Highlander's Entangled Heart by Katherine Prince

Author:Katherine Prince
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Highland
Published: 2020-06-05T18:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

IT WAS THE LAST day of the festival of Beltane. People were readying themselves to go back to work, labour in the fields, and go off on military campaigns. The grounds were verdant, with fresh flowers everywhere, and people were taking advantage of last-day market prices. However, a week of festivities had made many a coin purse fat with money. Thieves were prowling the castle grounds more than ever. Even though the guards took special care to look out for cutpurses, they could not catch all of them.

Still, Aileen and Lena walked the grounds, wanting to take in the last of the beautiful Beltane festival. Lena had managed to find a beautiful lamb for her family, but Eileen still wanted to find a few gifts for her new husband. She wanted to find him a gift that conveyed her love to him, something that would show him her deep appreciation for what he did for her in the forest. All the while, she shared her concerns with Lena, about Alex’s nightmares and how he still had not allowed himself to stay the night in her bed.

“Perhaps he is still becoming accustomed to sleeping the night with someone,” said Lena. “Perhaps he is used to keeping his privacy.”

“Perhaps,” replied Aileen. However, she remained unconvinced. Aileen was deeply worried that she did not please Alex. All the thoughts she had about him loving her were now called into question.

“While you’re looking for a gift, I’m going to purchase more wool,” said Lena, and she sped off toward the wool and clothing part of the marketplace.

Aileen was wandering the market, when she decided to go down an alley that was relatively empty. A few people wandered here and there, but they were walking back toward the main part of the festival. Shadows darkened the streets, and Aileen thought about turning around, but she kept going. This was a short cut, and it would lead her to finding a gift for Alex.

All of a sudden, she felt a hand grab her from behind.

“You can hand over your purse now, lass,” said a cold voice that crackled with dark intent.

Aileen tried to scream, but a hand clamped over her mouth. Suddenly, she felt herself pushed back against rough stone. She looked around wildly and noticed that the street was now completely empty. There was too much noise coming from the festival, so even if she screamed, there would be no one to hear her.

The thief’s hot breath near her face stank, and the taste of his hand over her mouth was salty, as she tried once more to scream. Her heart was pounding hard. She felt caught, trapped like a fly in a spider’s web. She knew that she might die if she did not do anything.

The knife!

She had it hidden in the folds of her skirt.

In the fog of panic, she wondered why the thief had not used a knife on her.

Perhaps he does not have one.

That single thought gave Aileen hope that she might be able to defeat this thief.

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