Sarah laughed. “Were ye sotted on your last sojourn? Or is this what I should expect of the Shaw holding?”
Thane grunted, smirking at her joke, before quickly wiping away his mirth. They were supposed to be enemies. They were enemies. He’d abducted her, even if she had come willingly.
“I wish I could say I was, and no, Shaw is an oasis of calm,” he drawled, turning his gaze to their private hell. The chamber was not as unwelcoming as the common area of the tavern, and Thane was more than happy to take it for the night. Hopefully, that was all they would need it for.
“Ha! I’ll believe that when I see it!”
Though this floor was also dirt-packed, a carpet that appeared recently beaten lay on the floor beside the bed, which was shoved against a wall.
The wooden bed frame sagged from the lumpy straw mattress that appeared to weigh an unfathomably vast amount, and tossed on top of it was a plain wool blanket. At least it did look clean, as Carrie had said. She and her father seemed like they aimed to please. If he’d been on better terms with them, perhaps a regular, Thane might have told them a simple redecorating of the main tavern room would bring in more guests. But they seemed smart enough to have figured that out on their own, which meant they probably purposefully kept it…rustic.
Two stools flanked a small table that was missing half a leg, but an upside-down bucket had been placed to steady it. Best rented chamber in the place—that was saying a lot. He kind of wished that Balthazar had opened the other chamber door, so he’d have something to compare it to.
Perhaps there was a certain charm in providing such a medieval tavern to those looking to go back in time. A time when Scotland had not been trampled over by dragoons. Saints, but he could not remember such a time ever having existed.
Thane turned away from the bed to investigate a crumbling iron brazier that had seen better days. The room was chilly and could do with a bit of heat. He picked up the poker resting on the rim and jabbed at the half-burned logs in the cavern. One of them crumbled to ash, sending up a plumb of dust, which had them both waving in front of their faces and coughing.
“I’m no’ that cold,” Sarah said with a cough and a laugh.
Thane groaned and dropped the poker. “Good. I’m afraid if I light it, the whole room will blaze.”
“It might go to flame anyhow with the way it was roaring in the kitchen and the common room.” She giggled and backed away from the brazier. Either she was daft, or she was the type of person who always seemed to look on the bright side of the coin. While he wanted to think it was the former, he was fairly certain it was the latter, which only ended up endearing her to him.
“I hardly noticed,” he quipped. “Though I did wonder if ye were going to lick the oats off your face.”
“Ha! Maybe I should have, for I am starving.” Sarah tossed her satchel onto the bed, and surprisingly a plume of dust did not rise with it.
Carrie had not fibbed about cleaning the bedding. Well, that boded well for their sleep. Och, but they would have to share a bed. There was barely even any room on the floor for Sarah to curl up on, and he wasn’t going to make her sleep on the dirt-packed earth, despite there being a rug tossed down.
Sarah pulled out one of the stools and sat on it, wobbling a little and catching herself on the uneven table, nearly dislodging the bucket. “Whoa,” she said, finally managing to catch her balance.
This only seemed to make her laugh, and Thane couldn’t help but notice her dimple and the beauty mark that winked in and out with her humor.
She was beautiful, and it wasn’t fair. Under the circumstances, he should not find her so attractive and fascinating. Instead of taking the stool opposite her, Thane leaned against the door, arms crossed, one ankle over the other, and stared in her direction. He told himself he was doing as an abductor would, but truly, it was to put distance between them because the way she was wriggling her bottom on that stool reminded him all too well of their journey on Destiny.
Sarah cocked her head, a tease in her dark eyes. She stared back at him, a bit of humor dancing about her mouth too. “Goodness, but ye sure are brooding. If ye’re doing that for my benefit so that I remember ye’re my captor, I assure ye, I am well aware, and I dinna plan to go anywhere.”
A knock vibrated the door at his back, and Thane pushed away from it, opening it to see who would interrupt them.
Carrie stood in the hallway with a tray of food, and one of the lads from the stable behind her held a jug and two cups.
“We’ve brought your breakfast, a bit standard for us, but I assure ye supper will be delightful. And we’ve got a mid-morning Christmas treat too. Are ye planning to dine in your chamber this evening as well?”
“Aye.” Thane’s mouth watered at the simple fair. Lord, but he was starving. If he recalled correctly, the butter here last time was surprisingly good.
“All right, good then. When ye finish, if ye like, I can show ye the Chamber of Sorrow.” Carrie beamed a smile at them and shifted on her feet.
“Hmm,” Thane said. “We’ll consider it.”
Sarah was beside him then, her hand on his arm. “We’d love to see it. Perhaps with a bit of food, my husband will be more cheerful.” She nudged him in the elbow as if she were the one in charge of their current circumstances.
Thane raised a brow and forced a smile that appeared genuine. “I do apologize. I’m starved, and I tend to get a bit grouchy when I’m hungry,” he explained.
“Och, dinna we all,” Carrie said with a laugh. She pushed past them into their chamber and placed the tray of food on the table, then took the jug and cups from the lad. “Feel free to leave the tray on the floor outside the chamber when ye’re done. The lads will come by soon to collect it.”
When Carrie had left, Thane shut the door and stared at Sarah, who was pouring ale into the cups and setting out the food.
“Why are ye being so agreeable?” he asked. “I abducted ye. I am dangerous.”
Sarah glanced up from where she’d placed a spoon in Thane’s porridge, beside the melting ball of butter.
“Why are ye dangerous?” she asked, studying him from head to toe. He was large; there was no doubt. Tall and muscular, where his sister had been small. A few faint scars, and a nose that had been broken more than once, showed he was a warrior, and the mere fact that he was still alive was proof he could handle himself. But that didn’t frighten her. If anything, it made her feel safe.
Mayhap she was mad. For he did have a point.
He stalked forward, the way a predator hunted prey.
Instead of being scared, she found herself wanting to meet him halfway. Mayhap they weren’t getting enough air in this chamber.
“Your family is responsible for Thea’s death.”
Sarah nodded. She’d been waiting for him to say those words. They gave her something else to focus on besides the way her heart was beating wildly against her ribs. “Come, let’s eat while we talk.”
The way he grimaced, she thought he would disagree, and her stomach growled in protest, but he did come forward and take the stool opposite the one she’d claimed.
“Thea was—” she started, but he interrupted her.
“How dare ye say her name?” He stabbed his spoon into the nearly melted butter.
“She was my friend.” Sarah boldly met his gaze. “My brother, Jon, loved her.”
Pain flickered in Thane’s eyes, and doubt. He likely didn’t know whether or not he could believe her, and she understood why.
Sarah swirled the golden, dissolving lump of butter around her porridge. “I loved her, too. She brought life to our clan. Added light where there was darkness. Jon had been so disparaged by what was happening in Scotland—we all were—but she gave him hope.”
She put down her spoon, suddenly unable to take a bite. Instead, she took a sip of bitter ale.
Thane did the same, gulping the entire contents of his cup and then refilling it. “What happened?”
The fact that he asked her that showed he expected to hear the truth from her, and she was more than willing to give it.
“I might be a traitor to Edward and Ellyson for telling ye this, Thane, but I dinna believe that I’d be betraying Jon, or Thea or our clan for that matter. After we lost Jon at the Battle of Culloden, my brothers…they decided to rule the clan together. One in charge of the common people and one in charge of our soldiers.” Here she paused. “But it started even before then. They were always arguing with Jon over edicts he’d implemented or new ways of doing things. They hated that Thea was beloved by the clan, that a lot of the changes happening had started with her. She was brilliant, but ye know that. Edward and Ellyson were jealous, really.”
This was the part that Sarah didn’t want to talk about, but she knew she had to tell him. He needed to understand that what happened to Thea was not on the entire clans’ heads.
“They were increasingly hard on her after Jon died. Worried, I think, that she might be with child and that child would eventually take the place they’d claimed. So, when Thea was taken by the dragoons while gathering various herbs and roots just outside the castle walls, they declined to pay the ransom. They thought it better to be rid of her.” Sarah shook her head. “I pleaded with them, but they refused. I dinna think they believed she’d be killed, just taken away and married off to some English general.”
“But she was killed.” Thane’s voice was low and fueled by anger and pain.
She reached for his hand then but pulled back at the way he curled his fingers into the wood of the table. Comfort from her could come in the form of truth, but not yet from touch. That was the more appropriate form, anyhow.
“Aye. Right in front of us as we stood on the battlements.” Sarah choked on a sob, bringing her hands to her mouth. “She didna deserve it. There was no retaliation. And I waited every day for ye to come and avenge her. I would have given ye the keys to the castle if ye’d asked.”
Thane’s anger shifted to suffering. “And that is why ye came so willingly? Because ye think ye deserve to bear the brunt of whatever revenge I’ve got planned?”
Sarah shook her head, shifted forward in her chair and then locked her gaze on his. “I told ye they were selling me off to the highest bidder.”
“And ye think ye might have suffered Thea’s fate.”
She shrugged. “I could have.”
He was quiet a long time, staring into his porridge as he slowly spun his cup of ale on the table. Time ticked silently for so long she worried that he wasn’t going to speak again. Sarah sat on the edge of her seat, willing him to speak, to at least look up. He had to believe her.
When he finally did, his voice was tight with emotion. “I dinna place blame on ye, Sarah. But knowing what ye’ve told me, it would be impossible for me no’ to bring war to your clan.”
This she knew, but she was desperate to find a way out of it. To protect her people, even if her brothers wouldn’t. “If I could beg ye no’ to...If there were some way to punish Edward and Ellyson for what they’ve done without bringing pain to the people. They loved Thea, and she loved them.”
Thane’s eyes were hard, the line of his mouth unbending. “I canna see a way out of it.”