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Trey’s eyes widened, and he shook his head. “You can’t wed her. She will bring death.”
Reeve was quick to defend her. “Tara is a good woman. What nonsense do you speak?”
“Before the soldiers attacked me—”
“The king’s soldiers did this to you?” Bryce asked angrily, as if repeating it would confirm it.
“I thought I had been cautious, farmers at the crofts where I stopped warned me that soldiers were in the area and in the foulest of moods. They believed it had to do with a mission for the king that was not going well.”
“How many?” Reeve asked.
“Not nearly enough to be a threat to you, but enough of a serious threat to me. With little choice left to me, I defended myself the best I could. I landed solid blows to a couple, but one large fellow struck me a blow that took me down fast and hard, and that was the end. I heard one say, “Let the animals feast on him.” I thought I was doomed, the pain too great to move.”
He scrunched his brow. “I believe I lost consciousness for a while and then I thought someone approached, knelt beside me, and whispered for me to hold on, help was on the way.” He shook his head. “I must have imagined it. The next thing I knew I was here; other times I thought it a dream; and still other times I felt as if I was burning in the depths of hell.”
“You’ll be revenged,” Bryce said.
“The day the true king takes the throne will be revenge enough,” Trey said.
“With that settled, tell me why you believe Tara brings death,” Reeve said wanting this done with here and now.
“In my travels, an old woman approached me in one of the villages. She told me to beware of a woman with hair the color of raven feathers and eyes the color of heather, that she would bring death to my family.”
“Why would you believe a stranger who babbled nonsense in search of coins?” Reeve asked.
“I didn’t,” Trey said, closing his eyes briefly. “And she asked for no coins. She had also told me that I would suffer great wounds, and when I finally woke, a beautiful woman would be sitting beside me and that she would be my future wife.” Trey searched the room. “I thought I had seen a fair-haired woman here when I opened my eyes, but I don’t see her now.”
“Bliss,” Mara said.
Trey looked to Mercy. “The Pict woman who helped heal you?”
“She helped heal you as well,” Mercy said.
“Where is she?” Trey asked.
“That doesn’t matter now,” Reeve said, growing impatient. “At the moment, it is important that Tara and I wed, or she will face death herself.”
Trey looked at him confused.
“There’s no time to explain it to you now,” Reeve said. “I’m about to wed.”
“Wait,” Tara said, slipping from Reeve’s grasp. “This old woman who warned you about me, what did she look like?”
“What difference does it matter?” Trey asked.
“Many years ago a woman my father believed a witch cast a curse on me. There are only two ways for me to be rid of it. One is to find the person who placed the curse on me and have her remove it.”
“It could be her,” Reeve said, realizing what Tara was implying.
She turned to him. “She described me as if she knew me. It has to be her.”
A servant lass appeared at the open door. “Sorry to disturb, but King Carnoth grows restless.”
Reeve grabbed her hand. “We go wed.”
“We should find her first,” Tara said.
“There isn’t time to search for her. We wed first and then we search for her,” Reeve insisted, wrapping his arm around her waist. “There is no other way. We wed, or your father has his way.”
