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Chapter Thirteen – Colin

“Where are the lasses?” I asked my sister as she sat down beside me upon the dais.

Katherine scowled down at her trencher. “Porridge again?”

“Just be glad there’s anything to eat,” I growled. “With the constant attacks on the stronghold all available hands have been fighting nae farming.”

“Freya’s da is nae going to have to breach the stronghold at this rate,” she said, sopping up some porridge with a hunk of stale bread, sniffing it, frowning, and tossing the dripping gray mess onto her trencher. “We’re all going to starve this way.”

I inhaled a long breath for patience and asked again, “Where are the lasses?”

“In Freya’s bedchamber. She did nae feel well, so she did nae want to come to supper, and her sister stayed with her.”

“Did ye instruct the kitchen lasses to send a tray up for them?”

“I offered to,” Katherine replied, “but Freya said they’ve some tradition in her family about the women fasting the night before the wedding.”

“That’s an odd tradition,” Connor said from my right.

I nodded, considering. “Did Freya look unwell to ye?”

Katherine shrugged. “I suppose. ”

“What do ye mean ye suppose? Ye’re the healer of our clan.”

Katherine glared at me. “Her eyes were bright indicating good health, and her color seemed good, and her speech was clear, but her skin was hot, indicating a fever. Why?”

“I would nae put it past that lass to try to escape the castle.”

Connor snorted at that. “I do nae see how she’d do that. The drawbridge is up and manned, and the storm prevents anyone from leaving by the loch or getting near. The waters are rough, high, and dangerous.”

“Aye, I suppose that’s true enough,” I said. Mayhap I was worrying without cause. “Even if the lasses were foolish enough to try to escape by way of the loch, they do nae ken the way down—”

“Actually,” Katherine said, “I took Vanora with me to the loch.”

“Why the devil did ye do that?” I asked, a twitch starting near my right eye.

“Because ye told me to keep her with me at all times that she was nae in her bedchamber, and I needed to fetch some water down at the loch.”

“Fine, fine. It does nae matter, I suppose if the lass kens the way to the loch. They still can nae flee without the dinghy, and that’s well hidden.”

“Well,” Connor said in drawn out tone that made me know I was not going to like what I heard. “I took the lass Vanora out on the water yesterday morning in the dinghy.”

The twitch beside my right eye increased in speed. I reached for my goblet of wine and consumed the entire contents in one gulp to douse the spark of my temper. “Please tell me ye did nae let her see where the dinghy is hidden. ”

“Fine,” Connor said, in his typical glib tone, “I’ll nae tell ye.”

I was already rising when the alarm horn cut through the noise of the clan talking in the great hall. It blew in three short bursts and one long one. The chatter of the clan increased immediately as cries of concern rang from table to table and my warriors stood, drawing swords, preparing for what they believed was another attack.

“Do ye think MacLeod is already returned?” Connor asked, drawing his own sword.

“Nay, nay I do nae, ye clot-heid,” I snapped. “Ye just said yerself the waters are too rough for anyone to be in them.”

“Then who—”

“I’ve nary a doubt that the lasses are trying to escape,” I said, stomping down the dais. I raised my hands and let out a shrill whistle for silence as I strode toward the Great Hall doors. Behind me, footstep fell, and I glanced over my shoulder to see Connor rushing toward me. I swept my gaze over my clan. “Calm yerselves,” I said. “We are nae under attack, so ye can return to yer supper.”

With that, I strode out the doors as Connor fell into step beside me.

“If it’s them—”

“It is,” I cut him off. I couldn’t say why I was so certain, but I was.

“Then, I’m sorry.”

“Aye,” I bit out, shoving through the door into the back outer courtyard. A biting, wicked wind drove the rain sideways, lashing it against me with the force of a hundred small whips, as I hurried to the narrow staircase. Chilled water snaked down my neck, but I could not stop. I raced, nearly stumbling, toward the stone steps that led to the seagate .

The worst of the night had not fallen yet, and patches of late twilight lingered over the dim sky like a gauze of bruised silk. This faint, failing light gave me just enough visibility to make out the loch below. When I reached the top of the staircase, I squinted to see the water beyond the break wall, where a single dinghy bobbed and spun and heaved through the rough churning water. The small vessel held two women, and despite the growing shadows, I knew them both with no need for a closer look. “God’s blood,” I cursed, thankful that I’d been able to put Nigel on guard duty at the back of the castle.

“Do ye think they’ll get far?” Connor yelled over the howling wind as we now raced down the slick steps.

Right at that moment, a wave crashed into the dinghy overturning it, dumping both lasses into the water, and spurring me into an all-out sprint. I hit the land, heart pounding and breath coming fast and hard, and as I ran toward the water, I stripped off my sword, my dagger, and my plaid, dropping them as I went. I hit the water with a shout, my teeth immediately clenching against the coldness. As I dove, Vanora bobbed to the surface, screaming. Then all sound disappeared but that of the waves crashing overhead. I cut my arms as fast as I could through the water, and as long as I could, until my lungs burned, and I was forced to the surface.

The moment I surfaced, water smacked me in the face and filled my nose, my mouth, my lungs. I spit and coughed, blinking my eyes, and then took a moment to locate the lasses. I only saw Vanora, circling round and round, still screaming, but now I was close enough to hear her. “Freya!” she called, the sound choked and tormented. Vanora dove under the water, and I understood then—she was looking for her sister .

I dove, to, swimming to where Vanora had just been. I kicked furiously and swam, arm over arm, muscles burning. The water churned too violently for me to see anything clearly. When my hand brushed against a body, I hesitated, uncertain who it was. But as I grasped it and felt no resistance, dread settled in. It had to be Freya. God’s blood, was she dead? I kicked us to the surface, breaking it, and coming face to face with Vanora. Behind her, Connor had managed to overturn the dinghy and was swimming it toward us.

“My sister!” Vanora screamed, trying to grab a still Freya from me.

“I’ve got her,” I yelled. “Get yerself to the dinghy.” I waited a beat, relieved to see she did as told. I flipped Freya on her back as water washed over us and then, flipping on my own back and circling her waist with my arm, I swam us to the dinghy. Connor helped Vanora into the small boat, and then they both reached down to grasp Freya. I did my best to lift her to them as we rose and fell with the waves. Up we went then back down as the water covered my head. When I came up, Freya was being tugged over the side of the dinghy by Connor and Vanora. Once I climbed over, I scrambled to my knees and to the lass.

“Move aside,” I said, giving the crying and screaming Vanora a gentle push. I didn’t know much about the healing arts, but I had seen my sister once revive a drowned woman at the village. I turned Freya on her side, whacked her on the back several times, and when that didn’t produce any results, I leaned down, tilted her head back, pinched her nose shut, and blew as hard as I could into her mouth. The lass lay unmoving, her skin cold, her pallor graying.

“She’d dead!” Vanora screamed, starting to pound me on the back. “Ye killed my sister! ”

I repeated blowing breath into her mouth once more. And again. And finally, Freya began to cough and spit out water. I exhaled a ragged breath and helped the lass to sit up. I didn’t want the water she was spitting out to go back into her lungs. Under my fingertips her body started to tremble and then she began to shake with a violence that clanked her teeth together. I gathered her into my arms and pulled her close to wrap my arms around her in an effort to give her whatever warmth I had to offer.

“Do nae mind me,” Connor said, winking as he leaned over the side of the boat, attempting to paddle us to shore.

“That’s nae going to work,” I offered, my lips turning up in a smile that loosened a few of the knots in my shoulders and neck that fear for the lass had put there.

“Ye do nae say?” Connor snapped. “Ye just sit there holding the lass. I’ll do all the hard work.”

“Since it’s yer fault we are out here that seems just.”

He opened his mouth no doubt to protest, then clamped it shut, turned and jumped over the edge of the dinghy as he held the ledge.

“What’s he doing?” Vanora cried out, getting on her knees to look over the ledge at Connor.

“He’s swimming us in, lass, so we do nae all drown thanks to yer and ye sister’s ridiculous escape attempt.” Now that the fear had abated, my irritation was rising. I felt Freya tilt her head back and look up at me. Her color had returned a bit, but not all the way, so her eyes looked especially dark against her pale skin. Water dripped from her long lashes, and I had the urge to run my thumb over them to dry them.

“If ye’d nae have taken me,” she bellowed with surprising strength for a lass who’d nearly just drowned, “I’d nae have had to try to escape. ”

Her body still shook, so I didn’t set her on her arse on the cold hard dingy bottom, as I had the desire to do. Instead, I said, “Might I remind ye, I saved ye in those woods, and then I saved ye just now. I’d think ye’d be thanking me, so I do nae dump ye back into the water.”

“Nay!” Vanora gasped. “She can nae swim!”

My lips parted at that astonishing revelation. The lass had wanted to escape me so badly she’d gotten into a dingy in the middle of a storm, even though she could nae swim. “I will nae hurt ye ever. Ye do nae need to put yer and yer sister’s lives in jeopardy to escape me.”

“I’ve had three husbands in less than a year, each worse than the other, so ye must understand, if I do nae believe the promise of a man who is wedding me against my will.” With that, she shoved out of my arms and moved as far away from me as the dinghy would allow. She pressed her back to the edge, drew her knees up, and wrapped her arms around them. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, but her hair, still sopping wet, was plastered to her face. Fiery strands streaked like spreading vines across her cheeks and down her neck. Even though I knew my promise to be true, guilt hardened in my belly. I was wedding her against her will. That was something I’d never thought I’d do, but to save my clan, my brother and sister, and this stronghold so many had died for, I had to do it. I had no desire to have a wife in the truest sense of the word anymore, but I did nae want another enemy either. “Ye will see I’m a man of my word.”

She snorted.

I ground my teeth together but tried again as we neared shore. “I will prove it to ye.”

Her eyes lit with my words. “Ye wish to prove to me ye’ll nae hurt me?”

“Aye,” I replied, though I had no notion why. Why should I care? It wasn’t the first time I’d asked the question, and an answer still did not magically appear.

Her lips formed a smug smile. “Then give me yer word ye’ll nae bed me.”

The request was so ridiculous I laughed. “Believe me I do nae want to bed ye.”

“Excellent,” she said, “then we are in agreement.”

I shook my head. “I have to consummate the marriage to solidify the union.”

“Then ye will hurt me,” she said, her voice shaking.

I couldn’t ignore her fear, but I also could not ignore that the marriage had to be consummated. “I will nay bed ye until ye are ready. Until ye ask me to,” I said, as Connor pulled the boat to the shore.

“Then we will nae be bedding at all,” she said, climbed out of the boat and went marching away in the wrong direction with her sister scrambling after her.

Connor shook his head at me. “That was a foolish vow to give.”

“Aye,” I agreed. “But I did nae have a choice. The lass has been abused. Apparently sorely so. I’ll nae be responsible for causing her fear and more pain. And currently, she is afraid of me. She does nae trust me. And until she trust me, she will nae be relaxed enough for the bedding.”

“So what will ye do?”

“I suppose I’ll have to gain her trust, so I can consummate the marriage.”

“Seems a lot of work for man who does nae intend to actually live as a true husband and wife.”

“Aye,” I agreed. “It certainly does.”