Page 76 of The Stag & The Owl
“Aye, you were,” Scott said.“Before youkilled Leif.”
“I didn’t kill Leif,” Roark said.“I did beathim senseless when I came upon him trying to rape Princess Alina.”Both Scott’s and Ross’s heads shot up.“I wanted to kill him,”Roark admitted, “and would have, but Princess Alina stopped me.Weleft him tied and gagged and alive in the stables, defenseless,apparently, against whoever did kill him.But it wasn’t me orPrincess Alina.”
“That’ll be for you and the laird to workout,” Scott said.
“So it will,” Roark agreed.“Which is why Ialways meant to go back to North Shore and deal with it all, afterthe princess, who’s an innocent in all of this, is on her wayhome.”
Scott scoffed.“You say that now.”
“He has said that since the day he and mycousin, Princess Alina, came to me for aid and shelter,” Owen saidas he and Niels brought their mounts forward to flank Roark.
Roark nodded his thanks to Owen and then madea point of looking at the growing crowd of townspeople, as didScott and Ross.
“My offer is this,” Roark said, speaking loudenough for the crowd to hear.“Let Princess Alina board theTrade Wind,let her sail home to her family at Sea Ridge inthe Northlands.Let her safe return assuage her father’s, KingJerrik’s, anger at her having been abducted by Laird RogerMacKinnon of North Shore Keep for his own vengeful purposes, and Iwill leave here with you the moment theTrade Windsails outof this port.”
“We were told to bring back both of you,”Scott said.
Roark squared his shoulders and shook hishead.“The deal is me and only me.In which case, I go with youpeacefully.If you try to take the princess, you will have to fightfor her.”
Scott shifted uneasily on his saddle andlooked over Owen’s men, the ship’s crew both on and off the deck,and the buzzing crowd.
“You’re outnumbered, Scott,” Roark pointedout.“Even including Ned, Shaw, and Cam there, who’ll as likelyturn tail and run as fight.”He saluted the raggedy brigands withhis short sword and they cackled and squirmed on their mounts,their shifty gazes already searching for a way out of any fight tocome.“Be smart about this, Scott.Don’t make Pam a widow andRobbie fatherless.”He looked the other three men in the eyes oneby one.“Ross, Douglas, Todd, don’t lose your lives or limbs overthis.No matter what, you’re not getting the princess, so take me,let me deal with Roger.Too many people know who Princess Alina isnow.Too many know what Roger has done, what he’d intended to do tothe princess.As will her father, King Jerrik, soon enough.”
“What happens when her father, this KingJerrik, exacts his revenge against Roger?”Ross, who was marriedwith two young children, asked.“What happens to us and ourfamilies then?”
“He will not exact his revenge on the peopleof North Shore,” Alina said loudly, sidling Etain up beside Beasty.“You have my word on this.”
Scott held a hand up and spoke with Ross,speaking low and glancing around several times.
“You don’t have to do this, you know,” Owentold Roark as Scott and Ross continued to talk it over.“We’ve gotthem outnumbered two to one.”
“Yes,” Roark said.“I do.”He met Alina’sworried gaze.Alina, who’d forgiven him everything.Who he hopedwould forgive him this.“I got everyone into this and I’ll get themout.No one else should pay for my actions any more than theyalready have.Scott, Ross, and the others are decent men doingtheir laird’s bidding.They don’t deserve to die today.None of youdo.I’ll not chance Alina getting hurt or taken, and I won’t letanyone die today if I can help it.”
Owen nodded.“You’re a good man, Roark.”
“Thank you, Laird Owen.You saying that meansa lot.”He glanced at Alina, who was biting her lips and shakingher head.He looked to Scott and Ross.“Do we have a deal?”
“We do,” Scott said.
“Damn,” Niels grumbled.“I was really hopingfor a go at those three idiots from the inn.”
Roark quirked his brow.“You may get yourchance yet,” he told the Northman.“Roger’s men will have no needof them once they have me.My guess is they’ll toss them a coppereach and cut them loose within a league’s distance of here.”
Niels grinned as Owen ordered Liam and Duncanto load the whisky and wool onto theTrade Wind.Roarkoffered his hand to the laird and Niels.“Thank you,” he told them.“For everything.”
Owen clasped his forearm, his green MacLeodeyes serious.“If you get out of this alive, Roark MacInnes, you’llalways have a place at Silver Water Keep.”
Roark nodded, unable to speak for the suddenlump in his throat.His own father had never offered him suchpraise and acceptance his entire life.Roger had only praised himfor a job well done when it was to Roger’s benefit.He nodded toeach of Owen’s men in turn and then met Alina’s wide-eyed gaze, hisheart splintering into a thousand shards at the pain and grief hesaw reflected there.
He took Etain’s reins from her tremblinghands and led them past Owen and his men, past Roger’s men, and upto the gangplank of theTrade Wind.He dismounted fromBeasty, wrapped his hands around Alina’s slim waist, and helped herdown from Etain, groaning as she slid her body against his untilher feet hit the ground.She leaned into him, embracing him astightly as he embraced her, as if they could hold on againsteverything and everyone pulling them apart.
“I wish it could be otherwise, Ali love,” hewhispered in her ear.“I wish we truly were in a world where ouractions had no consequences or repercussions for anyone other thanourselves.”
“But we don’t,” she whispered into his neck.“We never did.”She lifted her head and met and held his gaze, hercrystalline green eyes glistening with tears.“I love you, RoarkMacInnes.”She grabbed him by the arms and shook him.“You stayalive, sir stag,” she told him.“You stay alive until I can comeback for you.And I will.I swear it.”
Roark nodded and pressed his forehead tohers.“I will, my lady owl.I will do whatever I can and must.Iswear it.”
She rolled her forehead against his.“I knowyou will,” she said.“You will do whatever you think right andnecessary.That’s what worries me.”
