Rhian studied her kindly. “Of course ye do. I think we all do.”
“Nay, I do no’ mean in an ordinary fashion. I fear him.Here.” She clutched her hands to her stomach just below her heart. “Idid no tell ye—I dared no’. That Vision I received back home concerned him. I Saw mysel’ in his power.”
“And now here ye be. Och, love!”
“Aye, but ’twas no’ just that. He—” Saerla met her sister’s gaze and fought through the fear, the dread. “He desired me.”
“Was that wha’ terrified ye so?”
“Aye.” Yet even that was not all of it. What had most terrified Saerla was that she’d wanted Rory in return. Even while she hated him.
“I maun get away’ out o’ here.”
“Listen to me. Moira is clever. And determined. She will find a way to get ye free. Farlan knows Rory well and stands at her side. Ye maun believe.”
Just whatshehad flung at Rory.
“Meanwhile”—Rhian lowered her voice, even though they were alone, with no one to hear—“I ha’ this.”
From the bottom of her basket she retrieved a knife with a honed blade. Only a bit longer than a man’s hand, it was nevertheless a better weapon than Saerla’s small sgian dubh. This might not just wound, but kill a man.
“Take it.”
Saerla did, by reflex. “Is it Leith’s?”
“Aye.”
“Does he know ye ha’ it?” And that Saerla would use it to kill his cousin, his chief, if she could?
Rhian shook her head.
“Then…” Rhian betrayed him by giving Saerla this.
“Sister, I will no’ leave ye defenseless. If he touches ye in the way ye fear—well, he will no’ expect ye to be armed, will he? And ye be quick. Stronger than he knows. Ye can ha’ this at his throat before he can force ye.”
Saerla’s fingers tightened on the hilt of the knife. “Aye.” It would be a good means of getting near enough to inflict a wound, by seducing him. Yet she did not know how to seduce a man.
And it seemed a sort of betrayal to try. As she saw it, desire was all about love. Love, in turn, was all about trust. The kind Rhian and Leith had found for each other, that lent Rhian the courage to leave home. The trust Moira had for Farlan, so steady at her side.
How could desire exist without that?
“Saerla.” Rhian caught her sister’s shoulders between her hands. “Ye ha’ the courage ye need.”
Did she? Aye, it was easy to be filled with strength while standing on the rise back home, up among the stones. A little harder when taking the field with a sword in her hands.
Here?
She drew an uncertain breath.
An end to Rory MacLeod could mean an end to warring in the glen she loved. Leith—Leith would make a far different sort of chief. And there were already differing paths ahead from which to choose.
She raised her eyes to Rhian’s. The strength there allowed her to draw a still-deeper breath. “Aye, ye be right.”
“Pray on it,” Rhian urged. “Pray for Moira to ha’ the wisdom she needs, and ye the courage.”
“Aye,” Saerla said again, wondering if she could find the refuge of her prayers while in this place.
“Och, I near forgot.” Rhian turned and retrieved a bundle she’d set beside the door when she came in. “Clean clothing. Yours is all smeared wi’ blood.”
