Entrusted to a Highlander (Highland Promise Trilogy #2) - Donna Fletcher Page 0,5
breeze whispered across his face and enticed more than the touch of the limitless amount of women that had been made available to him during his years spent unwillingly with the mercenaries.
He’d had enough of senseless battles, couplings that served to relieve but meant nothing, forced camaraderie, and an emptiness that at times reached down to his soul. He didn’t know what had gotten him released from the mercenaries, since the only way to be free of them was to buy your way out or die, and of late he had felt death close to him. Or perhaps it had been that he wished for death rather than continue to live as he had.
When he’d been released, had walked away from the mercenary camp, it was as if he had breathed for the first time in five years. The only thing he had been told of his release was that a high price had been paid for it and that he should be grateful.
Who paid that price? He didn’t know, but he was grateful for it.
On his way home to his family and clan, he had discovered mixed news about his sister Raven. There were rumors that she had died shortly after the attack on their clan, while other tongues wagged that she still lived. Thankfully, Royden had sent word that he had reason to believe Raven was alive and he trusted his brother’s word. All other trails he had followed regarding his sister had proved fruitless. No matter how much he probed and dug he could find nothing to substantiate any of the rumors one way or another. And yet here he was following another one.
He had had little choice. He’d never forgive himself if he ignored the drunken whispers of a merchant who had insisted that Raven hid deep in the woods, a day’s walk from his home, the Clan MacKinnon. Could Raven have taken refuge there? Had she managed to survive? He had to find out. He wished the woman could be more accurate about when Raven might have been here. It might help establish a timeline and some sort of pattern that could help trace her. The various possibilities of what might have happened to her still continued to churn his gut. He had to find her. He had to.
His family had expected him home a couple of months ago, but he had sent word to his brother about following some leads he had on Raven’s whereabouts. Royden would know that he would follow every single one. He, Royden, and their da had made a promise to keep Raven safe and they had failed her, hadn’t even known what happened to her. Arran couldn’t live with that. He would find her and bring her home.
He rested his head back against the tree trunk and shut his eyes.
A nudge from his horse’s nose had him opening his eyes and rubbing her face. “It’s all right. You and I will be on our way soon enough.”
He had acquired the mare not long after his release. The animal had been in poor shape, the owner only too glad to exchange her for a bit of food and a day’s worth of work on his farm. With some gentle care, the mare had improved and he had seen in the mare’s eyes something he had once felt himself. Hopelessness. So he had named the mare Hope.
“I’m not leaving you here, Hope. We leave together,” he assured the horse. For some reason the mare had attached herself to him. It was as if she feared him leaving her, so he had found himself assuring her often that they would not be parted, and he meant it.
“I’ll tell you again, Hope. We’ll settle—you and I—in one of the crofts a distance from the keep and village. We won’t have to bother with anyone unless we want to.”
The horse snorted and nodded her approval.
He never thought he’d want a solitary life, but at the moment it was necessary. In time that might change, though in all honesty, he didn’t believe it would. He’d lost too much of himself that he’d never get back and he didn’t care if he did.
“Go eat your fill as will I and we’ll be on our way,” he said and the mare moved only a few steps from him to munch on the grass while he closed his eyes once again.
Purity found him sound asleep and was grateful. She hurried to place the bread and quail eggs she