“There you are!” Caden looked up from adjusting his horse’s bridle when Steafan entered the stable. “I was concerned when I couldna find you anywhere this morning.” He’d wanted to go over details of their journey one more time.
They had agreed only Steafan would accompany him. Riding alone, the two of them could cover the distance to Wode Castle more quickly and with fewer provisions than a larger party would require. Besides, it was as Wodeford had insisted. The heir was to deliver the ransom unaccompanied.
“I rode up to the high pastures to check on the men there one last time before we left.”
“All was well?” Another example of why Steafan was so invaluable to him. Even in the face of a hazardous journey, his friend’s first concern was for Dun Ard and her people.
“Aye. Will Drew be joining us?”
“No. He was away at sunrise.” He would have welcomed his brother’s company on this journey, even if their paths would have to take different directions after a few hours. But perhaps it was better that Drew traveled separately.
Steafan led a fresh horse out of the stalls and began preparations of his own as Caden left the stable for the bailey.
“Caden!” Ellie hurried his direction, both of her mangy dogs following closely behind. “I was afraid I’d missed you.”
He almost wished she had. It was easier when he didn’t see her. Or so he tried to convince himself. Still, there were things he needed to tell her.
“It’s good yer here. I’ve set William and Roger to work on the troughs you said you’d need for the foot-bath. If you have any problems, go directly to Bridey. They’re her youngest boys and she can get them working for you.”
“That’s fine. I’m sure they’ll do great.” Her hands fluttered around nervously as she spoke. “Something doesn’t feel right, Caden. I know we already talked about this, but do you really think this is such a smart thing for you to do? I mean, this Wodeford guy already has your brother and your cousin. You’re the next in line to take over this place. What’s to stop him from holding you, too?”
“What’s to stop him? We’re at the end of the MacKiernan fortune, that’s what. Once he learns there’s no more silver to be had, he’ll be happy enough to be rid of us.”
At least, Caden sincerely hoped that was the case. He had no choice. The message Alasdair delivered was clear. The ransom was to be delivered by the MacKiernan heir. Alone.
He could risk taking along a contingent of men. He’d certainly considered it. But as Steafan had counseled, more riders would only slow them down, require more provisions and pull defenders from Dun Ard. Besides, if he were heading into a trap, he didn’t want the lives of more men on his conscience. Or the lives of his brother and his cousin if he didn’t follow Wodeford’s instructions.
There was no point in going through his reasons again. He’d already had this discussion with Ellie and everyone in his family last night at their evening meal. He didn’t intend to waste any more time justifying his actions yet again.
“When Drew brings back the stones, yer no to wait for my return. Go ahead with the treatment as soon as you can.”
Ellie looked away, biting at her bottom lip. When she looked back, he feared himself in for another argument. “There’s no way I can talk you into sending Steafan alone, is there?”
No point in answering.
“Okay, okay. I get it. Will you at least take Baby along? I’d feel better knowing he was there to help you.”
The big dog at Ellie’s side wagged his tail expectantly.
“I’m no dragging that great beast along on this journey. I’ve no the time to look after yer Baby for you.”
What did the woman expect? It was enough he was going after the man she was to wed. Even if she didn’t know it.
The man was so damned stubborn!
Ellie bit back the protests that bubbled to her lips as she watched Caden swing his leg across his mount and ride out through the gates with Steafan trailing behind like the obnoxious toady he was.
She might have been drunker than a skunk night before last, but she remembered Steafan’s lecture clearly enough. Caden was off-limits to her. Apparently Steafan’s sister, who had rejected Caden years before, had changed her mind and the wedding was back on.
Steafan sent one last angry scowl her direction before his mount disappeared into the gaping dark hole of the gate behind Caden.
Fine. Steafan could glare at her all he wanted, she didn’t care. It wasn’t like she was out here flirting with Caden. She had good reason to be speaking to him.
This whole thing felt wrong. She had every right to be here trying to talk Caden out of going on this ridiculously dangerous mission of his.
Even if he was going to marry Steafan’s sister.
And where the heck was Miss Perfect anyway? Shouldn’t she be the one out here trying to talk Caden out of going? Or at the very least seeing her intended off? But no. Alycie was nowhere to be seen.
Ellie fumed, staring at the empty gate, ignoring the voices vying for attention in her head until Baby’s sharp bark drew her notice.
Baby can track Big One. Easy.
“Yeah, but Caden said he couldn’t watch out for you.” She reached out and scratched between the ears on the huge head of the animal staring into her eyes.
A sound, suspiciously like a snort, rolled through her mind. Baby watch out for Big One. Baby want to. For you.
The big dog looked at her expectantly, his ears perked, his tail wagging hard enough to create a small breeze.
“Could you keep up with those horses?”
Hu-mans. Missy’s voice now, heavy with disgust. Swift Death a hunter. Brings down deer. Can follow horse. Easy.
“Swift Death?”
Baby like new name better.
“Yeah, well, I should hope so.”
The whole name thing rattled Ellie a bit, though it certainly reinforced the animal’s survival skills. The dog knew his limits. If he thought he could do this, who was she to argue? “Okay. Take off, Baby.”
The dog swiped his big tongue along her chin and gave her a look she could have sworn was a grin before he raced out through the gates following after Caden and Steafan.
Wiping the doggie kiss from her face, Ellie caught Missy’s gaze. “Do you have another name?”
“People may call me many things, but few are brave enough to do so to my face.”
Sallie’s voice so close caught Ellie off guard. “No, I was talking to…never mind.” The woman wouldn’t believe her anyway.
She was going to have to be more careful. She’d gotten so comfortable communicating with the animals, she sometimes forgot no one else could hear them. From Sallie’s concerned expression, she suspected a quick change of subject would be wise.
“What are you doing out here?”
“Enjoying the fresh air.” Sallie stretched, her hand bracing her lower back. “I found when I carried the lads, near my time it seemed to help if I moved about. Come walk with me.” The woman looped her arm through Ellie’s and pulled her forward.
Ellie paced her steps to accommodate the waddle of her companion as the women crossed the bailey and headed up a slight incline toward an overgrown rock wall enclosure with an archway leading inside.
When they reached it, Sallie released her hold and sat on one of the walls, pushing curls back from her pink face. “That wee hill was perhaps more than I’d bargained for. Do you mind if we rest here for a spell?”
“Not at all.” Ellie joined her on the rock wall, peering over into the weeds. It looked as if this had been a whole building at one time or maybe even one that had never been finished. “What is this place?”
“We call it Mairi’s Garden.” Sallie propped her shoulder against the archway as she scooted her body more securely onto the low rock wall. “It’s been sadly neglected, I’m afraid.”
“That it has. It was meant to be a chapel.”
Beside Ellie, Sallie’s jaw tightened before she turned to acknowledge with the barest nod of her head the woman who had joined them.
“Alycie.”
“I’m sorry to see it’s no been finished in all these years. Does that mean yer family still holds to their pagan ways?”
The rebuke in Alycie’s question was undeniable, though her voice was as gentle and soft as ever.
“We’ve never had a need for a chapel at Dun Ard, no with the village so close we can easily ride there.” Sallie pushed herself up to her feet. “Besides, leaving it unfinished seems a fitting way to remember our poor cousin, does it no? Surely you’ve no forgotten Mairi? No forgotten that she disappeared.”
Alycie clasped her hands tightly at her waist and looked away, her eyes blinking rapidly. “I’ve no forgotten,” she whispered.
“Good.” Sallie reached out for Ellie’s hand. “I believe I’ve had enough fresh air for now. Will you help me back to the keep?”
Ellie felt like she’d stepped into a theater in the middle of a movie. And though right now sure didn’t appear to be the proper time to ask questions, it was clear there was a history between these two women. No doubt about it.
“We made good time today, did we no?” Steafan stretched out his leg, nudging the stones at the edge of the fire pit with the toe of his boot.
“Aye, we did,” Caden agreed absently as he walked to the edge of their campsite and stared out into the black of the night.
Ellie and her damn dog might think him too stupid to realize the great beast had followed him all day, but they’d be wrong. The dog, her Baby, was out there somewhere in the inky blackness watching him even now.
It would serve them both right to let the creature fend for itself.
With a shake of his head, he tossed the remainder of the meat he’d had for dinner out beyond the light before returning to the roll of blanket that would be his bed under the stars this night.
Thinking of the deerhound, and the woman who had sent him, Caden smiled in spite of himself as he watched the clouds skitter across the night sky leaving a trail of bright stars in their wake.
There was yet one more detail he should address before he slept.
“Steafan? You were correct to suggest we bring none of the men with us. Thank you.”
“Good. I’m glad you see the right of it at last.”
Not that the extra men would help if Wodeford planned some nefarious action anyway. Blane had traveled with additional men and it certainly hadn’t helped him. In fact, the safety of those men was just one more item on a long list of worries that plagued Caden tonight.
At last his eyes drifted shut. They’d ridden long and hard this day and would again for many more before they arrived at Wode Castle. He reached for the oblivion of sleep that danced just beyond his reach. So close.
“When we return to Dun Ard, will you have the banns read right away?”
The question jolted Caden fully awake, but he didn’t open his eyes. He didn’t want to face his friend.
His mother had said Ellie was to wed one of his brothers. After all these years, he felt as close to Steafan as if he actually were a brother. And yet, if Steafan thought to wed Ellie…He couldn’t follow that line of reasoning to its conclusion. He should be happy for the friend who had been like another family member since childhood.
But for some strange reason he wasn’t.
“Banns?” The word stuck in his mouth. “Whose banns?”
“Yers and Alycie’s, of course. If yer to stop her from returning to Iona, you’ll need to act quickly.”
Caden rolled to his side, propping his head on his hand to stare at Steafan.
“What are you asking? Have we no had this discussion many a time before? And always to the same end. Her coming back to Dun Ard makes no difference. You have to give up on that idea. I’m no going to marry yer sister now or ever. I released her from her pledge long ago. She disna want me.”
Steafan stood to pace back and forth on his side of the fire, squatting down at last on one knee, the reflection of the flames casting a crazed glow in his eyes. “She’ll change her mind, Cade. You can make her do that. I know you can. We can make her change it together.”
“I’ve no reason to do that.”
“You damn well have!” Steafan yelled, rising again to his feet to pace. “You’ve no seen that hell hole of a nunnery you sent her to live in. I have. She works from sunrise to sunset with no rest but on her knees for prayer. Her hands are raw to cracking from scrubbing their floors. We have to get her out of there.”
Caden rolled to his back and closed his eyes against the memories of what Alycie Maxwell had done to his family. What she had done to him. What she thought of them all.
She had led his sister and his cousin Mairi into a trap, handing them over to that evil Fae, Duke Servans, and his men. Mairi had escaped, but in the battle that followed Sallie was taken prisoner and Drew had nearly died.
All because Alycie so despised the idea of marrying into a family descended from the Fae. She’d done it for nothing more than the Duke’s promise to take her to the convent on Iona.
The woman had gotten what she asked for.
“It’s no more than what she wanted. Her choice, Steafan. All by her choice. No mine.”
“That’s it exactly. Now that she’s come home, we can make her see how she chose wrongly. You can have what you want at last. You love her. You can make her love you.”
Caden opened his eyes, staring up at the jeweled night sky. For the first time in nine years, he thought about the words. Heard them.
You love her. You can make her love you.
“No,” he said slowly, his words and the realization coming together. “You canna make anyone love you.”
Either love was there or it wasn’t.
His Faerie ancestors had to be laughing hysterically on the other side of the curtain between the worlds that he was so dense it had taken him until now to figure out this simple fact.
“In truth, I never loved yer sister. I took for granted the fact that we would wed, but I dinna love her. I respected her. Until she betrayed my family. The day she led Sallie into that trap, risking my sister’s life by delivering her over to be kidnapped and brutalized by the Duke—on that day I lost what respect I had.”
“Alycie was but a frightened lass. You canna hold that against her.”
“I can. If no for her actions, Sallie would no have suffered as she did. If no for her actions, Drew would still be whole. I canna forget those things, Steafan. I dinna want to.”
“By all that’s holy, man, Alycie has suffered for the last nine years for her mistake. She never intended to bring harm to yer family. She’s meant to be a laird’s wife and lady, no a servant to a passel of nuns.”
Drew’s accusations rang in his memory. “Is it your sister’s place as wife of the laird you fash yerself over, or is it yer own future as the laird’s overseer you seek to secure?”
The two men stared at one another across the fire for long minutes before Caden rolled over, turning his back to his friend. “Rest easy, Steafan. Yer future disna depend on yer sister wedding me. It never has. As for any thought of me taking Alycie to wife, it’s no going to happen. That’s the end of it. We’ll no be having this discussion again. Ever.”
“Verra well, Caden MacAlister. You’ve made yer own choice and now we’ll all have to live with it.”
So we will, Caden thought, tightly shutting his eyes against the memories that would rob him of this night’s sleep.