The doors to the Great Hall swung open and six warriors, thick in size, entered, their swords hanging heavily at their sides. They scanned the room quickly, then one snapped his hand at a warrior standing guard by the door and a moment later a man walked in.
He was tall with pure white hair that just brushed his shoulders and though age showed on his face, it did so with grace. He was a handsome man with striking blue eyes. His stance was firm and confident, his body more that of a young warrior, muscled and firm, than an aging, seasoned one. And from his intense expression, he was a man who had no intentions of being denied.
“Thank you for receiving me into your home, Earl of Carrick.”
“What brings you here, Kellmara?” Cree asked, getting right to the point.
“I have come to take Wintra—
my daughter
—home where she belongs.”
Wintra was shocked by the Earl of Kellmara’s remark, though was even more shocked by Cree’s reply.
“So you are the bastard who raped my mother?” Cree said, taking a threatening step toward the man.
Kellmara warriors advanced on their laird ready to protect him, but Kellmara was quick to stop them with a simple raise of his hand. He then took a step toward Cree and in a clear and firm voice said, “I did not rape Colleen. I loved her.”
“My mother came home beaten and bruised one day—”
“I only recently found out about that incident and believe me the man responsible has suffered the consequences. I was sent away by my father and thought to return in a few short days with plans of wedding your mother. It was years before I was allowed to return home and by then,” —he paused a moment—“I discovered Colleen had died. It wasn’t until recently I learned that Colleen had a daughter who would be ten and nine years now. That would make her my daughter and I intend to claim her.”
“I have no way of knowing if you tell the truth and I will not turn my sister over to you on your word alone,” Cree said.
Torr stepped forward then. “Wintra is not going anywhere. She is my wife and neither of you have say over her.”
Wintra listened to the three men argue about her. She wondered for a moment if she was in a nightmare and could not wake, for this surely wasn’t real. Her father had died. Cree would never tell her such a lie. This man was not her father. Cree was not her half-brother. The Earl of Kellmara was a charlatan just as Owen had been.
“It does not matter,” Torr said. “Father or not, I am her husband and my right comes before all others.”
“Not unless the King annuls the marriage,” Kellmara said as if it was already done.
Wintra felt a deep chill run through her and she hugged herself tightly as her worry grew, and rightly so. She had learned even while secluded at the abbey that men had power over women and the more powerful the man, the more power he wielded.
“I have petitioned the King to annul your marriage to my daughter,” Kellmara said to Torr. “The King has sent an emissary to determine my request and, if he so chooses, the emissary has the authority to grant the annulment posthaste. He will question you both and make the decision over the next few days. Until then, you are ordered by the King to keep your distance from my daughter.”
Torr laughed in Kellmara’s face. You are a fool if you think that you can keep me from my wife.”
Kellmara glared at him. “The King orders it.”
Torr’s arm shot out, his finger poking Kellmara hard in the chest. “I do not give a bloody damn. No one is taking my wife away from me.”
“Wintra should have never been forced to wed you. She is my daughter and deserves better.”
Torr clenched his hand into a tight fist, but kept it at his side. “She also deserves a father who cares more about what she wants than what he wants.”
“What have you promised the King in exchange for a decision in your favor?” Cree asked, stepping between the two men. “Wait, let me answer for you. You are a powerful Chieftain to the far North where the King has fewer allies and with you as one, it will strengthen his reign and borders.”
“I simply presented my petition to the King, no more. I have no sway over what he thinks. But any resistance to the emissaries decision will be dealt with swiftly,” Kellmara warned.
“You can count on that,” Cree said.
“Now I would like to meet my daughter.”
Wintra stepped around the dais, though kept her distance from all three men. She raised her chin and narrowed her eyes at the Earl of Kellmara. “I am not your daughter. I never have been and I never will be. I love my husband and I intend to stay wed to him. And you will have to lock me away to keep me from him. I would advise you to leave now, for I will never acknowledge you as my father.”
“You are my daughter for sure, bold and demanding just like me, and your eyes are the same blue as mine. Speak as bravely as you wish, but you will follow the King’s command, you have no choice.”
“That is where you are wrong. I will not listen to this nonsense and I will not talk with you
ever
. You are a cold, heartless man to come here and make demands of me, especially if I were your daughter. This is no way for a father to show his love for his daughter. So I tell you one last time—leave, or better yet—go to hell.”
Wintra walked past Kellmara and one of his warrior’s stepped in front of her, blocking her path. She did not wait. She stomped on his foot as she grabbed his nose, yanked and twisted it. He hopped on one foot while one hand covered his bleeding nose. Then she skidded around him and hurried past the startled warriors and out the door.
“That’s my wife,” Torr said with pride.
“And my sister,” Cree beamed.
“And definitely mine and Colleen’s daughter,” Kellmara said adamantly.
~~~
Dawn hurried out of the Great Hall through the hallway that led out to the kitchen shortly after Wintra left. The men might admire Wintra’s brave tenacity, but Dawn knew just how fragile that tenacity was. She knew that Wintra was now plagued with thoughts and questions, but worst of all she was probably asking herself if it could possibly be true. Was the Earl of Kellmara her father?
It did not take long to get to the cottage that Cree had once assigned her. She had loved its solitude, and the time she and Cree had gotten to spend there. It was a place of comfort and love and Dawn was pleased that Torr and Wintra were making it their home, if only for a while.
She knocked on the front door, hunching her shoulder against the wind that had picked up since nightfall.
“Go away! And do not dare make me repeat myself.”
Dawn smiled. Wintra definitely was much like her brother. She eased the door open, using it as a shield since she expected something to come flying at her. She poked her hand passed the door and wiggled her fingers in greeting.
“Dawn?”
Dawn rushed around the door, shutting it closed and securing the latch, not that it would keep Torr or Cree out, but it would discourage others from entering. She turned and looked at Wintra and wasn’t surprised to see tears ready to spill free. Dawn spread her arms wide.
Wintra did not hesitate, she ran into them, hugging Dawn tight, grateful she had come and offered comfort.
When Wintra’s tears subsided, Dawn eased her down on a chair to sit. She then pulled another chair around next to Wintra’s and sat, resting her hand on Wintra’s knee.
“It is not possible is it?” Wintra asked, knowing the answer, but wanting someone to deny it. “He can’t be my father. He seems a heartless man without true care to how his decisions would affect his daughter.” Wintra ran both hands down her face. “It is a nightmare. I am in a nightmare and I cannot wake up. Wake me up, Dawn. I beg you, wake me up.”
Dawn did the only thing she could. She squeezed her hand tightly to let her know that this was no dream.
“Do you think Torr will be kept from me tonight? I do not want to sleep without him by my side.”
A tepid knock sounded at the door and both women turned inquisitive eyes that way.
“Dawn? Wintra? Are you in there?”
Dawn jumped up, unlatched the door, and opened it, letting Old Mary in.
The old woman rubbed her gnarled hands and shivered. “The wind has a biting chill to it tonight.”
Dawn ushered Old Mary over to a chair by the fire, then the two women brought their chairs around by her as well.
“I had a feeling I was needed here,” Old Mary explained, holding her hands out to the fire’s heat. “What has happened?”
Wintra explained everything, wiping away a teardrop that fell now and again. “I won’t be kept from Torr,” she insisted stubbornly when she finished.
“You also do not want to place Torr in a potentially dangerous situation,” Old Mary warned. “One that would see harm come to him.”
“Never!” Wintra cried, alarmed at the old woman’s words. The situation was growing worse by the minute, and the weight of it had her shoulders sagging and her head drooping.
Dawn tapped her arm and when Wintra looked up, Dawn shrugged her shoulders and scrunched her brow.
“What’s wrong?” Wintra verbalized Dawn’s question before answering it. “The Earl of Kellmara is a powerful man. And if the King feels it would benefit having him as an ally, he will grant Kellmara his request.”
“There is that possibility,” Old Mary said, “though Torr not obeying the King’s command could prove worse.”
“I know. I thought the same myself when Torr announced that he did not care what the King had commanded. I may have bravely or foolishly announced that I would not be kept from my husband, but the King’s word is final. And if Torr and I do not obey, as the Earl of Kellmara knows we must, we could put not only ourselves in danger, but my brother and all here as well.” With the weight of the situation becoming clearer by the moment, Wintra sighed heavily.
Dawn gestured and Old Mary quickly interpreted. “You should speak with the Earl of Kellmara.”
“I most certainly will not,” Wintra said. “He is a selfish man and cares little about others.”
Old Mary continued interpreting for Dawn. “He cannot care for you if he does not know you. If he loved your mother, then he would love the only child he and she had made together. He never got to know you, so he does the only thing he can for you now—he protects you— since he failed to protect your mother. Let him come to know you, love you, and then he will see that you—his daughter—loves Torr, and then he will do anything to see you happy.” Old Mary nodded. “Dawn gives you good advice. I would listen to it if I were you.”
“What if he does not truly care about me?” Wintra asked, still shy of trusting people after not having seen Owen for whom he truly was. “What if he intends to use me? What if he has intentions of arranging a union to a man that would be more beneficial to him?”
“You will not know that unless you speak with him,” Old Mary said.
“It sounds as if it does not matter one way or another, since it is obvious the King wishes to please Kellmara and win his favor. So what difference does it make either way?” Wintra said, fearing that no matter what was done, the outcome would be in Kellmara’s favor.
“Where is that tenacity of yours that is so much like your brother’s?” Old Mary asked. “You would surrender without a fight for the man you love? Cree would move heaven and hell for Dawn, and Torr would do the same for you, which, again I remind you, can place him in a seriously dangerous situation. So do you fight or surrender?”
Wintra threw her shoulders back as if shrugging off the weight that had rested there. “You’re right. It is time to stop feeling sorry for myself and fight for what is not only mine, but what I want.”
Old Mary grinned and rubbed her hands together. “Good. And while you do we must find a way to keep you and Torr apart, yet together.”
Dawn grinned, tapped her temple, and then her chest.
“You have a plan?” Wintra asked excited. “Tell us.”
~~~
Cree had not been surprised to see that Dawn had disappeared shortly after Wintra. He knew she would go to comfort Wintra and he was relieved that she did. He had no choice but to remain here and talk with Kellmara. There was much to find out from him and to find out if he truly cared about Wintra or if this was some type of ploy to use Wintra to his advantage. He had seen it too often with the nobles. Daughters were given away, their fate sealed, in exchange for combining clans and land or to appease an enemy. And he could only imagine the ones that had suffered at the hands of unscrupulous men. If he had a daughter, he would make certain she suffered no such fate. And he would make certain that Wintra did not as well. She loved Torr and he loved her, and he would make certain that the two remained together—no matter what it took.
“You will order your sister to return here so that I may speak with her,” Kellmara demanded of Cree.
“He has no say over Wintra,” Torr said. “She is my wife and obeys me.”
Kellmara’s nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed. “Not for long.”
“So say you, but until that is determined Wintra is still my wife and obeys me.”
“Need I remind you to stay away from her by order of the King?” Kellmara spat.
Torr gave a cursory glance around the Great Hall. “Where is the King’s emissary? Let me hear it from his lips.”
“He is at a different camp and will be here in a day or two.”
“Until I hear it directly from the King’s man, I will obey no such order.”
“I would think twice about that,” Kellmara warned.
“And I would think twice about taking my wife away from me.”
“Are you threatening me?” Kellmara said, taking a step toward Torr, his men quickly following.
“Enough,” Cree shouted. “Torr has every right to threaten you. How dare you walk into my home and demand that I turn my sister over to you without proof of anything.”
“Watch what you say, Cree, I am a powerful man and not afraid of you.”
“You should be,” Cree warned, “for you may be powerful, but I am brutal and I have no doubt that the King warned you of that and is the reason why you arrived with a large contingent and have more men waiting in other camps. But be aware of one thing, one of my men are equal to two of yours. They will decimate your warriors, and I personally will see that you never bother my sister ever again.”
“Is that a threat?” Kellmara asked fury sparking in his blue eyes.
“It is a promise if you do not conduct yourself in a more cordial manner.”
Kellmara was ready to retaliate when he caught movement to the side and he turned to see Cree’s warriors lining the side wall two deep. He swerved around to take in the Great Hall and saw that it was filled with Cree’s warriors. His men saw the same, their eyes wide with surprise. Kellmara could not believe that that many warriors had entered the room without him or his men hearing or seeing them. And Cree had been right about the King warning him. What Cree did not know was that the King told him he was on his own when he stepped on Cree’s land. He would offer Kellmara no help. Now he understood why.