Sacrificing his Highland Heart by Kenna Kendrick
Chapter Four
“Yer men will remain outside the castle, Sayer, and will be watched. Ye, however, may come along and act as witness.” Euan barked orders to his men and asked the closest one to bring the prisoner along. Their walk to the main hall was accompanied by the sound of chains jingling. It reminded him of his purpose and how it would benefit everyone involved.
If he was honest, he was surprised that the fiery little Miss Rose Sayer took his hand when he offered it. Now they were walking hand in hand, and he could feel the hesitation in her steps as he guided her to one of the doorways off the central room in the castle.
I am nae feeling so happy tae marry either, lass.
Her hand was so small in his large one, but he was impressed that there was no trembling in it, nor was there a look of fear upon her face. When she’d finally lifted her green eyes to his just outside the castle, he had felt something. It was like a spark floating in the air, threatening to burst into flame. She was most assuredly Sayer’s sister with those eyes. However, on a man, they looked menacing and cruel. On her, they looked fierce and powerful. Despite her short stature, he could tell she was not a woman to be reckoned with.
He was glad that Henry Sayer had not tried to trick him by bringing him another woman. Still, it didn’t really make things better or easier how beautiful the lass was. In fact, it made him on guard and wary.
In the hall, the priest waited patiently for them on the far side of the room, near the main hearth. He was dwarfed by being the only one in such a large room, even though Euan had done his best to furnish it heavily to take away some of the echo and emptiness. However, chairs, tables, shelves, paintings, and soft couches didn’t do much to take away a particular kind of emptiness.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched his new bride as she took everything in, and he thought he could see a look of awe on her face. That satisfied him greatly. The priest nodded his head when Euan and Rose finally reached him. “Most hearty congratulations on yer wedding day, Laird Rede.”
“Thank ye, Father.” He took Rose’s other hand, and the two of them stood in front of the priest, and he had to face her eyes again. They were watching him with anger and hatred, and he could understand that. But it was all for the best. He kept telling himself that, and she would just have to believe it. He kept his eyes on her throughout the ceremony while her eyes moved to her father and brother.
He could see out of the corner of his eye that her brother was watching him like a hawk. He could understand it. He would feel the same way if he had a sister, but they would benefit from this alliance. He would have to help them with Scottish raids from the southern border, and they would have to inform him of any English plans. It was a mutually beneficial alliance. Throughout the ceremony, the older Sayer tried his best to prevent the marriage. It was a good thing he was still chained.
During the priest’s words, George Sayer called out, “Rose, you do not have to do this. Let me die! I will take that instead of this, being married to this beast. I was in the war, my love. I will happily sacrifice my life for yours of freedom!”
Euan was amazed that even though there was pain in Rose’s eyes every time her father spoke, she shook her head and returned her eyes to Euan’s.
And then, with a few words and a flourish, it was done. “I now pronounce ye husband and wife.”
Euan wavered for a moment, and Rose’s eyes were bright with fear, so he just kissed her lightly on the cheek to seal the ceremony. Rose was greatly relieved, or she appeared so.
Henry and Angus signed the marriage document as witnesses.
“It is finished,” Euan said with as much confidence as he could muster. The small woman whose eyes made him uncomfortable was his new wife. An Englishwoman of all people.
“So it is,” Henry grumbled. The elder Sayer was pale, looking far more drained than he had the whole time he’d been imprisoned.
Euan smiled. “Now, we are aligned. Shall we celebrate?”
Henry scoffed and crossed his mind. “As if we have anything to celebrate.”
“So, we do.” Euan nodded his head at the man holding George Sayer, and the warrior unlocked the chains. Rose hurried into her father’s arms. “Yer Father is free now. Is that nae something tae celebrate, lad? Bring wine and food,” he mentioned to a servant waiting on the edge of the room.
“Come and sit. Sir Sayer and yer family. Join me.” He waved a hand to the far table at the head of the room, and together they walked there in silence. Reluctantly, they all sat. He gripped Rose’s hand again and led her to the chair next to his. “Ye are Lady Rede now, my dear, and ye may sit here at yer place of honor.”
She mumbled something under her breath, and he smiled at her cheek but did not attempt to find out what she’d said. Henry was stiff, and George was wary, and his men left the hall and shut the doors, leaving them to their awkward family dinner.
“So, we are to act as brothers now, Laird Rede?” Henry was watching him, his teeth bared in an almost snarl, one of his dark brows lifted.
“Whyever nae? For that is what we are? We donnae have tae like each other, for I ken may families who donnae like one another. However, we might as well be civil tae one another.”
The servants began to arrive with wine, pouring the cups and laying food upon the table. He took a piece of bread in his hands and began to pull at it and butter it. He had recently eaten, but he needed to look powerful and in charge. If no one else was comfortable, then he was going to be. Every so often, he felt his gaze wander to Rose, who sat with her shoulders back and her chin lifted and her eyes down on the table as if judging the contents.
George didn’t wait any longer, and he began to eat, pulling food onto his plate as if he hadn’t eaten in days. “Father, we do not know if the food is safe to eat yet,” Henry said in a loud whisper. Euan saw Henry’s angry gaze turn to him again, and Euan chuckled.
“Come, young Sayer. What a poor alliance I would be making if I completed the marriage and then immediately murdered the family I wish to align with?” He shook his head. “Eat and be merry. Is that nae what the Bible tells us?”
“That was a lesson about overindulgence and lack of care for one’s resources,” Rose quipped. The men turned their eyes to Rose, taking food onto her plate with the primness of a princess. However, her words were clear enough.
“Right enough, madam, how befitting the wife of a laird that ye should have so quick a tongue. Although that may mean I will have cause tae regret it.”
“You will do so,” Henry replied, not waiting to listen to the sarcastic tone in Euan’s voice.
“I donnae think so. But think that if ye like.” He focused on eating then, for there were no more words spoken for a time. He filled his cup with wine again and drank deeply, not wanting to deal with the situation at hand. It was customary to allow the father and brother of his wife to dine with him, especially right after the wedding, but he was anxious for them to leave. He had kept Sayer’s men out of the ceremony, a little fearful of what they might do in an enclosed space, but he was confident that his men were watching them outside the castle.
“Might you have a compassionate heart, Laird Rede, and give food and drink to my men? They have traveled so long after all and as an escort.” Henry’s smile was like the bared teeth of a dog.
“It has already been done, Sayer. Ye donnae have tae worry on that. I am a hospitable laird.”
“Is that so?” Rose asked, and Euan could tell that she even surprised herself, for her eyes went wide, and she turned them back to her plate, continuing to cut her meat.
“Aye, it is so. Ye can see that yer father is well even though he was taking up residence in the dungeons.”
He watched her as she looked at her father. He looked back at her and gave her an encouraging nod. Her lovely eyes looked at Euan for a brief second before she nodded. “So, he is.”
There was another long period of silence during which Euan decided to get very drunk and forget all this nonsense. At the end of the meal, when the silence became heaviest, he said. “Come. My people will show ye tae yer rooms. Ye will stay the night, and then ye will be gone in the morning. Even ye, Sir Sayer. Ye will get a room. I will even send baths to yer room if ye like.”
“Tomorrow? So soon?” Henry asked, his arms finally unfurling to gesticulate angrily.
“So eager tae remain in my company, young Sayer.”
“Stop bloody calling me that, you brute! You know nothing of English manners.”
“As if I wished tae. And yet, ye are here.” He gestured to the room with both hands. “Ye have nae been killed. Instead, ye have been fed well, and now ye are being shown tae yer chambers in which ye will be very comfortable, I can assure ye. Those actions sound like manners tae me.”
Henry’s eyes wandered to his sister. “And Rose? What of her?”
Euan pulled Rose to his side, his hand searching out hers again. She didn’t resist his touch, but she didn’t look at him and merely faced her brother.
Perhaps she is trying to put on a brave face for her family?
“She is nae longer yer concern, lad, for she is now Lady Rede. My responsibility and mine alone.”
Again, he heard Rose mutter something under her breath, but when he looked at her, her mouth was still. Henry looked uncomfortable as well as furious enough to burst into flames when Rose said, “Leave it, Henry. It is now done. Go to bed and be on your way on the morrow. We shall speak in the morning.”
She let go of Euan’s hand, and she wrapped her arms both around her brother and her father and gave them a smile. He couldn’t see it entirely, but some new frisson of feeling tingled through him at the sight of it.
The lass really is bonny. Even if this doesnae make things easy for me, the people will be happy that their new lady is a bonny one.
“Good night, Sayer men. A servant will take ye tae yer chambers, and yer men will be shown where tae rest. I shall take my wife to her chambers.” She had returned to his side, and he lifted her hand to wrap her arm through his. Without waiting to hear anyone’s reply, he pulled Rose along, and together they walked the stairs up to the upper level, the first time as man and wife.
* * *
Rose’s heart was going mad, beating frantically, but she took her breaths slow, and she kept her chin high. She would never let this Laird Rede see just how nervous she was about what the wedding night would hold. Since she had no mother, Mrs. Drummond had come to Rose’s awkwardly in her bedchamber before she left for Scotland and sat down next to her on the bed.
“It will hurt at first, my dear. It can be good if the man is gentle. However, in this case….”
Rose didn’t let her housekeeper finish. She didn’t want to think about how far his brutish reputation would reach.
Mrs. Drummond tried to smile. “There are good men out there, I promise you. Perhaps he is only brutish by reputation but kind to those he cares for. That does happen as well.” Mrs. Drummond gripped Rose’s hand. “You will be a wonderful wife and lady to the clan. I know it. I just wish I could see you in your future life.”
Mrs. Drummond began to cry, and before Rose started to cry as well, she pulled her housekeeper into a tight hug. “My dear Mrs. Drummond, you have been like a mother to me in these past years. Thank you so much for everything. I will miss you, all of you, dearly. But I will think of you often. Please keep me in your prayers.”
“That goes without saying, my dear girl.” She stood up, brushed her cheeks, and smoothed her skirt. “I know it is a strange situation, but you must know that I think you very brave. You are like your mother that way. You would never just take things as they are. I pray for a good future for you and that your husband will be good and kind.” She rummaged in her pocket for a few seconds before she pulled out a small blade and thrust it into Rose’s hand.
“Mrs. Drummond, what are you doing?”
“For you, my dear. If your husband should prove to be a dangerous man.” Mrs. Drummond’s eyes were steady as she looked into Rose’s. “Please take it. I will feel better and sleep better at night if I know that you have it in your possession. Do take it.” Rose did, and then Mrs. Drummond left without another word.
Now, Rose was entering into that mysterious world of all married women. Her hand was on her husband’s arm, and she could feel the weight of Mrs. Drummond’s blade in the pocket of her skirt. That gave her comfort as they walked up the stairs together, their feet pounding out a solid, steady rhythm beneath them.
“And why have you not married before, Laird Rede?” she asked, trying to think about anything else than what the night would lead to. To her comfort, he wasn’t appearing menacing or anything of that sort. He looked calm and collected. At her question, he lifted a brow.
“What a strange question from my current wife. I havenae married because I didnae wish tae.”
And yet, I must marry even though I do not wish to. How very like a man.
“There was no one else you could create a political alliance with, then?”
She looked away, knowing that her tongue was running away with her, but she couldn’t help it. At strange times, her bitterness for having sacrificed herself would come out, spewing forth like poison, and she couldn’t stop it. It wasn’t as if the man didn’t deserve it, anyway.
“Nae. Nae one else.” When she looked at him again, his face was stern and cold. She frowned.
Does he regret this as much as I do? Or is he dreading the night ahead as well?
They were silent until he paused in front of a large wooden door, the torchlight flickering over its carved surface. “Here ye are, Lady Rede. Yer chambers.”
Rose swallowed and tried to lift her chin just a little higher to give her the confidence she needed. So many women did this. It was natural; it was normal. She was just as strong as them. She had planned to one day marry anyway, and so this was her path now. She could do it.
“Thank ye, Laird Rede.” He opened the door for her, and she stepped inside but turned around when she noticed that he didn’t join her. She looked back at him, the question on her lips.
“Sleep well,” he bit out and then shut the door behind her.
