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“I said, be quiet!” Victor shrieked, lunging at Felix with a desperate flail of his dagger-wielding hand.
Either Victor was not very good at fighting, or he was too tired to be of use. Whatever the reason for his ineptitude, all Felix had to do was step to the side to avoid the clumsy attack. As he watched Victor stumble past, half tripping on a rock, Felix let his gaze drift toward his beloved wife.
Just then, John yelled, “M’Laird! At yer back!”
Confused, Felix did not see the second attack coming until the dagger was almost buried in the back of his neck. Catching the movement just in time, Felix ducked down and twisted to the right, skimming underneath the glint of the blade. He swore he felt the sharp edge graze his scalp, but as no hair fell away and no blood began to trickle, he figured he must have been mistaken.
“Ye cannae have her, Laird Moore!” Victor ranted, as he skirted back around to his horse. “I love her, and I willnae relinquish her to any man. She’s mine, she has always been mine, and if ye think I’ve spent all these years at her side, only to lose her to ye, ye’re goin’ to be sorely disappointed.”
He grabbed at the bindings that lashed Edwina’s wrists together and, with a violent pull, he yanked her bodily from the back of the horse. A yelp of shock escaped her lips as she fell to the ground, hitting the dirt on her side, with a wheezing thud.
“Edwina!” Felix called out, instantly forgetting the fight as he ran to his wife.
He crouched at her side, turning her gently onto her back. Her face contorted in pain as she peered up at him, but it was soon chased away by a sweet smile.
“I thought ye were nae comin’,” she murmured. “I thought ye’d blame Kenney and I’d never be found.”
Felix cupped her face. “Wherever ye are, My Love, I’ll always find ye.”
“Felix!” Her eyes widened suddenly, her smile transforming into a wide yawn of panic.
Understanding what was about to happen before it did, Felix snatched up his broadsword and turned it upside down, feeding the blade through the gap between his arm and his waist. A moment later, he felt a great weight bearing down on him, punctuated by a single, shocked gasp. At first, he thought it had come from Edwina, but as a rattling wheeze came closer to his ear, Felix realized he was wrong.
The sound had slipped from Victor’s gaping mouth, where a trickle of blood now appeared in the corner, running down to his chin.
“I… love… ye,” Victor gurgled, his bleary eyes fixed upon Edwina.
As the wretch’s weight slumped entirely forward onto Felix’s back, Felix threw his shoulders back in a powerful shrug. Victor slid off, and collapsed, face first, into the dirt. There, Felix waited for another trick from the sneaky wretch, but no breath disturbed the man’s chest, his limbs limp and lifeless, as blood began to seep from the wound that had killed him.
Felix barely gave the man’s passing a moment’s notice, before his attention returned to his wife. “Are ye well? Can ye breathe? Where are ye hurt?” No longer fearing an attack, he gathered Edwina up into his arms. “What has he done to ye, My Love?”
“Nothin’ that willnae heal,” she whispered back. “But… are ye real or is the hunger and lack of sleep makin’ me imagine ye? I cannae be sure.”
He smiled. “I’m real, My Love, and I’m here.” He cradled the back of her head, while he brushed her injured lips with his thumb. “Och, I would kill him all over again for doin’ this to ye.”
He tried to make light of what had just occurred, for though he was ruthless in business, he was not famed for being a warrior. Indeed, he doubted it was ever easy to bear the responsibility of someone’s death, though he would have done the same thing a thousand times if it meant keeping Edwina safe.
“I’m… sorry that he had to die.” She swallowed thickly. “I’m sorry that… he turned out to be someone I dinnae recognize. And I’m sorry that… I left our bedchamber to make ye breakfast. I should have… served ye some cold meats from that obscene feast, like a… normal wife.”
It appeared that she was trying to make light of the situation, too, and for that he was grateful. Victor had been her friend once, and if she had hated Felix for killing him, Felix did not know what he would have done.
“There’s plenty left, for when we return,” he said softly, bringing a wheezy chuckle to her lips.
“I daenae think that’d be good for anyone’s stomach, if it has been sittin’ out on the table since I was taken.”
He smiled. “Nay, perhaps ye’re right.”
“So, ye really are here?” She lifted her hands to his face, as if she still did not quite believe it.
Holding her closer, he nodded. “I’m here, and I’m goin’ to take ye home, where ye belong.” He paused, gazing deep into her beautiful eyes. “I love ye, Edwina. I love ye with all my heart. I daenae ken what I’d do without ye, and, in truth, I never wish to find out.”
To his confusion, she narrowed her eyes at him. “Well, now I ken that ye’re nae real.”
“What do ye mean?”
“Ye just confessed yer love to me. I daenae think the real Felix would do that,” she teased, stroking her thumb across the top edge of his cheekbone.
He mustered a relieved chuckle. “Then ye daenae ken me as well as ye think ye do. I’m real, my Edwina, and I love ye more than I ken how to put into words.”
