The Condemned Highlander by Donna Fletcher

3

“Keep your eyes shut,” Brogan ordered when Annis’s eyes began to flutter. “There is too much blood.” He grinned when she groaned, then winced since the grin shot a pain through the wound at his mouth.

He hadn’t been fast enough when he saw her swing coming, not that he thought she could hurt him. He should have realized that there’d be more to Annis’s swing than only a weak fist.

“Is there blood on me?” she demanded to know as she struggled out of her faint.

“Aye, so you will keep your eyes shut and stay as you are until I can clean the blood off myself and you,” he said.

“We’ll take her, Lord Brogan, and put her where she belongs,” one of the warriors said as he approached with a strong gait.

Brogan didn’t know if Annis latched onto his arm without realizing it or on purpose. Either way, she hadn’t hesitated to rely on him to help her. Not that she needed to. He would let no one harm her, not ever.

“She is where she belongs—with me,” Brogan said, his voice a threatening command since the two warriors took a step back and Annis shivered in his arms. “Go and be done with your duties. I have no use of you.” Both men hesitated. “Did you not hear my command?”

One of the men dared to speak. “She hit you, Lord Brogan. Your father will want her punished.”

“That punishment is mine to inflict, not my father’s,” Brogan warned. “Now begone with you or I will inflict punishment on you both for not obeying me.”

The two men almost stumbled over each other as they rushed to their horses.

“What are you doing here?” Annis demanded when she heard the horses gallop away. “And hurry and rid yourself and me of the blood so I may open my eyes. I can feel your silent laugh. What do you find so humorous?”

“I save you from suffering my father’s dungeon and what do you do? You reprimand me.”

“And well I should,” Annis scolded and, keeping her eyes closed tight, she struggled to sit up. “Why didn’t you warn me about your father’s warriors?”

Brogan eased her up, keeping his arm around her after recalling how lightheaded she got after a faint. “I thought you were wise enough not to go on this senseless quest.”

“You took this senseless quest,” she countered, reaching out for his arm when grogginess hit her.

Brogan’s arm went quickly around her, her slim waist fitting easily in the crook of his arm. “I was the one who proved it senseless. Now sit still and rest a moment.”

Annis wouldn’t admit it, not to him, but she was glad he was there. She felt safe with Brogan, though how she felt safe with one of the cursed lords was a complete puzzle to her.

“Were you following me?” Annis demanded and didn’t give him a chance to answer. “Is your blood on my cloak?” Her hands went to the ties at her neck, ready to shed the stained garment. “We need water to be rid of it. You didn’t answer me, were you following me? What are you doing?” she asked, feeling herself suddenly being lifted as Brogan stood and began walking.

“There is a small stream nearby where I can clean us both off.”

“You didn’t answer me,” she said.

“You bombard me with questions that can wait.”

“Nay, they cannot.” She gasped. “The blood! Is it on my face? Tell me if it is on my face.”

“Do you know how easy it is to follow you?” he asked with a laugh.

“I am not easy to follow. I avoided Chieftain Emory’s warriors who came looking for me,” she said proudly.

“They do not know you like I do,” Brogan boasted.

“You do not know me at all,” she argued.

He laughed again. “I challenge you on that. I found you and that’s proof enough.”

Annis gasped again. “The blood—it’s on my face that’s why you chatter on.”

“Do you really want me to answer that?” he asked with another laugh.

Annis shut her eyes tight. “Please. Please get it off me.”

Brogan worried she’d faint again, her face turning pale. “It’s not much at all. I’m stained with the most blood. We are almost at the stream. I will clean you off first.”

“Thank you,” she said in a whisper and rested her head on his shoulder without giving thought to how intimate it might seem.

Brogan quickened his pace and placed Annis under a pine tree, resting her back against the thick tree trunk. “Stay here while I get the water.”

Annis grabbed his arm, fright taking hold of her with her eyes closed and not being able to see. “You’ll come back to me, Brogan?”

“Always, mo ghràdh,” he said and kissed her cheek.

Why did her heart and stomach have to falter? So what if he called her my love. He probably said the same to countless women.

He was barely gone when he returned and when his hand slipped beneath her to gently grip her chin, her heart fluttered again. He scrubbed her cheek with a firm hand but used a lighter hand when he ran the cloth over the rest of her face. She almost sighed with relief at his thorough ministrations.

“Once I clean you off, I’ll return to the stream to see to myself. I’ll let you know as soon as my back is to you so you may open your eyes,” he said, making certain to get every last drop of blood off her and realizing that nothing, not blood or grime could mar Annis’s beauty—or her face or her luscious body. And his loins reacted to the thought.

“I am grateful for your help, Brogan, I mean Lord Brogan,” she said, forgetting to address him properly.

“I prefer you call me Brogan. I love the way it sounds on your lips.”

Annis scrunched her nose. “Do you attempt to seduce every woman you meet?”

Brogan leaned down and whispered in her ear, “When I seduce you, you will well know it.”

Annis shivered not only from the whisper of his warm breath along her ear, but his words. When I seduce you, left no doubt to his intentions.

“You can open your eyes,” Brogan said.

She hadn’t realized he had left her side, his words had so mesmerized her and that annoyed her. She had to stay focused on her task. She couldn’t fail her sister.

She opened her eyes to see Brogan bent over the stream bringing handfuls of water to his face. She looked away, worried she might catch sight of some blood and gave her garments a quick look. She was a strong, determined woman, so why was she weak when it came to the sight of blood? She wished she knew.

“Are you all right, Annis?”

She looked up to see Brogan standing in front of her. His lip was split but not bleeding and a good-sized wet spot was near one shoulder. He’d done a thorough job of ridding himself of the blood. What caught her eye even more, though, were his features. That he was handsome wasn’t new to her, that she realized just how fine his features were, was new to her. Even the wound to his lip could not distract from a face that surely melted women’s hearts and robbed them of any common sense.

Something she intended not to let happen to her.

“Annis?” he said, squatting down in front of her.

“I am good,” she said quickly, realizing her tongue had, for a moment, lost the ability to speak, and to her great annoyance her heart fluttered again.

“My horse waits for us,” Brogan said with a nod toward a chestnut-colored mare drinking from the stream. “I will see you home safely.”

“I am not going home,” Annis said, sending Brogan to his feet as she scrambled to stand.

Brogan rubbed the back of his neck. The woman could frustrate. “I will not leave you out here in the forest alone on a senseless, foolhardy quest that is doomed to fail.”

“You may have failed—I don’t intend to.”

“You are as impossibly stubborn as the fiery red curls in your hair that refuses to be tamed,” he said, his fingers raking his hair in annoyance and to keep his hand from reaching out and running his fingers through her wild curls and yanking her against him to kiss her—something he’d been aching to do since first kissing her.

“That is why my curls fit me perfectly—they are as untamed as I am,” she said with a sharp lift of her chin.

“Untamed? I don’t think a husband will want to hear that.”

“I have no worries of that since I will never marry.”

“Never say, never, Annis, or fate might decide for you,” he warned.

She went to argue but held her tongue. She was not about to tempt fate.

“Be on your way, Brogan, and leave me be,” Annis ordered.

He laughed. “I am going to leave, and you will be coming with me.”

She released her frustration with a huge sigh. “Nothing will stop me from my quest. Take me home and I will take my leave once you’re gone. I will let no one stop me in seeing this done.” She thought to tell him what Nolan had told her, that the witch waits for her, but she was fairly certain he would dismiss it as a lie. After all, why would the witch want to see her and not one of the cursed lords?

“It’s a pointless quest,” Brogan said. “There is no witch. There is no way to break the curse. We are doomed to suffer.”

Tears rimmed Annis’s eyes. “I will not lose my sister to this dreadful curse that is no fault of hers.”

Instinct had Brogan reaching out to comfort her, but she backed away from him.

“I don’t need your help. I can see to this on my own.” She turned to walk away.

“I cannot let you do that, Annis.”

She turned around. “And I cannot let you stop me.”

“Then I have no choice but to join you.”

His remark left her speechless. Though, it could have been that she was actually relieved he would tag along. She couldn’t discount that his father might send more warriors to see about his son and her as well. If so, she could wind up in a dungeon with no way of helping her sister.

“I will not have you impede my quest,” she cautioned.

“That I have no desire to do. I would prefer to see this over and done as hastily as possible,” he assured her.

She invited with a smile and more relief than she expected. “Then by all means join me.”

Her smile always brought a smile of his own. There was something enticing about it, something that couldn’t be resisted, something that beckoned. He mumbled an oath beneath his breath. What was it about this woman that aroused him so easily?

“Did you say something, Brogan?” Annis asked.

“I would be pleased to join you and see this done,” he said, keeping a smile on his face.

“You mean see me fail,” she corrected, her own smile remaining.

“Aye, mo ghràdh, so in the end I will be there to console you,” he said with a wink.

“And what will you do if I am victorious?” she asked.

His smile faded. “I would bless you and be ever grateful to you for the rest of our days.”

Our days. What did he mean by our days? Once this was done, their paths would cross no more. He would be free to wed a noble woman and with the curse gone, there would be many women who would seek a marriage to him. The thought annoyed her, and it troubled her that it did annoy her.

“We should go,” he said, “the mist thickens.”

“Where the paths cross, that’s where I must go,” she hurried to say.

“And take the one less traveled,” he said, and her face could not hide her surprise. “Rannick, Odran, and I were told the same and we followed the path eagerly, hoping, praying, we’d find—salvation.” He shook his head. “It led nowhere. It took us in circles, always coming out in the same place—where the paths cross.”

Annis didn’t try to hide her disappointment. “Was there a heavy mist when you traveled the path?”

“Heavy enough to force us to keep a slow pace.”

“A heavy silence?” she asked, recalling what Nolan had told her.

“At times,” he confirmed.

She recalled another part of what Nolan had said. “Did you see any ravens?”

Brogan shook his head. “Not a one.”

Ravens. Annis would need to keep an eye out for ravens… the witch’s minions. After all, the witch was expecting her.

“Don’t worry, my mare, Belle, will get us through the mist. She has traveled the path so often that she is familiar with it.”

“Perhaps we should walk it this time,” Annis suggested, recalling how Nolan was on foot when he came across the witch.

Brogan glanced at the overcast sky and calculated in his head. “Walking the path should still have us finish before dusk. Then we can head back to Clan Loudon tomorrow.”

“How many times have you traveled this path?” she asked.

Brogan wondered if she was trying to trick him with the question. If he told her, it had been twelve or more times, she probably wouldn’t believe him. If he told her only a few times, she would tell him it wasn’t enough. However, if he told her a reasonable number it might convince her how useless it was to pursue her quest.

“Five times I tried,” he said proudly.

“Good, then I shall try six times before I will even consider defeat.” She turned and after a quick glance to her surroundings, spotted where she had fled the warriors and headed that way.

Belle nudged Brogan’s shoulder. “I know, she’s a stubborn one, but there’s something about her I can’t seem to resist.”

Belle kept by his side as he followed after Annis.

Once they reached where the paths crossed and started down the one that looked barely traveled, the mist began to thicken.

Brogan grabbed Belle’s reins. “Give me your hand, Annis, I’ll not lose you in the mist.”

Annis did not argue, the thickening mist a concern. She took his outstretched hand and it closed around hers.

“Do not let go,” he ordered.

She wondered how she could, he clutched it so tightly. Though, she wouldn’t admit it, having him there beside her, his strong hand wrapped around hers, was more comforting than she would have thought. Not that she couldn’t complete the quest alone, but his presence did offer more safety than if she were on her own.

The growing mist was making it more difficult to see where they stepped and forced them to slow their pace. Brogan made sure to keep Annis tucked close to him, their arms touching. It was one thing when he was here with Rannick and Odran, each of them able to protect themselves if lost. Not so Annis. He would be beside himself if he were to lose her in the mist.

Annis listened for the silence that Nolan had warned her had appeared just before the witch showed herself, but none came. She continued to hear the melody of the forest clearly. She told herself not to get discouraged, that she had only begun her quest. She need not hurry, but she did have to hurry for Bliss’s sake.

Annis.

“Aye, Brogan, what is it?” she asked.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You called my name,” she said.

“Nay, I have not said a word.”

A chill ran through her. “I have exceptional hearing. I heard my name called.”

“Was it my voice that called out to you?” he asked.

She thought about it a moment. “I cannot say for sure. You are the only one here with me, so I assumed…” She squeezed his hand. “You did not hear anything?”

“No voice only the usual sounds of the forest,” Brogan said.

“Could you have heard it in your head?” he asked.

“I suppose,” Annis said.

“The mist can do odd things to people, besides disorienting. Shall we be still and see if it can be heard again?”

That he did not dismiss her claim, but paid heed to it, touched her heart and made her appreciate his presence even more. “Aye, we should try that,” she agreed.

Brogan stopped and positioned her protectively between him and the horse. The mist gathered around them, growing thicker at their ankles and rushing up along their legs. If anything, this could frighten Annis enough to deter her from continuing on her quest. At least, he hoped it would.

Annis listened but found it hard to concentrate with the mist appearing to devour them, it almost reaching to their knees.

“I don’t hear anything. We should move on,” Annis said and went to hurry off, the mist suddenly unnerving her.

Brogan yanked her back against him. “You stay by my side. The mist can swallow you whole fast and it will not be easy to find you.”

“Aye,” she said softly, seeing the worry in his soft blue eyes.

They traveled in silence, Brogan listening cautiously for footfalls, worried someone might be nearby, though all avoided this area too frightened to travel this way. He was relieved when the mist began to lift, and they found themselves at the spot they had started—where the paths crossed.

Annis silently berated herself for allowing herself to be frightened and by what? Mist? She could not let the mist make her fearful or she would fail to help Bliss. She had to stay strong.

“We will return tomorrow,” she said.

Brogan’s head snapped to the side to look at her, his eyes wide with surprise. “You want to try again?”

“Five more times,” she said and released his hand to walk ahead of him. “We should spend the night at the small village that belongs to your clan. I am sure Iver and Una would welcome us.” She wasn’t so sure about Una, but it was better than spending the night in the woods.

She worried what could happen with just the two of them alone together, especially since she’d been itching to kiss Brogan since she’d seen him. Not that she dared admit it to herself before now. And what was she thinking anyway? He had wounded his lip and could bleed again, and on her.

Annis stopped and swayed, growing lightheaded at the thought.

Brogan’s arm rushed around her. “What’s wrong?”

“Blood,” she moaned.

“Where?” he asked, looking over her cloak, worried he had missed a spot.

“I was thinking about it,” she said.

“Do not think about it,” he ordered. “And why were you thinking about it?”

She didn’t mind her thoughts or words. “I worried you would bleed if I kissed you.”