Draco A Medieval Scottish Roma - Jayne Castel Page 0,37

It’s not safe.”

A male voice drew her from her brooding. Tearing her gaze from the roses, Gavina swiveled to see a tall man with tightly-curled, short dark hair, clad in leather armor, emerge through the stone arch leading into the garden and stride toward her.

Draco Vulcan, battle-ready, was an intimidating sight. A sword hung at his side, and he carried a domed metal helmet under one arm. Dust and ash from the siege covered his lean body.

For a moment, Gavina merely stared at him. What was he doing in her garden?

“I had to get outside for a few moments,” she replied, irritated that she felt the need to defend herself. “The walls were closing in on me.”

“Well, you’d better hope that Longshanks’s Greek fire has a short reach,” he replied. “Or you might get an unwelcome guest in your pretty garden.”

Gavina tensed. She hadn’t invited this man in here. And yet here he was telling her how to behave. “Did ye want something, Vulcan?” Her tone was unwelcoming, yet she didn’t care.

He stopped a few feet back from her. His gaze then roved over her face, as if he was trying to judge her mood. “I wish to speak to you, My Lady … if I may?”

She frowned. The man had poor timing indeed. “What about?”

“About that riddle you and I are part of.”

Gavina’s pulse fluttered at the base of her throat. Despite that it was a mild day, she drew the light cloak about her shoulders close. “Now really isn’t a good time.”

“Time grows short, My Lady,” Draco countered, his tone polite. He didn’t appear remotely affected by her chilly response. “Perhaps it’s time for you and me to do our part.”

Gavina stilled. Our part? “Ye told me to forget about the riddle,” she reminded him. “Why are ye bringing it up again?”

He huffed a heavy sigh, before he dragged a hand down his face. “There’s nothing like a siege to get you thinking.” The warrior’s expression was suddenly weary. “I’m not asking for myself, but for Cassian and Maximus. If Edward reduces this castle to rubble, my friends aren’t going to want to live through it … only to see the women they love die. If we all go down … we go down together.”

Gavina drew in a shocked breath. His words were a slap across the face. The bleakness of such a proclamation made her queasy. As such, her voice was strained when she finally replied, “That is a dire prediction … maybe ye are wrong … maybe Cassian and Maximus value their lives more than ye think.”

Draco shook his head. “Not if they lose their wives.” He paused then, his eyes shadowing. “It might take Longshanks a while, but eventually he’ll take Dunnottar … and when he does, few of you are going to survive his wrath, My Lady. You might, perhaps … and Lady Elizabeth. You’re high-born ladies, so Edward might decide to take you hostage. But he’ll put every other soul in this keep to the sword or burn them alive once he breaches the gates. Aila and Heather will die, and I know that my friends would prefer to go with them … if it comes to that.”

Gavina fell silent. She didn’t know how to answer him. Like when he’d approached her the morning after their discovery that Gavina was the ‘White Hawk’, she was struck by how much he cared for Maximus and Cassian. It was incongruous in someone who usually appeared so hard and cold.

What a bitter irony though, to care for his friends, and wish them dead at the same time. But Gavina understood.

She’d been there in that clearing when Cassian had stabbed himself in the heart to prove who he was to Aila. She’d seen the pain in his eyes that had nothing to do with the injury he’d inflicted upon himself. It had dawned on her then that immortality was far crueler than she could possibly comprehend.

“So, we are all doomed?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Draco stepped closer to her, his dark gaze pinning her to the spot. “I’m not a man given to optimism, and I wish I could say different,” he murmured. “But if this were a game of Ard-ri, your king would now be surrounded, My Lady. It may not be for a few days … but this castle will fall.” A harsh smile split his face then. “So, you can rest assured that you and I won’t be wed for long.