Chapter Seven #3
“Because I wanted to thank you for saving my life those months ago,” he said, rather formally. “The physic told me that if you had not stitched me up, I would have either died of blood loss or of poison. Whatever you did saved my life and I am grateful. That is all I wanted to say.”
With that, he dipped his head at her politely to beg his leave and turned away, heading back the direction they had come. He hadn’t taken three steps when she called to him.
“Wait,” she said, watching him stop and turn to her. This time, he was guarded and she struggled for words. “I… I dunna even know what tae say. I never expected tae see ye here. I dinna expect tae ever see ye again.”
He nodded. “I know,” he said. “The same can be said for me. I am glad that I was able to thank you for what you did.”
“Ye dinna want me touching ye at the time.”
He grunted in agreement. “I was wounded,” he said. “I was not thinking clearly.”
Her eyes trailed up and down his enormous body. “But ye survived,” she said. “No ill effects?”
He shook his head. “Other than a couple of thick scars, there is nothing.”
“Then ye were fortunate.”
“I had a guardian angel.”
“Ye know that for a fact?”
He smiled weakly. “I meant you,” he said. “You were my angel that night.”
She began to look extremely uncomfortable, averting her gaze, folding her arms over her torso in a rather protective gesture.
“I… I dunna know how William will react if he knows that I was on the field of battle that night,” she said. “I would be grateful if ye dinna tell him.”
War shook his head faintly. “I won’t,” he said. “But why should he be concerned with it?”
She sighed heavily. “Because my clan… we’re allied with the English,” she said. “Yet I was there that night… I was told tae take valuables from the dead.”
“The dead English?”
She nodded, unable to even speak the word. He wasn’t surprised but, somehow, he was disappointed. However, she looked upset. Terrified, even. Not at all like she had enjoyed it or had been committed to her duty.
“Did you?” he asked quietly.
She shook her head, her eyes welling. “Nay,” she whispered.
“I couldna do it. I came across ye and helped ye instead of killing ye. I think I was expected tae kill ye, but I couldna. My own brother… if he knew I dinna kill a wounded knight on that day, he’d never forgive me.
If William knows what I did and he tells him… ”
War understood. “I’ll not mention it.”
“’Tis not that I’m ashamed of what I did,” she said as if trying desperately to explain her position. “I’m not ashamed I helped ye, but some would look at it as treachery. We lost many of our lads that day and ’twas all my fault. Tae help an English knight would be salt in the wound.”
He cocked his head curiously. “Why was it your fault? You did not start the battle.”
She blinked as if shocked he should say such a thing. “Do ye not know how the whole situation happened?”
He thought back to that incident. Truthfully, he didn’t remember much from that period in time because he’d been weak with his wound. Much of it was a blur.
“We received a call from Etal because the Scots were attacking,” he said. “We were asked to help and we did.”
She closed her eyes, briefly, as if greatly pained by his answer. Or perhaps it was because she was greatly pained by what she knew and he didn’t.
“But there was a reason behind it,” she said softly. “There’s always a reason behind a conflict. Do ye know why I tended ye on that day? Because… because I felt guilty.”
“For what?”
“Because the battle wouldna have happened had it not been for me.”
His brow furrowed. “What did you have to do with it?”
She sighed heavily. “Ye may as well know,” she said.
“Ye may not want tae thank me for tending tae ye after ye hear, but the truth is that everything happened because of me. I was tending a flock of new lambs and English soldiers from Etal came upon me. I thought they were sick but they were drunk. They tore my dress and bruised my arms, but I managed tae get away. They stole my lambs. When I told my da, he was so angry that he gathered the clans tae march on Etal. And that’s why ye were there. ”
If War had been told any of that beforehand, he hadn’t remembered.
In looking at that delicate, beautiful woman, he couldn’t imagine anyone attacking her, but he wasn’t surprised.
Men could do dastardly things. Drunken English soldiers who thought to strip the petals off the fair Scottish flower.
The mere idea stirred the flames of anger deep in his chest.
His jaw ticked faintly.
“Had I known that, I would have killed those soldiers myself,” he said quietly. “And I would not have answered Etal’s call for help. I am sorry that happened, my lady. Your clan had every right to be outraged.”
She looked at him in surprise. “Ye… ye wouldna have…?”
“Nay.”
Voices came from the direction of the solar as men began to emerge, out into the foyer, and Annaleigh startled at the sound. The spell between them was broken and she suddenly darted off before War could stop her. But it didn’t matter.
She may have been gone, but the memory of her lingered.
So did an inkling of interest.