Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Lillian
I was pulling on a second set of wool stockings, my fingers surprisingly steady despite the frantic pounding of my heart, when a knock came at the door. Without waiting for me to invite them in, Avaleen and Myra stepped inside, their faces grim.
“We thought we might find you here,” Avaleen said, her expression concerned as she plopped down on the bed beside me. “We just heard about your father.”
“I am going to stop him,” I announced firmly, shoving my withered foot back into my sturdy boot and beginning to carefully lace it.
“The Stormseeker said he is less than a day’s march from Bloodfire Village.”
“Aye,” drawled Myra, who was rocking her wee niece, Avaleen’s daughter Ella. “And getting closer by the hour. Vartok says they will not attack the village but wait for the warriors to meet them on the field of battle.”
“At least they’re honorable,” muttered Avaleen indignantly. “Even if they are planning on our Mates’ deaths.”
Just the thought of such a possibility made my stomach cramp and I wished I had not eaten that morning. My father was planning to not just hurt my Mate, but every good and noble male in this village, this clan. My family.
“I can stop him,” I repeated, praying if I said it enough I might believe it. “I will not allow him to declare war on my clan.” I straightened from lacing up my boot and reached for the other.
“Am I not the chief’s wife?” I sent a fierce glare Myra’s way. “I have power!”
The normally stoic woman’s unexpected grin was quickly gone before she transferred the bairn to the other shoulder.
“You do have power to speak for the clan, Lillian, and we are beyond pleased to see you realizing that.”
“Aye.” Avaleen’s tone matched her soft touch on my forearm. “The chief’s Mate is as important as the clan chief when it comes to running the clan. But your father—”
“I do not want to see him hurt,” I confessed, “but I cannot allow him to hurt my new family.” I closed my hand over Avaleen’s, my gaze hopeful. “Mayhap if I go alone to confront him and the Bladesedge chief—he is Mated to my sister, after all! Mayhap if I go to them, they will listen to reason.”
I blew out a breath. “Listen to me.”
I was prepared to beg my father if that is what was necessary to spare my new clan.
As I finished tying on my last boot, I stood and I saw Avaleen and Myra exchange glances.
My skirts hung heavy around my ankles since I had doubled up on them, having no idea how far I would have to travel to find my father’s army.
But still determined, I marched to where my shawls hung, and began layering them over my head and shoulders.
Finally, Avaleen rose.
“Our prayers go with you, Lillian.”
“Aye, but we cannot keep your secret from our Mates,” her sister warned. “They will come after you.”
I took a deep breath as I tucked another scarf around my hair and ears.
“I would not ask you to keep this from them. I only need a few moments with Father to prevent a war…God willing.”
“God willing,” Avaleen repeated in a murmur.
Myra handed the bairn back to her mother, then reached for the door ahead of me.
“If you are willing to do this to save our Mates, then I’ll fetch you a horse. Meet me on the north side of the village in ten minutes.”
Grateful, I limped after her.
Since my accident as a child, I’d had few opportunities to practice riding.
But the animal Myra brought me was her own, a mare who was gentle and easy-going, thank goodness.
With my jaw clenched in determination, I hooked my good foot in the stirrup, swung myself into the saddle, pointed the horse toward the south, and began praying.
That prayer continued for the next five hours as I followed the road at the fastest pace I felt comfortable with. ‘Twas a complex prayer, asking for everything from long life with Kragorn, to happiness, to my father’s understanding, to our eventual reconciliation.
By the time my fingers had gone numb inside my mittens and my twisted foot began to ache from the cold, the whole thing had coalesced into Oh please, oh please, oh please.
I was terrified, aye, but determined. Kragorn called me courageous. Is this what he meant? Being afraid and still doing what was right?
‘Twas late afternoon when the horse began to slow, and I saw a large group of people not very far distant.
Ahead of me spread, not an army the way I would imagine it, but a large group of Highland orcs on horseback and on foot, carrying their weaponry and wrapped in kilts and cloaks.
In the forefront rode a dozen people…and as I approached, I realized three of them were women.
My breath, which had been fogging the air in front of my face, now caught in my throat as I urged my horse onward.
I recognized that head of red hair! ‘Twas Sorcha!
And the woman riding beside her who just gave a whoop and kicked her horse into a gallop?
‘Twas Roxanna! And the smaller woman who followed them both was our cousin Effie!
We met in the road, all four of us all-but-falling from our saddles into one another’s arms, laughing and crying all at once. Despite the cold, I could not help my tears—tears of joy, tears of terror.
“You are pregnant!” I cried, holding Sorcha at arm’s length. “When are you due?”
She was beaming as she cradled her round belly.
“In the spring. Drakolt stole me—us—last summer because he needed an heir and knew we were Mates. I became pregnant right away.”
“In a public ceremony,” Roxanna cut in, her arm around my waist. “’Twas barbaric.”
“’Twas romantic,” Sorcha shot right back.
“I heard ‘twas erotic,” murmured shy Effie with a wink, and I pulled her into a hug.
“I am so glad you are all well,” I told them. “You are Mated.”
Effie jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the three fierce males who sat scowling atop their horses.
“To brothers. Drakolt is the Bladesedge chief. Roxanna is Mated to Varkaan, twin to my Mate Korvak.”
“Oh, we have stories for you, little sister,” Roxanna announced with a happy sigh, squeezing me. “But first, let us get you to safety. When Father showed up unexpectedly in our village and told us you had been stolen by our enemy, we began to plan.”
“I think Drakolt will be disappointed to not have a battle,” Sorcha confessed with a smile, “but we are all pleased you escaped on your own.”
Shaking my head, I opened my mouth to set them straight, but fierce Roxanna snorted.
“Imagine, that bastard thinking he could steal you away as retaliation for what Father did to him.” Her expression turned sympathetic. “Was it horrible, Lillian? Whatever he forced you to do? Nay, do not answer, ‘tis behind you now.”
But I grabbed her hand and pulled it away from its grip at my waist, turning to face them all head-on.
“Who told you such lies? I have not been mistreated.”
Sorcha frowned. “Father told us the Bloodfire chief was his prisoner for the winter, and when he escaped, he took you as a hostage. His men could not stop the bastard from bringing you through the veil as his captive.”
To my surprise, I felt laughter bubbling in my chest.
“Then I was a very eager captive, indeed!”
My sister’s brows went up as Effie smiled.
“I know how that is. So your father . . ..”
“Has been greatly misinformed.” Taking a deep breath, I straightened my shoulders and dropped my sister’s hands, limping to face the row of males on horseback, just as a fourth figure joined them.
He looked the same as I’d always remembered—strong, dauntless, unwilling to show emotion—although he did not wear his favorite cloak any longer. Instead of doing something so caring as lowering himself from his horse to embrace me, my father stared imperiously down at me.
And I remembered all the things Kragorn had said about him, the way he took advantage of me and used me.
So I kept my jaw and my gaze hard as I greeted him with a neutral tone.
“Father.”
He held out his hand. “Come here, girl. You’ll ride with me and we’ll return you to your old life.”
I raised a brow. “I have a horse, Father, but I do not wish to go with you.”
“We’ll go back to Tarbert Keep at the full moon,” he continued, as if I hadn’t spoken. “No one will find out what you’ve been subjected to these last weeks. You will return to your life of caring for me, and we will not allow rumors to spread.”
Unable to help myself, half in awe of his audacity, I stared at him, my eyebrows arched high.
“Rumors?”
He sniffed and flipped his hand in irritation.
“Don’t worry, girl, no one will know you’ve been forced to whore for that beast in punishment for my treatment of an enemy.”
Whore.
Girl.
Come back to care for me.
Kragorn was right.
And that knowledge, the knowledge that my father only cared about what I could bring him, bolstered my courage.
I limped closer, forcing my chin up, reminding myself that I was here to protect my clan. My Mate. Kragorn saw something I’d never seen in myself and he trusted me enough to make me his Mate. I would not betray that trust.
“Father, Kragorn of the Bloodfire clan is not your enemy any longer.” I nodded to the fierce orcs scowling down at me. “Nor yours. That is…” I glanced left and right, to where my sisters had come to stand beside me. “If you still consider me part of your family?”
“Of course we do,” Roxana blurted. “That is why we are here to save you.”
I shrugged. “It sounds as if Father is here to get his servant back.”
Effie sucked in a gasp at my audacity, but one of the large males, clearly impatient, growled.
“What do ye mean when ye say that Bloodfire bastard isnae our enemy?”
Sorcha took my hand in one of hers and cradled her stomach with the other. “Lillian, this is my Mate, Drakolt, the father of our kitling.”
Kitling. She spoke like one of the orcs. One of us.
I gave her Mate an abbreviated bow, one I learned from the Stormseeker, to show respect but not obeisance.
“I am honored to meet you, Chief Drakolt, and I wish to negotiate with you.”
“Oh?” he asked, a brow raised.