Page 18 of The Bells of Triumph (Highlands’ Lost Valley #3)

17

ECHOS OF TRIUMPH

F lora walked through the castle with only one thing in mind: finding Seamus. Despite all of her curiosity about the place where he had grown up, despite all the soldiers wanting to stop to celebrate with her, all she could think about was finding her husband. He had left in such a state that she wanted to do all that she could to make sure he was all right.

Having already gone through the first two levels of the castle with no luck, she started searching the towers. Coming to the very top of her third tower, Flora pushed open the door, expecting it to be dark and empty, as all the others had been. There was no light, save for the tiny stream of sunlight that came from a crack in the curtains, but it wasn't empty.

Stepping inside it while still leaving the door open, Flora let her fingers run along the top of a dust-covered desk before she moved to the wall of shelves that held dozens of books. Her eyes slowly started to adjust, allowing her to take in the pale blue paisley pattern on the walls and the long-since-dried flowers in vases around the room.

“A lady's sitting room,” she murmured to herself in realization.

“My mother's favorite, actually.”

Flora jumped, her heart nearly pounding out of her chest. A shadowy figure rose from the sofa in front of her, turning to reveal her husband's eyes.

“Seamus,” she chided breathlessly, “ye frightened me. I did nae think anyone else was in here.”

He gave her a half-smile that didn't quite meet his eyes.

“How did ye find me?”

“I opened enough doors, I guess.”

She moved around to the front of the sofa and sat beside him. A cloud of dust rose around her from the cushion, making her cough. Batting away the haze, she studied Seamus.

“I dinnae think anyone has so much as touched this room since my mother left the castle all those years ago. It is exactly as I remember it before Campbell came. It seems as though my entire life could be separated into two parts, before Campbell, and after Campbell. However, I am starting to think there will never truly be an after Campbell.”

“Dinnae say such things.”

She reached out to grab his hand, but Seamus pulled away. His rejection stung, but she knew it wasn't about her, at that moment.

“Nay matter what I do, Flora, nay matter how ahead I think I am, he is always one step further. He is always just out of reach.”

“He must have kent that we were coming. He must have gotten word about our plans somehow.”

Seamus shook his head and ran an angry hand through his hair, pulling it out of its tie.

“I doubt it. Campbell did nae need someone to tell him that we were coming. He is smart enough to ken that we would. Nay, he is simply better at this than we are. Even if he had been here, I am nae sure that we would have won against him.”

“What are ye talking about?”

“Ye saw the way his soldiers fought today. Even as outnumbered as they were, they did nae stop. If the full extent of Campbell's army had been here, it would have been a slaughter, and we would nae have been the victors.”

Flora stood and went to the curtains once more. This time, without any sense of delicacy, she yanked them open, letting the light from outside in.

“Look at this,” she ordered.

When Seamus didn't move from his place on the sofa, she marched back over to him and pulled him off it.

“What are ye doing?” he grumbled, putting up a bit of resistance to her efforts.

“I am trying to show ye just how ridiculous ye are being.”

“Ridiculous? Flora, we have lost. We were bested today. Campbell escaped, and I killed the one man who could have told us where he went. We have nay idea where he is or what his plan is. We are wee more than sitting ducks, waiting to be attacked.”

“We did nae lose, Seamus,” she told him softly but no less fiercely.

Dragging him over to the window by the hand, she pushed him in front of her. Gripping his shoulders, she forced him to look outside.

“Tell me what ye see.”

“I see men celebrating a false victory.”

“I will tell ye what I see. I see a clan that has been reclaimed from an evil man. I see a fortress that has been won by the rightful heir. I see men that are nay longer in fear for their families and homes. I see fourteen years of suffering coming to an end—all because of ye.”

“Flora,” Seamus groaned, shaking his head.

He turned from the window to face her. She hated seeing the deep sadness that rested in his eyes, the way his brow creased with worry. Taking a hand, she began to smooth out the lines on his forehead, pushing them away as she hoped to do with his disbelief.

“I ken that the fight is nae over yet, Seamus. We will have to defend our homes once more. And I ken that it will nae be easy. I am nae so naive as to look past that. But I would ask that ye look around to appreciate all ye have accomplished before ye start planning on what to do next.”

Her hands slid from his face and down his arms until her fingers intertwined with his.

“We have reclaimed Murray Castle. That is nay wee thing. And beyond that, ye trusted yer instincts and stood against Finn's plan. Ye protected Murray Village from a siege that would have been pointless. Ye kept those families from starving and suffering, even if that meant we had to fight a wee bit harder. Yer people will nae forget such things.”

The more she spoke, the more the defeat in his eyes ebbed away. His fingers started to grip hers, as if he was pulling on her strength to stand. She didn't mind, she would give him all her strength if that was what he needed.

“What about Campbell?” he asked, quietly, but not crushed anymore.

“We will deal with him the same way we have dealt with everything else—together.”

Bowing his head, Seamus pressed his forehead against hers and breathed in deep. His eyes slid shut as he held her close.

“I dinnae ken what I would ever do without ye, my love,” he whispered.

“It is a good thing ye dinnae have to find out.”

He chuckled dryly before picking up his head and finding her eyes once more.

“Together?”

“Together.”

She promised him with a single word before rising to the tips of her toes. Letting go of his hands, she wove her fingers through his hair and pressed a kiss to his lips.

They had shared many kisses before, most of which were full of passion that burned through her. But this was not that kind of kiss. She held him, drawing him into her, if only to fill him with the love she had for him. This was a kiss to put him back together, to show him just how much she believed in him, even when he didn't believe in himself. He clung to her as though he depended on her, as if he was desperate for her love. And she was all too willing to give it.

When she pulled away, his eyes were alight with fire again, his shoulders straight and tall. He looked like a man she recognized, a man she loved, a man ready to fight another battle.

“I suppose it is time that we go find the others. They will wonder where we disappeared to.”

“Aye,” Seamus agreed, taking her hand and leading her out of the sitting room. “We will need to start making plans for what to do next. We cannae afford to lose any more time. Who kens where Campbell has gone or how long it will take for us to reach him again, let alone defeat him.”

“Dinnae fash. We will see the end of this soon enough.”

They were two flights of stairs down with several more to go when Seamus tugged her to a stop in front of a window.

“What are ye doing?” she asked. “I thought we needed to make it back to the others before they come looking for us.”

“Aye, I just wanted to take a moment to show ye this.”

She gave him a confused smile but turned to the window anyway.

“What am I looking at?”

“Murray Village,” he answered simply.

“Aye, but what about it?”

“Murray Village, still alive and thriving,” he clarified. “And nae just the village but all of the lands around it. As put out as I am over Campbell having escaped a second time, I cannae tell ye how much it means to me to see such a glorious sight.”

She studied the view a little bit closer, watching as children played in between the trees that blew in the wind. It was picturesque and peaceful, wholly untouched by the fight that had just occurred.

“Och, Seamus, it really is quite wonderful. And it is all thanks to ye.”

His hands went to her shoulders and turned her back around to face him. Without another word, he pressed a kiss to her lips, firm and sure.

“One day,” he told her after taking a step back again, “verra soon, all of our hardship will be over. There will be nay more discussion of war or battle strategy. Campbell will be a thing of the past. And when that happens, when we are finally done with all of this chaos, I have every intention of standing in front of this clan and marrying ye again. I want them all to ken that I could never have done any of this without yer help. I want them to ken that I love ye more than life itself. I want them to call ye their lady.”

She swallowed hard, taken aback by the sudden onslaught of emotion his promises elicited. Blinking to clear her vision, she took Seamus' hand and held it tight. Without the adequate words to respond, she settled for kissing him back.

When they made it down the stairs and back into the Great Hall, some several minutes later, a much different scene than the one she left greeted them. Liam and Errik were huddled together with Connor near the front of the room, whispering about something serious. The rest of the soldiers were either getting their wounds patched up by the handful of healers who had ridden with them, or were downing mugs of ale as quickly as they could.

Seamus' arrival in the mix created a heavy air of anticipation. What for, Flora couldn't imagine.

“Glad ye could rejoin us,” Liam chided a bit playfully as the couple walked up to join the group. “We were just discussing the aftermath of everything.”

“Fill me in and spare me nay details.”

The three men glanced at each other nervously before Connor cleared his throat and looked back at his friend.

“Seamus,” Connor greeted with a handshake that Seamus was all too happy to return, “I am pleased to say that my efforts were more successful than I hoped they could have been.”

“I must admit, I was nae expecting to see ye here. Ye were supposed to be in the village with Brid. What happened?”

“I was, and we had great success in gathering supporters for the cause. I have been told that many from Murray Village joined ye as ye walked through. But the longer we stayed in the village and the longer the blockade was up, the more restless the village got. It became clear to me that things were nae going to plan, and I needed to do whatever I could to help us. With the help of an old training mate, I managed to sneak back into the castle and convince some of Campbell's guards nae to fight against ye.”

“Some,” Errik cut in, “more like half. And that eejit Archie never stopped to notice his men did nae follow him out as he had expected.”

“Where are these men now?” Seamus asked, unable to hide his surprise.

“They surrendered before the fight even started.”

“And what happened to the rest of Campbell's guards?” Flora asked, peeking over her shoulder, still not convinced that there wasn't going to be another ambush.

“Those who were nae killed have been imprisoned. The men have already locked them in the dungeons. They can stay there until we decide what to do with all of them.”

“None of them deserve to live,” Errik muttered.

The other four looked over at him, shocked by how angry and resolute he sounded. He simply shrugged.

“Any man who fought for Campbell and stayed with him when given the out is nae worth the air he breathes. They are all murderers and thieves as far as I am concerned. They have all taken part in the suffering of this clan and for that, they dinnae deserve to live.”

Flora found herself agreeing with Errik's points. There was no telling the horrors these men inflicted on the clan. They could not be simply set free, able to inflict more harm on whoever they come across. She looked to Seamus for an answer. He took in a deep breath and scrubbed a hand over his face before answering the unasked question.

“As Connor said, we will deal with them later. I am nae willing to overlook their crimes, but I have nae interest in starting my reign as Laird by slaughtering dozens of men. History would only see it as a repeat of Campbell's actions. Besides, none of that matters until?—”

“There he is! The man who has freed us from the tyrant!”

A half drunk villager stumbled into the Great Hall, slurring his words as he went.

Several others trailed in behind him, cheering and celebrating as they went. Seamus looked to her, searching for answers, but she had none to give.

“News has spread quickly of yer victory over Campbell. Murray Village thinks the man is dead.”

Flora's heart fell to the floor. Behind her, villagers started pouring into the castle, cheering and celebrating the supposed victory. The rebel soldiers joined in with them, all overjoyed at having finally won against Campbell, or so they thought. She could already hear the misplaced guilt screaming in Seamus' head. It was written all over his face.

“Some of the others volunteered to ride to Glenkirk Castle to give them the news as well. We are to reconvene here, in the Great Hall, for a meeting. We thought that this is where ye would like to tell everyone the news yerself and reclaim the clan.”

Connor was so thrilled as he spoke, clearly proud of Seamus.

“I dinnae think that is a good idea,” Flora told him over the noise in the hall.

“Och, nonsense. I ken that Seamus does nae like the attention, but as the new leader of this clan, he should be the one to make the announcement. He should stand in front of his people and be proud of all he has done.”

“Connor,” Liam hissed in warning.

“What? I dinnae ken what everyone is so up in arms about. A little public speaking never killed anyone. Och! Here they are now!”

The rest of the village had made their way into the castle, settling into the Great Hall. Seamus wouldn't meet Flora's eyes, so she studied the crowd. They were all looking at him, at all the rebel soldiers, as if they were gods. Connor gave Seamus a shove, making him stumble towards the front of the room. Everyone waited to hear what he would say, waited for the news they so desperately wanted to hear, but Flora knew they wouldn't come.

He walked through the crowd, ignoring all the pats on his back and offers of thanks, and then cleared his throat.

“I ken that ye all were brought here to hear the retelling of our victory against Campbell and his army.”

They all cheered, clearly unable to see the heaviness on his shoulders.

“But,” he continued, speaking over them, “I am afraid I am going to have to let you down.”

Connor looked at Flora in bewilderment. She could only sigh.

“While it is true that we prevailed upon Campbell's guards stationed here and have officially reclaimed Murray Castle as our own, I am ashamed to admit that Campbell is still alive.”

The air of the room shifted from joy to confusion and sadness, as though someone left the door open on a cold winter's night, letting all the warmth from the fire to dissipate.

“He kent of our plans to attack and managed to leave the castle, along with most of his army, long before we arrived. I dinnae ken where he has gone or what his plans are. But I can promise ye that I will nae stop, I will nae give up searching for him until I find him and bring him to justice.”

“How did he get away without anyone seeing?” an elderly woman called from the middle of the crowd.

“I dinnae ken.”

“Will he attack us again?”

“I dinnae ken.”

“What are we to do next?”

Seamus sighed heavily before repeating for a third time:

“I dinnae ken.”