Highland Hope by Julie Johnstone
Twenty
She was going to die. The noise above was like nothing she’d ever heard; it felt as if her very eardrum was splitting in two. And then the vessel lurched so greatly that she flew across the room and hit her head, sending waves of dizziness through her. She fell to her knees, her hand smacking against the hard floor of the black pit she’d awoken in. She was going to die and Frederick’s face was the last she would ever see. Her stomach heaved violently at the thought, but nothing came up.
She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, trying to calm her ragged breathing and racing thoughts so she could come up with some way to save herself, when the floor beneath her suddenly tipped upward. She went sliding backward, banging and knocking into things as she went, unable to see what she was hitting because of the utter, consuming darkness. But when she landed hard on her back, pain piercing through her, she felt wetness.
The ice-cold water covered her back immediately and was up above her stomach before she managed to stand. Terror gripped her as realization did. The vessel was sinking. The vessel was sinking, and she was locked below. Her lungs constricted with stark fear, and her heart seemed to slip its confines and tip out of her chest. She gasped as the water covered her feet, and then rose to her knees. The birlinn rocked and groaned, tilted and bobbed, finally throwing her down to plunge her under the water. Her mind screamed at her as she shot her hands out, desperate, but she couldn’t find the surface.
She turned in circles, her lungs burning, as she searched, but she just kept meeting water. And then Royce’s face was in her mind, and she heard his deep voice, telling her of the caim. She wanted his arms. She wanted his safety. She wanted his love. She gave one last hard kick to what she hoped was the surface.
It took three men to pull Royce back from the ledge he’d climbed on to dive into the sea. He swung toward whoever had his right arm when his left one was freed and punched the man in the face. Crazed. He was crazed. He knew it, but he didn’t give a damn. He had to get to her.
“Royce!” Ragnar grabbed him on either side of his head and put his forehead to Royce’s. “If ye jump now, ye’ll nae save her. Ye’ll simply die with her. The sea will swallow ye up as it’s doing the Spartan. We must get closer to give ye a better chance. We’ll get closer and tie a rope around ye.”
All the words were true, and every one of them ripped into his chest, leaving a fiery path of pain. He nodded, showing he’d heard. He would be reasonable, a laird in control. The birlinn bobbed and rose, bobbed and rose, as Royce and Ragnar joined the men at the oars, rowing to save her. He watched, helpless to do anything but row, as the Spartan began to sink. His hands throbbed from the effort, and his blood surged through his veins as they moved closer and closer. Just when they got near enough that he thought he could safely swim to the Spartan, a great wave crashed over it, sinking it still farther.
Royce dropped the oars, and Ragnar, likely anticipating what Royce would do, had already stood and gathered the rope. He threw it to Royce, who knotted it around his waist in one breath. With the next, Royce jumped feet first into the turning water. Its icy fingers encircled him and immediately constricted his lungs, but thoughts of Eve dying had him kicking for the surface, rain and waves washing over him even as he broke through the water and gulped in the air. He took one breath before another wave crashed over him.
“Eve!” he roared, seeing no one at first, his heart pounding a painful rhythm. “Eve!” A wave lifted him once more, but when it dropped him down, a dead body was floating next to him. And then another.
The angry sea swept the Englishmen away as Royce began to swim toward the birlinn. In a shaft of light, he could just barely see half the vessel under the sea. Had the sea taken them all already?
He struggled to breathe, fear gripping around his throat and closing the air passage. He swam against the waves, eventually reaching the birlinn, broken and splintered with wood jutting out and water gushing in. There, floating before it on a chunk of wood, was Sotherby. Royce closed the rolling distance between himself and the man, and stared in momentary shock at the thick piece of wood protruding from the middle of Sotherby’s chest. It was a miracle the man was still alive, but Royce doubted he had more than a few breaths left in him.
“Where is she?” Royce demanded over the roar of the waves.
“Locked her in the hold below,” he said before coughing violently. “Tried to kill me.”
“’Tis entirely too bad she did nae accomplish it,” Royce said before swimming past the man toward the vessel.
“Wait!” Sotherby cried out. “Don’t leave me here. I’ll give you riches. I’ll—”
The howl of the wind and the pounding of the waves drowned out Sotherby’s pleas as Royce reached the vessel and crawled upon the deck, ankle deep in water. Christ. If she was under the hold… He dropped to his knees, running his hand over the wood beneath as he went, searching for a handle that would lead to the hold. He touched on something hard, and after a second of feeling it, he determined it was a handle. He turned it to unlock it. Then, gritting his teeth and grunting, he yanked back on the door with all his strength, and it slowly opened wide, water falling away.
Suddenly, Eve sprang up from the water, gasping and coughing. He reached down, his heart exploding from his chest, and caught her to him, then pulled her out of the hold. “Eve.” It was a moan of thanks.
“Royce?” Their mouths found each other in a violent kiss of need, reassuring the other that they were truly there. The birlinn groaned again, reminding Royce of the peril they were still in.
He pulled back with reluctance and broke the kiss. “We’ve got to go.”
She nodded, and together, hand in hand, they made their way across the deck, the water now to his knees, and reaching the side, they jumped. The cold was all-consuming, but he immediately started kicking and pulling her toward the surface. They broke it a breath later, waves crashing around them and the rope that had been tied to him gone.
His heart thudded heavily as he gazed toward the black sea, unsure which way the Aileach had been. The rain had lessened, but the moon was still hidden. Where was the birlinn? He could not fail Eve. He slid his grip to her hand, and her fingers curled immediately around his as he scanned the darkness, worry settling heavy on him. Then, as if Ragnar had known Royce would need a guiding light, torches started to glow. First one, then two, then ten glowing torches guided them to safety, if they could make it.
“We have to swim to the ship, lass.”
She nodded, bobbing in the water. “Then we’ll swim. Together, we can make it.”
“Come on, then,” he said, releasing her hand, so they could swim. “Stay by my side if ye can.”
“Always,” she replied.
The waves were still rough, but the eye of the storm had passed. So while water still crashed over them, they had enough time between waves to catch their breath. Tension radiated down the length of Royce’s body as he glanced between the birlinn and Eve, willing it closer and her to safety. Finally, they reached near enough for another rope to be thrown down to Royce. He grasped the rope and Eve, and his men pulled them aboard the birlinn. His feet no more than touched the deck before he took Eve in his arms, pulling her to his chest with his men cheering.
“They’re cheering for your safe return,” she said, looking up at him, grinning.
“Nay, lass,” he replied, brushing his lips to hers. “They’re cheering for our safe return. Ye’re part of our clan, soon to be a MacLeod.”
She smiled shyly at him, which made his chest tighten at her loveliness, and then she surprised him by crooking her finger for him to come closer, which he did without hesitation.
“Mayhap,” she said, her cool breath tickling his ear and stirring his lust, “we could wed tonight still.”
He pulled back and grinned at her, marveling at this second chance he’d been given. “Is there a reason ye wish to wed tonight?” he asked, curious what she’d say. He hoped it was what he was thinking, desiring, which was to take her as his wife and hold her in his arms through the remainder of the night, but if she’d been through too much tonight, he was prepared to wait.
“I wish to know your touch,” she said, her voice low, her gaze steady and truthful. “I do not want to go another day being anything other than your wife.”
He tugged her to him once again, her soft flesh seeming to mold to his hard body. “I can grant that wish, lass, and all others ye’ll ever have.”
“I have to tell you something,” Eve said as Royce laid a dry plaid over her shoulders and drew her under his arm and firmly up against his side. The men rowed efficiently through the water toward Dunvegan, and the sea was calmer than it had been so Royce had finally quit keeping watch at the front of the birlinn and had come to sit by her.
“Go on, then,” he said, his hand coming to her shoulder. He glided his fingers up and down her skin in a way that made her shiver.
She swallowed, knowing she had to tell him what she’d learned from Danaria and Clyde but not wanting to hurt him. “Lara did not slip from the cliff to her death.”
The movement of Royce’s fingers suddenly stopped, and she could feel the heat of his gaze on her. “What?”
Eve cleared her throat, suddenly even more nervous. “Lara was… Well, she was untrue to you with Clyde. Then Clyde pushed her from the cliff when she told him she wanted to tell you about them after you’d found out about her and, well, the other man.” Eve stared at Royce, trying to discern how he felt, but his face was inscrutable. She decided the best thing to do would be finish telling him what she knew so she rushed to do so. “And Danaria saw it all and kept Clyde’s secret because she wished for Clyde to aid her in eventually becoming your wife.”
“I knew Danaria was lying,” Royce said, his tone low and vibrating with anger. Quickly, he ran through the lies Danaria had told him about Eve, and when he was done, Eve was sure she could have cheerfully strangled the woman, but she set her anger aside. Danaria would be dealt with. Instead, she told Royce of the roles Danaria and Clyde had played in helping Frederick and his men escape.
“I’m so sorry about what I had to tell you about Lara,” she said.
His face softened, and he squeezed her shoulder. “Ye do nae need to fash yerself, lass, because of what ye’ve told me.”
“No?” Eve hitched her eyebrows. “She was your wife. You loved her. And she hurt you greatly with her betrayal. Surely, finding out there was yet another—”
“It does smite a bit, I’ll nae lie. But Lara is my past.” He grinned at her and placed a hand on her cheek. “Ye are my future, and together, we will have a beautiful family and life.”
They reached Dunvegan near dawn, and after greeting the clanspeople who had been waiting for them, they went directly to the girls’ bedchamber. Elena had told them that the girls had been unable to sleep they were so worried about Eve and their father. Before Royce and Eve could step through the door, Lenora and Lillith bounded from their beds and threw themselves into their father’s arms, crying out in relief.
Eve stood just to the side, tears in her eyes at the love between Royce and his children. When she closed her eyes to blink away the tears gathering there, a small hand grabbed hers. She looked down to find Lillith holding her right hand.
Lillith looked up at her and grinned. “I’m so thankful Da was able to rescue ye, Eve,” Lillith said, hugging Eve.
Eve squeezed the child back, her heart expanding with love.
“I’m thankful, too!” Lenora burst out and came to hug Eve, as well. “I’m thankful that ye will be part of our family now.” The child then looked up at Eve and frowned. “Ye still will be, aye?”
“Aye,” Royce answered. He walked over to the three of them and gathered them all into the circle of his arms. “This is our caim,” he said, “and we will protect each other always, aye?”
Eve smiled through her tears of joy as she and the girls answered, “Aye.”
When they broke apart, Royce motioned to the twins to come sit on their bed with him, and Eve knew he was going to speak with them about their mother. He and Eve had discussed him telling the girls about their mother not being faithful, because now that the clan knew, he feared—and rightfully so—that the girls would find out anyway. He wanted them to hear it from him, if they heard it at all.
Eve slipped out of the room discreetly and waited in the corridor to give him privacy. Exhausted, she slid to the floor, pulled her knees into her chest, and rested her head against her knees. She let her mind wander over all that had happened since she had fled Frederick, had met Royce, had become part of his clan, and had fallen in love with him. Then she turned her thoughts to what life by Royce’s side would be like. She was so distracted imagining children and the life they would have that she startled when Royce set his hand on her shoulder.
She glanced up at him, and he looked down at her. The love she saw on his face and in his eyes stole her breath. He held out his hand, and she took it, allowing him to pull her to her feet. He folded her into his embrace, and she laid her head against his chest, savoring the sound of his steady heartbeat in her ear and the feel of his warmth seeping into her.
“How was the conversation with the girls?” she asked.
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “It was hard to tell them, but they seem well. I reassured them that their mam loved them deeply and her betrayal of me did nae change that. And talking of it was good for me, too.”
She pulled back and looked up at him. “How?”
“It felt like putting the past to rest. All I want to do now is look forward to the future with ye and the girls. So we will wed this day, aye, if ye are nae too tired?”
She rose to her tiptoes and brushed her lips to his. She had meant only to give him a quick kiss, but he deepened it, and she could not resist. When they pulled away, he said, “Am I to take that to mean ye are nae too weary?”
“Yes,” she said, actually giving him a quick kiss this time. “I’m most definitely not too weary to wed you this day.”
“Good. I wish to do it straightaway after I deal with Danaria. Magnus is bringing her to the great hall, and the council will assemble there, as well. Do ye wish to join me as I mete out her justice?”
“Will I be welcome there by the others?” she asked. “I don’t want to cause any strife between you and—”
His mouth covered hers, cutting off her sentence. He kissed her soundly, making her heart thud hard and her body grow warm. When he broke the kiss, he cupped her face. “As my wife, ye will sit on the council for the clan, and ye will always be welcome everywhere. There is nae a soul on Earth that can put strife between us, except us, and we will take a care with each other, aye?”
“Aye,” she said, her love for this man like an ocean in her chest. “We will always take a care and remember how lucky we are to have found each other.”
Danaria was brought into the great hall kicking and screaming, but between Magnus and Ragnar, they easily moved her along to stand at the front of the dais. Though they did each have to keep a hold of her, because when they tried to release her, she attempted to run. Eve tensed when the woman turned accusing eyes upon her, but Royce’s hand covered Eve’s and settled her nerves.
“’Tis yer fault!” Danaria screeched, the allegation resounding around the room.
While Eve knew it was untrue, she was glad there was no one in the great hall but herself, Elena, Father Murdoch, two elders, Magnus, and Ragnar. Royce had decided to keep Danaria’s banishment to just the council that was currently present at Dunvegan.
“’Tis nae Eve’s fault, and ye know it deep within Danaria. If ye wish to lay blame upon someone besides ye and Clyde, where it belongs, then ye can lay some upon me. Had I put Lara above my clan duties, mayhap things would nae have developed as they did, but I’ll nae ever know. And for that, I’ll be eternally sorry, but ye keeping the secret of Lara’s murder is yer fault, and yer aiding Sotherby in escaping and taking Eve is also yer fault. And these crimes kinnae be forgiven. Ye risked Eve’s life.”
“She is nae meant for ye!” the woman yelled. “I am!”
“Nay,” Royce said, “I was honest with ye. I told ye from the beginning of our time together that I did nae want attachments with ye.”
Eve was very glad that Royce had told her of his dalliance with Danaria. She knew, of course, that Royce had a past before her, but she would not have wanted to learn of it sitting there in front of Danaria.
“Ye want to bed that English witch instead of—”
Magnus slapped a palm over the woman’s mouth, and Eve heaved a sigh of relief.
“Thank ye, Magnus,” Royce said over Danaria’s grunts from beneath his palm.
Royce stood then. “I banish ye from the clan, Danaria, and I brand ye a traitor. Ye will be sent this day from the Isle of Skye, and if ye ever step foot on my land again, yer life will be forfeit.”
Danaria’s face was red, and she was trying to twist out of Magnus’s hold, but it was to no avail. With that, Royce nodded, and Danaria was dragged from the room as she fought to break free.
When silence fell, Father Murdoch was the first to speak. “So, Laird, are we having a wedding this day between ye and the lovely lass?”
“Aye,” Royce replied, his gaze finding Eve’s.
“Should we wait?” Eve asked, thinking of his brother not being there. When Royce narrowed his eyes at her, she rushed to explain. “I thought perhaps you might wish to wait for Brus to return.”
“Nay,” Royce replied. “It could be a while before my messenger finds them and tells them I have what they seek, and I do nae intend to wait even one more breath to make ye my wife.”
His words warmed her, but Elena stood and grabbed Eve by the arm, tugging her up. “Ye’ll wait, Brother. She’ll want to at least be clean and wearing a fresh gown before she’s wed.”
“Eve dunnae care—”
“I do,” Eve said, smiling gently at Royce when he looked ready to protest further. “I’ll be quick about it.”
“Ye better,” Royce said to her back as she descended the stairs. “Or I’ll come to fetch ye, and ye may find yerself being wed half-dressed.”
She hurried along, not doubting he was serious but smiling that he was so eager to wed her.
Not long later, after washing, Eve slipped on a fresh gown and ran her hands through her hair. Then a knock came at the door, and Elena and the twins entered her bedchamber to fetch her to wed Royce.
“The entire clan is in the courtyard,” Lenora said, looking dreamy eyed.
“The women from the kitchen have sprinkled flowers everywhere,” Lillith added, grinning.
Lenora nodded. “And the guards have lit so many torches, the heat warms ye through.”
“’Tis beautiful,” Elena agreed.
“I want my wedding to be just like yers,” Lenora said to Eve, grabbing her hand.
“I do, too!” Lillith said. “I want a crown of flowers, too, and—”
“Shh!” Elena and Lenora tsked Lillith. “’Twas supposed to be a surprise.” Elena rolled her eyes. “Well, come on, then. We might as well go down since the secret is out. Royce is fairly pacing the courtyard to wed ye.”
“I’ve nae ever seen Da anxious,” Lillith said.
“He wants to bed her,” Lenora told her sister.
“Lenora!” Eve said, her cheeks flaming. “You shouldn’t say such things.”
The girl smiled. “’Tis a good thing, then, that ye’ll be here to remind me nae to.”
“Yes,” Eve said, her heart expanding, “it’s a very good thing.”
The twins each took one of Eve’s hands and guided her down to the courtyard. Her breath caught when the door swung open to show the sky lightening with the early rays of dawn and a crowd of men and women larger than any she’d ever seen gathered to watch her wed Royce. She hadn’t gained a simple family. She’d gained a clan, and she couldn’t be happier. The courtyard glowed with torches that formed a circle around it. Down the center was a path down to Royce, who stood there holding a crown of flowers. Her heart leaped as a cheer went up and joy filled the air, making her feel as if she were floating. She started toward Royce, the girls on either side of her still holding her hands.
When she reached him, the girls fell back a bit as she faced Royce, Father Murdoch standing in front of them. “What is the crown for?” she whispered.
“Eolande brought it,” Royce replied. “She appeared nae an hour ago with the crown in hand. She apparently made it for Sebille when she was to wed my brother.”
Eve arched her eyebrows, and Royce said, “Later. I’ll tell ye the story later.”
Eve looked to the circle of pure white flowers and frowned. “But these flowers are fresh. She couldn’t have made it very long ago.”
“She’s a fae, Eve,” Royce said as if that explained it all. And Eve supposed it had to. “All I know is she bid ye to wear the crown.” He shrugged. “Something about a special spell that will make ye fertile.” He grinned at her.
“Enough of yer wicked talk,” Father Murdoch boomed. “Let’s get ye wed.”