The Condemned Highlander (Highland Intrigue Trilogy 2)

Words failed Brogan for the moment, her words striking a powerful chord in him. “I do want to be loved, but as I said once to you, how fair would that be to my wife, knowing I would live on, and she would die? It is a lot to ask of someone.”

“It isn’t the question you fear, it is the answer. ‘My heart would break a thousand times over to lose the woman I loved.’ Those were your words to me. But you fail to consider how much that woman would love you and how unfair it would be never to let her love you at all.”

Brogan stared at her. Never had he thought of it that way. He had only thought of his own hurt, never considering the pain of his refusal to love the woman who loved him because he knew one day it would be he who lost her.

Annis shook her head. “Now I understand why marriages are arranged. Love can be far too confusing—yet love could be the very thing that makes marriages well-worthwhile.”

The mist suddenly swirled around them and grew denser.

“You will keep hold of my hand,” Brogan cautioned, reaching out to take her hand.

Annis locked her fingers with his tightly. “Do you believe the witch controls the mist?”

“I do not know, though it is believed that a witch’s magic can be strong.”

“I hope you are right,” Annis said, squinting her eyes to see through the thickening mist. “For if she is strong, then she will not have a problem telling me what I need to know.”

“I am being selfish, Annis, when I say I do hope you are successful.”

“You hope, yet you doubt,” Annis said.

“If I had not already walked this path, my hope would be stronger, but a kernel of it exists due to your,” —he chuckled— “willful nature.”

She stopped abruptly, her free hand gripping his upper arm. “Did you see that?”

His body tensed in alarm and his head swerved around, his eyes searching the mist. “See what?”

“A flash of something dark.” Annis turned her head as anxiously as Brogan, glancing around and struggling to see through the mist.

“It could be an animal if it moved fast,” Brogan said, moving his hand to rest on the hilt of his sword at his waist.

“It was fast,” Annis confirmed. “No more than a flash.”

“The mist blinds and that is dangerous. An animal could be lying in wait,” Brogan said, his eyes continuing to search.

“I have only seen small animals,” Annis said more to comfort herself than believing it the truth.

“Wolves,” Brogan whispered.

Annis wondered if she had not been meant to hear that. “I have heard no wolf howls since I have been here.” She cringed since, of course, at that precise moment a wolf’s howl echoed through the misty woods, long and powerful.

“We need to leave here. Wolves travel in packs,” Brogan cautioned.

The sudden thought in her head slipped past her lips. “Maybe the wolf belongs to the witch, and he announces her arrival. Did you ever hear a wolf howl the various times you were here?”

His answer would only make the situation worse, but he could not lie to her. “Nay, I never heard a wolf howl when I was here.”

She squeezed his arm and excitement filled her eyes and words. “She is letting us know she is here.”

“Or she sends her wolf to eat us,” Brogan warned, worried he could be right. “We keep walking.” He tugged at her hand to pick up the pace.

“We need to slow our pace, not go faster, to let her know we are here to speak with her,” Annis said, though had no choice but to keep up with his quicker pace, since his hand remained clamped tight around hers.

“I am not taking a chance with a wolf nearby,” Brogan said.

Annis.

Brogan hurried to prevent her from tumbling against him, she stopped so abruptly.

“Did you hear that?” she asked, her eyes as wide as full moons as she cast a glance about. “My name. She called my name.”

Brogan listened but did not think he would hear anything, and he did not.

“You did not hear it, did you?” Annis asked, seeing the dour look on his face. She looked more closely, realizing she could see his face a bit more clearly than only moments ago. “The mist thins.”

Brogan saw it then for himself and he was glad for it. He intended to get them out of there as fast as possible.

Annis looked around as the mist retreated, rolling away as if by command. “She knows I am here to see her. It is only a matter of time before she shows herself. She tapped Brogan’s chest. “Maybe it is your presence that stops her. Maybe she wants to meet with only me.”

“That will not happen. You will never come here alone,” Brogan ordered.