Demon Laird (Legacy of the Mist Clans) (44 page)

Ronan’s heart soared. If anyone could save Lia, it was the woman who had taught her. He discovered himself shaking violently. “Sueta, what has brought you here?”

“I heard tell the Laird MacGrigor planned a wedding. That a Sassenach healer healed you heart and soul. Although Lia believes me too frail to travel, her wedding is one thing I would not miss. But on my way here, I also heard tell the moment she fell into English hands.” She paused and glared up at him. “I heard how you doubted her love. It is your fault she was harmed. If you did not hold her in your arms, I’d beat you within an inch of your life for this.”

****

Ronan placed Lia carefully on the bed in his solar then stood back as Sueta and servants swarmed around her. His heart rejoiced that Sueta was here, but as he looked at Lia’s pallid face, his hopes crashed. She was dying.

Sueta cut away
the strips binding Lia’s wound, but she paused and peered at them closely. “Who has done this?” she asked.

“I did,” Ronan said softly. “I saw Lia—”
His voice cracked.

Again Ronan watched a gnarled hand reach out
to Lia and trace gently over her brow. “My dear girl, have ye discovered something I have not?” She lifted her head and Ronan saw tears streaming down her face. “My blessed child, you have done more than I ever imagined. More than I could ever do.”

Hope blossomed within his soul and Ronan stepped forward. “She will live?”

Sueta rounded on him, hatred in her eyes. “Get out!” she snarled. “My girl gave everything for you, still you doubted her. Get out!” She thumped him on the shoulder with her staff. “If she dies, it will be on your head. Get out!”

Ronan turned for the door and Sueta’s staff thumped him again
, this time on the back of his head, close to the wound he had received. Stars exploded in his vision and he staggered, realizing why Lia had been so fearful of him receiving a such a blow.

He tumbled through the doors and straight into Aidan.

“Ho there,” Aidan said as he caught him. “Ronan, what goes?”

“It’s my fault,” Ronan snarled and tore himself away from his brother. “
I fear she will die because of me.” He lunged down the stairs, leaving Aidan watching in stunned confusion.

****

Aidan swallowed hard, summoned his courage, and stepped into the solar. An ancient wench tended to Lia, but the moment the door shut behind him, the old woman rounded on him. “I told you to get out!” she snarled, hefting her staff.

Aidan did not move.

She scowled at him and lowered her staff. “What is this? You be not the MacGrigor.”

Lia groaned and blinked her eyes open. “Ronan?” She focused on Aidan
, and he hated being the reason for the disappointment he saw in her eyes.

“Lia?” the old woman said, limping toward her.

“Sueta?” Lia stared at her for a long moment, then smiled, clutching at the old woman’s hand. “Praise be.”

“’Twill be all right, girl,” Sueta said, patting her hand.

“Where’s Ronan?”

Aidan stared at the ground, unable
to tell her Ronan blamed himself.

“Oh God, he’s not dead. Please tell me he’s not dead.”

Aidan’s gaze locked on hers. “Dinna fash yerself, lassie. Ronan is alive and uninjured.”

Lia squeezed her eyes closed. “Thank the Lord.” Then she snapped them open again. “Where is he? Why isn’t he here?”

Aidan took a breath to reply as Lia struggled to sit up in bed.

“Nay, L
ia,” the old woman said, gently pushing her back down.

“Why isn’t he here?
What happened?”

“Lia—”

“Ronan?” she called.

“Be at ease, lass,” Aidan tried.

“Where is he?” She recoiled in pain but drew in a deeper breath. “Ronan?”

“Child, cease.”

“He’s not here. What’s wrong? Why is he not here?” Her hazel eyes were glazed, panic-stricken. She drew another breath only to scream louder. “Ronan!” She clawed her way into a sitting position, even though her face turned dreadfully gray from the effort. “Ronan!”

To Aidan’s horror
, she tried to rise from the bed. Her bandages had been removed and fresh blood soaked her side. Too much blood.

Sueta
barely managed to stop her. She glared at Aidan. “Bring him here, now.”

“Ronan!”
Lia screamed.

Aidan charged out the door knowing he would never forget the sound of Lia’s screams
to his dying day.

****

They searched the keep and grounds for Ronan all night. Only as dawn appeared over the mountains did Lachlan come running. “My lord,” he said, sliding to a stop before Aidan and bowing his head. “I found him.”

Aidan vaulted
to his feet. “He is hale?”

“Aye, as far as I can tell it, but something be terribly wrong.”

“What?”

“Come with me
, please,” Lachlan said and turned on his heel.

Aidan followed the boy down the stairs and past the
kitchen. Lachlan led him to the stairs for the cisterns.

“I thought the other servants checked down here,” Aidan said, knowing Ronan used
to work with his claymore in the storage area.

“They did, but I fear there was one door they
didna open.” Lachlan turned to his right and lifted the latch on a heavy-banded oak door. The only door with a latch on the outside because it was designed to keep people in, not out.

“The dungeon?” Aidan whispered in disbelief. He followed
Lachlan down the stairs.

Lachlan
stopped at the base and gestured toward a cell. “He willna talk tae me; perhaps ye will fare better.”

Aidan strode forward, his heart in his throat.
He stopped at an iron-barred cell. Ronan sat on the floor, his cloak tight around his shoulders and the cowl pulled low over his face. He braced his back against the wall as he fiddled with one of the manacles on the chains. Ronan snapped it shut then popped it back open.

Aidan stepped into the cell but Ronan did not look up.

Clink… snap. Clink… snap.

“Ronan, what are ye
doin’ man?”

Clink…
snap. Clink… snap.

“Does she live?” Ronan asked his voice unrecognizable.

“Aye she lives, and she’s askin’ for ye.”

Ronan looked up and Aidan saw the tearstains on his face. “Does Sueta ken if she will survive this?”

“I dinna ken, Ronan. But her fever grows worse. What are ye doing down here?”

Clink…
snap… clink… snap.

“
The Demon Laird was born in a dungeon pit.”

“What mean ye?”

Clink… snap… clink… snap.

Aidan ground his teeth. “Ye addlepated fool!
Canna ye hear Lia calling for ye? She only stopped because she be too weak tae cry out more.”

Clink…
snap.

“She needs ye like ne’er before
, and here ye sit, hidin’ like a coward.”

Ronan’s head snapped up. In an instant
, he was on his feet. He grabbed the front of Aidan’s tunic and shoved him against the stone wall of the cell. “I be no coward,” he snarled.

Never had Aidan seen such a look on Ronan’s face.
His gray eyes were flat, soulless. Fear cut through Aidan. This was not the brother he knew. This man would end his life in a heartbeat.

“She never feared me…
but they will.”

“Ronan?” he whispered, his horror growing in strength.

“Warn them,” Ronan growled. “Warn them if she dies, the Demon Laird will come for them. I will see Clans MacFarlane and MacLaren destroyed tae the last, along with any Scot who tries tae stop me. They all said I made a deal with the devil, remember? Well this devil will demand his due in blood. They will pay for what they did tae her.” He shoved Aidan away and stalked out the door.

****

Ronan ascended the stairs. He knew his sanity was slipping away with each passing heartbeat. It was a strange sensation to know what was happening but be unable to stop it. What was even more curious was that he realized he didn’t care.

He opened the door
to his solar and stepped through. His gaze fell on Lia’s pallid features, and suddenly, his apathy wrenched into heartbreaking grief.

She stirred and looked at him. “Ronan,” she whispered and reached for him.

Sueta, sitting at her bedside, said nothing. She rose, and leaning heavily on her staff, she left the room.

“Ye promised,” Ronan whispered shaking violently. “Ye canna leave me. Ye promised I’d never be alone again.”

A tear rolled down her cheek.

Something
shattered within Ronan and he lunged to her side. He wrapped her in his arms and held her as tightly as he dared.

“I love you, Ronan,” Lia whispered.

“I love ye too, lassie.”

She reached up and caressed his cheek
, then her hand traveled upward where it caught his cowl and pushed it back. “Then take that bloody cloak off and stop hiding.”

****

Hours later, Ronan jerked his head up sharply. He had dozed off in his chair beside the table. His gaze immediately fell on Lia in his bed. She huddled under a single blanket, still shivering with fever chills.

Marta rose from the chair at the bedside.
He had moved out of the way so Marta and Sueta could work, trying all they could to help Lia.

“No change,” she whispered.

Ronan nodded. “Where is Sueta?”

“
Below stairs, poring over Lia’s journal. She is trying tae understand all that happened here since Lia’s arrival.” Marta studied him a moment, then patted his arm with a surprising show of familiarity. “I will see ye in the morning.”

“Aye.”

“MacGrigor, ye barely dozed an hour. Get some rest tonight.”

“I will try, Marta.”

“I mean this. I see it on yer face, I ken this weighs heavily on yer shoulders, but if ye fall tae an attack, ye will only upset the lass more, and she doesna need that right now.”

He realized he had forgotten
to take his medicant again.

Marta seemed
to understand his thoughts and gave him a toothless smile. “It’s on the table. The iron heats in the embers. Ye only have tae warm the wine.”

“Thank ye, Marta.”

She nodded again and silently left the room.

Ronan moved
to heat the cup of wine and held it for a moment, bracing himself for the foul taste. Damnation, would he ever grow accustomed to it? He downed it and nearly gagged. Nay, it only grew worse. Perhaps that was why he so often forgot to take it. He quickly followed it with another cup of fresh wine to wash away the bitter taste in his mouth.

He sat in the chair Marta had vacated. Picking up a clean cloth from the table next
to the bed, he dampened it in water and gently touched it to Lia’s brow.

She groaned softly and opened her eyes, glazed with fever. Ronan swallowed hard
; he could not abide seeing her like this, but he could not abandon her either, not when she needed him.

“Ronan,” she whispered.

He quickly set the cloth aside and took her hand. With his free hand, he gently caressed her hair, noting the bruises on her face had gradually turned an awful shade of purple. But at least there were no broken bones, only the arrow wound in her side, which now threatened to end her life.

“Aye?” he murmured.

For a moment, she closed her eyes, and Ronan feared she had returned to her fever dream. But she opened them again, and Ronan was surprised to see them fill with tears.

“Are ye in pain, lass?”

“I’m… I’m frightened, Ronan.”

His gut curled into a sickeni
ng knot. “Nay, Lia, please dinna be afraid. I am here. I willna leave ye.”

A large tear leaked from the corner of her eye. “I don’t want
to die.”

Oh
, Sweet Mary, nay!
Ronan’s heart screamed.
I canna lose her!

Her tears began
to fall in earnest. “I don’t want to leave you. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Nay, Lia—” His voice cracked. He moved from the chair
to the edge of the bed and carefully pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly, her head resting against his chest. Her arm wrapped around his waist and she clung to him, but the strength he had once admired was gone.

He pressed his lips
to her brow and cringed against the fire he felt burning within her.

“I love you,” she whispered.

Ronan closed his eyes, fighting his own tears. Nay! He couldn’t fall to this. He couldn’t give in to his fear… and neither could she.