Shay appeared beside her, and snatched her daughter from him. Megan was sobbing, but seemed fine.
“Thank you.” She kissed her daughter’s forehead and held her tight.
Bram shrugged. With an eyebrow raised, he watched Kaireen. Heat inflamed her face and she turned on her heel back to the well. Knowing he risked his life for her niece tugged at a piece of her heart. Part of her wanted to fall into his arms and kiss his foolish brave face. Then her resolved choked the notion away.
She dipped her third and last blanket into the water. Beside her Bram dunked his blanket in the well and it hissed from the heat of the fire. He sprinted toward the house to help the others dowse the flames.
Once again, she heard Shay’s frantic shrieks.
She dropped the blanket when the words rang clear through the night.
“Douglas, my husband!” Shay cried. “Asleep, inside. Hurry, before the fire kills him.”
“No.” Kaireen waved her arms. And dread filled her until she thought she might collapse from the weight.
But Bram, covered in a soaked blanket, headed back inside the fire. He knew not Douglas was dead. Died months ago.
Clansmen and women stared at Shay. They knew the truth. Kaireen watched as he limped back inside.
Beside her sister, she skidded to a halt.
“Douglas!” her sister cried.
She grasped Shay’s shoulders and shook her. Her niece clung to her mother’s charred skirts. If Shay were not with child, Kaireen would have slapped her.
“He is dead.” She fought the urge to slap her anyway when Shay broke into more wails. “You sent another man to his death looking for a ghost.”
Did fate punish her? She had saved Bram’s life once. Now, anguish knifed her heart. Her throat closed. Without thought she ran toward the burning cottage. Someone tossed a drenched blanket across her, but she did not stop.
Near the entrance, the heat coursed through her. Her feet did not stop as she raced ahead inside, bumping into Bram’s back.
“What?”
A flame curtain fell behind them, sealing them in.
Now that she was here, panic seized her words.
The thatched roof had collapsed, blocking the doorway. There was no escape. If they stayed they would be cooked alive, only the blanket kept the sparks from licking her flesh.
Steam rose from the blanket in the heat. She realized if not for whoever tossed the soaked blanket her skin would melt like a beeswax candle. It was good that Bram already had a wet blanket when he rushed inside.
She had hoped to run inside the burning home and get Bram out. But with the fire hissing at them from the pieces of roof on the stone floor around them, she doubted they would survive. Soon the smoke would suffocate them and the fire would gnaw on their bones.
She shuddered. This was not how she wanted to die.
Black smoke poured through the rooms. Kaireen’s eyes burned. Coughing wracked her and she slumped over. The weight of the doused blanket and the heat felled her to her knees.
“Kaireen?” Bram knelt beside her. “Are you mad, woman?”
“No.” She hacked through coughs. “My sister is mistaken.” Fire snapped the thatched roof. “Her husband died in battle.”
“I realized no one was left too late.” He heaved her to his side. “Now if you think perishing in fire will prove your love to me, I disagree. I will settle for you showing me with lovemaking on our wedding day.”
She was about to protest, when crashing thunder answered. Fire burst through the roof and a piece of timber banged.
Shocked by the sound, Kaireen ducked. But the enflamed timber crashed down across her skirts.
Greedily, the fire scorched her clothing. Thank goodness her legs were not trapped. She needed to push the log off and she would be free.
But the log would not move. Heat pulsed through her hands.
Coughing beside her, Bram tried to move the log. “’Tis too heavy.”
“Leave me here.” She clenched her fist. It would do no good if he died because of her selfishness. She would have purgatory forever. “Others may come back with you to help.”
He ignored her and patted the flames dancing along her skirts with his bare hands. Since he was stubborn, she hoped God would forgive her. Her hands ached as she too beat at the flames. With a grunt, Bram tore at her gown.
“’Tis my favorite.”
“No one will care when the fire burn you and it to a pile of ashes.”
Though she knew he was right, she could not keep the frown from her face. He ripped her skirts away and half of her shift. Wasting no time, she scrambled up.
No man had seen this much of her without clothing. She tugged on the remaining pieces of her shift to hide her legs from his sight.
As if not caring, Bram’s hands thrust her forward into a back room. Smoke billowed around them, but she thought they entered the kitchen.
Shay’s kitchen did not have any windows or doors to escape. They would die here.
Thoughts ran through her mind. If she ever got free of this mess, she would flay her sister until she knew the feel of burning from the inside of her bones and out. Kaireen’s skin prickled in the heat.
Smoke burned her throat. With each breath, soot tickled her lungs. She doubted if she would be able to ever breathe without choking again, much less talk. Maybe this was her punishment for speaking her mind so much, instead of bowing to everyone as was expected.
Remembering the damp blanket she tried to cover Bram with the edge. But his hands shoved her forward. The blanket was dry from the heat anyway. His had long dried out as well.
• • •
Unable to see, Kaireen held one hand on the blanket and the other in front of her.
Bram shoved her forward. If not for her arm stretched in front of her like a sightless woman, she would have smacked her head against the stone wall.
“What is this?” she choked.
Perhaps she should have led them out. Bram had forced them both into the kitchen’s hearth. The fire laughed at them from the doorway.
“There is no way out now.”
“Let me handle this.” His tone sounded harsh.
“Och, you have done a fine job now.” She huffed when he backed into her.
“We are safer here than anywhere else inside.”
“Ah, so when the fire traps us underneath the beams, we will die together then.”
Thought she heard his teeth grate. “No, ’tis the hearth we are taking shelter in. Fire will not be able to burn these stones.”
He was right, but the smoke crawling in did not lift her spirits.
She shifted the blanket to cover them. Her eyes caught the flicker of flames on the wood floor of the kitchen. “I cannot breathe.”
“Cover your face with this.” He handed back the blanket to her.
She shook her head, but his blackened face caused her to obey.
What was the use? They were trapped. They would die together, but at least she would not have to worry about marrying. The thought of her dying and Bram alive to marry Rebecca made her laugh.
“What?”
“Nothing. Thinking of what I shall do to my sister if we survive.” She hunched inside the hearth with Bram’s back facing the brunt of the fire. No doubt he wanted to keep the flames from her as long as possible. But the fire chewed at the wooden walls of the kitchen.
Through the smoke, she heard shouts, but they sounded so far away.
His body pressed closer to hers and she licked her cracked lips.
“Fire rages against us and the thing on your mind is a kiss?” His teeth gleamed white against his soot colored face.
“No, I wonder if I have the strength to push you into the fire for getting us here.”
“Well,” he winked. “’Tis not bad idea if you were thinking of kissing. Mayhap we need more practice if you cannot admit your thoughts freely to me yet.”
She frowned, but already her lips tingled from the thought of his kiss.
With a coughed chuckle, he then leaned his head to her. His lips brushed hers as if she held nectar for him.
The thought of death lingered in her mind so she relaxed into his embrace. After all, if they died she would be forced to marry no one. Her lips opened for him with a sigh. Bravely she soothed her tongue across his. But he did not laugh at her attempts. His tongue danced with hers. Taken aback, she clung to his shoulders. Liquid heat melted her inside and it had nothing to do with the fire crackling around them.
He eased her hands from his shoulders and ended their kiss.
“Enough for now.” He said between coughs. “The smoke will kill us soon.”
When she opened her eyes, smoke engulfed the kitchen in darkness. She no longer saw his face and coughing racked her body.
“Lay down, the end will be soon.” He whispered to her.
She obeyed, and was amazed she breathed a little better. Again, she thought of her torn dress and cursed. If Elva had warned her sooner about the fire, she would have donned riding clothes which would not be torn to shreds as they were now.
What if they died when the fire eased? All would see her dead with Bram and her legs exposed. It would be the talk of the keep for years.
Bram stumbled forward. His breath warm upon her face.
“Thought t-they would have s-soothed the f-fire by now.” He sounded apologetic through his horse coughs echoed inside the hearth. “I guess I will not taste the warriors’ banquet in Valhalla.”
She ground her teeth. “Well, at least I do not have to worry about our wedding anymore.”
“No need to worry even if we were not dying.” He leaned his head on the stone floor. “You would have pleased me regardless of what you wore or did not wear to our bed on our wedding day. Though in case of another fire, I would advise against a gown sweeping along the floor as this one did.”
She punched him in the shoulder and then worried she had broken the bones in her hand.
Smoke squeezed them. Until blackness settled over her and she could not breathe, could not think.
• • •
From a dark tunnel someone carried her. Her eyes were welded her eyes shut.
Voices argued around her. “The fire did not touch her skin too badly.” A woman said.
“Did the fire burn her flesh?” She recognized the voice of one of the stable hands had fallen into a fire when he was a babe. His face was like a melted candle along one side.
Her hands bandaged, she scrubbed at her eyes to open them. Standing around her as she was sat on the ground was Elva, Shay, and some of the other women.
The fire of Shay’s home was extinguished. But all that remained was the hearth and smoldering splinters. Fires mocked them from the other cottages and the field.
“Where is Bram?”
No one met her gaze. How could he abandon her like this? It was his fault for not listening to her when she tried to warn him.
Elva forced a vial of liquid in her bandaged hand.
“Drink this,” she whispered. “Will ease the coughing and clear your lungs.”
Though the liquid stung her throat, she did not weep.
Kaireen stared at the half moon creeping through the clouds. She heard coughing in the distance and people milling about.
Obviously she was ill-suited to have a husband. After her mourning, she would enlist in the convent. God must want her as a nun if disaster trod so fiercely on her heels. All of his bravery flooded back to her. He telling her to leave when the other Lochlanns came, whatever he said to Owen made the man stop beating his wife, putting up with her temper and harsh words, and even today fighting the fire valiantly to save them. The image of him covered in smoke and ash while he rescued her niece pulled at a piece inside her. She searched her mind for any noble men she knew who would have done as much as he and was chastened to know no one.
Fire eased its possession of the homes and fields as the men and women pounded the last traces with soaked blankets and cloaks.
Two chimneys toward above the wreckage like watchtowers. One was the one she and Bram had shared. Nothing stirred in the remains. She accepted the hugs of the women, feeling numb.
A man’s hand wrapped in bandages and covered in soot extended to her. “Let the woman and child ride with you.” The voice, tinted with familiarity in her mind, was clouded behind raspy coughs.
She nodded woodenly. Guilt made her look to thank the man for his help with the fire, when Bram’s azure eyes held her. He smiled and his teeth lit his darkened face. She realized he held her hand, but while she wanted to keep holding on, pride made her jerk away.
“Someone must not want us dead.” He winked.
Her handmaid pushed a colored flask into Bram’s empty hand. “Drink this to rid your cough.”
He downed the liquid and then handed back the flask. “Tastes like cedar and sand.”
“Never mind.” Elva waved her hand. “Sit and rest before you ride back.”
“I am fine.” He mumbled and then fell to his knees. “Well, maybe a rest will do me good.”
Bram coughed three more times, then vomited black mucus. Then his coughing stopped. He breathed in and the muscles in his face relaxed. “Thank you.”
Elva nodded and then stalked away to assist others.
Shivering from a gust of wind, Kaireen moved away to gather her sister and niece. Despite nearly dying, she could not keep a smile from her face. She mounted and waited for her sister to hand her Megan and then to mount as well. Her niece, Megan, sat before her in the saddle, her sister behind her.
Bram strode forward. “Take care.” He scratched her mare behind the ears. “This fire did not rouse from natural causes.”
She frowned at him. Megan whimpered against her.
He leaned forward, his hand brushing her knee. And she tried not to think about his hand on her bare skin. The fire had damaged this gown beyond repair and her shift did not give her much cover. “The hearth in the bedroom was the only one with logs.”
“Perhaps a spark started the blaze upon the roof.” Kaireen shrugged.
“No, the fire was strongest in the front of your sister’s dwelling. The wind carried the flames sideways to the others. I wager this fire was created by the hand of an enemy.”
Who would want to kill her sister? Her mind rummaged for answers, but found none save the spy.