The Condemned Highlander (Highland Intrigue Trilogy 2)

“That is why my curls fit me perfectly—they are as untamed as I am,” she said with a sharp lift of her chin.

“Untamed? I don’t think a husband will want to hear that.”

“I have no worries of that since I will never marry.”

“Never say, never, Annis, or fate might decide for you,” he warned.

She went to argue but held her tongue. She was not about to tempt fate.

“Be on your way, Brogan, and leave me be,” Annis ordered.

He laughed. “I am going to leave, and you will be coming with me.”

She released her frustration with a huge sigh. “Nothing will stop me from my quest. Take me home and I will take my leave once you’re gone. I will let no one stop me in seeing this done.” She thought to tell him what Nolan had told her, that the witch waits for her, but she was fairly certain he would dismiss it as a lie. After all, why would the witch want to see her and not one of the cursed lords?

“It’s a pointless quest,” Brogan said. “There is no witch. There is no way to break the curse. We are doomed to suffer.”

Tears rimmed Annis’s eyes. “I will not lose my sister to this dreadful curse that is no fault of hers.”

Instinct had Brogan reaching out to comfort her, but she backed away from him.

“I don’t need your help. I can see to this on my own.” She turned to walk away.

“I cannot let you do that, Annis.”

She turned around. “And I cannot let you stop me.”

“Then I have no choice but to join you.”

His remark left her speechless. Though, it could have been that she was actually relieved he would tag along. She couldn’t discount that his father might send more warriors to see about his son and her as well. If so, she could wind up in a dungeon with no way of helping her sister.

“I will not have you impede my quest,” she cautioned.

“That I have no desire to do. I would prefer to see this over and done as hastily as possible,” he assured her.

She invited with a smile and more relief than she expected. “Then by all means join me.”

Her smile always brought a smile of his own. There was something enticing about it, something that couldn’t be resisted, something that beckoned. He mumbled an oath beneath his breath. What was it about this woman that aroused him so easily?

“Did you say something, Brogan?” Annis asked.

“I would be pleased to join you and see this done,” he said, keeping a smile on his face.

“You mean see me fail,” she corrected, her own smile remaining.

“Aye, mo ghràdh, so in the end I will be there to console you,” he said with a wink.

“And what will you do if I am victorious?” she asked.

His smile faded. “I would bless you and be ever grateful to you for the rest of our days.”

Our days. What did he mean by our days? Once this was done, their paths would cross no more. He would be free to wed a noble woman and with the curse gone, there would be many women who would seek a marriage to him. The thought annoyed her, and it troubled her that it did annoy her.

“We should go,” he said, “the mist thickens.”

“Where the paths cross, that’s where I must go,” she hurried to say.

“And take the one less traveled,” he said, and her face could not hide her surprise. “Rannick, Odran, and I were told the same and we followed the path eagerly, hoping, praying, we’d find—salvation.” He shook his head. “It led nowhere. It took us in circles, always coming out in the same place—where the paths cross.”

Annis didn’t try to hide her disappointment. “Was there a heavy mist when you traveled the path?”

“Heavy enough to force us to keep a slow pace.”

“A heavy silence?” she asked, recalling what Nolan had told her.

“At times,” he confirmed.

She recalled another part of what Nolan had said. “Did you see any ravens?”

Brogan shook his head. “Not a one.”

Ravens. Annis would need to keep an eye out for ravens… the witch’s minions. After all, the witch was expecting her.

“Don’t worry, my mare, Belle, will get us through the mist. She has traveled the path so often that she is familiar with it.”

“Perhaps we should walk it this time,” Annis suggested, recalling how Nolan was on foot when he came across the witch.

Brogan glanced at the overcast sky and calculated in his head. “Walking the path should still have us finish before dusk. Then we can head back to Clan Loudon tomorrow.”

“How many times have you traveled this path?” she asked.

Brogan wondered if she was trying to trick him with the question. If he told her, it had been twelve or more times, she probably wouldn’t believe him. If he told her only a few times, she would tell him it wasn’t enough. However, if he told her a reasonable number it might convince her how useless it was to pursue her quest.