Chapter 34
“Are you certain Chief MacHarris shall find the way?” Nella asked Callum, worry weighing her voice.
She heard his quick reply. “Rage fit for a chief who was wronged lit his gaze. Aye, he shall lay waste to Sèidrich in our stead.” He looked toward Sir Brayden, who pointed at something as a marker in direction at the turn ahead on the twilight path they had taken through the flora.
“Yet, I feel I should have helped him find them first so—” she began, but Holger cut her off rudely.
“My lady, your attentions need to be here! Upon the abbey we ride for then seizing Sir James. Particularly after I have finally convinced your knight it is of utmost importance the clergy are not harmed while at the location of their final stop. Before they journey to Perth tomorrow for the treaty signing.”
“And your sister,” Nella and Kameron both reminded.
“For certain.” Holger glared at Kameron then grinned at her while finishing, “You shall take to my sister’s company same as a butterfly to a bloom.
May I be so bold as to declare she might possibly sway that ever present ill-advised want to remain within King Alexander’s court.
” She glanced up finding Callum was engrossed with Brayden on the direction they headed southward. Good, he hadn’t heard the Northman.
It would be soooo easy to tell the Northman he was an arrogant arse who only thought of title and privilege before his own sister. What good could come of that? She bit her lip.
Was it more than her irritation at Holger which bothered her?
Aye. Callum had declared his feelings for her but promises made regarding the future had not yet crossed lips.
Time had been pressing; aye, this had to be the reason.
Her gaze strayed toward her knight’s broad shoulders which stiffened ahead of her as he bantered with Brayden about going around a river or through it.
What if that wasn’t it? Did he think her the same as many other widows, simply a companion for the bedchamber at a lover’s beacon call?
No, he was not like that; he loved her. He had proclaimed as much in their silent exchange at the inn.
What if her past marriage in Clan MacMardan, who were all soon to be deemed traitors to King Alexander, darkened their future?
It would not do for the captain of the royal guard to take a wife of such ill-reputed tethering, even if it were not by her own hand.
Would that matter to courtiers if it wasn’t her fault?
No, they would roast her past on a spit for their own pleasure by gossip.
His captain’s chainmail tunic remained woven through his quiver and bow strapped onto the saddle.
Oddly, he had not donned it back on. It was like he felt unworthy of the garment now.
Her gaze fell upon a string unraveling from her frayed cloak’s edges. That may as well be their future. Callum deserved better than this. Better than having to defend his lady’s past to ever-present jaws flapping.
Time. Time was the current challenge here.
If they ever secured a moment alone where threats didn’t linger in the distance same as shadows, they may have a chance to speak upon all.
Inwardly she sighed. This may be never. Stop being selfish; there is a wee lady who needs your talents, so no harm befalls her from this Sir James.
Her eyes rose then met Kameron’s after she put some distance between her and Callum. Holger rode forward a step, joining the argument on how best to cross the river quickly approaching.
“Tell me again about your lass?” She was in dire need of happier tidings.
Kameron’s gaze matched hers moments ago when he looked down, taking sudden interest in her cloak’s same loose string.
“There is not much to tell,” he murmured.
“My lady, we have not spoken since charging from the shi… Pardon, grave keep. Thank you for savin’ my kin.
Sir Callum told me what you did. ’Twas your instinct in senses which saved my mam? ”
“’Twas, and nae need to thank me. They are lovely and most worried for you.” Was it the first time she had seen the lad appear forlorn? Aye. “Kameron, what troubles you so? Why have you not taken your leave to return to them?”
“My lady,” he answered with another question while glancing ahead at the three who were quickly turning a notch louder by disagreement, “may I ask about Stirling?”
“’Tis a grand burgh.”
His expression was filled with as much concern as the water coursing the river ahead. “I must find more work. The lass I love, her sire warned he would not bequeath her hand unless I was a more established lad to support her. My station as a lad to a croft tenant was not what her sire wanted.”
If a protective nature could have built a bridge they would have walked across the waterway looming. “Kam, I believe her sire and my late sire have a grand amount in common. What is his expectation?”
“My plan was to find a proper place, finishing my apprenticeship, then perhaps establishing my own forge before retunin’. ’Tis the best I may hope for. Yet, I fear it may still not be enough to impress her sire.”
“Kam, you may hope for a great deal more.”
“Naw.” He bristled his shoulders. “I am a low born, I would be lucky to accomplish such a feat, one” – he leaned forth, whispering as if the lass’s sire was near – “I do not even care for. Hammer or not, being a smith does not bring me much joy. However, if I fail even at this” – he slammed his gaze closed a brief moment – “the lass, my love, shall marry the butcher’s son. Whom she wept is a cruel sort.”
“Is her heart yours, Kam?”
His lids popped open with a devotion shadowed in his gaze. “Aye, we have declared our feelings.”
Nella raised her chin. “We shall find a way.” Kameron’s eyes grew.
“Aye! I have never seen a braver or more determined soul at your age. Here riding alongside us, facing down trained mercenary warriors with only a hammer in hand.” His cheeks turned copper as his hair by her compliments.
“Sir Callum told me of your deeds after we stole away from the keep. You have nothing to be ashamed of. It is this snob of a sire who should wear shame same as a surcoat.”
Her knight’s voice broke in. “My lady, there is a swift challenge which lay ahead, and I believe it would be best if you ride with me as we have done before on our journey toward Kameron’s kin.”
The steed she rode had been solid thus far. “I believe all will be well with the mount given. He has not taken a sour step.”
“My lady, ’tis a wide point we shall endeavor to cross.”
“’Twill grant us a chance at a bit of rest before pressing onward so we may reach the abbey before dawn,” Holger explained, and Callum shot him a dark look.
She would have asked why. But did she really want to re-ignite the heated exchange about the Northman wanting to cross here, while the Scotsmen sought a narrower place a distance away?
No. Patting the stallion’s solid neck, she called back, “I am quite capable of making the jump.” She nodded at the distance across then ran her fingers over the bristled fur. “With this stallion here.”
Callum’s expression bore concern. “My lady, I truly feel—”
“Allow me to declare what I truly feel,” Holger re-butted.
“The longer we remain here speaking, the shorter the time we will be allowed to rest! Look here, Sir Callum.” Holger kneed his chestnut charger ten strides at a canter and the pair flew across the white rapids in ease.
Turning the beast on the far embankment, he hollered, “See, there is naught to it. Make haste!”
Kameron gave her a mirth-filled grin. “Allow me, my lady, it shall give me a moment to spout a few curses at the braggart before you arrive.” He quickly joined the Northman after his bay soared the air. Sir Brayden nodded at them before he joined the pair awaiting on the far side.
“Nella?” Callum said her name, but a worry was behind it.
“I am a sound rider,” she replied. “Gracious the hours I spent trailing my late husband on his forsaken hunts. He would have made good use of this river as a challenge to see me drown.” It was meant to lighten the mood.
She smiled softly, and the furrow on his brow deepened, by worry or anger she couldn’t be sure.
“Please use care, I shall be directly behind you.”
They were alone, and a strike of naughty caught her tongue. “You promise the same for the passageway which leads to my bedchamber?”
His gaze remained dark but held an edge by desire in its depths. “My lady, you best dash across, otherwise I will make use of this request in the grove behind us.” Her heart rushed fast as the waters she turned to cross.
With one more pet upon the stallion’s bushy gray mane, she kneed him into a brisk three-beat canter.
Better to give the beast (horse, not Callum) time for his stride to gather before the embankment.
Watch for that patch of soft earth on the right from the two previous jumpers; go for the firmer soil next to it.
She closed her left fingers, and the stallion veered a wee bit left.
The perfect takeoff spot. How many strides to it?
Five strides. Four. Three. She rested all her weight onto the balls of her feet in the stirrups and leaned forward to aid the charger in flight.
As she rested her reins onto the crested neck under the mane billowing in the wind, they soared across.
Snap! She screamed when she caught a different air after the saddle’s leather girth broke mid-flight.
“NELLA!”