The Romani leader scanned the encampment, gave a weary nod, then headed toward where several men were setting up tents.
Elspet applied the herbal mixture the healer had given her earlier.
“Let me help you.” Rónán said, lifting Cailin’s thigh when she began wrapping the bandage around the gash.
“I thank you,” she said, curious about the man, too aware of the questions in his eyes. And why wouldn’t he have them, given the ease of conversation between himself and Cailin, and with Cailin’s claim that he waslike a brother.
She continued to wind the bandage around his leg. From Rónán’s closeness with the king, his confidence, his muscled frame, and the way he’d handled his weapon with mastery, she suspected he was a Knight Templar as well.
“Are you all right?” Rónán asked.
“Aye.” As much as possible, given the situation. But days ago, she was living a simple yet happy life in which the highlight of any day was whether the earl and his men rode by.
Now, the Earl of Dalkirk wanted her dead, she was hiding out with Taog and his men, and she was in love with Cailin, the rightful heir of Tiran Castle, aKnight Templar.
Once she’d secured the bandage, she sat back. “I pray he doesna become fevered.”
“We will keep a close watch on him. As the injury isna severe, knowing him, he will be back on hisfeet tomorrow.”
“Not severe?” She slammed her brows together, tossed the extra cloth aside. “But a breath to the left and he would have died!” Which terrified her the most. In the horror of recent events, that she had found a man like Cailin, fallen in love with him, left her astounded. She refused to consider a life ahead without him.
“Buthe isna dead.”
“’Tis not a game!” Emotions tumbling upon the others as she started to shove to her feet.
Rónán’s hand caught her arm. “Far from it,” he said, his voice deadly serious. “Nor do I, or those we fight alongside, take any day given for granted.”
After a glance to ensure that no one was close enough to hear her, she knelt beside him. “You speak of the Knights Templar.”
Surprise flickered in his eyes for a second before he shielded the expression. He removed his hand, frowned at Cailin.
“Aye, he told me about the Brotherhood and its secret dissolution, but,” she said as grayish-green eyes lifted to hers, “no one else here knows.”
With a thoughtful look, he cleaned his dagger, secured it. “When I first arrived, he said you were important to him.”
She angled her jaw. “I love him.”
“I see.” A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.“Does he know?”
“Aye.”
He gave a slow nod as two women carrying baskets passed by. “You were childhoodfriends, then.”
Though handsome, and his voice edged with a brogue that would woo many a woman, loving Cailin, she wasn’t swayed by his innate charm. “Nay, in my youth I only saw him from a distance.”
“Yet in but a handful of days,” he drawled, “he not only grew to trust and care for you but disclosed he was a Templar. I would be interested in hearing how you met.”
Heat touched her face at how she’d deceived Cailin. She soaped her hands, rubbed hard. “’Tis difficult to explain.”
He chuckled, a deep, warm sound, easing the tension thrumming through her. “Lass, I would be disappointed if it wasna.”
She hesitated to admit the details. Why? This was Cailin’s trusted friend, one of the Brotherhood. Cailin would tell him, of that she had no doubt. “I robbed him in the woods when he was in search ofmy stepfather.”
Rónán’s mouth fell open in disbelief. “You jest.”
Taking a deep breath, keeping her voice low, Elspet explained.
“I am embarrassed to admit that after I had stolen his broadsword, he forgave me,” she said, “more than that, he agreed to help me learn whether my stepbrother still lived. Cailin is an honorable man, more than most.”
