The Libertine (Taskill Witches 2)

Their leader rolled his eyes.

Lennox observed intently. It would appear the woman they sought had given them a runaround. Despite his caution and his increasing need to know who she was, that pleased him. He had to usher these men on their way, fast. Summoning his deepest reserves he whispered under his breath, evoking the elements. Within moments the sky darkened, clouds moving in from behind him. Thunder cracked overhead.

“We have bigger worries,” the man said, looking at the sky. Looking at Lennox he added, “Be on your way quickly and be wary of a couple on foot.” With that he gestured at his men and they headed off back to the ridge beyond, where Lennox spied their mounts.

Lennox rose to his feet, dusting himself off and taking his time about it. The soldiers mounted and the leader directed them back toward Cupar. As he’d hoped, the threat of poor weather had sent them back the way they’d come. When one of the soldiers looked back, Lennox raised a hand then headed toward Shadow. Mounting, he set off quickly. Once he arrived at the ridge he paused and watched them gallop into the distance. He wanted to go back, but not until he was sure he would not lead them to her. There was a tight knot in his chest. It was born of hope. When he attempted to quash it, to allay the potential disappointment, he could not.

Only when he was sure the men would not return, he looped back and returned to the spot by the brook. Dismounting, he stood and waited. Hoping all the while—willing it to be Jessie.

If the woman wanted to come out, she would surely know she was safe in his company. Perhaps not. Not all members of the coven he knew well had the same level of skills he did, in fact they each had different abilities. He stood his ground because he had to know her identity. Even if it were not Jessie, he wanted to warn the woman of the direction they took, but he did not want to frighten her by stomping over there and hauling her out. If she came out of her own accord, he could reassure her.

“Those who hunt you have gone,” he called out, “you are safe now.”

A figure emerged and peered across at him, a young woman.

Lennox felt her scrutiny, and it was so intense the hairs on the back of his neck lifted. Her head and shoulders were swathed in a dark shawl that obscured her features. Nevertheless a connection, deep and undeniable, flared across the space between them. He opened his mouth to ask her name, but found he could not speak.

“You...” Her voice faltered. “You are Lennox Taskill, are you not?”

The sound of his family name spoken aloud made Lennox’s heart stall. Outside of his coven, only his siste

rs would know that.

A tall man emerged behind the woman. He attempted to block her, his arm in front of her causing her to pause. “Jessie, be careful.”

Jessie. Lennox felt as if he’d lost touch with the ground beneath his feet—that he might stumble and fall. It truly was Jessie.

The woman shook her head at her companion. “Do not fear. He is brethren, I sensed it.”

She took a few tentative steps forward and then removed the dark shawl that she had wrapped around her head. She lifted her chin.

Lennox inhaled sharply. For several moments he thought he was looking at the ghost of his dead mother.

“Jessie?” He spoke his sister’s name gruffly, for he was overwhelmed at the sight of her.

She nodded then broke into a run, hurling herself into his arms.

Lennox clutched her against him, his vision blurring as he felt her real and solid—alive and safe—in his embrace. Staring down at his young sibling, he could scarcely believe the woman she had become. “Is it truly you?”

“It is.”

“You escaped them in Dundee. I went there.”

“Aye, a week or more since. Gregor here freed me.”

Lennox looked beyond her at her companion. The man had followed and stood close by, observing, one hand wrapped around the hilt of an ornate handled dagger.

Lennox returned his attention to Jessie. “Maisie, is she with you?”

Jessie shook her head. “I have not seen her, not since...that day.”

She did not say more, but Lennox read it in her face.

Not since their mother had been hanged and burned before their very eyes.

* * *

It was not easy to recapture the intervening years for one another, but Jessie’s companion left them alone while he went in search of provisions. In the shelter of the rocky enclave they became brother and sister again. When Lennox quizzed Jessie about her life during the intervening years he found himself both fraught with anxiety and lost in admiration for her tenacity and her ability to survive the harsh reality of her young life. For his part, he kept things simple, but Jessie seemed equally awed that he had escaped the attempt to silence him forever, returned to the Highlands, then made his way back, intent on finding them. When he told her about his current mission in Edinburgh, she smiled.