There Your Heart Will Be Also (10 page)

Staring him directly in the eyes and trying to keep her wits about her as his thumb continued to worry her lip
,
Sarra hesitated.
What should she tell him?
Should she reveal
her identity as the mistress
?

No, not yet.
There were still too many unanswered questions.

With a direct look she answered,
“I do so out of Christian duty.”
There.
Hopefully he would
ac
cept
her
answer and leave her be.

“Aye.
Insolence by Christian duty.
That is one I have yet to hear.”

“Nay
,
not my insolence Scot.
But my concern for the knight.
”

“
Aye.
Of course.
The knight.
Ye believe I filleted him like a fish, ye say?
”

“Perhaps I have accused you unjustly.
But
that
doesn't negate the fact there is
a knight
who
needs to be held down so his wound can be tended.
All else can be discussed at a later time.”

Cedric backed away from her so quickly
,
Sarra almost lost her balance and fell to the ground.
His long
-
legged stride had him to the keep doors before Sarra could take her first step.

Sarra
followed along after him.
By the time she arrived in the great hall, Gavin
was
stretched out on the main table.
Sir Henry, Cedric, and two other knights were ready to grasp him when Charism began.
The
dagger
was
laid in the hot coals in preparation for the procedure.
Cedric was leaning over Gavin
,
whispering in Gaelic
what
Sarra believed must be words of reassurance.

Sarra stood still in the middle of the room watching Gavin's glazed eyes.
H
ow much whiskey
had
they
poured
into
the poor lad
?
Would Charism summon her?
The heat in the room
was
stifling.

Charism picked up the glowing
dagger
,
nodd
ing
to the men to
secure
Gavin.
Sarra
's
forehead bead
ed
with sweat.
As the tip of the dagger touched Gavin's lacerated flesh, he let out a blood
-
curdling scream.

Sarra shook from head to toe as the room sway
ed
.
Afraid to show
weakness
by
cover
ing
her ears with her hands
, i
nstead
she
r
emain
ed
inanimate
,
exud
ing
a
false
strength.
When Gavin passed out from the pain,
an eerie silence
fell.

Charism finished quickly, added some ointment to the blackened area and bound the arm with a bandage.
A shift in the wind brought the smell of burn
t
flesh to Sarra's nostrils.
The bile held back
from
earlier
threatened
to rise.

C
over
ing
her mouth
,
and running
out of the hall,
Sarra
barely ma
de
it out the front door before spew
ing
the contents of her stomach
over the dry ground
.
Eyes glazed
,
she
peered
in front of her at nothing in particular.
T
he cool rough stones of the keep
felt welcoming as she
dr
a
nk in deep gulping breaths
of
air.

While Cedric held Gavin
down
, he studied Sarra.
He'd seen her face turn green as she observed
the old woman
in her work.
He wanted to comfort
Sarra
.

In truth, the woman was driving him crazy. One minute he wished to wring her neck, while the next minute he wished to lend a shoulder for her to cry upon.
The excuse he gave himself was that
s
he was a beautiful young lass in need and his code of honor demanded such actions.
But
he knew
this
wasn't his entire
motivation
.
There was more to it.
A lot more.

A
t the moment,
Cedric
feared releasing his grip until Gavin was completely tended.
Once
the healer
indicated
the task
was finished, he headed out the door in search of
the maid
.

He saw
Sarra
where she rested
.
W
ith chin
down
, her head faced the wall
.
The rise and fall of her chest drew his eyes as
her lungs f
i
ll
ed
with fresh
air.
Cedric
remembered his first time smelling seared flesh, and compassion filled him.

Pulling his tunic free from his plaid,
Cedric
ripped off a small piece
of the linen fabric
.
From
a nearby well
he
drew out a bucket of water
and filled the
dipper
.

With
wet rag
in hand
,
he
closed the distance between him and Sarra
.
T
app
ing
her
on the shoulder
, Cedric grimaced
when
her head
rose
.
Her sickly color worried him.
He handed her
the
dipper of water
,
which
she eagerly accepted
.
S
he filled
her mouth
with water
, s
wish
ing
the refreshing
liquid
around
several times
and spit
ting
it out
up
on the ground.
When
she
f
inished,
he handed her
a
small damp piece of cloth
a
nd
was rewarded
with
a
n
unguarded grateful
smile.

Sarra
dabbed t
he
cloth
around her face and mouth
.
“Thank you.”

“Y
e are
welcome.”

Sarra
studied
him
with a question in her eyes
.
She didn't
turn away
as he stared into her eyes and
placed his hand upon her cheek and moved it in
a
caress
ing motion
.
But
as soon as
the moment beg
a
n, it was over.
Cedric
turned
,
bec
oming
a shield
of privacy
.

“Sarra!
Sarra, where are you?”
Cedric heard
the elder knight's voice
calling out
.

“Are ye ready?”
Cedric whispered over his shoulder.

“
Move out of my way if you please
,” she
answered
back
angrily while using her arm to push him aside
.

Cedric
moved
, revealing
Sarra's
presence
.
Her cheeks held a rosy
flush
.

“Oh, there you are.
Charism is finished.
She said you could come in.”
Sir Henry
studied
the sight in front of him.
The odor
wafting about
caus
ed
him to wrinkle
d
his nose and
send
Cedric a curious look
. Looking at Sarra
he asked
,
“Are you all right?”

The
blush
intensified
with
obvious
embarrassment.

Cedric began to speak
.
“I...”

B
ut Sarra put a restraining hand on him.

“The
—the
smell in the hall overwhelmed me.
But I'm fine now.
This visitor to the village brought me some water to drink.
”

The older man looked at him curiously and said,
“
Thank you kind Scot for taking care of our m
is
…
Sarra.
.
I should have realized
this
was no place for
a young lass
to be.
Is there anything
I
can
do to
make matters better
?”

Cedric tensed.
Would
Sarra
request Cedric be removed?
Perhaps stuck up on a stake for all in the village to see what happens when one takes liberties with the mistress
' maid?

“I will be all right,” Sarra
answered before
deflect
ing
the attention back onto the patient
.
“How does Gavin fare?”

“Charism has him all dressed up.
His fellow knights helped him to an empty chamber.
And one of the other men is setting up a pallet for Charism so she can stay with him.
Since
the
gruesomeness is over, I was thinking about taking a walk around the village.
Would you care to join me?
Perhaps the walk would do you good.”

“Nay, I believe I shall go clean up.
You go ahead.”

Cedric watched as
Sir Henry
strolled away with a pleasant whistle on his lips.

His m
ind
was
awhirl with unanswered questions and confused emotions
. A
s
h
e glanced at Sarra
's back
,
she
hurried up the stairs.
Sarra was on
very
friendly terms with the knights in the keep.
Perhaps she had been a servant of the household for a long time?
Maybe
Sir Henry fancied the lass?
Though
he was old enough to be her father
,
in
their
society this
rarely mattered.

Frustrations mounted as Cedric realized t
here was no way to reason through the things he'd heard today.
Heading to
Megean's
where his gear was stored,
Cedric
grabbed his one other tunic and
a
bar of soap
he'd
purchased in the village from one of the lye makers.
He'd asked Megean about a place to bath
e
and she had drawn his attention to a
fresh water
pond right outside the keep walls.

Shaking off his melancholy,
Cedric
headed out of the estate.
The destination in mind was
the pond
.
Upon reaching the location
, he searched the perimeter to make sure he was alone.
Once confident of his solitude, he stripped bare and dove into the cool water.

He washed himself thoroughly
,
enjoying the
liquid
sliding down his stomach and the crisp air as it blew across his wet flesh.
When
Cedric
finished, he checked his surroundings for visitors before
he
pulled himself
out of the water
.
Sitting
bare on the bank
,
he washed
his ripped tunic
while
he
allow
ed
the heat of the sun to dry his naked frame.
Next
,
he washed
his
plaid.

By then,
the sun
had
finish
ed
drying
him and
he donned
his other tunic
.
Finding
a clean tuft of green grass
nearby
,
he
stretched out his wet
clothing
, allowing them to finish drying.

Cedric
found a nice warm spot of ground
to rest
upon
. L
ying
back, he
stretched out, crossing his legs at the ankles and
putting
his hands behind his head.
Looking up at the blue of the sky
,
he
pondered
his life.

There were few things he would have changed.
He might have wished his clan members had trusted his judgment.
He might have wished they would have accepted him as leader of the clan despite his lineage.
But if all
those things
would have happened, he would never have
come to Greenbriar
.
Never have met Sarra.

As if thinking about her could conjure her form,
Cedric
closed his eyes.
In his mind
Sarra
was wearing
an
emerald gown
which
clung
to her
curvy
form.
She
was in
the great hall surrounded by
people
dancing
, swirling around in circles.
Although
she was
being shuffled from partner to partner, her eyes constantly sought him out, as
if
she danced for him and
no other
.

When
Sarra
reached his side, she took him by the hand and drew him away with her to the privacy of the garden.
There they danced cheek to cheek.
After their merriment was over, they retired to their quarters, alone.
Before they could make it to their private chambers, however, the pitter patter of little feet
w
ould be heard.

A little brown
-
haired, green
-
eyed boy and a little black
-
haired, blue
-
eyed girl with riotous curls ran to grab at their mother's skirts.
In his imagining, Cedric
picked them up and s
w
ung them around in the air
,
then covered
their faces with kisses before sending them off to bed with a playful swat to the bottom.

After a night spent in the arms of his lovely wife, he headed out to the lists where he would teach his men the skills of being a
Highland
warrior.
He would accept all they had learned as Englishmen and they would accept all he had to offer as a Scotsmen.
They would then combine their knowledge, making them even greater warriors.
No one in his keep would be at an advantage or at a disadvantage because of their blood line.

Cedric
sighed as he thought about his dreams of a life with
a family
.
Would they ever come true?
Maybe in time.
But r
ight now
Cedric
had too many other things to worry about.
Like
the fact
he was falling for the wrong woman.
To choose Sarra would mean having only part of his dream.