Warrior’s Redemption (25 page)

And yet, the worries lingered, eating away at the edges of his sanity.

If Dani were to fall into Torquil’s hands, if Torquil were to recognize her importance to him, it would grant his elder brother the power to access whole new levels of hell for Malcolm.

It wouldn’t happen. It couldn’t. Patrick would never have allowed it.

“Tomorrow. We’ll be there tomorrow.”

He might have been able to push the worries turned to fear aside if not for one unanswerable question.

Why had Torquil kept him alive?

A
T LEAST SHE
didn’t have to pretend to be a nervous and worried new wife.

The feelings were all too real as Dani waited for the massive gate of iron bars to lift and allow their party entrance to Tordenet Castle.

They rode forward, into the mouth of the long tunnel separating freedom and the castle grounds. Dani fought the desire to turn her head and watch when she heard the heavy chains clanking behind them. She had no need to confirm with her own eyes what reason told her. The iron portcullis that had allowed them entry now barred their exit.

“Like a rat in a barrel of rainwater,” Elesyria muttered from her left.

Goose bumps spread over Dani’s arms at the analogy. She’d plucked too many dead, swollen rats from rain barrels back on the farm not to understand its meaning.

She swallowed hard, fixing her eyes straight ahead of her.

The tunnel through the castle wall had been strategically placed, framing the entrance of the keep so that
anyone arriving might be properly intimidated. The keep itself, as well as the castle walls, had been covered in whitewash. Sunlight reflected off the whole, allowing Tordenet Castle to be seen long before it was reached, a shining beacon in the distance.

Rauf rode at the head of their little procession, leading them through the long tunnel. She couldn’t help but notice that Eymer drew his animal up beside hers as they passed out of the confinement of the wall’s tunnel. At the same time, Guy came forward to a spot on the left and, with Hamund close at their rear, the guards had formed a protective circle around her and Elesryia.

Any comfort she might have taken in their action was lost with one look at the numbers of armed soldiers surrounding them on their way across the courtyard. No wonder Malcolm had thought he needed the might of the MacKilyn on his side.

At Rauf’s signal, they drew their animals to a halt while he slid off his mount and hastened forward, dropping to one knee at the foot of a great flight of stairs that led up to the castle entrance. There he waited, head bowed, like a reverent statue.

Dani’s horse pawed the ground nervously. Whether it was because the animal felt hemmed in by Eymer on one side and Elesyria on the other or something else altogether, she couldn’t be sure. She only knew that she and her horse shared a similar choking apprehension.

After a few minutes’ delay, a man appeared at the top of the stairs. He paused, obviously surveying those
who waited below, and, as impossible as it was to determine from this distance, Dani could have sworn he stared directly at her.

Nerves.

“A fine specimen of manflesh, that one is,” Elesyria murmured approvingly. “The elder brother, do you suppose?”

One and the same, Dani guessed.

He was beautiful, all right. A romance-cover version of Dermid. But where the younger brother was cherubic in his blond good looks, the elder was seriously heartbreaker handsome, with a come-hither confidence in his stride that could easily knock a cowgirl right off her horse.

If she needed more proof of who he was, the obsequious way Rauf followed after him as he passed down the stairs and headed toward their group of horses was it.

He paused not five feet from her horse, definitely staring directly at her now.

“You’ll do the honors, Rauf?”

She mentally added a voice like honey-coated candy to her description of him.

Rauf stepped forward, head still bowed. “Our lord, Torquil of Katanes, laird of the MacDowylt, chosen son of Odin. My lord, may I present yer brother’s wife, Mistress Danielle MacDowylt, of the MacGahan and her companion, Mistress Elesyria MacGahan.”

Three of the soldiers placed their bodies between Eymer’s mount and her own, pressing him back and away from her as Torquil approached.

He stopped beside her horse and held up his arms to help her down.

“Welcome to Tordenet Castle, my lady,” he said as he gripped her waist and lowered her to the ground.

It seemed to Dani that he held her a bit closer and perhaps a bit longer than absolutely necessary. Long enough that she began to feel the others watching. Long enough that she tilted her head up to meet his gaze.

Her breath caught as she realized how wrong she’d been about Torquil’s looks. No amount of external beauty could ever make up for the internal ugliness reflected in this man’s cold eyes.

At last he released his grip and backed up a step.

“Allow me to escort you inside,” he offered. “My people will see to it that your things are delivered up to yer bedchamber and then perhaps you and yer companion would agree to join me in my dining hall.”

“If that’s what you’d have us do,” Dani answered, deciding for the moment to play it low-key.

“It is indeed,” he confirmed, catching her hand in his and placing it on his forearm, his free hand covering hers, to lead her up the stairs and into the keep of MacDowylt Castle. “It’s always best, I say, to leave yer business discussions until after a good meal.”

His touch felt every bit as cold as his eyes had looked.

Two more sets of stairs and a long hallway led to a door where he at last stopped.

“I hope you’ll find these accommodations to yer liking.”

He still hadn’t released her hand.

“I’m sure they’ll be just fine. Elesyria will, of course, be nearby?”

There was no way in hell she wanted to be separated from the Faerie in this place. It gave her chills just thinking of the possibility.

“But of course. I’ve taken the liberty of having the chamber adjoining yers prepared for yer companion. This is satisfactory?”

“Yes, thank you.” As if she had any choice in the matter.

“I’ll leave two of my men outside yer door to . . . watch over you and see that you find way to the dining hall.”

He paused, as if waiting for her to catch up with his meaning. He didn’t need to. She understood quite well that she wasn’t exactly free to go exploring in the castle.

“And the men who saw me safely here?” The laird’s wife would surely want to know about her people. “You’ll see that they’re taken care of, as well?”

“Without a doubt, dear lady. They will be taken care of as well. Is there anything else I might send up for yer comfort?”

She smiled and pulled her hand from his grip, covering the obvious move by reaching out to push open her door.

“You could send up my husband. That would be nice.”

His laughter echoed through the stone hallway. “I begin to suspect it’s no just yer beauty that attracted my brother to you.”

With an almost imperceptible dip of his head, he turned and walked away, leaving his two stone-faced guards behind.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as the old saying went.

Dani slipped inside her room, pushing the door shut behind her to lean against it.

Nothing felt right about this place. God, but she hoped they hadn’t made a horrible mistake in coming here.

When the door between her room and Elesyria’s opened, she very nearly screamed.

“It’s only me,” the other woman said.

“So how weird was all of that?” Dani asked, crossing over to climb up on the bed her friend leaned against. “And what do you think of
him
?”

“It was all perfectly normal.” Elesyria began to pace the length of the bed. “In fact, if anything was unusual, it was how very normal it was. We were greeted as relatives arriving for a long-expected visit. He’d even prepared our rooms.
Our
rooms,” she repeated for emphasis.

“Maybe he’s not easily surprised?”

Though he certainly should have been surprised at having two women show up instead of his younger brother.

“And did you notice that he never even questioned Dermid’s not being with us?” Dani shared her concern. “I’ll admit that after that little poop had his total
hissy fit about being forced to stay behind, I was sort of worried that it might be a problem when we showed up here without him.”

“Young Dermid has an overly developed sense of self-importance, I suspect.” Elesyria waved a hand as if to dismiss that whole discussion. “He’s not our worry at the moment.”

“Then what is our—” Dani’s question was interrupted by a knock at the door. “Hold that thought.”

She slipped off the bed and crossed the room to answer the door. Two more of Torquil’s men waited outside, bearing the things they’d brought along on their journey, including the six small bags of coin and treasures.

“Just put them there next to the hearth,” she instructed, pointing out a spot by the massive fireplace that dominated one wall of the room. She waited with the door open until the men had deposited their load and made their exit past the guards standing outside.

When they were gone, she climbed back up on the bed and fixed Elesyria with a stare.

“You were just about to tell me what you thought we needed to be worried about.” As if she couldn’t come up with enough on her own.

Elesyria rounded the bed and sat down beside Dani. “You asked me earlier what I thought of Torquil. I’d answer that question first. The man reeks of Magic. Very ancient and very powerful Magic. The whole castle seethes with it. It’s so strong, I can all but see it.”

“I assume that’s bad?”

It had been the major concern Elesyria had expressed as they’d worked out their plan to rescue Malcolm.

“Bad? Let’s see,” The Faerie pushed her hair away from her face and sighed. “It would only be bad if I needed to use my Magic. Surrounded by the Power of Asgard as I am here, I’d be lucky to strike a spark to dry kindling, let alone try to force an entire army to free Malcolm.”

That definitely fell under Dani’s definition of
bad
.

“I’m exhausted just holding on to my present form.”

“Okay, then.” Dani patted Elesyria’s hand and climbed off the bed. “Don’t worry about it. We can still do this. If we don’t have any Faerie Magic at our disposal, I guess we’ll just have to be about conjuring up some Mortal magic. You ready for dinner with the in-laws?”

At the Faerie’s blank look, Dani picked up two of the little bags and tossed them to her. “Come on. Let’s take our blood money and go have it out with my new brother-in-law.”

A
CHANGE OF PLANS
was most certainly in order.

Torquil smiled to himself as he crossed the bailey, headed for the old tower that housed Christiana’s quarters.

He had imagined so many different options for torturing his brother in the days since he’d learned Malcolm’s wife would be bringing the ransom to him. But none of them had actually taken the woman herself into consideration, a serious miscalculation on his part. Not even when he’d spotted her last night had he realized what an opportunity she afforded him.

The owl’s lack of color vision had done the woman a disservice.

This new sister-in-law of his was no ragged Scot. And no filthy Tinkler. Looking at that blond hair and her fair skin, he’d be willing to bet all the silver she carried with her that her ancestry stretched to his own people’s shores. And her eyes! Her eyes sparkled like rare green jewels. There was something special about the woman. He could feel it.

He should have guessed as much when he’d been told
she had some mysterious connection to a stone circle.

How Malcolm had managed to ensnare such as Danielle to be his wife was a mystery, but a mystery Torquil intended to have solved before his guests left his table tonight.

Stopping at the door to the old tower, he pounded his fist against the wood.

“Christiana!” he called, impatient for once to speak with his sister.

When she opened the door, he grabbed her arm and pulled her along with him.

“Where are you taking me?”

He liked the thread of fear in her voice.

“I’d have you take yer meal at my table this day. I’ve someone I want you to meet. Have you any idea who it is?”

He watched her closely in an attempt to determine whether or not she’d been keeping information from him.

She closed her eyes, lifting her chin as she was wont to do, an irritating habit that reminded him of an animal sniffing the air for scent. When she opened her eyes, she shook her head, a confused furrow forming on her brow.

Interesting. She’d obviously seen nothing of this in her visions, so it was likely the Norns had woven no outcome yet. He was free to do as he pleased.

He hurried her along, knowing full well she had trouble keeping up with his longer stride. At another time he might have walked even faster, but he needed
her fresh at dinner. He wanted to observe Danielle’s interactions with her husband’s sister. Often, in the beginning at least, he learned more by watching than by asking.

He chose to forgo his regular spot on the dais, seating Christiana at one of the smaller tables instead. He wanted a more intimate experience. He wanted to be able to hear all conversations. He wanted to watch Danielle’s eyes as she experienced the evening.

A word to his captain and the hall was cleared of all people and guards set at all the entrances. There would be no distractions. The scores of hangers-on who devoured his food at every meal would have to find someplace else to feed their faces this day.

All was in readiness with only moments to spare. Danielle, followed by her traveling companion, entered the hall, their arms loaded down with three small bags each.

The homage he’d demanded?

Even with her arms filled, she moved with the grace of a special being. He waited while they stacked the bags on the nearest table and then led them to their seats.