Chapter 17 #2
She was alive! His throat tightened with emotion as he pulled her against him as he treaded water. “I have a hold of you. You are fine now.” Safe was another matter.
At least with the steady wind, the waves would continue to build. If any of the English knights scanned the bay, the waves would provide a fairly effective shield.
“Where are we going?” she asked, her words sluggish.
“I am taking you to the boat.” He fought for calm as he swam with her in his arms. He’d almost lost her. What if he hadna seen her below the waves? Nay, he wouldna think of that. “Hold on to me.”
In reply, her hand tightened on his neck.
He didna care that she didna speak. She was alive, that was all that mattered. Using his free arm, he swam toward the boat.
Instead of closing on the craft, it drifted farther away.
To his right, floating on top of the water, he noticed the slack line. The sailor’s warning came to mind. When they’d fallen into the bay, the impact of waves must have tugged the line free. “A sword’s wrath!”
“What is wrong?”
At the exhaustion in her voice, he steadied himself. The last thing he wished was to alarm her further. “The boat is loose, ‘twill take but a moment to catch it.” Colyne swam after it, holding Marie afloat at his side.
The small craft bobbed in the water with cheerful abandon, the gap between them quickly expanding to several fathoms.
Refusing to give up, he swam harder, his fear growing with each stroke. The boat had become caught in the current.
Eyes raw with fear turned on Colyne. “We are not going to catch it, are we?”
“Aye.” Colyne swam harder. His muscles screamed. Water swirled past.
The distance between them and the boat grew.
Breathing hard, he paused, began to tread water.
“What now?” she murmured, her pallor increasing his worry.
He scanned the docks, then the Kincaid. They couldna risk being caught. “We will swim with the current to shore.”
With sure, steady strokes, he moved near the pier and kept them within the shadows of the moored ships. Thankfully, the crowd on the wooden dock above, along with the height of the growing waves, shielded them.
By the time they reached the shelter of the trees near shore, Marie’s body was trembling uncontrollably.
As if she had the strength to try to swim in the first place.
His guilt grew. She hadna recovered from her bout of seasickness—nae that he had allowed her proper sleep last night. But when she’d returned his kiss, he’d become lost in the passions she aroused.
In his entire life, nay one had ever responded to him with such completeness. And with her every word, her every touch, she filled the emptiness that haunted him. Now, because of his selfishness, he’d put her life further at risk.
His boot grazed a rock and he stood. Water streamed from their bodies as he lifted Marie and carried her up the steep embankment.
Her teeth chattered and she groggily lifted her head. “Co—cold.”
“I know. You shall be warm soon.” And with her watching him with such belief, he’d do whatever it took to make his claim true.
Through the shield of leaves, standing on the pier, holding the rope to the small craft, Logan, accompanied by several English knights, came into view.
Colyne sighed with relief. Their mishap had been a blessing in disguise. At least his friend had recovered his boat, and ‘twould end any suspicions the knights might have had of their presence aboard the Kincaid.
Now he must find Marie dry clothing and shelter.
Turning, he ducked under a low limb. He kept beneath the overhanging branches as he made his way along the bank.
After stealing a blanket and clothes for her from a line behind a battered hut, Colyne hid within an abandoned shelter and helped her change. “Marie?”
She frowned at him in confusion.
Panic welled in his gut. She scrutinized him as if a stranger. “Marie?”
Silence.
A sword’s wrath, her exhaustion combined with the coldness of the water from their swim was making her lose consciousness.
He said a silent prayer as he wrapped her in the blanket and cradled her against his chest. He had to find shelter, a healer, and warm her fast. Colyne pressed a kiss to her brow. “I am going to take care of you. I promise.”
Concern for her deteriorating condition pressed him to take risks; he entered the village he’d wanted to skirt around.
He darted through alleys he would have otherwise avoided.
At times he caught the interested stares of the people living in this dangerous part of town.
Colyne shot them warning glares to keep their distance and moved on.
He wove through several streets, thankful he’d visited this area on a few occasions. At least he knew his way around, along with which parts of the village the duke’s men would most likely ignore.
As he rounded a corner, a decrepit inn came into view. By its fallen state, he doubted they boarded many patrons. Exactly the type of place he was searching for. The fewer people who saw them the better.
Marie moaned.
“We are almost there.” He hugged her to him and hurried inside.
Wood creaked and then settled with a thunk as Colyne shoved the door shut.
The scent of tallow candles stung the air as his vision adjusted to the dim, narrow chamber.
A small hewn table sat to the right, the accompanying chairs designed for durability nae beauty, but overall, the inn was cleaner than he’d expected.
“What would you be wanting?” a woman’s rough voice demanded.
He glanced toward the middle-aged woman whose black hair was twisted into a haphazard braid. “A room,” he replied, nae making any gestures she would deem threatening.
“My husband has yet to remove the sign; we no longer accept guests.”
Even better. Anyone searching for them would never look here. “My wife is ill and needs to rest. Please, any room will do. I have money to—”
“Non.”
Colyne retrieved two coins and held them up for her inspection.
She sniffed. “I have a small chamber, but it has naught but a bed and a hearth. You can stay there for the night.”
Thankful, he retrieved five more coins, more than sufficient payment for a stay at the finest inn in Glasgow. “Three days?” Time, he prayed, that would allow Marie to recover.
A frown creased her brow as the woman studied him. After a moment, she nodded.
Thank God. Desperate at Marie’s weakening condition, he’d already decided, willing or nae, the innkeeper would allow them to remain. Her cooperation made everything simpler. He laid the money in her palm.
Like a woman seasoned in dealing with less than savory characters, she quickly stowed the coins within the thick folds of her faded dress.
“Follow me.” After a quick glance at Marie, she headed toward a back chamber. At the entry, she opened a door.
The musty scent of an unaired room assaulted Colyne as he carried Marie inside. What he’d give to take her to a chamber befitting her station; a bed with the finest linens, a hearth ablaze with a roaring fire, and a fresh pot of her bed tea. At least the bed appeared clean.
More important, they were safe.
Now to address his next problem. “My wife needs a healer. Someone discreet,” he added with a knowing glance.
Worry flickered in her eyes as she studied Marie.
“I shall pay whatever fees are necessary.”
“I will fetch her.” Her dress rustled as she departed.
As the door closed, he dismissed the notion that woman might have recognized Marie. Her wariness came from dealing with unscrupulous patrons. On this side of town, nay doubt she dealt too often with a seedy lot. Colyne walked over to the bed and turned back the coverlet.
Marie moaned against his neck.
Worry rode him as he lay her upon the thinly covered straw mattress and pulled up the blanket. He pressed a kiss on her brow. “A healer is on the way.” As much as he wished to strip her of her clothes and add his body heat to hers, he couldna until after the healer left.
Marie coughed.
At her continued trembling, Colyne built a fire and then lay by her side and drew her against him. “Easy now, lass.” He combed away the wet hair clinging to her face. And with her every shiver, her every rough cough, his fear at her declining condition grew. Terrified, he closed his eyes.
And prayed.
The healer’s brow sagged into a haggard frown as she examined Marie. “How long has she been this weak?”
Colyne ignored the sharpness of her tone, thankful for her competence and the fact that she genuinely seemed to care. “Since this morning.”
He didna explain Marie’s bout with seasickness. Though he doubted the information would interest the healer, he wasna taking any chances of word reaching Renard’s knights of a man and a woman arriving by ship and staying at this inn.
As if able to read his mind, the healer’s eyes narrowed on him. “Has she been sick?”
Her cool stare fueled his unease. They were too far from the royal palace where someone would recognize the king’s bastard daughter. Their recent flight from the Kincaid prodded his suspicions.
“Her clothes are ill fitting,” the woman pressed at his silence.
“Aye, a few days past, but she had begun to recover. Then, this morning, while delivering goods to the docks, a fight broke out. My wife accidentally fell into the water.” A reasonable explanation for the smell of the sea on her garments, as well as their sodden state.
The healer grimaced. “See that she is kept warm and drinks plenty of water. I will leave herbs that should keep her from developing a fever and help her sleep.”
Marie appeared so fragile. “Will she live?” Colyne asked, unable to keep worry from trickling into his voice.
The woman studied him a long moment. “I am not sure.”
Fear balled in his chest, a keening so deep it tore through his heart. “I canna lose her. Please, if there is anything else you can do to help her . . .” He knew he sounded desperate, but he didna care.
“God and time will decide her fate.”
“Stay,” he all but demanded.