Page 21 of Halloween Knight (A Knights Through Time Romance #17)

Over the next few days, they settled into a routine as they traveled, Lucy hoping to intercept William on his way home. It had been long enough that even if the king had kept him longer, he should be headed home by now.

She wondered where Thomas and her guard were? If they’d gone to court to find William or if they’d ridden for Blackford?

If anything had happened to any of them, Lucy would never forgive herself.

Now that she’d had plenty of time to think and not just react, she knew the likelihood of one of her sister’s traveling through time was one in a million, but she’d wanted to believe so she’d gone ahead, putting not only herself and her retinue in danger, but her children as well.

During the day, they rode at an easy pace so as not to tire the horses. At night they took turns keeping watch while the other slept. Lucy was initially wary of trusting a stranger, but found Callan to be an easy traveling companion.

One evening when Callan returned from washing at the stream, Lucy blinked .

“You shaved.” Why did he look familiar to her? She knew she’d never met him before. They’d been so worried about their pursuers that they hadn’t talked much during the day, and by the time they stopped at night, both of them were too exhausted to say much.

He touched his face. The skin where his beard had been was lighter than the rest of his face.

“I dinna usually wear a beard. It itches too much.”

While she sat by the fire, letting her hair dry, Lucy decided to find out more about her traveling companion. They were both rested, and it seemed he wanted to talk as much as she did.

“My husband doesn’t even know I went to Beverley Priory.” Lucy confessed, telling him of the note and how she’d lied to her guard, saying she wanted to take the waters.

He listened intently. “Why would you think your sister is in danger? Where is she?”

After hesitating for a few minutes, Lucy simply said, “She is far, far away.” She let out a breath. “I think she is safe. ’Twas merely a ruse by Agnes to get me away from Blackford so they could take me and lure William to them.”

When Callan froze, Lucy tilted her head in question.

“You know Blackford Castle?”

He added another log to the fire as they sat across from each other, the horses grazing, the afternoon deepening to evening.

“You said your name was Lucy Merriweather when we … met.”

“Right.” Lucy shook her head, happy at least her hair was finally clean, even if she didn’t have any soap. The sand she’d found at the water’s edge had worked well enough. She’d untangled her hair using a thin, supple twig.

“Sorry. My maiden name was Lucy Merriweather. I’m Lucy Brandon, Lady Blackford. William is Lord Blackford, my husband.”

The color drained from his face. Oh, no. Had William met him in battle at some time in the past?

Callan stood and paced. He’d dried his shirt on rocks by the fire, and then donned it again when it was dry.

His plaid was still as filthy as her dress, but for now they were stuck wearing the disgusting clothes.

Neither one of them had wanted to risk staying at an inn, so they’d slept in the woods, only venturing into a village to purchase food along the way.

“Callan? What’s wrong?” Lucy pressed her lips together. “Did my husband do something to wrong you?”

“Nay, lady.” Callan hesitated, then said, “Would ye listen to my story? I canna say it without telling the tale.”

“Yes, I’d like to hear your story.” She sat cross-legged on the ground, elbows on her knees. “And, Callan?”

“Aye?”

“With all we’ve been through, plain ole Lucy is fine, no need to call me ‘lady’.”

With a nod, he sat, stretching his long legs out, and she recognized the signs of a storyteller settling in to tell his tale.

“They cast my mother and me out of our clan…”

He told her of how his mother fell in love with an English lord, how the clan found out, and the resulting consequences. How they’d had to live apart and alone, the man never coming back for them even after his mother had written to him.

When Callan told her of his mother dying, and finding the letter that changed everything, Lucy knew what he was going to say.

Unable to sit still, he walked around their little camp, each step making his plaid brush against his boots as he continued .

“She named Hugh Brandon, the Earl of Ravenswing, as my father.” He stopped and took a drink of water.

“Went I went to Ravenswing village to confront him, to ask why, an old man told me the earl had passed, but then … he said the earl had a son, William Brandon, now the lord of Blackford Castle.”

He swallowed. “I decided to go to Blackford and ask his son if he knew about me, and why his father let my mother suffer.”

Oh, my. Talk about revelations.

It was Lucy’s turn to need a few minutes. She finished the bread and cheese they had for supper, along with another drink of water.

“William had another brother,” she said, more to herself than him, but Callan’s head snapped up.

“There are others?”

Lucy needed to move. She brushed the leaves off her cloak as she paced back and forth, grateful for the warmth of the fire.

“There was one. We suspected there might be others, but didn’t know of anyone else.” A long sigh escaped at the thought of conjuring Clement’s ghost.

“He had a childhood friend who turned out to be his half-brother.” Lucy paused, then just decided to say it.

“The guy was a total ass. He believed I was a witch and tried to drown me in the cistern on the roof.” She frowned. “It’s been four years, and I still hear the whispers in the village calling me a witch.”

The color slowly returned to Callan’s face.

“He did not know of me?”

Pausing, Lucy turned to look at him, at the hope and the worry on his face. Without overthinking it, she went over to stand beside him, patting his arm .

“He did not, but … I know he will welcome you when we find him. He has always longed for siblings.”

“I vow to see you safely back to his side.” Callan took her hand in his, a half-smile on his face. “Would you tell me of him?”

She sat beside him on a log, the fire crackling, the sounds of the horses and the stream soothed her.

Wanting to put him at ease, she teased, “Of course, talking about my great warrior husband is one of my greatest joys as a meek and obedient wife.”

He threw back his head and laughed, the sound rich and deep, and when he turned his head to look at her, she was struck again by why she thought he looked so familiar.

“You have the same eyes,” she blurted out as his eyes widened.

Lucy talked and talked, telling Callan about William as he told her of his life and of his mother. Worn out, she moved from the log where they’d been sitting to bed down next to the fire.

Looking up at the stars, she felt the guilt lessen just a bit.

Out of all the problems she’d caused by going to the well, if she hadn’t gone, she would have never met Callan.

He might have been hanged for his crime of stealing and then William would have never known he had another brother out in the world.

As she wrapped her cloak tightly around her, Lucy decided it would be a nice change to no longer be the source of village gossip.

When the villagers found out that Lord Blackford had a wild highlander for a brother, well, that should keep them talking for the next few years.

With each passing day, Lucy grew more anxious. What if they took a different road from William? Or if he had been kept at court?

That Scottish sound Callan made deep in his throat came from beside her.

“I can hear ye thinkin’ from here, lass. What’s troubling ye?”

The sound she made in return sounded more like a cat hacking up a hairball. How did he do that?

“What if we don’t find them? It’s not like we have phones with navigation.” Lucy sat up straight in the saddle. When she was overly tired, stressed or worried, she tended to revert back to her future speech, as William called it.

“Phone? I know not of a phone.”

Lucy waved a hand around her face. “Don’t mind me, I’m just tired and missing my husband and sons.”

Callan reached across the horses and patted her hand.

“We’ll find him. By now the news of your kidnapping has found him and he’s riding like the devil himself is on his heels. Dinna fash.”

He sounded confident, but Lucy saw hints of doubt in his eyes. Her own disappearance wasn’t the only weight on his mind.

If she found out she had a secret half-sister after all these years, how would she react? While Lucy liked to think that she and her sisters would welcome a sibling, in reality, they’d probably throw a fit first.

As they’d ridden, Lucy had told Callan about Blackford, the history with Clement and Georgina, how Agnes was her daughter by another, and she’d told him about her sons.

On that night, a fierce storm rolled across the land. They took shelter in a cave with the horses, shivering as the wind howled outside.

“Even if we do find William, he’s going to be furious that I’ve caused so much trouble and put my men in danger, not to mention my sweet Margery.” Lucy murmured into the darkness. “Abandoning my boys, putting myself in danger...”

“At first he will be so glad to see you that he willna be angry. But later…” He let his voice trail off.

“Later, what?” Exasperated, she blew out a breath.

When he spoke, she could hear the smile in his voice.

“Your husband should turn you over his bloody knee and whip you for the stramash you have caused.”

“Then it’s a good thing he’s English, not a bloody Scot like you,” she retorted.

The moon hung low in the ink-black sky, casting eerie shadows through the dense forest. William and his men pushed the horses onward, guided only by the light filtering through the dense canopy above.

“Wymund. We shall make camp here for the night.”

His captain nodded. “It will be good to be home soon. I find I miss the cookies our lady makes.”

Dressed in a dark green tunic and hose, William dismounted, eager to stretch his legs.