Chapter 5 #3
Ripe! he reminded herself. What she didn’t see in her reckless desire to be free was that she was young and vulnerable, and risking herself in a way she might possibly not understand.
Or else, she understood her peril completely, and just didn’t care.
What could be worse to her than being given to a man she had determined to be one of David’s Norman knights?
She was hotheaded and wild, and certain that her will alone was enough to change her destiny.
Enough to defy a king.
Yet, even before he had seen her features, he had heard her voice, seen her before the fire, and she had haunted his dreams …
His temper continued to surge despite the fact that he was a stranger to her.
He was dismayed to realize that he felt a greater sense of fury against Mellyora MacAdin than he did loss for Eleanora.
His pride, he thought ruefully, took precedence over his heart.
Minutes ago, he had felt a measure of sympathy for the lady on the river.
But he’d envisioned a different future then for himself.
His life had been changed here, in this room, in less than a quarter of an hour.
This was the way of the world. He couldn’t have Eleanora, and Mellyora MacAdin could not have her freedom.
The lady on the river now deserved no sympathy.
She was no longer an amusing young woman in a sad situation, but an obstinate, disobedient, and disloyal subject of the king.
Which made him remember that she was still sitting out on the river, where she plotted and planned to join with her Viking kin.
“I shall find the lady,” he told David.
“What?” the king asked, distracted. He shook his head. “You’ve been on a battle campaign, and just come to court. I’ll send other knights to find her, I’ll send out an army, I’ll—”
“Trust me, sire. I’m not tired. I shall find the lady,” Waryk swore.
He didn’t explain to the king that he had more at stake than other men, nor that he knew exactly where to find his errant heiress.
The king, he knew, had made his decision.
He would brook no arguments. The lady was Waryk’s.
So he would find her. She would remain cold as ice, he was certain.
He couldn’t force her to accept him, to want him, or to care for him in any way, and he wouldn’t insult either of them with such an effort.
But he could force obedience, to the king, and to himself, and he would do so.
He inclined his head to the woman Jillian, bowed to the king, and started from the great hall, his shoes still squishing.
Indeed, he would find her.
Outside the king’s hall, he paused, plotting. There were a few things he needed to do, some orders he needed to give, before retrieving his reluctant soon-to-be bride.
Because once he found the lady, he intended to keep her.
“Angus!” he called, bursting in on the man who kept quarters adjacent to his own.
It was early; Angus hadn’t slept long, but at Waryk’s summons, he was instantly up, reaching reflexively for his scabbard and sword.
“There’s no need to seize arms—yet,” Waryk said dryly. “I’ve been to see the king—”
“Aye, then, you’ve heard,” Angus said, studying Waryk.
“Aye, I’ve heard,” Waryk said. Apparently, everyone else at Stirling had known his fate while he had idled his time under the stars and in the river.
“Ah, well,” Angus said. “Lady Eleanora will understand. I know of the inheritance. It’s a place beyond imagination, the wildest beauty known to man.
You love the sea, Waryk, there’s no place finer.
And the lass, well, you’ll be pleased, she’s young.
I saw her once, as a babe, and she was the prettiest little creature ever.
She was the heiress we camped near last night, Sir Harry’s charge.
If I’d but known, I’d have insisted on seeing her.
Aye, now, I know, women change, but it’s said she’s grown into one of the most beautiful women in our country and beyond.
I’m sure you’ll be pleased when you’ve met—”
“Angus, we have met, so it seems—”
“Where, when?” Angus asked, puzzled; then he suddenly noted, “Waryk, you’re wet. Soaked.”
“Aye, that I am. We met quite by accident. I didn’t know the lady, nor does she yet know me.”
Angus lifted a brow slowly. “And she is why you’re soaking wet.”
“Aye.”
“Well, dry off, change man!”
“Not yet. I’m off to find my lady again, you see. And she has a penchant for water as well. I’m learning these things about her, you see.”
“Oh? Shall I come with you to find her?”
“No. I’ll find her myself.”
“And tell her just who you are, I imagine!”
“No. Not yet, Angus. But once I’ve brought her here … well, once I’ve done so, we’ll want to keep her. I’m not sure when I’ll return with her. When I do, inform the king. And alert Sir Harry, and Tristan, I think. I’ll count on you to keep close guard on these halls.”
“You think she’ll try to escape you?”
Waryk smiled grimly. “I know she’ll try to escape me. But she won’t. No matter what she thinks. I am curious to discover, though, just how far she is willing to go.”