CHAPTER NINETEEN –Willow–
CHAPTER NINETEEN
–Willow–
IT’S HARD TO explain how I felt when I realized Sloan and I were under attack, other than confused. I thought we were still on MacLeod territory? So who were these warriors? Sutherlands? Then why weren’t they wearing Sutherland colors?
There was little time to speculate because things turned crazy, fast, and I had to try to remember everything Sloan had taught me about defending myself. If I were to be honest, half the time I wasn’t paying attention because I was far more focused on him than skills I was never going to need.
Yet here I was, sword fighting and using a tree to trip up my opponent, then slicing him in a spot I knew would stop him from pursuing me.
I was a pilot, so I was in dark parking lots and garages at night all the time, so I knew self-defense, yet I’d always hoped I would never have to use those skills. .
It turned out, no matter how hard I tried not to shift, when far too many warriors flooded the area and went after Sloan because he was the only thing separating me from them, I saw red.
Literally.
And I just kept seeing red, desperate to protect him, and no matter what I did to try and control it, my inner beast couldn’t be stopped.
Not when it came to him. So even though it was the last thing I should have done, I shifted only to watch the warriors attacking us just drop dead without us doing anything to them.
We knew at that moment, Elspet had set us up.
To top everything off, when I shifted, three-quarters of a gem appeared over my heart.
And it only got worse.
Dugal and Elspet appeared through the forest, with none other than King Robert, just in time to witness me turn back into my human half, giving them all a chance to see what was over my dragon’s heart.
“See there, my King, ‘tis as we thought it might be,” Dugal declared, unsheathing his sword and narrowing his eyes at Sloan. “The MacLeods have yet again betrayed us and the pact by keeping my fated mate from me. If that wasnae enough, they laid waste to Sutherland warriors to do it!”
“Nay, we didnae,” Sloan returned, wiping his bloodied blade and speaking calmly when I knew he would rather roar and run his sword straight into Dugal’s midsection.
He lowered his head respectfully to King Robert.
“My King, ‘tis good to see ye again.” He introduced me, keeping things polite for now, yet no one could miss how he moved closer to me. “’Tis my hope that we might discuss what transpired here before any rash decisions are made.”
King Robert, who was just shy of sixty, had graying, reddish brown hair, a beard, and deep lines around his eyes. He didn’t greet either of us in kind but seemed to assess us sternly, as if weighing his options, before he turned his horse and ordered everyone to follow.
Clearly believing they had triumphed, Elspet and Dugal shot us disgusted looks, but not before small, cunning smiles curled their mouth, because they had entrapped us so easily.
Seeming to understand we needed him, Sloan’s horse trotted over without us calling him, as everyone else followed King Robert.
Obviously, the king wasn't worried about us fleeing because he didn’t even look back.
Not just that, but based on Dugal’s smug look and the lustful way his eyes raked over me before he left, he no longer considered Sloan a threat.
“He doesnae have ye yet,” Sloan ground out, his brogue thick with emotion. He helped me onto his horse and swung up behind me. “I might hold my own with a weapon in hand, but I’m much better with words.”
Hold his own? He had been magnificent. Gallant without being ruthless. Brutal yet beautiful. I had never seen anything so impressive, but I kept it to myself because it wasn’t what he needed to hear right now.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured, sighing. “I shouldn’t have shifted, but I couldn’t stop it any more than I could the first time. It just took over and now everything’s a mess.”
“’Tis alright, lass,” he said softly into my mind, urging me to do the same from here on out lest they overhear us.
He wrapped his warm, strong arm around me as if needing to comfort us both.
“We were misled and forced into a difficult situation, but you and your dragon made me proud. Your beastie acted in my best interest, and I would never fault her for that because my dragon would have done the same for you.”
“And now look where we are.” I did my best not to inhale his scent and lean back into him like I wanted to.
“I wish I understood what was going on with this gem.” I frowned at my unchanged tattoo.
“It’s still whole on my tattoo, so should we assume my dragon’s gem is trying to catch up ?
” I shook my head. “Or maybe it doesn’t matter.
Maybe all that matters is the gem will be whole eventually. ”
“While I dinnae believe that, I highly suspect ‘twill be part of the counterargument I’ll face,” he replied gruffly, his arm tightening just enough to let me know he was truly starting to fear losing me and didn’t want to let go.
“I have the king’s ear more than you might realize, and I intend to take full advantage of that, so dinnae fear. ”
“We’ll face the counterargument together.
” I looked over my shoulder into his eyes, making myself clear, however hard it was to see the pain in his pale green gaze.
“We’re in this together until the end, and I’ll make it clear to your king.
I’ll tell him exactly who I love and want to be with and exactly how terrified I am of Dugal and Elspet. ”
“You’ll give them no such satisfaction.” He urged me to look forward again lest they were watching and demand I ride with Dugal.
His internal voice grew harder than I’d ever heard it.
“Follow my lead, Willow, because I know this world and these monsters. They dinnae think like those in yer century. They’re ruthless and power hungry, making ye think they’re one thing when they’re definitely another.
Elspet and Dugal dinnae do anything lest it serves their needs, so once we get to King Robert’s encampment dinnae speak to me telepathically until I say otherwise. ”
“Plenty of that happens in my world, too, Sloan.” I tried not to be alarmed by his fear that they might be able to hear our internal conversation. “So don’t think I’m not looking at this realistically, because I am. I have to.”
I left it at that, not only because I sensed this conversation would just go in circles, but because we’d arrived at a small encampment tucked in the woodland surrounded by Robert’s men and were told to attend the king in his tent.
That meant joining him, Elspet, Dugal, and several more of the king’s men who flanked him as he sat in a crude wooden chair in front of a small fire.
“I will hear ye out together first,” King Robert said. He offered no food or drinks but eyed the four of us grimly as we were urged to sit in wooden chairs around the fire. “Then I will speak with ye separately before coming to a decision.”
I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that, but what choice did we have? None by the look on the king’s face as he requested Dugal and Elspet speak first, and hell if they didn’t know how to spin a tale.
“As I’m sure ye know, King Robert,” Elspet began, not surprisingly the one in charge, as she peered down her pointed nose at me and Sloan, then offered the king a polite tilt of her head, “we Sutherlands have been betrayed by the MacLeods because of the pact multiple times now. We graciously accepted their first betrayal when they kept Hazel from us. Then we forgave them once again when they kept Evan Sutherland, a traitor in our ranks, from us as well.” She gestured loosely at Sloan without looking at him.
“Only for yet another MacLeod to betray us despite our unfounded hospitality, given the circumstances.”
“I didn’t realize a cell in a dank dungeon was considered hospitable,” I countered, about to say more, but quieted when King Robert shot me a stern look and one of his guardsmen unsheathed his sword to warn me I wouldn’t like what came next if I spoke out of turn again.
“Is this true, Lady Sutherland?” King Robert perked an eyebrow at her.
“Did ye throw Sloan in yer dungeon when he remained at yer castle willingly, promising to deliver Willow to yer verra doorstep so ye wouldnae run into problems again? Sloan, who was there on my behalf to ensure ye didnae throw another lass off yer battlements?”
“We did what we felt was best, all things considered,” she countered smoothly, offering no apologies for throwing not just Aspen but Evan off her battlement.
“And what was that?” the king prompted. “What do ye mean by all things considered? Because ‘tis said nothing happened other than a willow tree appeared outside yer castle.”
Her head jerked back, and she narrowed her eyes. “And who said this?”
“I did.” The king narrowed his eyes in return. “And ‘twould do ye well to remember to whom ye speak, Lady Sutherland.”
Ha. King or not, I liked this guy. He called bullshit when he saw it. No wonder he and Sloan were friends.
“Of course, my King,” Elspet returned so smoothly and confidently, I knew she was up to no good, and I sensed Sloan did too, but then this was Elspet we were talking about, and her son was no better.
He didn’t stop the leering looks he threw my way, no doubt hoping to provoke Sloan into doing something he’d regret.
“Go on.” King Robert’s gaze started with Elspet as if asking her, but landed on Dugal. “Laird Sutherland, what happened next?”
“After this appeared on my wrist—” Dugal showed him his tattoo— “Willow arrived in dragon form a short time later, having already shifted, denying me the chance to see the gem on her chest so I might know if she is destined for me. If that’s not traitorous enough, she laid waste to my castle and freed Sloan. ”
“And just to be clear,” the king prompted when Dugal felt he explained everything based on his self-righteous look, “what part of yer castle did Willow lay waste to?”
Although Dugal hesitated, as if not expecting the question, he had no choice but to answer. “The bottom portion.”
Robert’s eyebrows flew up. “So ye did throw Sloan MacLeod, one of my favored warriors, and by all means an ambassador in my name, in yer dungeon without provocation? Without any proof, he kept yer pact mate from ye? And all this was done before Willow’s dragon arrived because a mere tree appeared on yer land? ”
Dugal’s right eye twitched as he seemed to weigh how to respond.
“A tree that is verra much a part of this pact,” Dugal reminded them rather than actually answering the question.
He gestured in my direction. “As is the mark Willow wears on her wrist and the gem ye saw with yer own two eyes over her dragon’s heart, showing she descends from my clan's sorcerer. A marking worn by the one who is destined to become my fated mate, repaying the debt the MacLeod’s owe us for breaking the pact so long ago. ”
The king’s steely gaze fell to my wrist, which was covered by my sleeve, showing no glint of warmth. He met my eyes. “Is that true, lass?”
“It is,” I confessed readily enough, hoping he would leave it at that because I didn’t want to look at the damn thing again, but I should have known better.
“Might I see it?”
Despite wanting to say no because I didn't want anything on my body to match the monster across from me, I knew I had no choice. So, I nodded, pushed up my sleeve, and showed it to him, shocked to see it had changed once again, and I wasn’t so sure it was for the best.