Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

" E at Elara, ye have tae eat."

Elara was struggling to eat anything, despite Kaden's words. She sat beside him, their legs touching under the table, as they looked around the tavern.

They had braved coming downstairs to eat and drink something, but now that they were there, Elara felt keenly that it was a huge mistake.

"Anyone could recognize us," she hissed at Kaden.

"In these clothes?" he laughed a little, shaking his head. "It would be hard fer anyone tae realize who we are right now. Just keep acting like me wife too, and that is what people will think ye are when they glance our way. They'll have nay reason tae look any closer."

"Acting?" she scoffed and reached for the food. "What we did upstairs just now was acting, was it?" she teased him, watching as he stared at her over the rim of his tankard.

"Dinnae tempt me tae take ye upstairs again."

She laughed, wishing he would. She could still feel the thrill of what they had done pulsing through her body, her nerves barely having settled. She sipped her ale, hoping it would calm her nerves a little, though it didn't do enough. She was all too aware of the way that Kaden was looking at her, and the words they had whispered to each other upstairs.

He said he loved me!

She wriggled in her seat in delight. He winked at her, clearly knowing something of what she was thinking. He topped up their ale and went back to eating as she returned to perusing the tavern.

A group of men who had just walked in and sat down at a table a little distance from them drew her attention. The four men looked about themselves, constantly, as if searching for something, or were wary of being seen. One of the men, wearing a very large frock coat, flicked the edge of his coat outwards, revealing beneath a rather obvious sword at his side and the glimmer of a uniform.

"Kaden," Elara whispered.

"If ye're going tae give me another reason why ye arenae going tae eat, dinnae bother–"

"Would ye be quiet fer a second and look?" She elbowed him, making him stare toward the group of men. His eyes widened a little.

"In the name of the wee man," he cursed. "I ken that man."

"Which one?"

"The one with the sword," Kaden grunted, sitting back slowly on the bench they were sharing and slumping down his seat, hiding from view. He ruffled his dark hair, hiding some of his face.

"Ye're invisible now," Elara muttered wryly.

"I've seen him in Annabella's clan. Once, when I went fer a meeting with her faither, that soldier sat at the table. He must be their war leader." Kaden cursed and shook his head again. "He kens me face. If he sees us, we're done fer, Elara."

"Then we need tae get out of here."

"Aye, we dae." Kaden looked away, his gaze fixing on another point in the room. Elara followed his gaze, her stomach stiffening tightly when she saw exactly what he was looking at.

"Are ye actually staring at that lass?" she hissed at him.

"I'll be back."

"What are ye doing – Kaden!" she whispered, but it was no good. He was already skulking away from the table.

The serving lass who had been carrying a tray of tankards to the soldier's table now halted and was gladly drawn into conversation with Kaden. The way she smiled at him meant Elara didn't have to be close to take a guess at what they were talking about.

Ye damn man. Ye are flirting with her.

Elara sat back in the bench, folding her arms. All good feelings from what they had shared upstairs had now melted away as she watched Kaden charm the lass.

It took about ten minutes for Kaden to return. When he did, he sat on the opposite side of the table as Elara.

"Why are ye looking at me as if ye want tae kill me?" Kaden asked with innocence.

"Oh, I wonder why."

"Flirtation works well enough tae get information, Elara. Ye should ken that, seeming as how ye played the same trick on me." He raised his eyebrows in challenge, an expression she matched. "I tried tae get information out of her."

"And?" Elara was still not quite willing to let go out of her irritation, but she was intrigued enough to listen.

"She served them their drinks and heard them mention the MacNaughton clan."

"Ye ken they're from that clan already!"

"Aye, aye, I dae." He waved a hand at her, urging her to be quiet, though it only angered her further. "She didnae hear much else."

"Well, how wonderfully successful ye were." Elara leaned forward, looking particularly at the war leader that Kaden was reluctant to be seen by. He was young enough, handsome enough that he would hardly be surprised if a young woman tried to charm him, with brown hair untidily falling about his eyes and high cheek bones that gave way to richly dark eyes.

"Ye're jealous, Elara," Kaden said with a laugh.

"Dinnae tease me. This is nae funny."

"Isnae it? I find it very amusing. Good tae ken I have such power over ye after all."

"Didnae what just happened upstairs tell ye that?" she said pointedly. He winked at her, but she was done talking with him. She decided it was worth giving him a taste of his own medicine, and if that meant taking the opportunity to find out what Laird and Lady MacNaughton were doing to find them, so much the better. "Excuse me fer a minute."

"Where are ye going?" Kaden asked.

"Tae dae a better job than ye did."

"Elara?" His voice piqued higher with concern, but she was already walking away too fast, so he could not stop her.

As she reached the war leader's side, she sat down beside him on the bench, as if it was a space she had occupied many times before. She smiled up at him, watching as he turned away from his ale cup to look at her.

"Well, lass?" he asked, a knowing smile growing on his lips. "Ye wanting company fer the night?"

"Nae seen company like ye around here before," she whispered. "And who would ye be?"

Kaden was seething. His hands were balled into fists on his lap as he stared at Elara flirting with the MacNaughton war leader. His blood boiled with heat, and he couldn't even remember when he had started breathing so fast.

Stop it, Elara.

He wished to shout the words at her across the room, well aware how ridiculous he was being seeing as he had just flirted in an attempt to get information, but now he had a taste of how she had felt, and that taste was bitter indeed.

She laid a hand on the war leader's arm, and he didn't pull away from her. If anything, he leaned further toward her, his thin lips curling up into a smile. Kaden satisfied himself by fantasizing what it would be like to punch that smile right off the soldier's face.

It didn't help that Elara was blushing pink. She usually only turned that shade with him.

Come back, Elara, or damn this, I will go and get ye back.

He couldn't, even as he thought about his intention to do so. If he went anywhere near that soldier, he would surely be recognized. He may not have crossed paths with Elara yet, but Kaden could remember a particularly heated discussion about battle tactics over dinner with this man. He was certain his face would be well remembered.

When Elara came back toward him, Kaden still was unable to calm himself. His hands practically shook in their fists in his lap.

"Got what ye wanted, did ye?" he asked under his breath, seething.

"Aye, I got more than ye did." She remained standing so as to cover his face from the view of the war leader, in case he was watching her and to make it look like she was flirting with him as well. It would be too risky if the war leader saw they knew each other as he was looking for a couple. "The soldiers arenae just searching these lands for us. They're sending troops tae the Lamonts and the Stuarts. War is coming, Kaden."

He froze.

"Ye are certain?"

"Aye, it's what he said. He was rather eager tae show off tae the young lass whose head had been turned." She quickly glanced over her shoulder, to where the soldier was luckily no longer staring at her but gulping down what had to be his third ale already.

"We need tae get our things and go."

"We hardly have much," he whispered. "And if we cannae sleep here fer the night, that means making camp outside again, ye happy with that?"

"Aye, aye, if it means getting away from him, aye!" she said hurriedly. Kaden went to stand but she gripped his shoulder tight. "Ye wait here. We dinnae want yer movement tae draw attention tae ye. Best if I get what I can from our room and pick up the rest of our food as supplies. I'll come back soon."

"Hurry," he muttered under his breath, "because if I have tae sit here for much longer thinking of the way ye were flirting with him, I might knock the man out."

Elara offered the smallest of victory smiles and left.

Kaden did his best to look interested in what was left of his food on the table, pulling at it, sipping the last of his ale, keeping his head down. Every few seconds, he glanced in the soldiers' direction, checking to see if the war leader had noticed him at all.

"Time tae go," Elara whispered a few minutes later. "Also, put this on." She produced a tricorn hat and dropped it on his head.

"Where did ye get that?"

"Dinnae ask questions. I dinnae enjoy being a thief, but it means surviving, so be it."

She walked ahead towards the door and then Kaden stood, adjusting the tricorn hat on his head so his face was hidden. He followed Elara toward the door of the tavern.

At the door, Kaden glanced back at the soldiers one last time. What happened next happened all too quickly. As his eyes found the war leader, the soldier was looking around, probably searching for a sign of Elara. Their gazes met.

"Ah… shit," Kaden muttered the word under his breath.

"What?" Elara asked beside him, her hand clenching tight around his bicep as she pulled the one bag they now had between them for supplies onto her shoulder.

The soldier lowered his tankard, slamming the base onto the table as he stood.

"There!" he roared, pointing at Kaden. "That's him!"

"Time tae go." Kaden snatched up Elara's hand and sprinted out of the door. He ran so fast that she was struggling to keep up with him.

"Ye trying tae pull me arm off?"

"Do ye want tae miss an arm or yer life, Elara?" he asked as he rounded the stables and found a horse that was still saddled.

She must have glanced back and seen someone chasing them, for she didn't challenge him again. He as good as threw her onto the back of the saddle then pulled himself up too.

"Go!" she yelped as she wrapped her arms around his back. "They're behind us!"

He flicked the reins, and the horse shot away through the village, heading toward the mountains in the distance. Kaden just glanced back through the streets long enough to see the war leader attempting to find his own horse, only to realize that Kaden was the one who had taken it. The last sign of any of the soldiers disappeared as they entered the misty mountains.