Forbidden Highlander

Chapter Twelve

Lucan heard the bellow from the great hall. He knew his brother’s voice as well as his own. Lucan jerked to his feet from his seat at the table and rushed into the bailey to see Fallon kneeling with a woman in his arms.

“By the stars,” Cara said as she joined Lucan at the door. “She’s covered in blood!”

Lucan bounded down the stairs and ran to his brother. Fallon kept whispering something over and over into the woman’s hair.

“Fallon,” Lucan said slowly. He’d never seen his brother look so … lost. Lucan glanced up to find Galen and Ramsey beside him. Whatever was wrong with the woman, they had to get her out of Fallon’s arms to aid her. “Fallon, look at me. Fallon!”

Finally, his brother glanced up, his dark green eyes clouded with grief. “I didn’t save her, Lucan.”

“Get out of the way,” Sonya said as she shouldered her way through the men. She reached to touch the woman, but Fallon jerked her away. “Let me see if I can help her, Fallon. I will not harm her.”

Fallon’s face was grim as he let Sonya place her hands on the woman. “Her name is Larena Monroe. She’s a Warrior. Another attacked her, but I don’t know why she isn’t able to heal.”

Lucan took a step back at Fallon’s words. A female Warrior? His glaze slid to Galen in question. Galen shrugged in response. Lucan had thought only males were Warriors. But whoever this Larena was, his brother cared for her greatly. Because of that Lucan would make sure they did whatever it took to save her.

Sonya slid a small dagger from her boot and cut away more of the material covering Larena’s wound. She leaned down and sniffed before she reeled back. “Drough blood.”

“What?” Fallon asked before anyone else could.

Sonya sighed and touched Larena’s forehead. “The Warrior must have dipped his claws in drough blood. Drough blood is poisonous to Warriors.”

“Oh, God.” Fallon’s face had lost all color. “Is she…?”

“Not yet,” Sonya said. “But we must hurry. She’s lost a lot of blood, and if we don’t do something quick, she will be gone from us forever.”

Fallon didn’t loosen his hold on the woman as he climbed to his feet. Lucan started to help him, but Fallon shook his head. “Nay, brother. I’m taking her to my chamber. Send Sonya there.”

And then Fallon was gone, using his power to jump to his chamber.

For a moment no one said anything. Lucan swallowed and turned toward the castle. The haunted look in his eldest brother’s eyes was one he had never seen before, and it unsettled him.

“A female Warrior,” Cara whispered.

Lucan looked at his wife. “I had no idea that was possible.”

“Deirdre will want her,” Galen said.

Ramsey snorted. “Deirdre will stop at nothing to have her. What I don’t understand is why a Warrior would try to kill Larena. We all know Deirdre must have sent the Warrior for Larena, but not to harm her.”

“True enough,” Lucan said. “We may never have the answers unless Sonya can work a miracle and save the woman.”

Cara leaned up to kiss his cheek. “I’m going to help. I have a feeling Sonya will need me. And Fallon will need you.”

Lucan waited until Cara was inside the castle before he turned to the two Warriors, Galen and Ramsey. “Find the others. Let them know about Larena. They need to be aware that an attack could be coming soon.”

“I’ll see to it,” Galen said, and walked off.

Ramsey folded his arms over his chest, his gray gaze sliding from the castle to the gatehouse.

“What is it?” Lucan asked.

“An uneasy feeling,” was all Ramsey said. “Go to your brother, Lucan. I will patrol the area.”

“Don’t go alone.” He waited until Ramsey lifted a hand in response before Lucan took the stairs three at a time and hurried into the castle.

His home had felt empty without his brothers, even with all the Warriors and another Druid around. It was good to have Fallon return. Then he recalled the look on Fallon’s face when he’d come upon him in the bailey.

Fallon had looked the way Lucan imagined he would look if he were holding Cara’s dead body in his arms. It sent chills down his spine. Fallon had just recovered from his thirst for wine. What would happen to him now if this female died?

Ramsey walked from the castle to the burned village, his eyes trained on the sky. He had hoped a message, or more importantly, a messenger, would have arrived bynow.

He wanted to know Deirdre’s next plan, and he couldn’t do that without his spy inside her mountain.

With every day that passed, Ramsey worried about his friend being discovered. They had made a pact while chained together in Deirdre’s mountain that one of them would leave while the other stayed to spy.

It had worked for over a hundred years now, but how much longer could they continue to deceive Deirdre before she discovered she had been duped?

Worse, Ramsey knew his friend would never survive once Deirdre learned of his deeds. And his friend was a good man.

Ramsey sighed. He should have been the one to stay behind. He had known it then, and he knew it now. It seemed that the instances he saw his friend grew more and more scarce, and there was always the doubt in his mind that his friend had switched sides and was now spying on them.

“Nay,” Ramsey whispered to himself. He couldn’t envision the man that had become more a brother than a friend doing that to him.

He waited for half an hour to see if his friend would appear before Ramsey turned on his heel and raced to the castle to check on Larena’s progress.

Fallon laid Larena on his bed in the master chamber. Lucan had proclaimed it Fallon’s the moment they had returned to the castle, but Fallon hadn’t wanted it. The chamber reminded him too much of his parents. Lucan had insisted, however, saying Fallon was his laird after all.

Fallon tried to swallow as he looked at Larena’s pale form on the large bed. Just a few hours earlier he had held her in his arms and revealed things he hadn’t even told his brothers. He had made love to her sweet body, kissing and caressing her soft skin. He had heard her cries of ecstasy and filled her with his seed.

She can’t be gone. Please, God, don’t take her from me. Don’t tell me I’ve failed again.

He glanced at her wound to find the blood had been reduced to just a trickle, but with all the blood that was on her clothes and in her chamber back in Edinburgh he was surprised she had any left.

The door opened and Sonya and Cara entered. Cara came to stand beside him as Sonya moved to the other side of the bed.

“Please. Help her,” Fallon said. He was prepared to beg if necessary.

Sonya looked up at him and nodded. “I will do my best.”

He prayed that would be enough.

Cara tried to get him to sit, but when he refused, she took his hand in both of hers. Fallon wanted to pull away, he should have pulled away, but he needed the strength Cara gave him.

He waited in the silence of the chamber as Sonya examined Larena’s wounds. For the most part, Sonya kept her face passive, but Fallon caught her grimaces. His gut clenched each time. He could feel his world falling apart again, and this time, he knew, he wouldn’t survive it.

With Larena he had tried to be the man he’d always wanted to be, had put the past behind him and looked to the future. Now, all of that was fading away, as it had the day his clan had been destroyed.

The need for a bottle of wine was so fierce he shook with it. But he wouldn’t leave Larena.

Sonya placed her hands over the wounds and closed her eyes. A few moments later Cara joined her. Fallon shifted from one foot to the other as the two Druids poured their magic into Larena.

An eternity later Sonya opened her eyes to look at Fallon. Her face was lined with worry and stress from using so much of her magic. Sonya wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and blew out a breath. “She’s lost too much blood to heal herself. All the magic in the world won’t help her now.”

“Then what will?” Fallon asked.

Sonya shrugged. “She needs blood.”

Fallon stepped to the bed and jerked up the sleeve of his tunic. “Use mine.”

“And mine if needed,” Lucan said behind him.

Fallon looked over his shoulder to find Lucan standing in the doorway. His brother gave him a nod of encouragement. Fallon returned the nod, and then looked at Sonya. “What are you waiting for?”

“It could take a lot.”

“I doona care,” Fallon stated. “Just do it. Every moment we waste arguing is putting her closer to death. I cannot lose her, Sonya.”

The Druid took a deep breath and reached for the blade in her boot when Lucan stepped forward.

“Let me,” Lucan said as he extended a claw and held it over Fallon’s arm.

Fallon met his brother’s gaze a heartbeat before Lucan sliced open his arm. The slash was quick and went deep. Fallon clenched his teeth together and kept his gaze on Larena’s face. The small amount of pain he suffered was worth it. The blood that seeped from his cut was dark and fell in a rush. Sonya moved his arm so the blood would flow over Larena’s wounds.

It didn’t take long for his wound to begin to heal. Lucan quickly scored his flesh again and again and again. Sonya held his arm steady so they didn’t waste any of the blood.

The chamber began to swim and Fallon swayed on his feet. Lucan was there to steady him with an arm around his back.

“It’s not going to be enough,” Sonya said. “Lucan, we may need you.”

“Nay,” Fallon said. He tried to swallow, but his mouth was dry. “My blood. Only my blood.”

“You’re going to kill yourself,” Lucan said in his ear. “Be reasonable, Fallon.”

But Fallon shook his head. He didn’t have his brother’s strength, but he wanted Larena to have whatever potency was in his blood to make up for nearly getting her killed. “She’s mine to protect, Lucan. She’ll only have my blood.”

Fallon’s knees buckled before he finished speaking. Lucan held him as Cara rushed to get a chair. Once the chair was beneath him, Lucan let him slump in the seat. Fallon leaned on the bed and reached for Larena’s hand with his good arm.

He glanced at Sonya to find that she held his other arm up for him. All he wanted to do was close his eyes and sleep, but that was a luxury for later.

“My cut is closing,” he told Sonya.

She looked at Larena’s wounds before she spoke. “Let’s see if this will be enough before you slice yourself again.”

Fallon was glad Lucan was there. He had missed his brother dearly while he had been gone, and there was so much he wanted to tell Lucan. Fallon hated that he hadn’t accomplished his goals while in Edinburgh. Yet, he had found Larena.

Or rather, she had found him.

He tried to squeeze her hand, but his strength was rapidly departing. His gaze lifted to her face to find the color was returning, but slower than he wanted.

“Fallon.”

He felt Lucan’s hand on his shoulder. Always the rock, the steady one. It should have been Lucan who was firstborn. He would have known what decisions to make, and he wouldn’t have neglected his brothers for a bottle of wine.

“You’re about to pass out,” Lucan said as he came to kneel in front of Fallon. “You arna going to do Larena any good if you’re dead.”

Fallon didn’t disagree with him on that score. Though he wanted to be the one to save Larena, he knew it was selfish not to allow Lucan to help. “If she needs more…?”

“I’ll help any way I can,” Lucan said before Fallon could finish. “You know that, brother. You shouldna even have to ask.”

But Fallon did have to ask. He needed to prove to everyone, including himself, but most especially his brothers, that he was the man his father had taught him to be. A leader. A man who considered all possibilities and made the wisest decisions.

“Her wounds are closing,” Sonya said into the quiet of the chamber.

Cara clasped her hands together. “Thank God.”

Fallon cradled his cut arm against his chest once Sonya released him. All that was left of the last gash was puckered pink skin that would fade in the next few moments.

Sonya laid her hand on Larena’s forehead before moving her fingers to Larena’s neck. “She doesn’t have a fever and her heart is beating faster. I think she’s going to make it, Fallon.”

“Thank you,” he said to the Druid. “I don’t know how to repay you.”

Sonya smiled and tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. “You’ve given me a home. This is the least I can do. Now, Cara and I used some magic to help speed up the healing. With the blood in her now, within a few hours she should be healed.” She paused for a moment. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

He shook his head. Sonya couldn’t heal the wound inside him, the cut that had nearly broken him in half at seeing Larena all but dead. Only time would help him. Time and Larena back in his arms.

“As you wish.” She took a strip of cloth and dunked it in water. She wrung it out and began to clean the blood off Larena’s arms and face.

Cara walked to the door. “I’ll go see if I can find our new guest something to wear.”

Fallon rubbed his hand over his face. Even though he knew Larena’s wounds were healing, he couldn’t let go of her hand. He would stay by her side until she woke, until he saw with his own eyes that she would live.

“By the stars!” Sonya hissed.

Fallon jerked his head to the Druid. “What is it?”

“Her ring.” Sonya pointed to Larena’s hand.

“What about it?” Lucan asked as he rose to his feet. “Is it worth something?”

Sonya’s hand trembled as she ran a finger over the large milky-white oval stone. “You don’t know what this is?” she asked Fallon.

Fallon shook his head. “I know she never takes it off. It goes everywhere with her.”

“You sought information on the Scroll in Edinburgh. All the time she had it, Fallon. She must be its keeper.”

Fallon looked from Sonya to the ring. He rose on shaky legs and peered into the ring. He saw something inside the stone, just as before.

His heart began to pound in his chest as he remembered telling Larena about wanting the Scroll to help get Quinn released. She had known all along where the Scroll was and that it was real. Fallon had bared his soul to her, and she had hidden the very thing he needed for his brother.

“How?” he croaked out.

“Magic,” Lucan said.

Sonya nodded. “No one would think to look for it there.”

Fallon felt the betrayal all the way to his soul. The realization made his head swim. He needed to get out of the chamber and away from her. He tried to turn and ran into the chair. He would have fallen if not for Lucan’s steady hands.

“What is it?” his brother asked.

Fallon couldn’t tell him what a fool he’d been. “Get me out of here. Now.”

Lucan half dragged, half carried him out of the chamber and into the corridor. “You need to rest.”

“Aye.” And he needed wine.

God, did he ever need the wine now. He had known there would be days when the need overtook him, but learning of what Larena had kept from him made that need overwhelming. He swallowed, his mouth drier than ever. The wine would fix that.

Aye. Find some wine. It will deaden everything just as before.

Fallon hated himself for his weakness. He was grateful he wasn’t alone. If Lucan weren’t with him and he could stand on his own two feet, he knew he’d search the castle for his wine.

“What happened in Edinburgh?” Lucan asked as he shouldered open a door to a chamber down the hall and walked inside.

Fallon collapsed on the bed and stared at the ceiling. “Too much. And not enough.”

Despite her betrayal, he grudgingly realized Larena was only protecting the Scroll. He hadn’t explained his plan in full, and in her place, he would have kept silent about the Scroll as well.

He’d been a fool, a complete and utter fool. Larena would never be his no matter how much he wanted it. And that was probably for the best.