My Highland Bride (27 page)

“I dinna believe it.” Gray pointed at Ronan with his sword. “I will send ye on a slow journey straight t’hell if I find ye harmed her.”

Ronan took a step forward and touched his blade to Gray’s. “I treat m’wife wi’ the respect she deserves. I’ll thank ye no’ to sully her honor or her intelligence by insinuating otherwise.”

Gray’s scowl swiveled back to Kenna. “Kenna? What say ye? Sutherland speaks the truth?”

Kenna wet her lips and straightened her shoulders. “I am Lady Sutherland by my own choice. Ronan hasn’t forced me to do anything against my will.”

Gray lowered his sword and took a step back. He made a sharp motion to his men and barked out something in Gaelic that Kenna didn’t understand. The MacKenna men shifted their horses from around Sutherland’s group and returned to the road behind Gray.

Gray nodded to Sutherland with a short stiff jerk of his chin. “Then it appears congratulations are in order.”

Ronan acknowledged this with a wary nod of his own.

Both men’s expressions and tones transmitted a great deal more menace than their formal words. The standoff was tenuous at best, but Kenna would take it. Time was wasting.

“Colum is in the wagon. He’s badly hurt. We’ve got to get him to Granny and Trulie. We may already be too late to keep him from dying.”

Gray bolted straight to the wagon. When he saw Colum, he banged his fist atop the wagon’s side, mumbling something Kenna couldn’t hear. “What the hell happened here?” Gray forced out the words between clenched teeth, not taking his gaze from Colum as he spoke.

“A landslide. A rock…” Kenna’s voice trailed off. How could she begin to explain all that had happened? She couldn’t, and they didn’t have time for it if she could. “We’ve got to get him to Trulie and Granny. They can heal him.”

“Can they ensure the man will walk again?” Gray turned and stared at her as if she had lost her mind.

“I don’t know.” Kenna took a step back and clenched her fists against her middle, willing the storm of emotions thundering inside her to go the hell away. “But they can make sure he doesn’t die.”
If the Fates see fit,
she silently added.

Gray pushed off from the wagon, motioned to his men, then plodded toward his horse. He slammed his sword back in the sheath and swung up into the saddle. With a grim expression, he sadly shook his head as he reined in his horse and turned the beast homeward. “For a man such as Colum, there are worse things in this world than dying.”

Whether it was the look on Gray’s face or the way he spit out the words, Kenna got the distinct impression that Colum’s ability to walk wasn’t the only thing Gray was taking about.

Chapter 30

Kenna sent up a silent prayer of thanks as the wagon rolled beneath the stone archway leading into the bailey. Colum was rapidly getting worse. His body alternately tensed and jerked with wild, violent thrashing and then collapsed. With the high fever now refusing to subside, seizures couldn’t be a good sign.

“Granny!” Kenna waved madly as Trulie, Granny, and Coira burst out the wide double doors and ran down the sprawling front steps of the keep. “Hurry, please. It’s Colum. Please—

you’ve got to save him.” Kenna’s heart thumped so hard she gasped for breath. Colum’s salvation was finally in sight. At least she prayed it was.

Kenna wallowed through the tangle of blankets and jumped down from the back of the wagon before it groaned to a complete stop. She stumbled in the tangled mess of torn skirts and pitched forward. Ronan caught her before she hit the ground and steadied her to her feet. He immediately released her and stepped back as Granny and Trulie rounded the wagon.

“Thank the heavens you are finally safe.” Granny grabbed Kenna to her and held on tight. She patted and smoothed shaking hands across Kenna’s matted hair, all the while sobbing unintelligible endearments against Kenna’s cheek. She pulled back, looked Kenna up and down, then yanked her close again. “My baby…my poor brave baby. I’ll curse that man to the hottest part of hell for what he’s put you through. That son of a bitch will rue the day he ever laid eyes on MacKenna keep.”

“Granny.” Kenna gently extricated herself from Granny’s embrace and eased a step back. “Granny, not now. Colum is dying.” Kenna couldn’t believe she had just said Colum was dying as though she was noting the day’s weather. She felt numb to everything, to all that had happened over the past few days. Kenna stood taller and sucked in a deep breath. Numb was definitely good. She hoped like hell the absence of feeling lasted forever.

“Dying?” Granny hurried to the open end of the wagon, waving an arthritic hand for Trulie to follow. “Quick, gal. Kenna knows the right of it. I see his spirit trying to rise. Make haste before Colum’s soul breaks free and travels beyond the gateway.”

The cart rattled and swayed as another violent seizure shook Colum’s body across the bed of the wagon. Gray lifted Granny into it just as Colum stiffened, then thrashed wildly with a second attack. Trulie took one look at Colum and turned back to Kenna. “Get up here, Kenna. You’ve got to keep his soul anchored here long enough for us to heal his body.”

With Gray on one side and Ronan on the other, the two men lifted Kenna over the side of the wagon. She knelt behind Colum and pulled him back into her lap. His head thrashed side to side as she hugged him against her chest. Colum’s hair was soaked. His flesh was on fire. The heat of his fever seeped through Kenna’s gown as though she cradled a bucket of red-hot coals. Colum jerked wildly with the increasing strength of the convulsions.

“Hurry. I can’t hold him much longer.” Kenna clenched Colum tighter against her chest and clamped her legs down across his shoulders. Colum bucked and roared like an enraged beast, fighting as though he was beating demons back down to a deeper hell. Gray and Ronan clambered up over the sides of wagons. The men crouched on either side of Colum, latched onto his flailing arms, and pinned his body.

Trulie rubbed her thumbs across her fingertips in a rapid sweeping motion. Her hands twitched faster and faster, her fluttering fingers creating an eerie whisper of frenzied flesh against flesh.

Kenna held her breath as both of Trulie’s hands began to glow.
Finally.
The healing energy was powering up, that rare energy Trulie, Granny, and Mairi controlled and manipulated at will.

Granny appeared at Trulie’s side, her hands already humming with the same glowing power.

Kenna struggled to hold Colum tight against another fit of thrashing. Thank goodness both Trulie and Granny were here. The only thing that would make Kenna breathe a little easier would be if Mairi were here too. Healing was Mairi’s dominant gift. As bad as Colum’s situation had gotten, it was going to take all they had to keep him on this side of death’s door.

“Stay with me,” Kenna whispered as she pressed a cheek against Colum’s soaking-wet head. “I can’t bear it if you cross to the other side.” Kenna blinked hard against burning tears. If Colum did live, she’d never be allowed to get this close to him ever again. She tightened her hold and burned the very feel of him into her senses. Colum tensed and pushed against her, as though somewhere in his delirium, he knew what she was doing.

The air crackled and hissed with building energy. Kenna lifted her head. It wouldn’t be much longer now. She wiped her cheek against her shoulder and braced herself for what was about to come.

In a unified motion, Granny and Trulie dove forward and slammed their hands flat atop Colum’s heaving chest. A golden glow emanated from their arms and hands, pulsating with a low-pitched hum. Trulie and Granny stared at each other as though marking time, tensed for the perfect moment.

With the barest bit of movement, their heads bobbed in unison as though counting out the rhythm to a song only they could hear. Their focus was locked on each other. Their eyes unblinking, they rocked to and fro until the entire wagon swayed with the rhythm of their motions.

The strange luminescence around their hands changed from a golden glow to a sizzling blue-white arc. Kenna closed her eyes against the retina-burning light and turned her head away. It wouldn’t be long now. The arcing energy was about to explode.

The healing power surged free of the women with a deafening boom. A scream ripped from Kenna’s throat as the explosion rattled her very bones. A violent wind ripped past and wailed around the stone walls of the bailey. Flying debris blasted her, threatening to sand away her flesh.

The force of the gust whipped Kenna back, throwing her against the sides of the wagon as though Colum’s soul was trying to shake free of her embrace. Kenna clutched him tighter, curling herself around Colum as her back slammed into the iron framework holding the boards of the cart together. Then all went silent. It was finally over. Either they’d managed to heal Colum, or his soul had broken free and moved on.

Kenna slowly raised her head and opened her eyes to Colum’s bewildered expression.

“Kenna?” Colum’s rasping whisper was sweeter than any music Kenna had ever heard.

A relieved sob shook through Kenna as she gathered Colum to her. She wept as she pressed a cheek against his matted hair and rocked back and forth.

“Yer…” Colum pushed Kenna away, fumbling across the bloodied pillows and blankets. His left leg was still stiff at the knee and dragged beside him like a dead weight. Colum’s jaw rippled with clenched teeth as disbelief and anger filled his face. “It wasna a wicked nightmare. Ye actually did it. Why the hell did ye do it, Kenna? Why the hell would ye think…”

With a shaking hand, he reached toward Kenna’s face. But just before his fingers made contact with her cheek, he slowly closed his hand into a shaking fist and brought it down hard against the bed of the wagon. “Why? Why would ye think I would wish t’live this way?” Colum slammed his hand atop his weak leg, then locked his scowl on Kenna. “And how could ye ever think I would wish t’live without ye at my side?”

Servants and clansmen gathered closer about the wagon. Kenna felt each and every nervous glance in her direction, especially Ronan’s watchful stare. Both Ronan and Gray slowly rose from their posts on either side of Colum and vaulted over the sides of the wagon, leaving Kenna alone with Colum. Kenna inhaled a deep breath and released it in a shuddering sigh. She had to make him understand. She’d had no choice.

“You know why I did it.” She motioned toward the bloodied blankets scattered about the wagon. “You’re lucky to be alive. You came so close to dying that you’ll still be weak for a while, but at least you’re alive.” It sounded so simple when she said the words aloud, like reading items off a list.

Colum shoved himself up through the blankets and struggled to a sitting position. He growled like a caged animal when he lost his balance and fell back against the side of the wagon. “Ye call bein’ a cripple and livin’ without the other half of yer soul a matter of good prosperity? What the hell good can come from livin’ a life such as that?” Colum fixed her with a hurt-filled stare, his teeth bared in a sneer. “What the hell good can come from livin’ a life without the one ye love more than life itself?”

“You should be thankful to be alive.” What else could she say? Colum was alive and now she was Ronan Sutherland’s wife. Somehow, life would go on. Kenna swallowed hard and struggled to keep her emotions out of her voice. “You’re healed, but you’re still extremely weak. You’ve still got some serious mending to do for a few days. Just be patient. We won’t know for a while if any of the damage is permanent.”
The damage is permanent all right. My heart will never be the same.
Kenna wet her lips and sucked in a deep breath. She had to stay strong. She never broke her word. Ever.

Colum snorted at Kenna’s advice and pointed a shaking finger at Granny and Trulie. “Did the two of ye ever stop t’think that I wouldna wish to live out m’life as a lonely cripple—as a useless bit of a man good for absolutely nothing?”

Granny and Trulie stared down at Colum for a long moment, both their faces grim. “You’ll never be alone, Colum. You know that.” Granny touched a bent finger to Colum’s boot as she shook her head. “Kenna will have you up and around in no time. You’ll see.”

Colum jerked back to Kenna. “Tell her. Tell them all.”

Kenna turned away. She couldn’t do this any longer.

“And you!” Colum thumped his fist against the side of the wagon, then pointed a shaking finger at Gray. “You, m’chieftain, should know better than any what m’wishes would be. I canna serve this clan anymore. I canna bear the thought of livin’ such a life…alone.” Colum’s bitter laugh filled the air as he raked a shaking hand through his matted hair. “Am I t’become amusement for the great hall then? The lame warrior, forever alone and pitied by all and unfit t’care for anyone?” Colum’s hoarse voice cracked as he shouted to Kenna. “Tell them, Kenna. Tell them what else about my life has been ripped away. Tell them all what ye have done in the name of just keepin’ me alive.”

Kenna tensed against the assault of Colum’s pain and remained silent. She’d had no choice. Someday, he would understand.
Maybe.
Kenna swallowed hard.
No. He’ll never understand. But at least he’ll be alive.

Gray thumped a fist against the side of the wagon and turned away. His broad shoulders slumped as he pulled Trulie into his arms and held her close. He lifted his head and glared back up into the wagon. “I nay made the choice for ye. But I will help ye through this, old friend. M’heart breaks for ye. I know the truth of yer pain.”

Kenna gripped the side of the wagon until the rough wood splintered into her flesh. She closed her eyes and bowed her head as Granny pushed her way up beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “What are they talking about, gal? What the devil is goin’ on here? Why the hell are you all so glum? You should be thrilled our Colum’s alive. He may not even walk with a limp once he’s had a chance to finish healing. Why is everyone acting so? It appears to me that there’s been more lost here than what I’m seein’.”

Kenna didn’t answer. She just sagged back against the wagon’s side and pressed her face against her hand, still gripping the wooden slat. How had life gotten so complicated? How was she ever going to get through this?