Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 100029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Lord Balloch’s eyes narrowed in annoyance as he looked to his son. “A stubborn woman does not make a good wife.”
Annis could not hold her tongue. “You speak from experience?”
“Watch your tongue with me!” Lord Balloch warned.
“And watch how you speak to my wife, Father!” Brogan threatened.
“You deserve better than a peasant,” his father snapped.
Brogan released his wife’s hand and went to stand inches from his father, the man having to crane his neck back to meet his son’s eyes. “What I truly do not deserve is a woman as remarkable, intelligent, and beautiful as Annis. If anything, the curse has gifted me a courageous wife, one who will work tirelessly to free me and others from the curse you and the other two lords caused to fall upon your families.”
“We followed the king’s orders,” his father argued, defending his actions.
“And killed a long-time friend and would have killed his barely two-day-old bairn if her mother had not unselfishly given her life so her daughter had time to slip away.”
His father raised his voice in anger. “You know nothing of that time and the horrors that were forced on so many to survive, and I will not argue over it now. What is done is done.”
“And I will undo it,” Annis said, causing both men to turn and look at her. “I will free my husband from the hell he has lived since that day and give him something you and your wife never did—love—and lots of it every day for the rest of our lives together and beyond.”
Lord Balloch did not hide his snarl as he spoke. “Love interferes with everything. It turned Lord Brochan into a fool and over what—a remarkably beautiful peasant who he refused to keep as a mistress? He should have wed the king’s niece when the offer was proposed. No, not Brochan, he refused, and he also opposed the expansion of the king in the Highlands.” He shook his head. “Brochan sealed his and his clan’s fate. The king could not ignore the insult or the refusal to accept his rule in the Highlands. The king made an example of the powerful Clan MacWilliam so no others would oppose him. After that, I was glad I had given no thought to love when I wed. Love causes nothing but pain and often betrayal.”
“Who is the woman who loved and betrayed you?” Annis asked.
Lord Balloch’s startled expression surprised his son. Brogan was even more surprised that his father responded.
“I was young and foolish as was she. My father warned me, but I refused to listen and then one day, when we were to meet, I received a message from her. Good-bye. That was all she said. I searched for her, fearing my father might have harmed her, though he gave his word he had not. She was gone.”
“And she took your heart with her,” Annis said, seeing the hurt in the man’s eyes even after all these years.
“I am grateful she did,” Lord Balloch said with a cold emptiness. “Love is for fools.”
“Then I am a fool, Father, and just so you know, if Annis was ever to disappear, I would search for her until my dying day,” Brogan said.
“I thought the same once, but my father helped me to see the foolishness of such a senseless quest.”
Something poked at Annis, the bitterness in Lord Balloch toward the woman he had loved and his decision to side with the king and to betray a long-time friend. She wondered if there was a connection. Naturally, she had to satisfy her curiosity.
She asked in such a way, placing blame on the woman, that Lord Balloch would easily respond. “Who was this woman who betrayed you?”
“Verbena,” he snapped. “And she was the reason I warned Brochan no good would come of his love for Aila.”
“Because the women were both peasants?” Brogan asked.
“Nay, because Verbena and Aila were sisters.”
Annis waited at the foot of the three hills while her husband issued orders to the warriors that accompanied them there. Fear was on every one of the ten warriors’ faces. She was glad Brogan had not been foolish enough to have the warriors travel the witch’s path with them. It would not end well if he had done that, but her husband was no fool. Having the warriors stationed here was enough to deter anyone from attempting to abduct Annis.
A raven suddenly squawked overhead and flew along the path as if letting her know the witch grew impatient.
The warriors, however, turned frightened eyes on what to them was an evil omen.
Annis had no fear, and she was as impatient as it seemed the witch was. She began to walk slowly along the path, knowing her husband would follow shortly.
“Do not dare take another step without me!” Brogan called out in warning.