Entrusted to a Highlander by Donna Fletcher

Author:Donna Fletcher [Fletcher, Donna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Donna Fletcher

Chapter 17

Arran sat in the Great Hall with Royden, staring into his tankard.

“You need to lift it to your lips to get the ale into your mouth,” Royden said and demonstrated how it was done.

Arran lifted the tankard and drank until there wasn’t a drop left, then slammed the tankard on the table. “I want to kill him.”

“I don’t blame you. Brynjar is an evil man.”

“Not Brynjar, though I want to kill him too. I want to kill Galvin,” Arran said. “How could he have not given a shred of thought to marrying Purity to such a horrific man? She would have been condemned to a life of endless misery and suffering.”

“You saved her from that,” Royden reminded.

Fear had him grabbing his brother’s arm. “You have to promise me that if anything should happen to me you won’t let Brynjar get Purity. You have to keep her safe.”

“You have my word, I will see Purity safe, but it won’t be necessary. You’ll be here to do that yourself,” Royden said confidently.

“How can you be so sure?” he asked, letting go of his brother’s arm to grip his empty tankard.

“We both hated being held by the mercenaries and forced to battle, but we were wise enough to learn from them. And the one thing above all I discovered that was most important was—”

“Know your enemy,” Arran finished.

Royden nodded. “You, unlike others, know Brynjar from your time spent being held captive. And as long as you don’t allow your hatred for him to blind you, you’ll know his move before he makes it.”

“He’ll try to kill me,” Arran said as if it meant nothing.

“TRY is the part I’m trying to focus on,” Royden said. “We’re finally in a good place and I don’t want either one of us to lose what we have.”

“I don’t either. I find myself more than content with Purity and I look forward to a good life with her,” Arran admitted, realizing that even more today when he’d learned Brynjar was with Purity’s father.

“Then we need to be wise about how we handle Brynjar,” Royden said.

“We?” Arran asked. “This is for me to handle. I won’t see you and your family placed in danger because of me.”

“Don’t insult me,” Royden snapped. “WE are family. If one is in danger, we’re all in danger. Besides, we need to clear this up so that nothing stands in the way of our search for our sister.”

“I thought I’d find,” —Arran shook his head— “I prayed for a miracle, that I’d find Raven hiding in the woods. I wanted to believe it so badly. Anything was better than discovering rumors were true that she’d been scooped up by a band of thieves. I don’t want to think of what might have been her fate if that was true.”

“I couldn’t agree more. I can’t stand to think of what she might have gone through.”

Both men turned silent for several minutes.

“You’re right, Royden, this needs to be settled so we can concentrate on finding Raven, and finally having our family whole again.

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