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“No need. I understand how difficult this incident must have been for you. I will see you safely home.”
She shook her head.
“I insist.”
Bliss continued shaking her head, though not because he insisted on escorting her home. “I must tell you something.”
“I’ll listen as we walk.”
He reached for her hand and closed his fingers firmly around hers. Bliss could not help but think how his innocent gesture sealed what fate had decreed.
She tugged at his hand when he went to walk, forcing him to stay put. With a more adamant tone, she said, “We are husband and wife.”
He nodded, appearing not at all upset by her resolute words, and clearly not understanding what she was trying to convey to him.
“Aye, we should continue to appear so in case other soldiers approach us.”
She shook her head a bit too frantically, worried that he would fail to understand the truth. She poked his chest repeatedly, hoping to make him pay closer attention. “You”—she tapped her chest—“and I, are wed. We are truly husband and wife.”
Chapter 2
Trey almost laughed aloud, the jabs to his chest having amused him since he barely felt them, but when he saw that Bliss was quite serious, he curtailed his humorous response. Her lovely pale blue eyes, which only moments before had sparkled, appeared shadowed with concern. And though her words made no sense, no vows having been exchanged, he sensed that there was more to her claim than he realized.
He did not know this woman well though he knew well the comfort and skill of her healing touch. She had stroked his brow, had touched his wounds, and had used whatever power had been granted her to heal him. He had been drowning in a sea of frightful visions and consumed by such suffocating heat that he had thought he had died and gone to hell.
Then, suddenly, a gentle, cooling hand had pulled him free. And he had caught a brief glimpse of an angel’s exquisite face. That angel now claimed that he was her husband.
“What exactly do you mean that we are truly wed?” he asked.
“Picts wed by laying claim to each other.”
It took a moment for him to realize what she meant. “When I said you were my wife, I took you as my wife?”
“Aye, and I sealed our spoken vows when I claimed you as my husband,” she said. “Both must proclaim the other as husband and wife for the vow to be final. In the eyes of my people, we are husband and wife.”
“A few words, and we are sealed as one? No documents to sign? No arrangements made? Simply an exchange of words?” He found it difficult to believe, but, surprisingly, he was not troubled over the situation. No doubt it could be rectified.
“A few words can hold so much more power than people know. Just think of the tremendous power of the three words—I love you.”
His heart jolted with the memory of once not only hearing those words but speaking them. “You’re right. Three small words can bring tremendous happiness—or great pain.”
Bliss smiled. “To say I love you means you will surely taste of happiness and pain. That is why it is so important to choose carefully the words you speak, for often they cannot be rescinded.”
“What of Pict wedding vows?”
“A few clearly stated words, and our wedding vows can be rescinded as easily as they were made.”
One did not take wedding vows lightly, even if spoken in haste. And he needed time to consider this. “I don’t believe it would be wise of us to rush and do that. It may be better to remain husband and wife until I deliver you safely home.” It was a sensible decision not to separate from her just yet. She needed protection, a woman on her own, and if being wed to him brought her that, then married they would remain until he was certain she was safe from harm. And he could sort this strange situation out for himself.
Perhaps this tug he felt to protect her was nothing more than indebtedness for what she had done for him though she did intrigue him. She was a pagan, her beliefs far different from his, and she was beautiful. Tall and slim, with long hair that shimmered as if spun with gold. A pale, smooth complexion, a round face with lips the color of a pink rose at first bloom. She startled his eyes, tightened his groin, and tempted him to abandon all sound reason—and kiss her.
The thought jolted him, and he realized she had yet to respond though he couldn’t recall what he was waiting for her to respond to. When he remembered it concerned not rescinding their vows just yet, he wondered what caused her delayed reply.
Was she regretting her actions and anxious to correct them? Or was she weighing what was best for her? Then he recalled that she was a seer and wondered what she knew that he didn’t.
“Is there something you’re not telling me?” he asked with distinct firmness to his tone.
“I share the truth with you.”
