Chapter 11

“Christ!” Tad’s and Bran’s loud curses echoed in Catreena’s ears as she backed up from the burning building.

Every way Catreena looked, there was fire. It was as if the gates of hell had opened up to claim this village and drag it down to the underworld. Great flames leaped between timber buildings and thatched roofs. The red and orange fingers of demons’ hands clawed at people and buildings, pulling them into despair.

Catreena looked away from the soldiers. Tad, Bran, and many of the men were trying to pull down one of the slate roofs with hooks on rope, trying to stop the fire spreading further to the rest of the village, but Catreena could hear a child screaming.

She left those she had already tended to. A group of villagers were now following one of the healers from the town, half bandaged in linen with smatterings of honey and cold water across their skin. They hobbled to safety between the flames as Catreena walked the other way.

There’s a child somewhere.

She could hear it as she reached for a small building where the whole ground floor had gone up in flames. She had to raise her hands to shield herself from the heat as she did her best to peer into the melting glass.

“Catreena? Catreena, get back from there.” It was Bran, ordering her to safety.

“There’s a child,” she screamed back. “A child, Bran.” She hastened around the building, now certain the cry for help hadn’t come from the building itself, but somewhere nearby. A small stable came into view. The roof was on fire, but the body of the building hadn’t yet caught light.

There, cowering in the doorway, was a small girl. She could not be more than ten years old. Frightened, crying, she was petrified to the spot.

“This way!” Catreena called and ran toward the girl. She took her hand and dragged her back.

The girl couldn’t say anything. She just cried floods of tears, her feet repeatedly driving into the ground. She fought all the way, not wanting to run because of her fear.

“Please, ye have tae come,” Catreena begged. “This way, and ye will be safe, I promise ye.”

Yet the child didn’t appear to hear her, for she was crying too much.

“Please,” Catreena called again. She managed to get the girl around the front of the building where Bran appeared. “Get her tae safety.”

Bran nodded. Bending down, he picked the girl up in his arms and ran away after the retreating group.

The sudden raging fire made Catreena stumble back. The nearest window had exploded with heat. The glass shattered loudly, the flames reaching out like long whips toward her.

“Nay!” a familiar dark voice raged from behind her.

An arm was around her waist, swinging her away from the flame before she could do anything about it. The sheer force knocked her to her knees. Catreena coughed on the smoke as she scrambled in the earth, turning to look at what had happened.

Tad stood where she had been seconds before. Across his right arm, the flames had caught him.

“Tad!” Catreena screamed, though her voice was drowned out by Bran’s shout.

Soldiers surrounded Tad. The flames were doused out with water and heavy cloths thrown over his arm, but the damage was done.

As Catreena moved back to her feet and ran toward him. Tad, flanked by his men, was weak and stumbling. The flames had singed away his shirt and part of his waistcoat, leaving his shoulder and bicep open. The skin was no longer perfectly smooth but puckered in a fierce red burn.

“This is Cillian’s daeing,” Bran hissed from Catreena’s other side. “Mark me words, he and his men will pay fer what they have done tae us today.”

Catreena couldn’t listen. She flung one of the soldiers aside and reached to take Tad’s good arm.

“Cat.” It was the barest whisper, but then he was gone. The soldiers took her place again and swept Tad away from the village, with Catreena running after them.

“Catreena. Catreena, ye must rest.” Ilyssa sat down beside her next to Tad’s bed.

Catreena couldn’t even look at her friend. Her eyes were fixed completely on Tad.

Once they had returned from fighting the fire, Catreena had thought it best that Tad sleep. She’d given him a sleeping draught, which had knocked him out cold. It had allowed her to work on his burn, following everything she had ever learned from Sophia and her books about healing. His shoulder and arm were now bandaged up, but it was his face that upset her still.

Even in sleep, it was contorted, as if in pain.

“He needs someone tae watch over him,” Catreena said, pressing a muslin cloth into a basin of water and placing it near the burn she had bandaged. She was doing her best to keep the skin around the wound as cool as possible.

“All right, that’s enough.” Ilyssa grabbed her arm, jerking Catreena around to face her. “What the hell is going on with ye and me braither?”

“What!?” Catreena muttered, staring wide eyed at Ilyssa’s green eyes.

“Dinnae give me that innocent look, I ken what I saw –”

“What’s going on in here?” Bran’s voice made them suddenly both go rigid.

Catreena turned to see Bran standing in the doorway nearby. He was covered in ash, but alive and well. His eyes turned with concern to Tad.

“He needs rest, ye two.”

“Aye, Faither Bran,” Catreena said with a roll of her eyes. “We’re nae yer children. I’m yer sister.”

“And I’m his wife,” Ilyssa said with no small degree of mischief in her voice. The two of them exchanged a look which made Catreena turn away. “Have ye managed tae put out the fire?”

“Aye,” Bran nodded. “Tad’s scouts are on the tails of the arsonists too. Soon, we’ll ken who did this.” His lips pressed together in a firm line as he looked at Tad. “Catreena, will he be all right?”

“Aye.” Catreena reached toward Tad on the bed, sliding her fingers across the covers, stopping just short of touching him. She was all too aware of how Ilyssa was watching. “Ye should rest too, Bran.”

Her brother nodded. He said nothing more but parted from the room, allowing the door to swing shut behind him. The moment he was gone, Ilyssa grabbed Catreena’s arm again.

“I thought his interruption would have stopped this nonsense,” Catreena muttered.

“Nay chance of that.” Ilyssa shook her head. “Look at ye.” She waved her hand at how close Catreena’s fingers were to touching Tad.

Catreena bit her lip, thinking of this same bed and what she and Tad had done on this bed just hours ago, before the fire. The way he had touched her had brought her pleasures she had not known existed, still making her gut writhe in excitement.

What I would give tae be back in that moment?

She could still picture it with ease, the way her fingers had gripped to the bed sheets as his fingers had entered her from behind. He’d rocked her back onto his hand, a perfect mirror of what more their bodies could be doing. She shivered with delight at the mere though, then her eyes traced Tad’s still figure.

Please wake up soon, Tad.

“Tell me all or I will tell Bran what I suspect,” Ilyssa declared with sudden authority.

“Ye wouldnae.”

“Try me.” Ilyssa folded her arms. “Ye two have been avoiding each other since ye traveled here together. That cannae be fer nay reason. Come on, out with it.”

Catreena looked toward Tad another time. It was not the moment for talking of anything like this, but she wished to remain at Tad’s side. She had a feeling the only way Ilyssa would allow her to stay here was if she knew the truth.

“I have nay idea what he feels, but…” She paused. “I care fer yer braither. Much more so than I ever thought possible.” Catreena wriggled in her seat. To see Tad so injured now was making her realize that it was not just a matter of attraction to Tad, though that fire had been consuming her for some time now. No, she cared for him much more than that. “Please, dinnae make me leave his side.”

Ilyssa smiled in a sad sort of way.

“I thought Tad someday might have tae prove himself worthy of ye,” Ilyssa whispered.

“Wh-what?” Catreena repeated in surprise.

“Well, he saved yer life today, didnae he?” Ilyssa reminded her and stood. She laid a hand comfortingly on Catreena’s shoulder. “I always thought ye might marry someday. As soon as he finished with his ladies and ye would forgive him for it.” She squeezed Catreena’s shoulder. “Ye have yer wish. I willnae make ye leave his side. Though dae me a favor if ye are tae court me braither. Tease him mercilessly fer his rakish ways. He shouldnae be forgiven straight away fer that. And dinnae worry, I willnae tell Bran. But ye should.” Ilyssa released her and parted from the room.

Catreena stared after Ilyssa in wonder, struggling to make sense of the conversation they had just shared. She wasn’t sure what baffled her more, the realization that Ilyssa had thought there was something between Catreena and Tad after all, or the fact that she had mentioned courtship.

Tad would never court me. Would he?

Catreena looked around and reached for the cloth again. She wrung it out, leaving it damp, but as she reached to place it on Tad’s arm, she found his gray eyes staring back at her.

“Tad!” she exclaimed, dropping the cloth on the bed. She snatched it up quickly, returning it to the basin with a splash, then dragged her stool as close as she could possibly get it to the bed. “How are ye feeling?”

He was already pushing himself up on the bed. Evidently, the draught she had given him was wearing off. He stretched out his bandaged arm, staring at the neat job she had made with the linen.

“I’m curious,” he confessed in a whisper.

“Curious?” she repeated. “Ye have just been badly burnt, and ye opt fer the word curious?”

“Well, if ye’re telling me sister ye care about me, then it must be true.”

Catreena blanched, leaning back as she realized that Tad had already been awake. He must have been lying there with his eyes shut listening to the pair of them.

“Ye bast –” She stood, intent on leaving him, but his hand caught her around the waist. With one quick and easy move, he pulled her back down onto the bed with him.

“Ye–!”

“Call me every curse word in the book ye like,” he said with a laugh, dragging her until she was practically straddling him on the bed. She fought him all the way, but when her hand accidentally touched his bandaged shoulder, he froze, his breath hissing through his teeth.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, lifting her hands and holding them in the air.

They both stared at one another, neither one of them moving toward or away from the other.

“How daes it feel?” she asked after a minute of silence.

“It hurts,” he said simply. “But I’ve been wounded before and lived tae tell the tale.” His eyes ran up and down his own arm. “From the job ye have done, I’d say it looks like I’ll be fine.”

His hand was now softly caressing the curve of her hip through her gown. Her stiff spine slackened, and she bit her lip, remembering the way his touch had driven her mad that afternoon.

“Ye frightened me,” she confessed in a whisper. “I have been so worried about ye.” That hand on her hip tightened, just a little.

“Me? I frightened ye?” His eyes narrowed. “Who was it standing beside a burning window as the window blew out?”

“I didnae ken it was going tae happen!”

“Ye frightened the hell out of me,” he snarled at her, his hand possessively sliding up her waist again.

“Dinnae touch me like that now,” she begged. He halted, though his eyes said everything. They told her silently how much he wanted to touch her again.

I want it too.

“Ye’ll be sore,” she said simply by way of explanation. He smiled a little, then nodded.

“Ilyssa was right about one thing, ye ken,” he whispered. “I’ll be a lucky man if ye will forgive me and accept a courtship.”

“Courtship?” she spluttered. She tried her best to get off him, to stand beside the bed, but his hand tightened around her hip again. “Ye dinnae understand allowing a woman tae walk away from ye, dae ye?”

“Only ye, Cat,” he said with such deep possession in his tone that her heart fluttered in her chest. Surprisingly, she found herself smiling at his words.

“Ye dinnae want tae court me, Tad,” she whispered.

“Ye’re wrong.” His fingers now splayed across her hip, touching as much of her as he could. Her breath hitched as she stared at what he was doing. “I’ll speak tae yer braithers. I’ll ask fer their blessing first.”

“Ye would dae that?”

“Aye. Once they’re done killing me.” He winced at the thought. “They may say aye.”

Catreena was breathless. She reached toward him, intent on kissing him, on living out this fantasy that perhaps Tad cared for her as much as she did him.

“Nay more other women, Cat,” he whispered against her lips. “Only ye, if ye’ll have me.”

“Tad, I –”

There was a knock at the door.