Return of the Warrior (2 page)

The men paused in the doorway as they surveyed her in the cloak and Christian in his monk’s black robes.

Adara felt ill that she had allowed herself to be so easily duped. “Where are my men?” she asked the tracker. Most importantly, where was Lutian?

“Dead. All of them.” Her tracker laughed as he looked at her and Christian. “An unarmed queen and a monk to kill.” He tsked as he moved closer. “This’ll be the easiest money I’ve ever earned.”

Adara grabbed her parcel as Christian drew a sword from beneath his monk’s robes. He whirled toward her and handed her their marriage contract.

“Excuse me,” he said politely before he placed himself between her and their attackers.

The eyes of the shortest of the men widened as he saw Christian swing his sword to ready it.
“Sierus,” he said with a gulp, “I don’t think he’s a monk.”

Her heart hammering, she watched as Christian engaged the men with a skill that was deadly and precise.

It was a beautiful, macabre dance as the five men sought to kill Christian and he deflected their blows with a manly grace and ease. She’d never seen anything like it. The sound of steel echoed loudly in her ears while they each fought for their lives.

Suddenly one of the attackers took notice of her.

He lunged.

Adara jumped back an instant before Christian whirled and caught the man with a blow to his back. As the man fell, three more came through the door.

They were doomed!

Christian grabbed his bed and flipped it over, toward the men. He whirled around, kicked open the window, threw his sword out, then grabbed her up in his arms.

“What are you doing?” she asked, clutching her bag even tighter.

He said nothing.

Two rapid heartbeats later she found out as he jumped from the window with her firmly cradled in his arms.

Adara gasped as they fell, then landed in a haystack down below. His weight was crushing, as was the pain of her body from being slammed into the hay.

It was all she could do to breathe from the agony of it.

Christian didn’t hesitate before he sheathed his sword, then grabbed her hand and hauled her toward the stable that was just across the way.

She blushed profusely as she realized what she must look like as her cloak kept parting to expose her naked body.

Why had she thought to play Cleopatra to his Caesar and meet her husband this way?

But then how was she to know her hired men would try to kill them? In the future, she would never make either mistake again.

Provided she had a future, anyway.

Christian entered the stable, where she saw the bodies of her two guardsmen lying dead in the first stall they reached. Grief tore her heart asunder as Christian moved to the next stall and was confronted by another knight.

“Lutian?” she called, knowing he, too, must be dead. But without his body being there, she thought mayhap he’d escaped somehow. Her fool could be most wily at times.

But Lutian didn’t answer her.

Consumed by guilt and anger over the senselessness of his death, Adara picked up a pitchfork and launched it at the knight, who tried to dodge it while he fought her husband.

It caught him in the shin. He yelped as Christian parried his sword stroke.

She seized the pitchfork and went for the knight again, only to have Christian kill him before she could. Still she lunged for the fallen knight.

“My lady, he’s already dead.”

“Not dead enough!” she sobbed. “He killed my men. And…and…poor, helpless Lutian.”

“Hello?”

Adara couldn’t breathe at the sound of the wonderfully familiar voice. To her immediate relief, Lutian stuck his head up from a pile of hay. Pieces of straw were stuck and tangled in the brown locks of his hair, even in his beard.

It was the most precious sight she’d ever beheld. “Oh, thank the Lord and His saints for their mercy!” she cried as she ran to him and embraced him without decorum. “You’re alive!”

“Only a fool would be fighting them, my queen, and though I am a fool, I’m not that foolish.”

Before she could speak, Christian seized her from Lutian’s arms, then swung her up onto the back of a solid black horse. “This is no time for chatter,” he growled at them.

She barely had time to cover herself and settle her bag before he joined her.

He looked at Lutian. “Grab a horse if you’re able and keep up.”

Christian spurred the horse from the stable.

“You can’t leave Lutian!” she snapped an imperious tone. “Go back for him. Now.”

“Death waits for no one, Adara.” Even so,
Christian wheeled the horse back toward the stable until they saw Lutian headed out behind them on her brown mare.

Adara was impressed by Lutian’s abilities. Normally Lutian rode an ass. ’Twas the first time she’d ever seen him on a horse, and he rode with remarkable skill.

Christian reversed direction again. They flew through the small town, while people scurried to get out of their way. By the time they reached the edge of town, arrows began to whiz past them.

“Stay low,” Christian said in her ear as he wrapped himself around her to protect her.

Adara didn’t argue. “Stay down, Lutian,” she called to her friend she could no longer see. “Don’t fall behind.”

She latched on to the horse’s neck and kept herself huddled there while Christian’s heavy breathing filled her ears. She prayed that they all made it to safety. Terror pounded through her veins. How could this be happening?

But then, she should have known. What better way to take her throne than to kill both of them together? Then there would be no one left to contest Basilli’s rule.

Perhaps she should change places with Lutian and let him rule her kingdom. Surely he wouldn’t be so blind or stupid.

They rode onward until her entire body was cramped from her uncomfortable position. The bag bit harshly into her stomach, but she didn’t
move. She wasn’t sure if anyone still followed them or not. However, she didn’t dare look. Better she should be huddled over for eternity than dead.

Christian glanced behind to see no one in pursuit. He slowed his horse ever so slightly as he tried to hear something other than the horse’s hooves and his own heavy heartbeat.

“I think we lost them,” he said, slowing even more.

Lutian kept pace with them as he looked behind as well.

Adara lifted herself up with a small groan. “I’m sure by now you must have guessed that the first man through the door was the tracker who led me to you.”

“No doubt paid to put us together so that we could be murdered,” Christian said with a disgusted breath.

“Aye,” Lutian concurred. “I was fetching a nice leg of lamb in the inn when I saw the Elgederion soldiers enter the stable. Even before I went to the stable to find your men dead, I knew them for villains.”

“Oh, and what made you think that?” Christian asked sarcastically. “The swords in their hands?”

Adara ignored him. She was grateful that at least Lutian had survived. “You hid?”

“Not at first. I started back to the inn to tell you what they’d done, but they were headed to your room and I had hoped your prince would be prince enough to champion you. If not, I was go
ing to chop them up in the stable when they returned for their horses, which I let loose out the back.”

“That would hardly have helped her had they slain her in the room,” Christian growled.

Adara grimaced at him. “Christian, please be kind to him. Lutian isn’t quite right.”

“Quite right, how?”

Lutian knocked a fist against his skull. “Not right in the noggin. I took a tumble in my youth and scrambled my brains.”

Christian frowned. “Is he right enough to know how many men are after us?”

“Aye,” Lutian said. “I can count with the best of them. There were half a score of men who came to the stable, but I overheard them speaking and there is a full garrison of them who have been following us since we left Taagaria. The tracker was apparently leaving them signs to let them know which way we were heading until the two of you were together.”

Adara rubbed her head to alleviate some of the pain that was beginning to throb just over her brow. “I can’t believe I was so stupid as to trust that tracker. Why didn’t I stop and think that it was unlikely he would find you so soon? My poor guardsmen. I can’t believe I was such a fool.”

“You had other things on your mind.” Christian’s charitable response surprised her, especially since he, more than anyone else, had plenty of reason to agree that she was a nitwit in this matter.

“Perhaps,” she said as she adjusted her cloak to conceal her body more effectively. “But I should have known better. My court is riddled with spies.”

“And my life is ever riddled with enemies.”

Christian’s bland tone told her much about his life and his view of it. It didn’t appear that enemies concerned him much.

But they definitely concerned her.

“So what are we to do now?” she asked.

Christian turned his horse north. Lutian followed suit, riding just behind them.

“First we need to find quarter and then think with clear heads.” Christian passed a look over his shoulder to Lutian.

“No clear head here. See?” He knocked against his skull again. “This one is thoroughly dense.”

“Lutian,” she said gently. “Please give us a few minutes to talk.” She looked at Christian after Lutian rode up ahead. “I doubt any place is safe now that they know we’re together.”

“The Scot will see us safe. No one has ever breached his castle’s walls.”

She frowned. “The Scot?”

“An old friend.”

Adara fell silent as the horse picked its way through the dense forest. She still couldn’t believe this had happened to her. How could Selwyn have known what she planned?

And if he knew she was leaving…

“Oh, Lord,” she breathed. “He must know I’m not on my throne.”

Christian’s arms tightened around her. “Easy, Adara. There is nothing you can do.”

Still her panic swelled as she twisted to look back at him. “But what if he’s harmed my cousin Thera? I left her there to pose as me until my return. Think you he’s killed her as well?”

“I don’t know, but I doubt that he would. Killing her would serve no purpose until he’s certain you are dead.”

“How do you figure?”

“Who is next in line after you?”

“Thera.”

“And if she dies?”

“There is no one to take the throne.”

“Then why would he kill her if he could rule the throne through her?”

She settled down a bit at that, hoping he was right. “So you think she’s safe?”

“As long as you live, aye.”

“It’s true,” Lutian chimed in. “He would not dare harm her until he’s sure of your fate or lack thereof. To kill her would make everyone mad, especially the lady Thera. She would be most put out to find herself dead by their hands.”

It was a small hope, but one she seized gratefully. “Are you completely certain?”

It was Christian who answered. “Nay, not truly. But if he intends her harm, there’s no way to get to her in time. We can only hope for the best.”

Adara wanted to cry as pain engulfed her. She
loved Thera and had never intended to put her in harm’s way.

Damn Basilli and Selwyn for this. And damn herself for being so foolish. When she returned home, she would make certain the beasts paid dearly for their treachery.

Provided she made it home again…

“Thank you, Christian,” she said quietly.

“For what?”

“Saving my life.”

Christian inclined his head to her, but didn’t speak.

As they rode, Adara glanced down to his hand that held the horse’s reins. Tanned and scarred, it was a large, strong hand, well-shaped and masculine. It was obvious his weren’t the hands of a courtier or prince. They were the hands of a capable warrior who was unused to pampering or mollycoddling. And yet the sight of that hand warmed her greatly, far more than any soft, gentle hand that she had seen on other noblemen.

His was the hand of a rugged man.

He turned his hand slightly so that she could see the back of it. Adara frowned at the sight of what appeared to be a crescent moon and scimitar branded into his tanned flesh.

Without thinking, she reached out and touched the raised mark. “What is this?”

Christian couldn’t speak as bitter agony assailed him. He glanced down to his hand where
the permanent reminder of his past mocked him daily, just as his enemies had intended.

“‘Tis nothing,” he said, unwilling to share that horror with a stranger. Even if that stranger was his wife.

What had gone on during his captivity was no one’s business except his and those friends who had escaped with him.

There in the deepest pit of the Holy Land, he and his friends had banded together to survive the unimaginable and return home.

Then again, not everyone had gone home. Some had been unable to face those they’d left behind. Since their escape, like him, they wandered constantly, trying to outrun the demons of their past.

But then, it wasn’t that
he
couldn’t face his past, his cousin, or his people. It was more that having lived in hell, he’d only wanted to save others like himself. Something he couldn’t do while enslaved to a throne.

Kings and princes were never free to do as they pleased. They were politicians who must curry favor and make treaties.

The only treaty Christian wanted was the one he had with his sword. If someone got in his way, he removed him. He owed no one anything and he lived only to serve his brothers-in-arms.

As a king, one wrong step wouldn’t just endanger his own life, but the lives of everyone in his kingdom. It was a burden he’d never wanted.

He’d spent the whole of his youth in captivity
being told when to speak, where he could go and how to live. Those days were long past. His life was now his own and he intended to keep it that way.

Adara tried a few times to engage Christian in conversation, but he made it readily apparent that he wasn’t willing to speak as they traveled through the foreign countryside.

By nightfall, she was exhausted. Christian refused to stop.