Free Highlander's Bride: Medieval Romance (The Fae Book 1) by Joanne Wadsworth

me to explain things to him.” She dropped down beside him. “Gordon wouldnae have raised his sword against you if I had. Duncan allows none within his ranks to harm one of the fae, a stipulation all have agreed to, including Gordon and even though he does no’ hold a great deal of love for your clan, he still abides by Duncan’s decree. Even the two guards who flayed you have been sent far away.”
    “Gordon barely gave me the chance to speak, let alone you.” He tore a strip from the hem of his black tunic and wrapped the cloth around Gordon’s head, tore another length off, pulled Gordon’s dagger from his wrist and bound the deep wound. “He’ll need stitches or else he’ll bleed out. I shouldnae have forgotten he remained so close by. Cherub and Kirk warned me you had a guard and it clear slipped my mind.”
    “I’ll stitch his wounds the moment we return to the keep.” She’d been cavorting with her mate when an entire garrison of highly trained warriors remained so very close by. “This is all my fault. Gordon’s allegiance belongs to Duncan and he knew of my betrothal, clearly considered you a direct threat when he heard our oaths. Until you speak to Duncan, you must no’ tell another exactly who you are.”
    “I agree. I’ll remain as Rand.”
    Blood leaked through the cloth wrapped around Gordon’s wrist and she tore a strip from her shift and bound another layer of cotton around it. Good. The flow eased with the added pressure and no longer stained the cloth. She lifted Gordon’s closed eyelids, the whites of his eyes showing and a massive bruise blooming on his forehead. “He is out to it, well and truly.”
    “Let’s dress. We need to return, immediately.” He aided her to her feet and gripped her shoulders. “Gordon’s presence here causes an issue, but no’ an irreversible one. We’ll return to the keep and once we have, you tend his wounds while I ride for Ardan. ’Twill be the quickest way to see my conversation with Duncan done. Is Coll still on his mission, as he was during my imprisonment?”
    “Aye, he still scours the length and breadth of MacKenzie land in his call-to-arms. He wishes for men to join him, who will remain both loyal to him and hold sympathy for your clan.”
    “Sympathy for my Matheson kin?”
    “Aye, and please dinnae ask me anymore about that.” She wrung the water from her shift, flapped out her gown and pulled it over her head. Layers of midnight-blue velvet shimmered down to her ankles and she laced the front stays, belted her girdle at her waist and stuffed her feet into her slippers.
    Ronan dressed beside her, belted his kilt, stripped his wet tunic off and donned a dry one from his bag before strapping his weapons on. He grasped Gordon, hefted the man up and over his shoulder then eyed the trail ahead. “Lead the way, my bride-to-be.”
    Oh, what a dream that would be. She held his words close to her heart as she stuffed her belongings in her bag, snatched up Ronan’s satchel then dashed along the forest trail toward Carron. The wind rose as she made the quick trek back and once she broke free of the woods, the formidable stone walls of the keep rose high ahead. She hurried toward the postern gate where armed guards patrolled the battlements above.
    “Kyla!” Hamish, Duncan’s closest confidant, a man who knew the truth about her and her brothers’ fae blood, lifted a hand. “Is that Coll with you?”
    “Nay, ’tis Rand MacKenzie.” Over her shoulder, she whispered to Ronan, “Hamish is Muirin’s brother and one of the full-blooded fae. He also holds ‘the sight’ and receives visions when harm is about befall us. He’s been instrumental in ensuring all has gone well of late, his knowledge immense, the same as Muirin’s is. We should tell him the truth, allow him to aid you in your plight. He would never harm a Matheson.”
    “No’ yet. I wish to see for myself that I can trust him. I willnae risk losing you a second time because