Forbidden Heart (Hearts of the Highlands #6) - Paula Quinn Page 0,70
dinna try. Either the forest will kill ye, or I will. Stay here and take refuge when the shepherd returns. ’Tis gettin’ colder oot. Dinna be a fool.”
Morgann’s eyes glimmered with…what was that? Tears? Galeren turned away.
“What is the other option, Captain?” Morgann called out to him. “What if I dinna try to run. What will ye do to me?”
“I dinna know that yet. But right now, this is all the mercy ye will get from me.” He turned away and went to his horse a few feet away, where Silene waited. Safe and alive, no thanks to Morgann. Galeren did not want to show the young soldier mercy. His betrayal cut too deep. Galeren had thought of him as one of his elite, one of his friends.
“Come, love,” he said to Silene. He was ready to leave.
“I will pray that all goes well for you, Morgann,” she promised before following Galeren.
“Ye have my thanks, Sister.”
“He is with the men who tried to kill ye, Silene,” Galeren reminded her.
“I know who he is,” she told him softly, ending that conversation.
She slowed coming under the shadow of the walls. “This place is so large! Is there an entire town inside?”
He smiled. “Ye will see, lass.”
“’Tis Galeren, son of Torin!” one of the guards shouted from above. “Open the gates. Wait! Who is that with ye?”
Galeren knew how difficult it was to bring anyone inside. The three brothers, including his father, who built the stronghold meant to keep it safe. It had taken over two hours to get Mac inside when they were here in the summer.
“’Tis…” He glanced at the habit she wore beneath her cloak and smiled. “’Tis Sister Silene Sparrow, niece of the High Steward of Scotland, with me,” he called back.
She followed him when the gates opened, then slowed again when her horse brought her inside. Her eyes widened at the stalls and vendors mingled with tents and theatrical performers. There was an enormous church and even a mill. Children ran to and from the smith and the carpenters’ tents, laughing and playing beneath the early autumn sun.
Spreading outward behind the marketplace were cottages both big and small scattered around the farming land and the wall beyond.
He watched her as she lifted her hand to her open mouth and her gaze rose to the web of walkways branching out from three main manor houses. Each walkway led to a smaller house and other houses.
They rode to the enormous middle house and dismounted.
A stable hand was there immediately to take his horse. He grinned and welcomed Galeren home.
“Is there anything I should know or do when I meet your parents or your brothers?” She wrung her hands together and bit her lip.
He took her hands in his and covered them. “They are not royalty. Just be yerself.”
“Galeren?” a woman called out as she approached with a babe on her hip.
He turned to her and his smile grew when he saw his cousin, Elysande.
“What brings ye back to us so soon, Cousin?” she asked with her gaze slipping to Silene in her robes.
“El,” he said after an embrace and a kiss to her cheek and to the head of the babe in her arms. “This must be the babe ye were carryin’ last time I was here.” The babe was beautiful like her mother, with raven hair and large, blue eyes.
“Aye. Raphaella,” his cousin told him.
He kissed the babe’s head again, swearing to himself that this one would know him. “I would like ye to meet Silene Sparrow, the high steward’s niece.”
His cousin smiled at her, eyes glinting like sapphires in well water. “Fergive me, but what is a nun doin’ travelin’ with ye?”
“Hidin’,” Galeren answered. “She is hidin’ from a powerful enemy. This is the safest place I know. And she isna a nun.”
“Well, this is the perfect time to be here,” she told them, not too alarmed by the news. “Everyone is gathered in my father’s solar to welcome home my brother, Tristan, and his new wife.”
“Oh.” His gaze slipped to Silene. Everyone would be there. It would be intimidating for her. Why, he almost felt intimidated.
He blinked away from her to his cousin and took in a deep breath. “’Twill be good to see Tristan again.” What was he going to tell his kin about her and who was possibly after her? Where was Father Timothy?
“How are ye, El?” he asked to fill the silence. “How is Raph and yer brood?”