Legacy of the Mist Clans Box Set (94 page)

“I see the price on our heads has gone higher,” he muttered. “These men have even more coin than the last. But it will serve us well.” He moved to another body and was reaching for the man’s belt pouch when the man suddenly moved, his hand clamping on Connell’s wrist. Blood streamed from the man’s mouth as he tried to speak. But he was so far gone he was no real threat.

Connell growled a curse and immediately administered a killing blow, then returned to searching the body as if his actions mattered naught. Mairi knew she should turn away, but she couldn’t, even though her heart twisted and her stomach curled into a sickening knot. Was this part of the reason why she was slowly losing him?

As if sensing her watching him, Connell abruptly turned and looked at her. His features hardened for an instant. “I told ye . . .” he muttered.

Mairi tore her gaze from him, tears filling her eyes. She stared at the ground, fighting not to cry.

Then Connell was next to her again, wrapping her in his arms. “I told ye,” he said again, but his voice had lost its hard edge. “I dinna want ye watching me perform such an unsavory task.”

“Forgive me, but I’ve had my fill of death,” she whispered, burying her face against his broad chest.

“So have I, lassie,” he murmured, holding her tightly. “’Tis time tae stop running.” He curled a knuckle under her chin and gently tugged until she looked up at him. “Dinna vex yerself. We will make a new life in Edinburgh, and I willna abandon ye.”

She studied him a long moment, seeing an intriguing spark in his blue eyes that she had never seen. “What are ye planning, Connell MacGrigor?”

His lips lifted slightly. “Have faith in me, lassie. I have other skills than just fighting. Ye will see.”

She couldn’t help but arch her eyebrow at that.

Another chuckle rumbled through him. He opened his mouth as if to say more but apparently thought better of it and snapped his jaw shut. Without another word, he caught her hand and led her to the horses.

“‘Tis a difficult thing for a young man tae admit he be feeling older than his years. Mayhap I’ll concede when I die of old age, but only because the years dinna give me a choice.”

~
Connell MacGrigor

T
hey rode in silence, and Edinburgh finally came into sight late that afternoon. But because of the weather, Mairi could only see a hulking shadow in the distance and could not make out the details. Low-hanging clouds had moved in from the sea, and the air was biting cold. Connell pushed their pace hard, but she voiced not one word of complaint, even though she shivered violently against the chill. She understood that because of the fight this morn they had a late start. She also understood that Connell had absolutely no desire to spend one more night on the trail.

She didn’t either and willingly rode by his side. Their months on the trail had made her quite proficient aboard a horse, but Connell still kept a rope tied to her mount’s bit. Her riding skills had improved to the degree that she didn’t need him to control the horse, but while the rope remained fastened, she was able to tend to Adam without stopping. She could hold him to breast when he grew hungry. She could even change his swaddling and never slow their pace.

She had learned much and briefly wondered if she would have to learn it all again—only without the horse—when they were finally safe inside the city’s walls.

She glanced at Connell. He too focused on the city’s distant gates, his expression growing more intense. Their goal was at hand. Then his gaze slid away, not to look at her, but to study the road around them, seeking out danger before it found them. His sapphire eyes flitted from shadow to shadow, spotting every movement, noting every person around them.

And the road leading to Edinburgh had grown quite crowded. They were not the only travelers seeking the safety of its walls before night fell.

But she took the opportunity to admire him while his attention was diverted. He stood taller than most at just over six feet, and she had witnessed him perform feats of strength and skill she had never before seen from other men. His shoulders were broad, his arms and chest corded with power. His long blond hair fell in a tattered braid down his back to the middle of his shoulders.

The planes of his face were elegant and graceful, his cheekbones high and pronounced, his jaw square and strong. His eyebrows were slightly darker than his hair, arching over well-shaped, breathtaking blue eyes, though they were most often stormy and tempestuous. His eyelashes were dark, the tips kissed in a lighter color. His intense gaze missed nothing as they traveled.

Except for the woman who rode at his side.

She chided herself. They pretended to be husband and wife, but they were not. Connell did so only to protect her and Adam. She had no right to expect anything more.

That did not change her desire, however.

She honestly knew very little about the man. He was of an age where he should have been married with a family of his own, but instead he had pledged his blade to her service and willingly threw himself into harm’s way, all to protect a widowed wet nurse and a bairn who was not his.

“How I live my life and the cause I devote myself tae is mine tae decide, no’ yers,”
he had told her when she tried to reject his oath. Others had died because of who and what Adam was. She had been so alone before Connell had found her. Hunted and terrified, she and Adam had been desperate for help. Connell had answered the call that she had been too frightened to utter.

The roads grew more crowded as they approached Edinburgh. At long last, the dark, hulking shadow grew more defined through the gray mist of the low-hanging clouds. Mairi’s breath caught in her throat as she looked up to see the top of the high walls surrounding the city. Guards patrolled the immense walls that could fit four horses abreast on the wall-walks. Her gaze was instantly drawn to the huge keep lording over the city on the sheer cliff called Castle Rock.

She worried over entering the city, controlled by the English for the past three years, but Connell had told her much on their journey to Edinburgh. In a city so vast, where trade was its true strength, it mattered little the loyalties of whomever slept in the lord’s bed in the keep. All that truly changed were the taxes that the merchants and tradesmen paid in their business dealings.

Because of the massive walls, she could see little of the actual city. Mairi’s attention focused on the towering gatehouse as they approached. The barbican was as large as the entirety of Castle MacGrigor. More English guards stood at the gate watching people come and go, but they allowed all to pass without worry. It seemed as long as people behaved, the guards let them be.

They entered the shadow of the gatehouse, and Mairi looked up at the wood over her head, noticing holes and the outline of trapdoors in it. Murder holes they were called. The defenders could stand above their attackers and shoot crossbow bolts through the holes or drop burning pitch and quicklime on them. She wondered if anyone had used them when Longshanks took the city.

She shivered and looked away.

They followed the crowd through to the other side of the gatehouse. But Mairi was not prepared for the sight. As they cleared the opening, a wide cobbled road stretched before her, the massive walls seemed to fall away, and open to them was a city so vast she could not see the end of it—except for the masts of tall ships so very far away that they looked as small as children’s toys. The city had suffered some damage when Longshanks took it, but the amount of new construction as well as ongoing repairs belied the fact that the city had been a victim of a devastating war.

Towering buildings reached into the sky, and around them clustered merchant booths and traders, homes large and small—anything and everything anyone could want was in Edinburgh. Mairi’s jaw went slack as she stared at the sights around her. Children played in the streets as merchants hawked their wares. The smell of cooking food, such a variety of scents that she could not name them all, assailed her.

“Lord have mercy,” she whispered in awe.

Connell caught her hand, and she looked at him in surprise. But he only winked at her and led her deeper into the city.

HHH

Mairi waited with the horses just inside the blacksmith’s yard. Connell was inside the shop speaking to him. She had lost count as to how many blacksmith shops they had passed, Connell eyeing each critically before continuing.

Mairi was not sure exactly the standard Connell had set for the shops, but just when she was certain they would never find one that would match his apparently high expectations, he stopped before another vast yard and examined it a long moment. Finally, Connell nodded in approval and guided her through the gate. But now she wondered how long was this going to take. She looked up at the low clouds. The air was cold and thick with mist, and it was growing colder. She shivered under her heavy cloak, and a nasty cough escaped her. Damnation, she couldn’t get sick, not now. She held Adam close but he slept soundly, warm and dry under Connell’s extra plaid. She was grateful for that at least. But she sighed miserably. The air seemed to grow damper as she waited. What was taking him so long?

As if summoned by her thoughts, Connell emerged from shop. He wore a tunic and heavy boots and trewes like always, but now his long blond hair fell loose around his shoulders, softening the planes of his face. She might have been imagining things, but his step seemed to have more energy as he strode toward her. Then she blinked in shock as his lips actually curved upward in a hint of a smile as he looked at her, and she found her own doing the same.

“Dinna keep me in suspense,” she said, looking up at him as he caught the reins of their horses.

His lips lifted even more. “It went well.”

Instead of guiding her to mount, he held the reins of their horses in his left hand and caught her arm with his right, escorting her from the yard and onto the busy road, but only for a moment. They were in a corner of a merchant district, the buildings not so high and the crowds not so thick. The roads seemed to slope downward just a bit. Behind them, well in the distance, was the port. Mairi could see more of the tall ships and docks, but it was still a goodly walk. Just ahead of them on their left where the road leveled off, she saw a large grassy field lined with merchant booths where traders who found business working and dealing with livestock and livery plied their trade. The blacksmith’s yard was the largest of all the merchants around him. A good distance beyond stood more buildings and another massive wall marking the end of the city and the beginning of Castle Rock. The keep itself was barely visible in the gray mist.

As soon as they cleared the fenced smithing yard, Connell turned left and nodded to the small but pleasant cottage next to the shop. Unlike the buildings near them, all built so close that they were practically atop one another, this one had a vast grassy yard. Mairi’s gaze lingered on a large area for a garden, but it was overgrown with weeds. The split-rail fence between the house and the smithy yard ran the length, and behind the house was a small barn. To the right was another split-rail fence and a cobblestone alley. Facing the alley were the back walls of even more buildings that appeared to be old warehouses, once again built nearly atop one another.

She looked back to the small cottage. It seemed a little piece of heaven and precious space in an area where any sort of land was at a premium.

“Lass,” he said softly as he stopped before the gate and opened it, “allow me tae take ye home.”

“Home?” she asked in confusion and stared at the wattle-and-daub building before her.

“A part of my duties working for the blacksmith will be tae watch the shop at night, open it every morning, and close it every evening. The blacksmith owns this place, but with his success, he moved his family years ago tae a larger home a bit down the way. His former apprentice lived here, but he joined the Bruce’s army.”

“I remember when the Bruce kept us under watch in Glen Trool while he set Aidan to a task. Ye worked tae sharpen weapons and repair armor tae keep busy, but I had no idea ye were a blacksmith.”

“My da taught me my trade,” Connell said softly. “But while he was very good, he was still a village smith.” His hand fell on the hilt of his sword. “I wanted tae learn swordsmithing, and while my da could teach me the basics, he could no’ teach me all of it. When Ronan became laird, I stepped forward in service tae him. But when at home, I worked so I wouldna lose my skills entirely. Now that so many young men have been lost in this war, those who can ply a trade are in demand. The smith was ecstatic when I walked through his door. It took me a bit longer than I intended because I showed him some of my work.”

Again Mairi’s gaze stopped on the beautiful sword he carried. Then her eyes widened. “Ye made that?”

“I’m a bit out of practice, but the smith recognized immediately that it willna take me long tae return tae it. I can tend tae most of his mundane tasks: repairs, sharpening weapons, and shoeing horses. That will free him to do what he does best—creating swords for the nobles who commission him. I will earn good coin, but a part of it will pay the rent on this place.”

He stopped before the door, withdrew a key from his belt pouch, and unlocked it. Mairi blinked in shock to see a fully furnished, well-maintained home with only a small amount of dust gathering from disuse.

“This . . . this is ours?”

“Aye,” Connell said softly. “I hope ye like it.”

“Like it?” She couldn’t believe he would think otherwise. She looked up at him, surprised to feel tears burning in her eyes. “Connell, this is more than I ever expected.” Impulsively, she threw her arm around him and hugged him tightly. “Thank ye.”

He surprised her even more when he returned her embrace and didn’t release her immediately. She felt a little of the tension drain from him, and he settled his cheek atop her head. “No more running,” he whispered softly. “Ye deserve a good roof over yer head, lassie, and I am happy tae give that tae ye.”

She pulled away enough to look up at him. She cupped his cheek in her hand as a tear escaped and trickled down her cheek.

“Hey now,” he said softly and brushed it away, but that intriguing spark that she so rarely saw ignited in his blue eyes. In that moment, it was so beautiful to see that it stole her breath away. She knew she tempted fate but could not resist standing on her tiptoes and softly brushing a kiss over his lips. He blinked at her, startled, but before he could react, she pulled away and stepped into the house.

“Connell, this is beautiful.”

He stared at her, dazed, as if she had just poleaxed him between the eyes instead of giving him a kiss. His befuddled expression was absolutely adorable, and she found her smile growing.

He blinked once, twice, then gave her the most winsome smile she had ever seen from him. “There is a small barn out back. Let me settle the horses and bring our packs in. I fear ye will find the cupboards quite bare, but I can fetch some items from the market a bit down the road.”

“That would be wonderful, Connell. I shall cook us a fine supper for our first night in our new home.”

His smile only grew as he nodded then closed the door as he stepped back into the yard.

Mairi stared at the door for a long moment. Adam grunted and squirmed against her. She looked down at him. “Ye should have seen it,” she whispered to the bairn. “It was the most beautiful smile I’ve ever encountered.”

Adam cooed and burbled at her, then promptly stuck his fist in his mouth and sucked on it noisily.

“Verra well,” she said, laughing softly. “Let’s see to ye, then I can get started cleaning.” Unfortunately, her laugh caused her to cough again. At least they were no longer on the trail in the wet weather. Being warm and dry would settle her cough, she was certain of it.

HHH

Connell’s pleasant mood stayed with him all through the afternoon as he helped Mairi clean and unpack what belongings they had carried with them. To everyone else, Mairi was Connell’s wife and Adam his bairn. The smith understood Connell would need what was left of today to settle his family and gave him leave to start tomorrow.