Page 9 of Highlander’s Protector

He’d crossed himself and gone in, and Anna had sat by the door for what felt like forever, her arms wrapped around her knees, listening to Leitis’s moans, then agonizing, heart-wrenching yells of pain that escalated like a terrible song to a high pitch and then silenced.

Anna had stood, shaking, and pressed her ear to the door, desperately listening for a newborn’s cry. A squeak. But moments flew by, her breath rushed in and out, and no cry came. She leaned against the wall and slid down until she sat on the floor. Tears filled her eyes. No. There must be some explanation. She couldn’t have lost Aunt Leitis. The only mother she’d ever known.

Soon, the door had opened, and Aulay had walked out, his great shoulders hunched, his head bowed.

“She’s gone, Anna,” he croaked.

He’d walked out a different man. A man with a hole in his heart.

Aulay looked in the direction of her gaze, his eyes dark under his eyebrows. They always had that sadness in them since that night. She wished he could meet someone again, mayhap find a new wife to fill that hole in his heart. Unmarried lasses and widows on Islay all looked at him with admiration and longing. Some of them were more straightforward than others, but he refused everyone.

“Nae, lass.” He tightened the belt over the travel sack. “The king took Ayr a few moons ago. Now he’s waiting for ye in Stirling.”

Waiting for ye… Her father was waiting for her.

She exhaled a shaky breath as she tied a knot over the sleeping roll. The news had come a sennight ago, changing her life forever. “I canna believe he finally called for me, Uncle. I dinna want to disappoint him.”

Aulay’s eyes softened, became like liquid obsidian.

“Lass, ’tis impossible. Ye’re a treasure for yer father, and yer husband will be verra lucky to have ye.”

Her husband…that was another thing she couldn’t quite believe, even though she’d been preparing for a marriage ever since Bruce had appeared in Islay seven years ago and told her she needed to become a proper lady. That was exactly what she’d done.

For him.

And yet, the thought of a man she’d never seen becoming her husband, getting full control over her life, made her stomach twist. But she shoved that thought away and pressed out a smile for her uncle, like a proper noble lady would.

In an hour, twenty MacDonald men were on horseback and traveling northeast to Stirling. Another twenty had been left behind to guard the ships and trade with Ayr and wait for Aulay and Colum to return after Anna’s wedding.

The town of Ayr was soon behind them, and they rode into the woods. The trees rising into the sky were sparse at first but grew thicker the deeper they went. Dead leaves mixed with undergrowth, grass and ferns covered the ground. Rotting logs lay here and there, moss growing on them like fur.

The late May air was full of birdsong, the rustling of leaves and branches in the wind, and the soft hoofbeats of two dozen horses. Anna breathed in the earthy, herbal air of the woods, not unlike Bridgend Woods on Islay. She wished she could send the horse galloping down the footworn path and enjoy the speed, the air, the feeling of a powerful animal’s body moving under her. But, of course, princesses, even bastard ones, didn’t do such things.

Would her new husband allow her to ride like the wind? She knew next to nothing about him.

“Have ye met Sir Philip Mowbray, Uncle?” she asked Aulay, who rode by her side.

He gave her a reassuring smile, the corners of his eyes wrinkling. “Nae, sweet.”

She bit her lip. “Did ye hear anything about him?”

“He’s a Scot, though, obviously, he is on England’s side. I imagine he is a capable and accomplished man. He wouldna have been made constable of the most strategically important castle England had taken in Scotland.” Aulay chuckled. “And only a smart and ambitious man would make the kind of deal he has made with the king.”

Accomplished, smart, ambitious… That would be her husband. She shook her head once, one corner of her mouth curving up. “The kind who would give Stirling to Bruce without a fight to marry the king’s bastart daughter.”

“Aye,” said Aulay. “In exactly twenty-six days, on John the Baptist, your marriage to Sir Philip will bring Stirling back into Scottish hands. Ye are very important to Scotland, dear. And to yer father.”

She exhaled slowly. This was what she’d been waiting for ever since she met her father seven years ago. To be by his side, to be appreciated and loved by him, to be important to him. Like a true princess, she had the power to save Scotland. To save many lives.

This was worth marrying a man she’d never met. This was a worthy cause.

Besides, they’d live somewhere in the Lowlands, like Carrick. Her dowry would be some gold and an estate there. So she would be able to see him more often. She’d visit her father’s court. He’d visit her and Philip, hunt with him, eat at the feasts she’d throw for him, spend time with his grandchildren. Her heart squeezed in hope and anticipation. They’d discuss everything, talk about their lives, and do their best to catch up all the years they’d lost.

“Should we hurry, Uncle?” she asked. “Are we nae supposed to be introduced to each other sooner? And the dowry negotiation…the marriage contract…”

Truth was, she couldn’t wait to spend more time with Robert the Bruce, and there would be plenty of reasons to do so before the wedding. The sooner she got there, the sooner she could see her father.

“’Tis still only two days until Stirling, sweet,” he said. “We have plenty—”