Chapter 1 #2
And she was free.
They did not slow for some time, riding north and west, hardly speaking, stopping to rest only after the first streaks of dawn lit the sky.
As soon as she was off the horse, James held out his arms and Willa fell into them. He hugged her tight.
“I thought I was going to lose ye again, after I’d only just found ye”, he murmured into her hair.
They had grown so close in the short time they had known one another, almost as if they had been raised together. Willa hadn’t know James’ mother, but she thought he must be much like her, because he was certainly nothing like their father.
“How did you know? How did you know to come for me?” She turned to the woman who had come to stand beside her.
“Oh Maura!” She hugged her as well. She’d known Maura for a time in England, where her family had been in hiding as well, and had been delighted when her brother had married her not long after he’d come looking for his long-lost sister.
It seemed the two of them had been fated for one another, falling in love almost at once.
James put his large, strong arms around both women and squeezed.
“My clever wife had one of her visions, and I went to investigate. It wasna difficult to uncover McTierney’s plot to take the castle. Father’s dead, Willa.” He took her hand in his, but she didn’t need the gesture of support. Not surprisingly, she felt no grief.
“He was killed on the road as he returned home. An ambush. Colm holds the castle by now. We’ve lost it.” His voice held regret, but something else as well: the cold fury and the promise of vengeance.
Willa nodded somberly. James should be Laird, not Colm. Never Colm.
“Colm killed Father?”
“Aye, lass. I’m sorry.” He looked at her uncertainly, but of course he didn’t know what had happened between her and her betrothed in the last twenty-four hours.
She almost laughed. “Oh, no James, don’t be sorry, never sorry. I told him I wouldn’t marry him. I was planning on running.” Willa bit her lip as she realized her denial might be the very reason Colm decided to attack. “Oh God, he did it because of me! If I hadn’t refused him…”
James shook his head. “No, Sweet. It would have turned out badly, no matter what ye did. Colm had all those men gathered and ready to attack long before yesterday. It would have taken weeks, at least, without any of us kenning what he planned. I’m only glad we’ve escaped to fight another day.
And rest assured, I fully intend to fight another day. ”
Maura took a deep breath and attempted a brave smile. “Well! No use worrying about it right this minute. We have to get to safety first. James and I have been planning for some time for just such events, ever since I had a particularly strong vision of the castle falling to a traitor.”
“Aye”, James looked down with admiration at his wife, “and her visions are so often accurate, I didna take a chance that this one wouldna come to pass. There should be a wagon loaded with supplies hidden just over there, and then we’ll go to a place that has been well protected so that no one will be able to find us until we’re ready to be found.
Colm will be looking for ye, Willa… ye ken that, dinna ye? When he finds out ye’ve escaped him…”
“Yes, I know he will. As long as I’m still alive and unmarried, he’s not really Laird, is he?
Though he could hold power with violence and fear, he would prefer to have it by law.
Well, in addition to the violence and fear, anyway.
” Willa was suddenly flooded with a fierce determination.
She would not let the events of this night stand in the way of living her life the way she wanted to live it.
And she would help her brother however she could.
“We’re going to take the castle back somehow James, I know we will! You’ll be Laird and Maura will be Lady and everything will turn out just as it should! Damn the foul, underhanded, greedy, McTierneys straight to hell, we won’t let them win!”
James gave her a weak but indulgent smile. “Sign me up, sister dear. But first let’s get out of here and regroup, shall we?”