Shetrudged deeper.
On a sob, she jerked the tattered swatch from the tangled heap of floating debris. Her hand fisted around the soggy cloth and her eyes filled with tears. She gulped a deep breath, then another.
Cailin came to her side. “What in the…” His face paled. “God’s blade,” he rasped, “’tis a piece ofAiden’s tunic.”
Coldness sliced through her. Like a fool, she had convinced herself she wanted a life alone, that she could walk away from all Aidenmade her feel.
Yet as she stared down at the delicate weave of gold crafted into a Celtic cross, her heart splintered into a thousand pieces. Without wanting to, she had fallen inlove with him.
A sob burst free, then another, as she clutched the cloth to her chest. Her shoulders quaked beneath her grief, beneath the weight of so many words left unsaid.
Cailin drew her against his chest. “Let yourself go, lass. You have held your heartache in too long.”
At his tender entreaty, she caved beneath a hurt so raw her knees threatened to give way. “I never told him that I loved him.”
“Aye, lass...he knew.”
“You are so very wrong. H-he only knew of my anger.”
Silence thickened as one moment rolled into two, and still the knight held her. Even as she cried out her denial and cursed the battle that had twisted her world into despair, Aiden’s friend lent her strength, held her up, his wise whispered words guiding her back to the much-need footing of sanity.
Piece by piece, she gathered her composure, and on a rough exhale, she stepped away.
Tears rolling down her cheeks, she stared at the incoming wave, sparkling beneath the morning sun as if mocking her anguish. “Nay, Cailin,” she whispered, “I refuse to believe he is gone. He is strong. A leader of men. A warrior unlike any other I have ever known.” She turned and peered into the large knight’s caring eyes. “He is still out there,” she said, her voice cracking beneath a surge of hope. “And if it takes ’til my last drawn breath, Iwill find him.”
“Lass—”
Cailincaught her arm.
The damp piece of Aiden’s tunic clenched in her hand, she pulled free. “I am riding south. Nay doubt, like he did in his youth, Aiden was able to float on a piece of the damaged ship.” She suppressed the swell of tears. “The current has taken him farther down the shore than we believed. He must be there.” She narrowed her eyes. “You can accompany me, but I warn you, you willna stop me.” She sloshed through the surf toward where her mount waited.
The men on the beach working to clear the rubble glanced up as she stormed past. Their looks of pity only strengthened her resolve. They may believe their brave leader was dead, but until she saw proof, she wouldkeep searching.
As she swung onto her mount, the soft clop of hooves upon sand sounded behind her.She glanced up.
Mouth grim, Cailin drew alongside, gave a curt nod. “Let us go.”
Aye, let them find theman she loved.
* * * *
Hands clamped around the broken slats of wood he clung to, Aiden forced his eyes open. Sunlight shimmered off the choppy surface, at odds with the wind-fed swells he’dbattled at sea.
The distance cliffs grew closer.
Joy surged through him and he began kicking harder. God’s sword, how far had he traveled? After watching the sunrise for the past three days, as he had floated in the open ocean, his every attempt against the strong current ending in utter failure, there was no telling. Over the last few hours, with the wind shift, he had begun to make progress toward shore.
He glanced at the strip of his tattered tunic, which sealed a large gash in his arm, thankful he had stopped bleeding. Yet with sun-blistered skin and dizziness, and desperate for water, if he did not reach shore soon… he stifled a shudder. No, he would make it, if only tofind Gwendolyn.
What a fool to think he could walk away and never see her again. ’Twas thoughts of her beautiful face, her spirit, and her giving nature that had kept him alive. He must find her and tellher the truth.
His broken raft lifted above the incoming swell. He kicked with the wave. He moved ahead but an arm’s length. Bedamned, at this rate ’twould be another day before hemade it ashore.
Dragging his body higher on the blackened slats, Aiden scanned the storm-littered coast in search of movement. As if after three days his men would continue their search for him. During the first two days, sea swells had robbed him of seeing land, and the moonless nights had drenched him in darkness.
Regardless, he had mapped the stars overhead, knew he drifted southward. But how far? Another shudder wracked his body. With his strength depleting, he must make land soon. Like a beacon of hope, Gwendolyn’s smile shimmered bright in his mind.
By God,he’d reach her!
