Chapter 8 #3
them. “I’m sorry, Ali,” he rasped.
She rolled her forehead into his shoulder and
then lifted her gaze to his. “Don’t be. You saved me from certain
rape and who knows what else. We didn’t kill Leif. You and I have
nothing to be sorry about.”
“We know that,” he said, “but without any
witnesses, or the actual murderer stepping up and admitting their
guilt, it’ll be our word against Roger’s.”
“The lying snake,” she hissed. She shuddered
and Roark tightened his hold on her. “What do we do now? Will your
father stand with you against Roger?”
Logan pressed his lips tight and shook his
head. “Laird Ronan has already proclaimed he’ll stand with Roger on
this.”
Roark had to think. To plan. “Tell me
everything Donald and my father said,” he said as he and Alina sat
down, their hands clasped together on the table.
“Donald said Roger was staying at the keep to
see to his son’s wake and to organize the search for you two.
Besides Donald and his men, Roger’s sent others to search every
port on the eastern coast, starting at Long Firth and going south
and north from there. All of them with orders to bring you and the
princess, who they’re saying’s a serving maid you took a shine to,
back alive to Roger. They’re also supposed to remind all the ships’
captains the penalty for knowingly helping murderers is death. He’s
offering a bounty of ten pounds silver for each ’a you.”
“Ten pounds silver each?” Roark repeated.
“You can be sure he only wants us brought back alive so he can have
the pleasure of watching us hang.” He looked from Logan’s furrowed
brow to Alina’s pale face and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “We
can go west. Find a ship to sail from there.”
“Or follow the Long River northwest ’til you
make the Mounths,” Logan said. “Skirt the western hills and cut due
north to the Deep Loch, follow its southern shore east to the North
Sea Firth. You’d be traveling half the distance Roger’s men would
up the coast, plus they’d be stopping to search the ships and
spreading word of the bounty.”
“It would be easier to find a ship to sail
from there than the west coast,” Roark told Alina. “On the other
hand, we’d be riding through naught but wilderness for seven to ten
days at least.”
“I’m fine with that,” she said. “My parents
taught all of us children how to survive in many kinds of
wilderness. Skills that have served my family well through the
generations.”
Logan chuckled. “I see why you like her,” he
told Roark.
“It’s more than that,” Roark said. So much
more.
Logan grinned. “I can see that as well.”
Roark lifted Alina’s hand in his and kissed
the backs of her fingers, grinning as she blushed prettily. Logan
cleared his throat meaningfully, and Roark brought his attention
back to the problem at hand.
“Is Donald staying the night at Thorn Bush?”
he asked Logan.
“He is. Your lady mother has already warned
him to keep her serving maids out of his bed, and to stay out of
theirs.”
Alina sat straight up. “I forgot to tell
you,” she said to Roark. “Jenny is pregnant with Leif’s baby. I
overheard her and her parents arguing about it before I went to the
stables. Before Leif came after me.”
“Did Leif know?” Roark asked.
Alina nodded. “Jenny said she’d told him and
he’d claim it if it was a boy, but not if it was a girl. ‘Just like
his uncle, Donald,’ her father told her. He sounded angry.”
“Who can blame him?” Logan rumbled. “The men
in that family spill their seed willy-nilly and dunna give a care
where it takes root.”
“Well,” Roark said wryly, “there’s one less
to spill his seed now.” He drew a deep breath in and let it out.
“We’ll leave here tomorrow. Take the inland route around the
Mounths and up to the North Sea Firth. You agree?” he asked
Alina.
“Yes.”
“Can you supply us with some food and
blankets and rope and maybe a bow and quiver of arrows?” he asked
Logan.
“I can do better than that,” Logan said. “I
only ask that you wait to see your lady mother before you leave
tomorrow.”
***
Alina stared into silver grey eyes that were
mirror images of Roark’s and dipped a knee to Lady Brianna,
Mistress of Thorn Bush Keep. “It’s an honor to meet you, Lady,” she
said in her best Green Isles tongue.
“And you,” Brianna, a handsome, middle-aged
woman with dark auburn hair and milky white skin, said kindly.
“Logan told me of your and Roark’s situation.” She clicked her
tongue. “Ach, I told my husband no good would come of sending our
son to that family.” She gave Roark, who’d greeted her with a
heartfelt hug almost the moment she’d stepped through the door, a
quick shake of her head. “I’m sorry I didn’t fight him harder over
it. I admit I’d hoped getting away from him might benefit you.”
“You did what you had to do at the time,
Mother,” he said. “I hold no ill will. If you hadn’t sent me to
Roger, I wouldn’t have met Alina, or been there to help get her
away from him and his vile plans.”
“Ah, yes,” Brianna said with an indulgent
smile. “Logan told me how it is between you two.”
Alina’s cheeks flushed hot as Roark twined
his fingers through hers. “I’ll do whatever I must to get her back
to her family,” he said. “Though we’re both sorry to put you two in
the middle of it.”
Brianna waved a slim hand dismissively.
“You’re my son. Where else should I be?” She indicated the wool
blanket tied into a pack. “I brought what I could sneak out with.”
She untied the blanket and pulled out a soft, linen under-tunic, a
woolen outer tunic, and a pair of leather breeches and handed them
to Alina. “I was told you prefer wearing men’s clothing on such
occasions,” she said with a grin. “So much more practical than
trying to ride a horse or traipse around the wilds in skirts.”
“Thank you, my lady.” Alina took the
proffered bundle of clothes. “These will make the journey easier to
be sure. Thank you for the food and blanket too.” She nodded down
at the sack of bread, cheese, dried meat, and field beans.
“You couldn’t ask for a more capable
companion in the wilds,” Brianna said, smiling between Roark and
Logan. “My son had the best teacher and Logan the best
student.”
“The lad was a natural with a bow and arrow,”
Logan said proudly. “Best aim and steadiest hands I’ve ever seen.”
He winked at Roark. “Lad’s not bad with a throw net either.”
Roark puffed his chest out and Alina laughed,
happy to see him with his mother and Logan, two people he actually
loved who obviously loved him back, as he deserved.
“Is this your way of warning me we’ll be
eating a lot of fish?” she asked Logan.
“Best salmon in the world call the Long River
and its tributaries home,” he boasted.
“Good thing I like salmon then,” she
said.
“To be supplemented with your knowledge of
herbs and greens,” Roark added. “She designed a greenhouse at her
home,” he told his mother, “with roof panes of glass that can be
moved to follow the seasonal sun.”
Brianna smiled indulgently. “You always did
like your inventions.” She turned her smile on Alina. “It seems
Logan is right. My son has indeed met his match.”
“In every way,” Roark said, his voice
catching.
Alina was suddenly, ridiculously close to
tears.
“I wish with all my heart things end well for
you two,” Brianna told them. She smiled at Logan, her expression
sad and bittersweet. “I know how it feels to lose the chance to be
with the one person you want most in this world.”
Alina’s eyes welled and her throat
constricted.
“Oh, my dear girl.” Brianna wrapped Alina in
her embrace. “Don't cry. It’s not over yet.”
“But when it is, I’ll never even get to see
Roark again,” she sniffed into Brianna’s shoulder.
“You never know,” Brianna said, holding Alina
by the shoulders and staring into her teary eyes. “The fates may
have something else in store for you two.”