Chapter 18

Slayer waited for a short time then entered the keep with a furious scowl on his face and issued an order for Euniss to bring ale to his solar. When the only two servants there fled the Great Hall, he went and hurried up the stairs to his bedchamber.

Sky rushed to him as soon as he stepped into the room, and his arms closed around her. They stood there silently hugging each other tight, savoring the moment and the warmth and strength of each other. A light rap on the door had them stepping apart.

Slayer opened it, expecting to see Euniss standing there and stepped aside for her to enter.

"I delivered the ale to your solar as directed so everyone believes you are there. However, I thought you could use some wine and a bit of food while you talk." She set the tray on a small table. "There is much for you to consider, my lord, but do remember that your mum had great love for you and greater faith in you."

"You feel betrayed, don't you?" Sky said, reaching out to take hold of her husband's hand after Euniss left.

He looked puzzled. "How did you know that?"

"I feel a touch of betrayal by my father for not being truthful with me and my sisters when he learned we were in danger. I also feel a sense of guilt for feeling that way, yet I cannot help but think that it would have been prudent of him to confide in us."

"Aye, I do feel betrayed by both my father and brother, and I question the bond I thought I had with Warrand. He stood beside my father the day he announced I would train vigorously and join an elite group of mercenaries that was being formed. Warrand listened to me pledge my life to protecting him and his heirs. Both my father and brother claimed it was an honor for me to do this. How could it be an honor when love for my brother and clan would have allowed me to do nothing less? I felt no honor that day. I felt less important as though my life meant nothing to either of them."

"So, that is what turned you heartless," she said, her heart hurting for him as she eased herself into the crook of his arm and wrapped her arm around his waist.

"It was the beginning, battle after battle adding to it until I found myself not caring for anyone or anything. My only purpose in life… die for my brother and clan."

"No more is that your purpose. Your purpose now is to lead your clan wisely, live an honorable life, be a good husband, and produce an abundance of heirs to secure the survival of Clan Ravinsher."

"It is not easy to let go of the Gallowglass warrior in me."

"I believe in time, when the chaos settles, that he will leave you."

He shook his head. "He will never leave me. He was forged with fire and sword and the cry of battle is in his blood, a cry that he will never be able to ignore."

"Then it is time for you to search for something new to be forged inside you. Something stronger than fire and sword and the cry of battle."

"There is nothing stronger."

"Aye, there is, but only you can find it," she said, "and once you do, then and only then will life hold new meaning for you."

"An impossible search."

"An easy one, if you trust," she said, for she had trusted and found the unexpected… love.

She stepped away from him reluctantly when she would have much rather kissed him, but that would lead to coupling, and she knew he needed more time to talk. So, she went and poured them each a tankard of wine.

"Honor has my time better spent tracking down who killed my father and brother and Clyde. I will not waste my time on an impossible search that benefits only me," he said.

"It may not only benefit you," she said, her heart having felt heavy when she learned of Clyde's death. She had not known him but the brief moment she shared with him was enough to see he'd been a decent man and Slayer had confirmed that when he spoke of him.

He took a swallow of wine then thought a moment more. "Rory could be speaking the truth about what he heard."

"With Rory being a known liar, I would assume a partial truth lies somewhere in his words. Perhaps this man and Verina were friends, and he was there to help her if necessary. Or perhaps she was forced or coerced into poisoning your father," Sky suggested.

"So, Verina could have coupled with my father to win his trust," Slayer said with disgust then downed the rest of his wine. He went to the table to refill his tankard. "I believed my father did what he did for the survival of the clan, but I wonder now if there was more to it than only that. I wonder if it was power he was hungry for and in his search for it he got caught up in something that cost him his life and Warrand's as well. He pushed me hard to become a fearless and feared warrior, a leader in the Gallowglass. He told me repeatedly to never accept defeat, to fear no one, to let no one stand in my way, to kill without thought or remorse, to care for no one and not to be foolish enough to let anyone care for me. He got the ferocious beast he wanted until there came a time when he, himself, feared the beast he created." He turned an angry glare at her. "Even you fear me."

She did not see his anger. She only saw his pain. He reminded her of a few of the animals in the forest, leery at first to approach her, not sure if they should trust but so desperately wanting to. He knew she feared him at times, she had admitted it to him. It wasn't that he was looking for her to confirm. He was looking to see if she could care for him.

Sky went to him and took the tankard from his hand to place on the table then she took hold of his hands. "I was given no choice to marry you. But I have a choice whether I will care for you or not. You made that easy by choosing to become my friend, something no one has ever done, so I will always care for you… but—" She felt him stiffen. "I made the choice alone to love you with all my heart and that I will do even beyond my dying day."

Something shattered in Slayer, broke away, released him to be embraced with an intense joy he never thought existed or was even possible. He recalled the one specific time they had coupled and how he had thought of feeling loved. He had been right. His wife loved him, and he so wanted to love her in return, but he wasn't sure how.

Sky saw the joy in his eyes and the confusion, and she pressed her fingers gently against his lips. "In time, you will come to understand love and know you love me as well, for I feel it every time you make love to me."

He did not understand what he felt, he only knew he never wanted to lose it, never wanted to lose her. He swung her up into his arms and kissed her gently. "I think we should concentrate on producing an abundance of heirs."

She kissed his cheek. "And every one of them will be conceived with an abundance of love."

He felt it, though the warrior within him would deny it, think it foolish, but it could not be ignored. It overpowered him, gripped at his gut and heart, forcing him to acknowledge it.

Love.

Did he truly love his wife? Was that what he felt that he could not understand? He did not know but he would find out. For now, he would do his best to show her what he felt.

* * *

Wakefulness stirredSlayer the next morning, though it was more an urge to come fully awake, to open his eyes. Or was it a warning? He did not debate the matter; he opened his eyes.

Sky lay on her side beside him, her hand stretched out to his face, though frozen in flight, and her cheeks were stained deep pink. No desire stirred in her two different colored eyes. On the contrary, it was fright he saw sparking there.

Then he felt it, a movement on top of his head and he all but growled at her. "Do not tell me the kitten is on top of my head."

"You are on her pillow," Sky said softly.

"Her pillow?" Slayer asked none too gently.

"She likes to nap on it," Sky said and quickly snatched Angel off the top of his head and the kitten hurried to bury herself against Sky's chest.

"The animals do not belong in bed," he admonished and received a warning growl from Fane, whose head had suddenly popped up from beyond Sky's side of the bed. Slayer sprung up to lean over Sky and glare at the hound near the hearth. "Never growl at me, Fane."

The hound approached the bed submissively, his body hunched, and laid his chin on Sky's hip and whined.

"He is torn between his loyalty to you and his gratitude for my help."

"His loyalty to me comes before anything else," —Slayer paused, his brow narrowing— "though I am glad to see that he protects you but not from me."

"Then let him know you mean me no harm, or he will remain confused."

She was right about that. His hounds trusted him because he made his commands clear to them. He rested his hand gently on Sky's waist. "I protect Sky, Fane, just as you protect her. She is part of our pack. We will keep her safe and she will see to our care."

Fane licked his hand as if understanding.

"Confirm my words," Slayer ordered with a possessive squeeze to her waist.

Sky turned on her back to glance at Fane, her husband's hand moving along with her as she turned to lay on her back, keeping a possessive hold of her.

"I care for you all, Fane," she said and patted his head.

As soon as his wife turned her attention on him, he said, "The animals do not belong in our bedchamber. They carry bugs and I will not have bugs in our bedchamber."

He remained sitting next to her and she looked up at him from her prone position. Even upon waking, he soothed the eyes though his manner was a bit grumpy.

She reached up to brush a strand of hair off his face. "I rubbed them both with a powered mixture of copious amounts of mint and rosemary to keep the bugs off them and had rosemary and lavender placed around the room. Fane and Angel probably have less bugs on them than the clan's people."

The kitten had crawled over Sky to get to Fane and once at the edge of the bed fell off. Fane quickly scooped up the little ball of fur by the rough of her neck and carried her to the hearth where he plopped down after releasing the kitten only to have her curl against him.

"They have grown fond of each other. They are an odd but loving pair," Sky said with a gentle smile.

Odd but loving pair. Would people think that of him and Sky when it was found out they were wed?

Sky sat up and placed a gentle hand on his arm. "Fane would serve you better if he remained by your side rather than closed away in the pen and Angel is my friend and I prefer she remain with me."

My friend.

He felt a pang in his chest that spread into annoyance, realizing that Euniss was the only person in the clan who spoke with her. No one had attempted to make friends with her. The animals were her only friends.

He hooked her around the waist and fell back on the bed with her. "Keep Angel off the bed. It is for you and me alone." He kissed her and did not stop, so it was sometime later that they left their bedchamber. He left first, though not before stopping at the door to say, "I detest not being able to take your hand or grab you in a hug. This must end soon, for I will not be kept from you. Fane! With me, now!"

The hound got to his feet and the kitten was ready to follow him, but Sky scooped her up and when the door closed behind Slayer, Sky said, "We will go soon and see if my husband heeded my words and kept Fane with him or returned him to the pen. Where, of course, we will rescue him."

Sky made her way to the kitchen, staying out of the way of the busy servants preparing the morning meal and fixed a bowl of food for the kitten and took it outside. She ignored the stares and whispers of those who worked in the garden. She expected both after the incident with Fane. But having her husband to talk with, and Angel, as well as Fane in the last few days, she felt she had an abundance of friendship.

"Angel is doing good. Soon she will no longer fit in the pouch you carry her in."

Sky turned and smiled at Euniss. "She does do well."

"It is your loving heart that grows her strong and it touches more than only Angel."

"Aye, Fane has recovered well."

"It is not Fane I think of, and I am pleased to see it. He deserves it. It has been too long since he has known a loving heart and touch. You are good for him." Euniss said, her eyes tearing. "His mum would be relieved and pleased."

"What was his mum like?" Sky asked, curious to know all she could about her husband.

"Lady Candra was a sweet woman, too sweet for Lord Bannaty. She obeyed his every command. She did not want her son to be named Slayer, but Lord Bannaty insisted that he would grow to be a great warrior. She was not strong enough to defy him and he cared nothing for her. Theirs, like most, was an arranged marriage. Lord Bannaty was not an easy man to be wed to. His concern was always for the clan, the land, and sustaining it beyond his years. The two lads spent little time with their mum thanks to their father. Lady Candra spent time in her solar and would retreat in prayer often to Whitehall Abbey, not far from here. I believe she died of a broken heart."

Sky's heart broke for the woman. She understood the isolation and loneliness she must have suffered, having experienced some herself. But at least she had had her sisters. Lady Candra had had no one, not even her sons. Lord Bannaty had been a cruel man, and she did not want to think about what life may have been like wed to Warrand if he had inherited his father's traits.

"Did the clan favor Lord Bannaty?" Sky asked.

"He was respected and tolerated since he took good care of the clan. All had shelter, no one went hungry, and the clan was well protected, even more so when Slayer became part of the Gallowglass. So, there were no complaints just as it is now with Lord Slayer."

"Yet someone poisoned Lord Bannaty. Why, if he was at least respected?"

"A question we all ponder," Euniss said.

"Do you recall any visitors he may have had before he took ill?" Sky asked, aware Slayer had probably asked the very same question of her but thinking it would not hurt to ask again. More importantly she loved her husband and wanted to keep him safe just as much he wanted her kept safe.

"The usual chieftains and lords that visited with him, some seeking his counsel on matters, others requesting help. Lord Slayer spoke to every one of them when they arrived to pay their respects to him after his father was buried. Most left pale or shaken, others so frightened, you would think they had just spoken to the devil himself. It was obvious every one of them were far too frightened of Slayer to harm his father."

A shout from the kitchen summoned Euniss.

"I must go tend to my duties unless there is something else you need from me."

"Nay, you have been most generous in helping me and I am grateful."

"Oh, I just remembered," Euniss said, turning around after reaching the door. "After Lord Slayer spoke to me about our healer, Verina, and the possibility of her poisoning Lord Bannaty, I recalled a cleric that had arrived here just before Lord Bannaty had turned ill, then he vanished just before Lord Bannaty died. I recalled Verina speaking with him often."

"Was the cleric known to Lord Bannaty?"

"Nay. He never entered through the gates. He always kept a pious stature, keeping his head bent, his hood pulled down, and his hands clasped in prayer. I must tell Lord Slayer right away. He will want to know and see if he can find the cleric."

"You are busy. I can tell him, and he can seek you out to question you further," Sky offered.

"That would be most helpful," Euniss said and lowered her voice for only Sky to hear. "Thank you, Lady Sky."

It was good that Sky's back was turned to those working in the garden or they would have seen her surprised look. With her marriage to Slayer a secret, she had not fully grasped her position here and what it meant to be his wife, to be the lady of the castle. It quite intimidated her. However, she was learning, first from her time imprisoned in the abbey, then rescued by Slayer and their time at the cottage, and now here at the castle, that locking herself away would not serve her well. It was time she freed herself, especially after hearing about Lady Candra's plight.

She recalled when Euniss showed her Lady Candra's solar. There was a small hearth that kept the room comfortably warm, and a single chair and table where the woman would have sat. She remembered seeing a large basket piled with various pieces of embroidered cloth left unfinished. She imagined Slayer's mum sitting there before the hearth, embroidering in peace and silence day after endless day, heartbroken, never having the courage to free herself.

"Never. Never will I be like her, Angel." Sky smiled, thinking how her sisters would have freed her from such a horrible situation, but believing now that she not only had the strength but the courage to free herself. Oddly enough, she owed that discovery to a powerful Gallowglass warrior.

"Let's go find Fane, Angel. We'll check the pen first and bring the other hounds some bones," she said, hoping Slayer had kept Fane with him.

She slipped Angel into the pouch, thinking she would not need to carry her around soon, though the kitten did seem to enjoy it, peeking her head out in interest as they walked through the village. Suspicious glances were cast her way, but she paid no mind to them while keeping a keen eye on her surroundings, continuing to hope she would see Fane with Slayer.

The hounds greeted her with eager barks, and she smiled seeing how happy they were to see her. Angel leaned further out of the pouch anxiously searching for Fane.

The wolfhound was nowhere to be seen and Sky was pleased. It meant Slayer had kept Fane with him.

The hounds' tails wagged with such excitement that their whole backsides shook, letting her know they were thrilled to see her, and she need not fear them.

"It is good to see you all again," she said and pulled out bones from the sack she carried to hand one to each of them. They eagerly snatched her offering out of her hand and went to lay down to enjoy their feast.

"Enjoy, my friends. I will see you tomorrow, and I will see what other treat I can find for you."

The hounds' heads went up at the mention of a treat and after she sent them a wave, they returned to enjoying their bones.

"I believe Fane is with Slayer, Angel, so let's find them both," she said, after turning away from the pen and Angel agreed with a strong, for her size, meow.

She kept her eyes peeled for Fane and Slayer as she wandered through the busy village. It wasn't until she approached the gate that she caught sight of her husband. He was speaking with a warrior and Fane stood by his side until he caught sight of Sky.

"Sit, Fane!" Slayer ordered when the hound went to run and Fane immediately obeyed him, plopping down on his bottom beside him.

People watched in awe and Sky heard some of the whispers of those nearby.

"He commands the hellhound and the witch."

"Even evil fears him."

"He has the power over her."

"She cannot harm us."

Sky had heard such whispers before but that didn't mean it did not hurt to hear them again. Though she was more concerned with the way her husband glanced her way while speaking with the warrior and a chill ran through her. Whatever they discussed had something to do with her.

Her sisters.

Had something happened to her sisters? She hurried toward him, but he reached her first. "Tell me," she pleaded anxiously.

"When we get to the keep," he said.

"Please, I cannot wait to hear. Tell me. Is it my sisters? Has something happened to them? My da? Is it my da?"

"Your family is safe."

"Then what is it?" she asked, refusing to move until he told her.

"News that took some time to reach me. First, Elsie has discovered who her true parents are, and her mum is the woman responsible for placing you and Leora with the two you believed were your parents and some time after that Leora arrived home."

He did not tell her that Elsie had almost lost her life and that Leora had saved her. That was best left for her to discuss with her sisters.

Sky's heart burst with joy."That is wonderful news. I am so relived that Leora is home safe and unharmed. She is unharmed, isn't she?"

"Aye, Leora is unharmed and has settled in at Clan Skiling with Noble."

"How did she take the news about having a husband?"

"I don't know, but I am sure she will tell you all about it when you are able to meet. She is, if anyhing, persistent about seeing you. But until both your safety can be secured that is not something that will happen anytime soon."

Sky would not think of putting her sister's life at risk even if she was eager to see her again. When the time was right thay would be reunited. She was just glad Leora was safe and she hoped the best for her marriage to Noble.

"I am so pleased for Elsie and for Leora and myself since Elsie's true mum can now tell us about our true parents."

Slayer wished the news he was about to tell her was far different."Unfortunately, she cannot. She is dead."