she had done it a hundred times before, and her head fell on his chest with the same familiarity.
“I should have considered that. We will wait until we return home where I trust you will be safe,” he said.
She was relieved and yet oddly enough somewhat disappointed.
“Then I will be able to see that you’re pleasured appropriately,” he said with a kiss to her temple.
Once again his remark, while not intentional, was a reminder that she was a chore, a duty to see to. And she worried that coupling with her husband might prove disappointing.
He eased her out of his arms. “You need to sleep. We leave in the morning.” He cast a look down at Princess, sleeping close to the fire. “She is well enough to walk?”
“She should do fine,” Purity said. “The journey isn’t long. We’ll reach home by day’s end, and then she can rest.”
“We take a different path, one that none will expect us to take, but one that will take a day and a half to reach home,” he said as he moved the barrel from in front of the door and replaced it with the chair.
“You think more men will come for me?” she asked, seeing him once again ready to guard the door.
“Aye, I have no doubt.” And that was what disturbed him. More would come, but how many? He was a superior swordsman, but a swordsman could only fight so many men. He needed to get his wife home to her clan. There’d be no more bounty then. First though—“We will stop at my home before we go to yours. I will see my family, let them know I am well and that we are wed.”
“I would be pleased to see your family. It will be nice to speak with Oria again,” she said, though it was Raven she wished she could see again. She had been the one who had helped her find her courage. “Perhaps we can spend a couple of days there before continuing on to my home.” She would prefer several days. Even though she was curious about what her father knew about the bounty on her, she wasn’t eager to see him.
“Word spreads fast and once your father hears you are at the Clan MacKinnon and wed, he will waste no time in coming after you.”
Purity stretched out on the bed. She didn’t want to think what it would be like to see her father again. He’d done nothing but dictate to her when she’d been in his presence, which hadn’t been that often.
“I don’t think my father likes me very much,” she said and wondered if she should have admitted what she had felt all these years, though it gave her courage to say more. “I believe I’m a disappointment to him and he’s ashamed of my deformity. It didn’t help that I’d been shy or that I have such plain features. Most everyone paid as little heed to me as my father did, that or being called the spawn of the devil because my three-fingered hand resembles a claw.”
“You’ll suffer none of that now that I’m your husband. Your clan will answer to me if they disparage you in any way, and I will make that known from the start. One gossiping tongue, one slur, and the person will regret it, and the sample I make of him or her will be enough to stop anyone from doing the same.”
The icy anger and command in his voice had Purity not doubting for a moment that he would see it done. Though, she didn’t want to think what he would do to punish the person or the consequences of it.
“I don’t want my clan to fear you. Fear doesn’t instill loyalty or respect and I want my clan to be loyal to you and respect you enough that they would pick up a sword without hesitation and fight by your side,” she said.
“Perhaps it would be better if you lead your clan. Your kind nature alone would instill loyalty and respect. I have no such kindness in me.”
“I believe you do. I believe it retreated and hid so that it could survive against the brutality you were forced to endure, and one day it will come out of hiding.” She would pray hard for it to be so.
“You mean I was forced to inflict,” he corrected.
“Forced would be the most important word here.”
“I could have refused, kept my honor, my respect,” he argued.
“And died,” Purity said