“Please,” I said, not above begging to find Katreine. “Give me another riddle.”
A long silence stretched, and then she spoke. “I possess no coins, I own no land, yet hold the world within my hands. Who am I?”
“I do nae ken what game ye are playing with me,” I said, irritation crawling up my spine, “but I ken well yer cunning little riddle is meant to be about me.”
A loud cackle cut through the silence. “Go to the king’s court, Highlander. She was taken, as ye already suspected.”
I turned to race to my horse, and behind me, the witch called out, “Think on my riddles while ye ride!”
I sprinted down the trail to my horse, finding Siward’s beast that Katreine had ridden gone. That did not surprise me. I untethered my horse and mounted in one swift motion, grunting at the unexpected pressure in my ribs as my arse found the saddle, but I settled onto the destrier with my jaw clenched against the pain.
Conn would have a head start of several hours, but he’d be moving more slowly with Katreine. She’d fight him. I knew that with bone-deep certainty. She’d kick and scratch, making his journey as difficult as possible. The thought should have made me smile. It didn’t. Instead, I felt a hollow ache between my ribs that was more than just worry for her safety.
Conn wasn’t the sort of man to hurt Katreine. He’d restrain her somehow, truss her hands, perhaps, or bind her to the saddle, but he wouldn’t strike her. He’d offer smooth words and false promises, trying to persuade her to come willingly rather than waste his strength dragging her. And when that failed, he’d use enough force to control her, but no more.
What pricked me now wasn’t just concern for her safety, or the thought that I had imagined a future with her, or even the loss of my prizes. An emotion swelled within me that I’d felt before but had been unable to name.
During many sleepless nights, I’d imagined what my own stronghold would look like, what it would feel like to command my own men, and to hear them call me laird by the name of the clan the king bestowed upon me. But I had never imagined who the woman might be beside me until Katreine. Her face was in my mind, and the hollowness in my chest came from the thought of losing her. I saw our future with perfect clarity: a stronghold to share, my plaid on the wall and wrapped around her shoulders, my men at the gate to protect her. And Katreine as my wife, a healer with golden eyes and a warrior’s courage.
God’s blood. I loved her. I did not know when it had happened, but I suspected it had begun the moment I’d first seen her caring for the wee little lass. I could not lose her. I urged my destrier to go faster, not caring for my safety, only for the chance to reach her. The witch’s riddles filled my head as the landscape flew by.I possess no coins, I own no land, yet hold the world within my hands.
By the gods, I was a fool. What good were a title, a stronghold, and warriors to have for a woman if I lost the only woman I had ever loved? I wanted those things to give her, but above all, I wanted her, if she would have me, and I thought she might. She had given me her body, knowing I possessed none of those things. Had I thrown the gift back in her face? I considered the distance I’d felt after we’d joined, and I told her of the prizes I would receive for taking her to the king, and I groaned. “Ye are a bloody clot-heid!” I thundered, my voice filling my body, my lungs, my mind with regret. I feared I had made her feel that her worth to me was in what she would bring me, not that I’d wanted those things above all to be worthy of her. I had to reach her, to explain, to tell her of my heart.
As I rode on, I considered the other riddle Morgan had given me.Ancient is she, yet her skin is unlined. She cares for many, but she is nae a mother. She’s bound by invisible strings that she tied around her heart. What is she?
As the path widened gradually and the ancient oaks of the Dark Woods gave way to scattered pines and then to open moorland, I tried to find an answer to that riddle, but I suspected the witch had been toying with me as a cat toys with a mouse, so I shoved the riddle out of my head. For a while, the rhythm of the horse beneath me and the cold air against my face were enough to keep my mind fixed on the road ahead, but my thoughts turned to Katreine once more.
I missed her sweet voice peppering me with questions about the geography and the weather, and thinking on that made me groan again. No doubt, she had been planning to escape me, because I was a fool and had made her feel like a lamb being delivered to slaughter and not like the woman I loved and wanted to do these things to give her as she deserved. I missed the way she hummed to herself and did not even realize she was doing it.
I pressed my heels into the horse’s flanks and rode faster, thinking of her. Since I had found her, I had watched her face as she slept, listened to her voice as she told me stories of the Summer Walkers and their travels, felt her clever hands tending my wounds, and endured her sharp tongue, which put me in my place. I witnessed her fierce courage when she was hurting and when she faced Siward. She had slipped under my skin and taken my heart, and I wanted to make her mine. I began praying to the gods that Katreine would forgive me and give me the chance to show her what was in my heart.
Chapter Twenty-one – Katreine
“Ye’ve done well, Conn!” King Alexander boomed. Flanking the king’s chair, his two guards nodded, and the three men seated on the dais with the king nodded as well. It had been more than twenty years since I had last been to the king’s court. I had not actually interacted with anyone, but had merely accompanied my da, who insisted I was too young to mingle at court. Still, I well recalled that my da had said nearly every day here that when the king decreed something, most men simply agreed, whether they knew it to be true or not, because they did not have the backbone to do otherwise.
“Thank ye,” my captor simpered, offering a slight bow to the King of Scotland. When he straightened, he added, “I’d be honored to use my tracking skills to serve ye again.”
I nearly snorted at that. I had to clench my teeth to keep my sour amusement from escaping. I certainly did not want to draw any unnecessary attention, and I vowed no sound had escaped me, but the king and Conn’s gaze came immediately to me. I stood still and tried to keep my expression bland, even as my thoughts raced along the same path they had for two days, leading to James and fear.
I had done three things during the two-day journey here. First, I had prayed to the gods that James was not grievously injured, though for the life of me I did not want to care. My heart refused to heed what my head told it. Conn had assured me he had not left him in a critical condition, but still I worried. I did not want to, but I supposed the joining had tethered me to James far more than I liked. The second thing I had done was to pray to the gods that I could heal the king’s daughter quickly, depart the castle, and encounter no one I had known before I’dfled this life, so that I would not be named a witch and hanged. The last thing I had done was to think about what Morgana had said would break my curse.
She’d said I had to give up everything for the belief that the man I loved would still love me. Those words made no sense. I did not possess anything I could give up for true love, even if I were in love, and I was most certainly not. James was a liar who wanted me for the prize I would bring him. Morgana had also said I could not wager on true love while I hid my soul. That part I’d understood because she’d named James specifically. And I knew she meant I had not told James about the curse.
“What questions have ye for me, healer?”
The king’s voice pulled me back to the moment. “Sire, will I be allowed to leave here once your daughter is healed?”
“Aye, ye’ve my word that once Mary is well, ye may leave.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “In that case, I’d like to see Mary immediately.”
The king chuckled. “I’m unsure whether to be gladdened by yer enthusiasm to heal my daughter or affronted that ye seem to have a complete distaste for my court.”
“Tis nae yer court, Sire. I just prefer a much simpler life and the freedom to travel as I wish.”
He arched his eyebrows. “A rare lass, indeed. Most lasses I ken want to acquire more things and a large castle to rule over and store them all in. Nae less. Tell me, healer, I have heard of yer renowned powers far and wide, but there is nae a soul who keened yer last name? I assumed it was because ye were a Summer Walker, but ye speak with a gentle, noble voice.”
To lie to the king was treasonous and could get me hanged, but telling him the truth could get me hanged, too. My heart slammed against my ribs as I tried to decide what to do when, behind me, a man spoke.
