Rodrick the Bold by Suzan Tisdale

Author:Suzan Tisdale [Tisdale, Suzan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Targe & Thistle, Inc.
Published: 2018-03-05T18:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

After saying goodbye and thank you to Frederick and Aggie, Rodrick and Muriel left the Carruthers’ holding.

With Muriel perched in front of him, Rodrick steered Caderyn back to the Mackintosh and McLaren keep. He knew she was furious and frustrated, but he did not care at the moment. He had won. Somehow, he had managed to convince her to go with him.

They had ridden more than an hour in stony silence before Muriel finally spoke to him again. “I want to know the entire truth about how me brother died.” ‘Twasn’t a question, ’twas a full out order. Rodrick chose his words as carefully as a healer chooses her herbs. One wrong statement and Muriel might very well climb from the horse and run back to the Carruthers’ keep.

“I was no’ there when he died,” he told her honestly.

“Where were ye?” she asked, apparently forgetting what he had told her weeks ago.

“I had been injured,” he reminded her politely. “I was recoverin’.” He hoped she wouldn’t ask how.

She turned slightly to look up at him. “How were ye injured?”

God’s teeth, he did not want to tell her the truth. “That be no’ important.”

“I think it is,” she said, scrutinizing him closely.

Looking straight ahead, he focused on the horizon. If he lied, she would know it or eventually find out the truth. “Charles tried to kill me.”

Her eyes widened in horror as her mouth fell open. For a brief moment she might have thought he was jesting. Then she saw the seriousness of the matter etched on his face. “Why on earth would he do such a thing?” she asked in bewilderment. “I thought ye were friends?”

“I thought so as well. Until he stuck the dirk in me chest.”

Unable to continue looking at him, Muriel turned away. After a lengthy silence, she said. “I be so sorry, Rodrick.”

He could hear the tears in her voice. “Do no’ fash yerself. Yer brother did what he thought he must do to protect ye.”

It had taken a few months of trying to figure out Charles’s actions before Rodrick finally understood. A desperate man will sometimes do things that do not make a lick of sense. While he might never forgive Charles for trying to kill him, Rodrick at least understood his motivation. Everything he did was for Muriel.

“Why did ye come fer me?” she asked in a low, hushed tone. “And please, do no’ tell me ’twas the right thing to do.”

Rodrick fell silent while he debated on whether or not he should tell her about the dreams.

“Rodrick, I would like to ken the why of it. It has to be more than a simple sense of honor. Me brother tried to kill ye, yet ye fought to rescue me. Fer the life of me, I can no’ understand why.”

The why of it might take a lifetime to explain. However, if he were ever to expect her to be honest with him, he would need to be honest with her. “I began to have dreams,” he said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.