Page 22 of In Bed with her Highland Foe

The bullet lodged somewhere in the ground, but with Gilchrist so focused on the pistol, he had not paid attention to Shay’s sword.

The next thing he knew of that weapon was the metal blade cutting across his upper right arm. It sliced his skin, the pain cutting so deep into him that he grunted heavily.

“Men, attack,” Aaden called, pulling out his own sword, but he was not quick enough.

Gilchrist turned to face Shay, just as the laird smiled in victory, looking down at the sword in his grasp with a proud smile. One hit, it was all that was needed. Gilchrist thrust the hilt of the sword into Shay’s nose.

He fell to the ground, blood pouring from his nose.

“Ah. Ah! Ye broke me nose. Ye… ye broke it!” The childish wails continued to cry out.

Confident that Shay would not advance again, Gilchrist turned his back and took a step away, moving toward Aaden. His arm was now covered in blood and there was no sign at all of it stopping any time soon.

“Aaden…” Gilchrist moved toward him. “I need sutures. I need the healer.”

“Captain!” Aaden caught his good arm just as the world around him swayed and he fell to his knees. The loss of blood was so much that his body was close to passing out.

“Take his sword off him before he fights anyone again,” Gilchrist muttered for only Aaden to hear.

Aaden nodded, just as Gilchrist hung his head forward and fought the blackness. He would not give Laird Shay the satisfaction of seeing him pass out from a loss of blood.

Stay awake, ye fool. Stay awake so ye can tell Kyven what truly happened, that she is about tae marry a brute of a man who would fight fer pride alone.

Yet the thought of Kyven simply made his wound ache all the more. He knew no matter what he said, she would not be happy when she discovered they had been fighting.

“Then we are in agreement,” Kyven said, turning her head and looking around the table of councilors. The circular table was topped with gilt silver shining in the sun that bled through the window. Kyven had to keep her eyes lifted from it to avoid the glare, forcing her to meet the stern and expecting gaze of all the councilors. “We willnae lower the guard at the clan borders.”

The council nodded in agreement with her. There was such fear about being attacked, that even the propensity of Kyven finding a husband at last was not enough to quell them.

The door abruptly opened. It clattered against the wall so loudly that everyone turned their heads sharply. It was Helen, breathless and gasping as she stumbled into the room.

“We willnae be disturbed when we are in conference with the lady of the clan,” Councilor Barnaby roared from his place beside Kyven. She glared at him momentarily, angered as he swept an arm toward Helen so dismissively.

“Oh, aye, for poor Helen looks tae be doing this for her own amusement, does she nae?” Kyven’s wryness made a couple of the councilors smile, though Barnaby, the eldest and most staunch in his expectations of her, looked even grimmer than before. “Helen? What is wrong?”

“Me lady.” Helen ran around the council table. Rather than declaring her news to the room, she gripped Kyven’s arm, bent down, and whispered in her ear. “It is Laird Shay and Captain Gilchrist. They have been fighting. They are with the healer now.”

Kyven wasn’t sure what to feel first. Fear spiked within her, but so did a kind of fury that was as hot as any blazing fire.

What does Gilchrist think he is doing now?

The snide comments, the looks, all those glares in Laird Shay’s direction meant something, and now what? Now he was going to fight their future laird?

“Council is at an end.” Kyven jumped to her feet and swept away from the room.

“Me lady? We arenae finished!” Councilor Barnaby called after her, his voice desperate.

“We are for today,” she said with finality, marching out of the chamber before he could stop her.

Helen tried to keep up with her as she made her way across the castle grounds toward the turrets where their new healer, Harper, kept her rooms after their previous one, Hepburn, had to leave. Kyven didn’t talk to anyone as she walked, and even Helen fell away in the end, clearly sensing she was not in need of conversation.

Kyven reached the turret and banged the door open, climbing the spiral staircase as fast as she could and sweeping the skirt of her tartan gown aside to move faster. At the top of the stairs, she struggled through the gap in her large gown, before tumbling into a series of rooms that all belonged to Harper. The larger chamber was unoccupied, but the scents of herbs and turpentine were pungent, making Kyven lift her hand to her lips in shock. She hastened past a large table filled with tiny glass bottles and other medicinal apparatus, toward an open door at the far end of the room.

This chamber was smaller, and in two chairs sat Gilchrist and Laird Shay. Harper moved between them, a young woman only a little older than Kyven. With blonde hair curling madly, she often jested that it looked like she had been shocked by lightning at a young age. Kyven liked the woman, and the two often fell easily into conversation, but not today..

If looks could kill, both Gilchrist and Laird Shay would no longer be breathing as they glowered at one another. Harper sighed as she walked between them, offering up various herbs and ointments for their injuries.

“I see today is a cheery day indeed,” she muttered under her breath before she spotted Kyven. “Ah, me lady.” She dropped a hasty curtsy.