Highland Blessings (33 page)

He rushed to her then. “What happened?” She looked down at herself, realizing what he must think with all the blood and dirt covering her. Akira held her hands out in front of her, and it was like seeing them for the first time.

“’Tis not my blood.” She saw the confusion in her husband’s eyes and realized his fear. “I haven’t been harmed. My dream of Sim came to pass, but I didn’t see the danger for Elliot. We must go to him. He will die if we do not.”

“What does Elliot have to do with all this?” His suspicious tone made her fear for Elliot if his men were to go after him without her.

“I’ll explain on the way, but right now we have no time to waste. I must go to him. If he dies, ’twill be my fault. Bryce, ye’ve got to help me,” Akira pleaded, clutching his shirt in her fingers and twisting it against his chest.

“I canna leave Sim. He’s struggling with his verra life.” Bryce choked the words out as if in agony.

“Balloch will come with me.” She glanced behind Bryce to make sure Balloch still stood there. He wore a confused and concerned expression with his fists on his hips.

“Ye’ll go nowhere. I forbid ye to leave my side again. I’ve nearly lost ye more times than I care to think on.”

“At this moment, I would gladly give up my life for that of Elliot’s.”

“Akira, don’t be a fool. Ye’re distraught and ye don’t know what ye’re saying.” Bryce tried to coax her toward the stairs, but she shoved him away.

“Ye don’t understand. I am a fool!” she cried. “’Tis because of me that Elliot lies in a pool of his own blood, stabbed by my sword. He tried to save us from an attacker and tripped and fell into my sword. He insisted I bring Sim home and come back for him. Bryce, I’ve got to go back for Elliot. I canna allow him to die any more than ye can allow Sim to die.”

The struggle in his expression showed him wrestling with indecision. He closed his eyes and growled. “Ready my horse. I’ll check on Sim one more time and then we’ll leave.” Bryce and Balloch exchanged a look above her head.

“Ye stay with Sim, but I want at least a dozen men I can trust to come with us in case of an ambush.”

Bryce swung Akira into his arms and headed for the nearest wash basin. After she had swallowed a glass of water and most of her face, hands, and arms were clean, Bryce returned from visiting Sim’s chamber. The lad still had not awakened. Angus and Finella tended to him.

Akira and Bryce rode Ahern through the open gates and over the drawbridge. Twelve warriors accompanied them. They traveled fast and hard, reaching the field of daisies in record speed. She scanned the area, searching for a glimpse of her brother lying in the tall grass where she had left him.

He was gone.

Her heart beat faster as she jumped from her husband’s hold, down the side of Ahern, and ran past the rock where Sim had fallen to the place where she knew Elliot should have been. Akira fell to her knees searching the area. Her hand slipped into the soft puddle of blood lying hidden beneath the tall grass that had cradled her brother’s body only a short while ago.

Bryce moved to her side and pulled his plaid from his shoulders to wipe her hand clean, his grip gentled as he avoided her eyes. He turned to his men. “Search the area. He couldn’t have gone far if he’s wounded. Check for signs of other riders in case someone came for him.”

They scattered in different directions, their destriers charging past her. Akira’s head felt so heavy, and her shoulders seemed to be carrying a mountain full of stones. Her chest tightened until it felt like no air would be able to move in and out of her lungs. She touched her hand to her breast, gasping.

“Akira?” Bryce wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“’Tis Elliot’s blood, the life of his body, and I took it from him.”

T
is not true.” Bryce reached for her chin, but she turned her head from him, unwilling to be comforted.

“Aye, it is,” she said.

“Akira, someone could have taken him. I don’t see a trail of blood, so more than likely, his wound was bound and someone carried him home.”

She sat up on her knees. “Elliot said I didn’t see the demon behind me. By the time I turned around, whoever he saw was gone, but not before he struck Sim where he fell and hit his head on the rock.” Akira looked at Bryce with a new fire of determination in her eyes. “Elliot said he wore a mask. Whoever it was could have taken Elliot.” New worry creased the frown already etched across her face. “Bryce, we must find him.”

“My men are already looking, Akira. We canna do more than that.” He squeezed her shoulders in a warm, reassuring hug. “I promise ye, we’ll find the man, and when we do, he’ll pay for all the pain he’s caused the both of us. Ye know I do all I can to keep my promises.”

“Aye, I know,” she said. “Someone could be deliberately trying to cause a war between the two clans.”

Bryce stroked his chin in thought. Silence fell between them and lengthened as they both considered the possibilities. “I’m convinced of a conspiracy. I didn’t believe the deaths of Tavis or Mirana were accidental, and now I’m certain of it.”

Akira glanced up at him. “Someone is either trying to weaken ye by hurting Sim and me, or trying to provoke ye to fight. We canna stand for it.”

“They know me well enough to know I love ye. The MacKenzies think I’m a barbarian, but the MacPhearsons know what kind of man I really am.”

“Love is as hard to hide as hate.”

“How do ye know what kind of evil lurks beneath the skin of a man? There is evil all around me, threatening to destroy all that I love, and I canna even see it. No one could get so close to me if I didn’t trust them. Yer life could be in mortal danger, Akira. I want ye to keep yer sword with ye at all times. I trust yer skill with it. I would lock ye up if I thought it would protect ye, but being locked away didn’t protect Mirana.”

Guilt consumed her again. “Bryce, I don’t have my sword. I threw it down after I pulled it out of Elliot, and I didn’t pick it back up when I carried Sim home. Now I canna find it. It’s disappeared with Elliot.”

Bryce pulled a large hunting knife from the scabbard at his side. The blade sparkled in the sunlight. Momentary fear curdled his gut. What if the man overpowered her and wrestled it from her? He dismissed the concern. She was better off with something than nothing.

“Keep this with ye and don’t hesitate to use it if ye must to protect yer life. Trust no one, lass. I don’t care how well ye think ye know them.” He thrust it back in his scabbard, untied it from the belt around his waist, and handed it to her. “Hide it. Ye’ll be safer if no one knows ye carry it.”

“Bryce—”

“Shush.” He placed his finger over her lips. “I won’t let anyone take ye from me if I can help it.”

“But, I have something to tell ye.”

“We must go.” He pulled her up by her hand and led her to Ahern.

“’Tis important!” Akira hastened to keep up with his pace.

“M’lord!” One of his men called as he guided his horse toward them. “We found something.”

His warriors found recent tracks of another horse nearby. For several miles they followed the tracks until the late afternoon when it began to rain, cooling off the summer heat. It ended their search. The tracks seemed to be heading toward the direction of the MacKenzie holdings, but it neither proved nor disproved their suspicions.

By the time they reached MacPhearson Castle, their clothes were soaked through and Akira so weary she would have fallen from Ahern’s back if Bryce hadn’t held on to her. He dismounted, keeping a firm hand on her.

“Take me to Sim,” she mumbled, as he gathered her in his arms and pulled her down.

“Ye need rest, lass,” he said softly in her ear.

“Nay, I need peace from my dreams, and sleep will not bring it.” She buried her face in the crook of his shoulder as Bryce paused over the threshold nodding for Balloch to follow them. “Please, take me to Sim.”

Bryce could have ignored her request and taken her to their chamber as he thought best, but he took her to Sim’s chamber instead. She was grateful, rewarding him with a weak smile. His heart lifted at the small gesture. He set her on her feet. She leaned over Sim, stroking a lock of hair across his forehead.

“He sleeps so soundly. I wonder if he dreams?” For the briefest moment, her lips touched Sim’s forehead. She lifted his hand and locked her fingers with the lad’s. His wife would make an excellent mither.

Balloch appeared in the threshold. “The lad hasn’t woken at all.”

“What does Angus say?” Bryce asked, glancing over at the sleeping physician, sitting uncomfortably in a chair beside Sim’s bed.

“He’s afraid ye’ll kill him if Sim dies,” Balloch answered honestly.

Bryce rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “What has he said about Sim’s condition?”

“He says that head wounds are hard to tell. He could wake up and not remember what happened, or he might not remember his own name. The worst possibility is that he may never wake up. The important thing is that the wound in his head has stopped bleeding, so it will now begin to heal.”

Akira nearly dozed. Her arm fell off the bed and her head jerked, slightly startled. She had slid to her knees, leaning over the bed.

“Woman, ye won’t listen to reason.” Bryce bundled her in his arms. “What good will ye be to the lad if ye collapse yerself?”

Bryce turned to Balloch. “Sim is to have someone here at all times. No one but ye, Kian, or Rae is to stand guard inside this chamber. And I want someone stationed outside the door. I’m taking Akira to bed where she belongs.”

Akira folded her letter to her father and sealed it with the MacPhearson seal. She wrote his name on the outside and marked it urgent.

Rain poured as she made her way through the courtyard. She cuddled her letter between her bosom and her arms to keep it from being ruined. Blinking several times to see, she nearly missed the mail carrier as he mounted his horse and rode away.

“Wait! I’ve a letter!” she called. Either he didn’t hear, or he simply ignored her. “Please!”

Fearing she would miss him, Akira ran. She couldn’t afford to fail. She must inform her father before he discovered the news from someone else. Her feet splashed through the thick mud puddles, ruining the hem of her dress by the time she caught up with him.

At least he had slowed. She reached up and pulled on his arm, while still clutching her letter protectively under her other arm.

“I’ve a letter that must go with ye.”

The thin man looked down at her. Irritation burned in his dark gaze. “Hurry, lass! ’Tis bad enough I’ll have to ride all night in this mess.”

She thrust the letter at him. As she feared, the rain seeped into the fragile parchment before he could slip it into his leather bag. “Thank ye.” Akira forced a smile, blinking uncontrollably as the water poured into her eyes.

He rode off. She covered her face with her arms as the horse kicked up mud in her direction. Akira turned to rush back inside, but her feet slid. She swung her arms wide in an attempt to keep her balance. Akira groaned as she felt herself going down. Two strong hands gripped her around the waist and hauled her against a hard body.

She gasped as she turned, gazing into a pair of dark gray eyes. She cleared her throat, unsure of her husband’s intent as he stared at her with raindrops running down his face, his eyes rapidly blinking.

“What is so important that ye must chase the mail carrier out into the rain?”

“I wrote to Da.” She crossed her arms and looked up at him, ready to defend herself if he thought it a silly notion.

“What is so important about that particular letter?” He pointed in the mail carrier’s direction with his black brows raised in question. She licked her lips in thought, tasting the sweet water fresh from the sky. Why did he have to make her feel like a child caught at doing something she shouldn’t be doing? “I thought to warn him of what I did to Elliot. Da should hear it from me first. I wanted a chance to tell my version of the story.”

“Ye’ve already judged yerself guilty of his death?” Bryce raised a black brow. He sighed wearily. “Lass, if the stab wound was in the side as ye claim, then most likely, he isn’t dead, merely wishing he were at the moment.”

“Well, we canna know for sure, can we, since he’s nowhere to be found.”