His wife’s missing arrow had been stolen and had been meant for him.

He wanted to chase after Ewan and end this right then, but his wife was hurt. She could be dying, and there was no greater need than for her to live.

He dropped down behind some shrubs so he’d not be an easy mark. Tugging her shirt to the side, he saw the arrow had just come through her skin just below her collarbone. A lower shot would have been fatal. He hoped this higher shot had missed anything vital.

Years at war had him acting as he would have with any other soldier. It wasn’t until he’d pushed the arrow through and broken off the tip to pull the shaft back through the entrance wound that he spared a moment to consider the frailty of his wife’s smaller body. As much as he wished to see her eyes bright with laughter, he was glad for her unconscious state during that hideous task.

“Sorry, lass,” he whispered frantically.

From his sporran, he pulled a bundle of clean cloth. Ripping them, he shoved a length into the front wound and then the rest into the wound on her back to staunch the bleeding until she could be properly tended.

The first thing he needed to do was get her to a healer and quickly. “Stay with me, Brenna. Don’t you leave now that I’ve just gotten here. We have things to do, you and I.” He spoke with the desperate need to keep her from fading off to the welcoming darkness many succumbed to.

He spared only a moment to worry if another arrow might come his way as he pulled his wife into his arms and headed for the horses. It took him a moment to get mounted and settle his wife against him before taking off for the castle. He frowned at the groan she made at his relentless pace but was heartened that at least she was alive enough to offer a complaint.

“I’m sorry, love. You can tell me what a bugger I am as soon as you are able, but I need to get you tended. Hold on, lass. ’Tis not far now.”

With Merlin running behind him, their thundering hooves captured the guard’s attention.

“Open the bloody gate,” Ronan bellowed to the man. Ronan didn’t have time to wait until they were close enough to see who he was. He had to hope they recognized him from that distance.

The gate opened just as he rode inside.

“Close it, and whatever ye do, don’t let Ewan Grant inside,” he ordered the confused men.