“Don’t you dare surrender, Raven!” Arran shouted in angry command.
He received a punch in the face for his warning, but he didn’t defend himself. If he had, Royden would have fallen to his knees and Raven knew that Arran would never let that happen. Tears ran down her cheeks, though she hadn’t realized she had started crying.
“SURVIVE, RAVEN, SURVIVE!” Royden roared and once again sent the trees trembling, at least it felt that way to Raven. Or perhaps she was the one trembling.
She remembered her da and brothers always reminding her that no matter what happened, she was to survive and they would come for her. They would find her.
Royden and Arran staggered together when Royden was struck in the face, but Arran didn’t let go of him. He kept them both on their feet.
“Raven won’t surrender. She knows better. She knows that your word means nothing,” Arran called out, and Raven knew he meant for her to hear him.
“I’ll kill you both!” the man shouted.
“Go ahead. Kill us,” Royden challenged.
“But you’re not getting our sister,” Arran added.
Raven wiped away her tears that wouldn’t stop falling. Her brothers would give their lives for her. She wanted to hurry down the tree and surrender, but it would be foolish and her brothers would be disappointed in her. She stayed where she was with great difficulty and sorrow and a hurt in her heart she doubted would ever heal.
The man giving orders turned his attention to those who’d been captured. “If anyone knows where Raven is, speak up now and I will not take your husbands and sons from you.”
Raven was shocked to see Bethany step forward, the woman who was the closest thing to a mum to her. Bethany’s husband had passed and they never had any children so there was no one to protect, except Raven. It pained her that the woman she loved could betray her.
“I saw her go into the woods with the Macara lass,” Bethany said without hesitation.
Raven saw her brothers’ bodies stiffen in anger. Her own body did the same. It was difficult to believe that Bethany would betray her. The woman had treated her as she would her daughter and loved her the same or so Raven had thought.
“Which way did they go?” the man demanded.
Bethany turned and pointed. “They took off as soon as the fighting started.”
Through tears, Raven smiled. Bethany had pointed in the opposite direction, where he wouldn’t find her or Purity. The woman was misleading them.
“Send warriors,” the man said.
“I’m the cook,” Bethany said. “I can sear that wrist easily.”
The man nodded. “Hurry and get it done.”
Raven feared Royden would refuse Bethany’s help thinking she betrayed the clan, and he tried, but Arran stopped him. It was a change in Royden’s demeanor toward Bethany that she realized somehow the woman had told him the truth. He was aware Bethany had purposely misled the man.
“Gather the men and ready them to leave,” the man who commanded ordered.
“You gave your word,” Bethany shouted.
“And you were fool enough to believe it,” the man shouted back.
Bethany was no fool and Raven didn’t think she had fallen for his lies. She had done what was needed to protect Raven and for that, Raven was grateful.
Raven had to close her eyes when the time came to sear Royden’s wound and it nearly tore her apart to hear her brother roar out in pain. The smell of scorched flesh drifted in the air and stung her nose and her heart. How would Royden ever survive with only one hand?
“You six will wait here to see if the lass is found,” the man commanded to a group of warriors. “The chieftain as well. He needs to be found.”
Arran and Royden’s heads shot up at that news and she was glad they knew their da could possibly have survived. She prayed it would be so.
“We don’t claim the land?” a warrior asked.
“Without her, the claim can be disputed,” the man said. “We’ll find her eventually and as for her father, he probably crawled away and died,” the man said. “The land will be claimed soon enough.”
“He’s not going to like the delay,” the warrior said.
Raven heard the fear in the way the warrior’s voice quivered and wondered who the man was the warrior had referred to. She also wondered how just the mention of him, and not even by name, could instill such fear in a warrior.
“In the end he’ll get what he wants. He always does,” the man said. “Now get everyone moving.”
The surviving chieftains were led in one direction while warriors from the various clans, along with her two brothers, were led in another. Arran kept his arm locked around Royden and his shoulder under his brother’s arm to help keep him on his unsteady feet. Her heart clinched in pain so badly she worried she’d drop from the tree dead.
She shook her head. If Royden could remain on his feet and stay strong after losing his hand, then she could stay strong and find a way to help her brothers, her da, her clan.
She watched her brothers led away from their home along with many of the MacKinnon men. Her tears grew heavy as the defeated group grew smaller in the distance. She didn’t think she’d ever stop crying or her heart would ever stop breaking. She had suffered no physical wound, but she hurt as badly as if a sword had been shoved through her and twisted until she wanted to beg for mercy.
She watched the specs that became her brothers and wondered if she’d ever see them again. Then she thought of the witch’s prediction.
Nothing will be as it once was and it will take years before those torn apart are reunited. Stay strong. Your strength and courage will see you through this.
Strength and courage?
She didn’t feel she had either, but what recourse did she have if she was to see her family reunited. She couldn’t take the chance of searching for Purity for fear she’d lead the unknown foe to her. So where did she go? What did she do?
Most importantly, how would she ever keep her promise to her da and brothers?
Hope you enjoyed meeting the characters in the prequel to Highland Promise Trilogy.
Continue on to read Chapter One of Pledged to a Highlander
Royden and Oria’s story.
Pledged to a Highlander
Her skin felt like the softest velvet and was as smooth as the finest silk. He couldn’t stop touching her. He wanted to caress and kiss every inch of her lovely naked body. She belonged to him and only him and that was the only thought that consumed him when he slid inside her and took what belonged to him.
Her virginity.
She was his and his alone, no other had the right. He had waited. They had waited for this moment and he relished it. Her sheath was snug, though it opened for him, welcoming him, accepting him, hugging him as he slipped deeper and deeper inside her.
“I love you, Royden—always.”
He cherished those words, held on to them, let them seep deep inside him as his manhood felt the tight barrier that blocked him—her maidenhead.
She was his to claim, always had been, and once he broke the barrier she’d be his always. They would be forever joined as one. Even when separated, they’d still remain connected through this special moment when they sealed their vows.