Chapter 19
When Coinneach and the others arrived back at the croft, Hamish said, “Rupert was so scared he got too close to the edge of the cliffs overlooking the sea and perished. I would have had a more satisfactory ending if I had managed to fight the man. What about Osmond? From your bite marks, I venture to say you fought him as a wolf.”
“You would be right.” He looked around for his family. Morag’s body was already gone.
“We’ve taken Magnus, Elspeth, and Tamhas to the castle to rest up and eat with us on the morrow. They will stay there as long as they like. Do you know why they would never take part in the celebrations with the clan?” Hamish asked.
“They were afraid someone would realize I belonged at the castle?”
“Aye. Your uh, mother told me that. Not only that, but Rupert’s last remarks were, his da killed Aisling’s da when they were in a battle fighting our enemy,” Hamish said.
“All these years, we thought her da was killed in battle. He was, but from the enemy within. It’s up to you to share the information with Aisling and Blair if you wish. ”
“Aisling and I dinna keep secrets from each other.” Yet Coinneach wondered if this one secret should be an exception.
“I know your mind is on your family, your other family, but I wanted to say that you will have a private chamber of your own now. And we’ve got men who will rebuild your family’s croft in the meantime.”
“I appreciate it—”
“Da. You can say it whenever it pleases you.”
Coinneach smiled. “Da.” But when his family was nearby, Magnus would always be his da.
Then they rode back to the castle as the others got busy rebuilding the roof and pulling any of the furniture out of the croft to clean and rebuild where necessary.
Nelly, Aisling, and Blair had gone back to the castle with Coinneach’s family.
He still figured Blair would have a fit when she saw him all torn up after fighting Osmond.
When they finally arrived at the castle, he saw his parents and brother in the chamber where they were staying, but they looked horrified to see him all chewed up.
“It only hurts a little bit. How are you doing?”
“Better than you, son,” Magnus said.
Blair came rushing into the chamber and said, “Oh, goddess, no. Come. Lie down, and I’ll take care of your wounds. No more guard duty for you for a while.”
Hamish said, “He’ll have a more important role to play.”
Aisling kissed Coinneach and helped her mother care for his wounds.
“The chief said we will have a chamber to ourselves.”
Aisling blushed to high heaven.
“Aye,” Hamish said. “I have other duties to tend to. If you need me, Blair, just send Niven.”
Niven moved out of the shadows as if he knew he shouldn’t have been eavesdropping. His eyes were wide when he saw all the injuries that Coinneach had sustained.
“We’ll move you to your chamber once I’ve tended to your wounds. Aisling can look after you. Niven can wait outside your chamber door, and Aisling will send him to come for me if Coinneach becomes feverish during the night,” Blair said.
“Aye,” Niven said.
Aodhan appeared in the doorway, solid as an oak, and after a moment’s hesitation—perhaps weighing the wisdom of touching so battered a man—stooped to wrap one arm gingerly around Coinneach’s waist and the other under his uninjured shoulder. He smelled of leather and the wind off the loch.
Together, with Coinneach limping and cursing in a half-hearted, exhausted way, they made a slow, shuffling journey past the main hall, up the narrow, spiraling stairs, past the laughing shadows of the torch sconces and the lingering, acrid scent of burning pitch.
The corridors emptied as they passed, news of Coinneach’s wounds perhaps preceding them, or perhaps it was merely respect for the sanctity of his pain.
Aodhan guided him to a thick wooden door at the outer bend of the tower. He opened it with a flourish and stood aside. “Hamish thought you would like your own place for the night,” he said. “No more sleeping in the barracks for you or the couples' quarters that you had been destined for.”
The room was large and opulent, but mostly it was private—a courtesy Coinneach had not expected.
The walls, built of massive stones quarried from the same hill the tower stood upon, were mortared so tightly that not even the breath of winter could pry its way inside.
The single window was narrow and arrow-slit high, but it let in a shaft of silver light and the distant tang of rain.
The bed—he wondered if Hamish himself had arranged for it—was newly made up with woolen blankets and furs folded neatly at the foot.
On the bedside table, someone on the staff had left a shallow basin of steaming water, a rag, and a single flagon of ale.
He sat at the edge of the bed, easing his battered body down with a hiss. His wounds were bandaged tightly—Blair’s and Aisling’s doing. The pain in Coinneach’s side and thigh throbbed in time with his pulse, but it was a pain he could wear, like any other piece of clothing.
He took an experimental sip from the flagon.
It was a local brew, sour and pungent, with the aftertaste of thistle and peat.
His mind drifted, as minds are wont to do in the aftermath of violence, to the question of whether Aisling would come to him tonight or whether she would keep to herself, seeing to his family instead.
He would not blame her if she did because she loved them as much as he did.
He lay back, staring at the ceiling, listening to his own breath and the faint drip of rain from the windowsill.
He thought of his mother’s croft and the stories she’d told of Highland ghosts that haunted the hours between dusk and dawn, and he wondered, not for the first time, which of the many dead he might find waiting for him if he drifted off now and did not wake again.
The handle turned, and Aisling stepped into the room, her red hair braided tightly, and her face scrubbed clean—paler than he remembered, but just as beautiful. He smiled and held his hand out to her, ready to sleep with her, glad she had come to him.
“If you need anything, just call me,” Aodhan said. Then he left them alone and shut the door.
Aisling sat beside him on the bed and put her head against his uninjured shoulder. “You couldna let Aodhan take Osmond on as a wolf, could you?”
“It was my task.”
She nodded and kissed his shoulder.
“You know we’ve talked about no’ keeping secrets from each other.”
“Aye.” She looked up at him, waiting expectantly to hear the news.
“Rupert, before he died, said that his da killed your da while they were in battle against a common enemy. He did it to ensure that Blair never gave up Morag’s secret. But your mother never knew?”
“Nay. She thought he had died in battle honorably. I dinna want to share the news with her.”
“We willna. I just thought you should know.”
“I’m glad you did, and I’m even gladder that my da’s murderer is dead.”
“I agree.” Then he began to caress her breast and kiss her mouth.
“You canna think of making love. You’re injured.”
“No’ where it counts, and of course I want to make love to my lovely mate. The first night in our new quarters? No one to bother us? No Nelly to warn us the kitchen staff is coming?”
Aisling laughed. Then she started to undress him, removing his plaid and boots. His shirt was already off because Blair had to bandage his wounds.
Then Aisling quickly removed her clothes, no’ wanting him to have to waste the energy. She kissed around his bandaged areas, but before she thought he would be ready, he had her flat on her back on the bed and was pressed in between her legs.
His manhood was poised to enter her, but he did as before, coaxed her into the most delicious feeling she’d ever felt. Then he was centering himself and thrusting into her as if he was in pain, and he wanted to make love to her as quickly as possible.
She didn’t mind. She wanted to make love to him as fast as possible, just to feel his shaft deep inside her before he finally came. She held his face and kissed him. Then they came together, her being careful not to press against his wounds. He pulled the blankets and furs over them.
Next time will be longer, I promise,” he said, stroking her back.
“Quick or long, I love being with you like this.” She had no regrets as long as he didn’t.
Then they dozed off to sleep until she heard a little whispered voice next to the bed.
“Coinneach, my lady, wake up. Trouble is brewing beyond yonder door.”
“Niven?” Aisling asked, still half asleep.
“Aye, the guards loyal to Morag are here. The two who were in the dungeon briefly, and the two who were waiting for you at the door.”
She sat up. Coinneach was dead asleep. “Coinneach, wake up. Guards loyal to Morag are outside our chamber door.”
Coinneach scrambled to get out of bed. Aisling shifted into her wolf.
Then she howled, the best and fastest way for her to let others know they were in trouble.
Coinneach also howled, but as a human. He hastened to bolt the door, but Niven had already done it.
He hadn’t thought they would have any more trouble, so he hadn’t done so last night.
Niven helped him to dress.
“Where did you come from?” Coinneach asked Niven.
“Through that little trapdoor. I heard the men coming and then slipped into the room next door and came in through there.”
“Aisling, I want you and Niven to go through the door.”
She shook her head.
“You can attack them while I try to go after them from here. Others should be here shortly. To help us.”
She didn’t want to leave him, and if there were four men, she would be cut down in short order.
When she went through the door meant for a wolf or a small lad, she found she was in the chamber where Magnus, Elspeth, and Tamhas had been sleeping. Tamhas was already getting dressed. Magnus was following suit. Elspeth was in her wolf form.
Niven came into the room after that and explained the trouble.
“I have my sword, but, da, you do no’,” Tamhas said.