Free Cadha's Rogue (The Highland Renegades Book 5) by R.L. Syme

woke in the dark. He couldn’t remember finding land, although it was solid beneath his back—if a little on the pointy side. He couldn’t remember anything but swimming for hours and hours. His tongue hurt, his face hurt. Every part of his body ached and it stung even more as he coughed out the seawater that burned his throat.
    But they made it. Land. He’d pointed it out to Cadha just before the sun disappeared below the horizon. Had he hit his head? It was completely dark and he had clearly woken up, not remembering the swim.
    Small rocks were slippery between his fingers, slicked by the tide, and underneath them, sand sucked at his grip. Valc felt for his head. Sand and water and pain.
    He turned on his side, but the night was so dark, he couldn’t see anything. There was no moon, and the stars were points in the sky.
    “Cadha,” he called into the dark.
    Valc got to his feet and water slid around his ankles. He took one step and another, though he couldn’t see anything but dark.
    He raised his voice a touch. “Cadha.”
    As his eyes adjusted to the dark night, he began to see shapes of the land around him. A rise just ahead, and then a big hill jutting into the black sky. Some sort of structure stood atop the hill. A castle?
    It wasn’t Scarborough, and the castle at Berwick wasn’t this near the sea, so perhaps they were in Scotland—where he was much less familiar with the coast. And the language.
    No lights burned atop the large, dark structure, so at least there were no battlements, although why there would ever be a castle without protection at the edge of the sea was beyond him.
    “Cadha,” he called again.
    She may have been passed out or asleep, or had water in her ears and couldn’t hear him. Wherever she was, she would be looking for him, and they needed to be on their way.
    Valc staggered up the uneven beach and to the rise, where grass began and the ground was firmer. From the higher ground, he looked across the beach behind him. The water was dark and the rhythm of waves crashing should have soothed him, but his stomach knotted and gnarled like an old rope.
    Where was Cadha?
    He didn’t know the shape of the beach well enough to be able to see if she was lying somewhere. And wasn’t she swimming behind him? Would she wash up later than he had?
    “Cadha!” He walked along the rise. “Cadha!”
    Valc ran down to the beach and began to walk along the soft edge. When he came to the rocky section, he had to make more careful progress, but he kept calling her name.
    Each time silence greeted him, Valc’s insides curled up a little tighter. Where the devil was she?
    A good piece down from the large hill, the coast curled around. His foot slipped and he tumbled over himself, cracking bones on rocks. His side burned and he looked ahead. Unsure of the terrain and without shoes, it wasn’t safe to be here in the dark, alone. He turned back and climbed up the rise, his side aching more with every step.
    He needed help.
    The castle loomed up into the darkness. From this side, he could see a small glimmer shining from what looked like a gate, nestled into the winding hillside. Valc shambled up the rise and ran up the long hill toward the light.
    The air was warmer than he expected, and thicker, almost like a summer night in Hoorn. He could still hear the crashing waves as he climbed higher and higher.
    When he reached the door, he pounded against it with raw hands. The guard would come and they would likely arrest him. But he didn’t care. He needed help finding Cadha.
    The woman he was falling for. He couldn’t deny that any longer. He’d tried to ignore the intensity of the emotion when it had first come on, watching her tie up the ridiculous contraption of her dress.
    But there was something so innocent and beautiful about her headstrong, careless attitude. She had navigated the cog all on her own while he slept. She had gone over the side of a ship for him. And what had he done for her?