Anita Clenney - Heart Of A Highland Warrior

The next letter was from Tavis.

Faelan, This is a hard letter to write. I won’t say much. Ian has said most of it in his letter, which he let me read. I am not letting him read mine, and you will see why. I have made a decision. I am coming to help you. I cannot bear the thought of you waking alone. Someone must be there to help you and to stop Druan if you are not able. Your talisman would most likely be assigned to me. Also, I promised Quinn I would protect the book, and the best way to do that is to lock it inside the time vault with me. Voltar wants the Book of Battles, and it would appear that there is a traitor in our clan who has been selling warriors’ names to a demon or demons. Nigel Ellwood suspected it was the Keeper before Quinn. Quinn’s father. We don’t know how deeply this threat extends, whether the Council is involved or just this Keeper, but the book must be protected. This way, no one can get to it. Ian will be furious with me, and I know it will take much convincing to get him to agree. It will be a hard thing for him to do, but I will make him see the necessity. It must be me. He has the mark for Bessie. I have no one but my family and my duty. I admit I am afraid. I do not know what to expect, what the time vault will be like. If I will even survive it. But if I do, we will be united again, and together we will stop Druan. Sincerely, Tavis

“Oh, Faelan.” Bree leaned her head on his shoulder. “How wonderful and sad.”

Faelan blinked hard. He missed Ian, missed them all. But now he had gotten one brother back.

“There’s another letter,” Bree said. “It’s addressed to you and Tavis. It was mailed to Isabel.”

“Then I’ll wait to read it with him.” He folded the letters and put them back in the envelopes and retied the ribbon.

“Why does he say he’ll take the Book of Battles with him?” Bree asked. “We have the book.”

“I don’t know. Perhaps they decided it best to hide it in the chapel.”

“Ian mentioned a traitor in his letter. I wonder if it’s the same traitor Angus mentioned before he died.”

After being attacked by Druan’s demons in Scotland, Angus had managed to use the secret tunnel to get inside the castle. He’d shocked the clan when he’d burst into the dining room covered in blood. Before he’d collapsed, he had uttered the word traitor. The clan wasn’t sure what he meant. He’d died within hours without explaining. But everyone agreed that it appeared he was looking at Sorcha when he spoke. “I hope Angus was talking about Nigel’s suspicions.”

“How would Angus know?”

“Anna said he was researching Nigel. He might have found Ian’s journals. He loved leaving clues.” If there was a new traitor, that meant the clan was being attacked from the inside as well as the outside. “Let’s find Tavis. Ian might have known more about this traitor.”

“If I had found these earlier, I could have opened your time vault sooner,” Bree said. “See, it pays to snoop.”

They found Tavis downstairs in the kitchen where everyone was eating. Tavis wasn’t eating. He was watching Anna.

“He likes her,” Faelan said quietly.

“It goes both ways.”

“You think?” Faelan frowned. “Seems she ignores him most of the time.”

“She’s scared.”

He looked at her. “She told you about that?”

“Told me about what?” Bree asked.

“Uh…” Damnation. “Nothing.”

“Oh no,” Bree said, grabbing Faelan’s arm. “You know something I don’t?”

“I…it’s well…something happened when Tavis and Anna were captured in Tristol’s fortress.”

“What?”

“I really don’t want to say…oh hell, it’s killing me.” He looked around to be sure no one was nearby. “Tavis and Anna had to…you know.”

“What?”

“Have sex.”

Bree’s jaw dropped. “They had sex?”

“Shhh. Tavis said the guard there made them do it. Told them he’d rape Anna if Tavis didn’t do it. Then he’d kill them both.”

“Oh my God.”

“Tavis didn’t want to, but Anna told him she didn’t want to die and she didn’t want the guard doing it.”

“Poor Anna.”

“Poor buggers, both of them. Tavis is eaten up with guilt as if he’d raped her. I told him he did no such thing. The guard made them do it, and Anna told him to. What’s wrong? You look pale?”

She was twisting her ring, and she looked worried.

“I can’t believe this.”

“I know it’s a terrible thing.”

“No. It’s…she’s pregnant.”

Faelan’s jaw dropped. “Pregnant. How do you—bloody hell. Are you sure?”

“I think so.”

“She said? Isn’t it too early to tell?”

“By normal means.”

“You mean you…you saw it?”

“Unless I’m crazy. Which I could be.”

Usually she was right about her feelings. “Tavis is going to have a bairn?” A smile crept over his face.

“Not necessarily.” Bree’s green eyes darkened with worry. “Remember the hybrid Tavis said she was taken to?”

TAVIS CAUGHT SIGHT of Faelan and Bree whispering and watching him from across the room. How long had they been standing there, he wondered, hoping they hadn’t seen him watching Anna. From the looks of pity on their faces, he figured they had.

They crossed the room, Faelan looking a bit nervous, and Bree’s green Isabel eyes so full of sympathy. “Is there a demon sitting on my head?”

“What?” Bree asked.

“You’re both looking at me strange.”

“Sorry,” Faelan said. “We found the letters you mentioned, that you and Ian left.”

“Aye. We wanted to make sure you knew what happened.”

“There was another letter too.”

“He wrote more? That sounds like Ian,” Tavis said.

“It’s addressed to both of us,” Faelan said. “I thought we would read it together.”

“Aye.” He needed something to get his mind off Anna. And Lachlan, who was watching her like he wanted to pull her off into a dark corner. “Is there something between Anna and Lachlan?”

Faelan looked over where Lachlan was leaning in to tell Anna something. “I don’t think so. Bree?”

“He likes her, I think,” Bree said. “She’s never said anything about him. She doesn’t really go out.…” She stopped and looked down at the floor as if she’d said something rude.

“Go out?”

“That means court,” Faelan said. “Anna’s not one for…for what they call dating. Seeing men.” Faelan looked away too. He knew Tavis’s secret. Tavis hoped the sympathy on his new sister’s face wasn’t because her husband had told her.

“Did you tell her?” he asked when they walked off to a quiet corner to read the letter after Bree said she had something to do.

“Tell her what?” Faelan’s avoided Tavis’s eyes.

“Shite. You told her what happened?”

“I couldn’t help it. I thought she already knew. I thought Anna had told her.”

“Damn it, Faelan.”

“I’m sorry. She won’t tell anyone. You can trust her.”

“She’ll think I’m a bloody rapist.”

“No she won’t. She understands. And she might be able to help Anna if she needs to talk about it.” Faelan looked uncomfortable. “Do you really think she was mated with this hybrid?”

“Why else would they have taken her to him? But she wouldn’t talk about it then, and now she’s avoiding me like I have the pox.”

“If we knew for sure, Bree might be able to help her with that too. Women like to talk about things that trouble them.”

Faelan wasn’t telling him something. Tavis didn’t know why he wanted to know about the hybrid, but it wasn’t just curiosity. That dug at his mind as they sat down and looked at the letter. It had been mailed to Isabel Belville.

Faelan and Tavis, By now, I hope that you are both awake and well, and that you have stopped Druan. Many times I have regretted that it wasn’t me who came to help Faelan. But Tavis, you insisted that it must be you, and you can be bloody stubborn. I am terrified when I think what you both might wake to. Will the world even exist? I don’t know if you are alive or injured. No one but Ma knows the truth about you both. Frederick and Isabel know about Faelan, but not Tavis. I didn’t want to share more information than necessary in the event they were compromised. I knew that if they saw to it that the graveyard remained in their family, the chapel would be safe as well. I told the clan that Tavis was buried at sea. I was going to tell them that Faelan had also died, until I could determine if there were still traitors in our midst. However, the Seeker arrived before I did and told them about Faelan and the time vault. The clan was so horror-struck, and everyone wanted to know more. I was afraid if there was a traitor, the time vault would be discovered, and perhaps destroyed. I regret that I had to silence the Seeker to make sure he didn’t tell where Faelan was hidden. Unfortunately, his death was in vain, for he had already told the Council. I regret his death every day, and I will until I face my own. I am still trying to find out where the threat comes from. I have not told the clan of my suspicions. I do not want to alert any traitors, if any still exist. I hope the threat died with Quinn, but there are troubling things. Tavis, I have something personal I must tell you. I would put it in another letter, but I am out of paper, and I know how close you and Faelan are. He would find out anyway. Marna had a child. A son. Your son.

MARNA’S FATHER CAME to me just after she delivered the bairn. I wasn’t sure whether to believe her until I saw how she grieved over your death. And when I saw the bairn, he looked as much like you as a bairn can resemble anyone. Marna’s father was worried. She was not doing well, and his wife, Marna’s mother, was already dead. Alas, Marna did pass, so Bessie and I took the boy and raised him as our own. I know it will be heartbreaking to find that you had a son you did not know. But the good news is that you will have descendents. Your name will live on through him. He is a brave boy and looks just like you. I did not tell Ma in the beginning. We did not want to tarnish your name or Marna’s. I had promised her father. But Ma guessed. He was so much like you. Sometimes when she spoke of you she would watch him with the saddest look on her face. Finally, Bessie convinced me to tell her. She cried and called him her little Tavis. I should have told her before. Bessie is with child now, twins, the doctor says, so your lad will have brothers or sisters. I am pleased, but I miss you and Faelan and Da.