One Enchanted Scottish Knight by Laura Strickland

Author:Laura Strickland [Strickland, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Scotland, Historical Romance, Scottish Witch Hunts, Knights, Brothers, Witches
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2019-06-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

The chamber to which Tansy had been conducted looked comfortable and luxurious. Dominated by a huge bed hung with patterned draperies, furnished with several chests, a large carved wardrobe, and a padded bench seat, it surpassed even the rooms at Crag Corvan. A fire burned—no doubt lit by some poor soul of Noreen’s ilk—yet Tansy felt cold to the bones, her hands like ice and her teeth ready to chatter.

This did not bode well, none of it. The instinct to which she could not help but listen, especially in times of trouble, continued to howl at her. She’d been forced to watch Catha walk away from her, in Latham’s company for a private discussion, before being shut away here.

Not what either of them had intended when they hatched their scheme. They’d sworn to stick together. Already Latham had succeeded in separating them.

And Malcolm…

She tried to close her mind to the thought of him. He would have caught them up by now. Had he met Lionel and the other members of Catha’s guard? How angry would he be?

Angry. He would be a different man from the one who’d held her in his arms last night, kissed her so sweetly, and made her feel like a queen. Nay, but ’twas not so—he’d made her feel no paltry queen but rather a conqueror, a claimer of his body and his passion. And his heart? She feared that had worked out far differently. Quite likely he’d claimed hers instead.

And thus she’d sought to protect him from this place where he’d suffered so terribly, and to leave him behind. Indeed, she’d softly kissed the wounds he still bore.

She assured herself, now, she’d rather endure any fate in this place than see him suffer so again. Aye now—there was resolve. She drew a breath and tried to close her mind to the possibility of him following her and Catha inside.

She did not often pray. Indeed, she could not be sure she believed in the kind of deity the Church espoused. She believed rather in the elements that made up her world, the ones she called upon when she wove her magic. The light and the dark. The fire, the water, the air; the earth that had cradled her all her days.

But she whispered a prayer now, that Malcolm would have the sense to stay where he was. If she and Catha were already lost—she for Malcolm’s sake and Catha for Mercien’s—let them then be lost. Malcolm need not throw his life after theirs.

Please, let him see it so.

****

“Forgive me, Sir Malcolm, but I do no’ see the sense in you tossing awa’ your safety and possibly your life.”

Malcolm stopped pacing when Lionel spoke earnestly. With nightfall, they’d withdrawn into the forest and Malcolm could no longer see Dun Ballan even though he still felt its presence. The other two guards remained asleep, but Lionel had risen with the dawn and interrupted Malcolm’s lengthy pacing.

“I suggest you get some rest and await what the day brings.”

It should bring Mercien’s release—if Latham had any honor, which Malcolm scarcely believed.

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