The Condemned Highlander (Highland Intrigue Trilogy 2)

“Tell her I said that all goes well, and I am sure my mission will be successful, and she is not to worry.”

“You have my word that I will get your message to Elysia. I best not waste time. I have been away from my mum too long already.”

“I would spare you a horse lad, but we need them both,” Brogan said.

“Not a problem, my lord. I am fast on my feet, and I know when to hide, and I will not let anything stop me from getting to my mum,” he said with a stubborn jut of his chin.

“Be careful,” Annis urged, and she and Brogan watched as the lad took off in a sprint that surprised them both.

“Not to fear. He will see it done since he appears to be as stubborn as you an—OW!” He laughed and rubbed his arm, not that she hurt him. She never did. He just found it amusing to tease her. “You did not let me finish. “He is as stubborn and honorable as you.”

Annis smiled. “He does seem like a good lad, and I have no doubt Elysia will see that he and his mum are offered a home at Clan Loudon.”

“Your sister does have a kind soul.”

Annis got teary-eyed with thoughts of her sister. She missed both her sisters which reminded her that she had a quest to see finished.

“Onward with our search for the woman with a limp since we had no luck at that place,” she said and went to her horse.

Brogan smiled. “Maybe you didn’t but I did.”

Annis hurried to her husband. “You found out something? How? From whom? When?

“From Grendel and it was the reason I was too late to save you from that first punch,” he said, annoyed that he had not reached her fast enough.

“You saved me and that is all that matters. Now what did Grendel tell you,” she asked, eager to hear.

Brogan grinned. “He told me where to find the woman with the limp.”

19

“The woman is traveling with a merchant?” Annis asked, shaking her head. “How do we ever find her if she travels with a merchant?”

Brogan looked pleased with himself. “Grendel told me that he had spoken with the merchant and the woman not that long before he reached the village and that they were traveling in the direction we had already come from.”

“Why did we not come across them?”

“They were following the stream. We were not.”

“So, we return the way we came but by a different route?” she asked doubtfully. “Are you sure you can trust what he told you?”

“Grendel knows if he speaks the truth to me that, in turn, I owe him a favor. We have done it before and it has worked out well for us both,” Brogan explained.

Annis shot question after question at him. “Did he say where she had come from, if she had traveled far with the merchant, if she planned on staying with him?”

“For obvious reasons,” —he looked directly at her bruised eye— “I did not get the chance. We can get the answers directly from her when we catch up with the pair. We will head in that direction now, though I doubt we will reach them today. I know a place we can shelter for the night and start at dawn.”

“I feel as though the witch sent us in circles, but why?” Annis shook her head again. “There must be a reason for it.”

Brogan would not say what he was thinking, for she no doubt thought the same. He kept from smiling when she spoke both their thoughts.

“Do not dare think this quest senseless or that the witch plays tricks on us. She wants us to find not only the woman with the limp but the bairn who has now grown into a woman.” She tapped her chin. “I cannot help but keep wondering why? Why, after presenting Lady Aila with the curse to protect the bairn, does she now want to see it undone?”

He wanted the answer to that himself.

Annis’s eyes settled on him for a few moments before she asked, “How does my eye look?”

“The bruise grows deeper,” he said and wished he had done more damage to the man than he had.

“I thought as much, yet your bruises have done nothing more than turn a pale yellow. They heal already while mine worsen.”

“It is just the way it has always been with me. My body heals remarkably fast and there have been times I was extremely grateful for that,” he admitted, memories of previous injures surfacing to remind him.

“It pains my heart to think of what you must have suffered through the years,” she said, fighting back the tears building in her eyes.

He knew she disliked the frequent tears that often threatened her, but that her tears pooled for him said much about how much she loved him. “I believe you are the only one who is pained by my suffering.”