Chapter 1

“Where is my bride!” Fann's demand was so loud it drowned out the music and stopped the giggling chatter of the courtesans. Every person in the room turned to stare at him as the entire throne room fell silent. His dark eyes scanned the massive space from the grand hall on his right, over the groups of people milling around dressed in overly cumbersome clothing, past the empty throne, and all the way around to the hallway off to his left. “The chit was to be here, ready for me to wed upon my return but there is no one in the chamber adjoining mine. Where is she!” His voice echoed like thunder in the silence.

He stood tall, sword at his side while he surveyed all in the room, knowing that even in the king’s absence, someone here had the answers he sought. Most in the room would not meet his eye. He scoffed inwardly. Cowards of wealthy nobles the lot of them. One girl peered out at him with a coy smile, glancing down at her ample bosom and then back up at him. He turned away from her, uninterested in yet another woman who tossed her body at any man. He was ready for a wife.

He’d been expecting to wed this day. He had been looking forward to it more than he cared to admit, and he was beyond annoyed that there was yet another delay. The king had been dangling this prize in front of him for far too long.

Movement in the corridor behind the throne caught his attention. A chubby man in deep blue robes scurried around the throne and rushed towards him, his eyes darting around the room as he went, bouncing randomly and focusing on nothing. People slipped themselves swiftly out of his way as though the unimpressive-looking man deserved the same respect as the king himself. He stopped in front of Fann and looked straight at his chest, talking to it as though it had a face of its own.

“Fann, welcome back. The king has one more task for you,”

Fann scowled down at the man’s balding head.

“I’m glad to see you are well, Harold. Why is your cousin not here to tell me this himself.”

Harold lifted his chin to better face the man he was talking to. “You remember me! Good. The king regrets his absence, but he was called away on other, more pressing affairs. The reward he had arranged for your service has been amended slightly, through no fault of his majesty’s. There is an additional problem you must take care of before going to claim your lands.”

“Explain.”

"First, your bride." The man held out a small portrait in a gilded frame. Fann took it into his large hand and looked at it for a moment. The face was not quite the one he’d expected to see. The colouring was different, the hair tamer and lighter. The other had been bonny, but this woman was far more beautiful in Fann’s eyes. He raised an eyebrow. Had the king remembered he preferred blonds? The other had been shown a full body image of a very curvy, finely wrought woman. This one only showed a face.

“The king regrets his deception, but it was necessary for the safety of your bride,” Harold began to explain, “the girl in this portrait, Elenore Ann Catharine MacDonald, is heir to the MacDonald clan, a vast land with plenty of rich soil and game in the forest. Just as he promised. The King thought you would find the woman to your liking, even though she will soon have twenty summers.”

“The land sounds to be what I was expecting, and a bonny wife is a bonny wife. She is still young enough to have many bairns. I object only that the chit is not here as I was promised.”

“Her parents had her sequestered in an abbey on a small island when she had two and ten summers. It was necessary for her safety as men were plotting for her hand and threats of abduction had been made.”

“Is the additional task that I must now collect my bride from the abbey?”

“Not quite.” Harold shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat. “When the king’s men arrived at the abbey to bring Elanore to court they were informed that she had been abducted that very morning, just before they arrived. That was two days ago.” Fann narrowed his eyes at Harold, knowing full well the man couldn’t see him well enough to recognize the anger in his eyes but would hear it in his voice.

“My intended has been missing for two days and I’m only hearing of it now?”

Harold shifted again and cleared his throat uncomfortably.

“Well, actually, well yes, but...er...”

“But?” Harold jumped and cleared his throat again.

“Lord Kilkern. She is not your intended. Elenore is already your wife. The king wed the two of you by proxy two years ago, when you first struck the bargain with him, which means it is your wife who has been abducted."

"I have been wed for two years?"

"Yes. You see, the king wanted this woman kept safe and a married woman can not be married off by her family or stolen as a bride by anyone else. If you object, the king could annul the marriage, remove the current titles and find you a new prize, but he hoped this would suit you. He did not say why, but her safety is very important to his majesty. You were his first choice of husband for her. There were even guards at the door to the abbey and a woman the king trusted inside to keep a close eye. We don’t know how they managed it. Now that you know who she is and have seen her likeness, if you agree to it and leave here, then it's final. She is your wife and the intended lands and titles remain yours. The king felt that would give you the option of backing out if the girl didn't suit.”

“The deal was for a title, a prosperous clan, and a bonny wife, so all still appears satisfactory. But what if my wife has been killed by her abductors or is never found?”

“The king has already titled you Earl of Kilkern and in wedding you to Elenore by proxy he ensured you are the Laird MacDonald and land is yours, no matter what happens to the lass. Unless she dies at your hand, then he will see you drawn and quartered. I believe I already mentioned her safety is important to him.”

“The old Laird MacDonald does not object to the marriage of his daughter and loss of his lands?”

“The king took everything the man owned and found husbands for both his daughters as payment for a debt. The choice was that or his immediate execution, so he did not object.”

“No. I suppose he wouldn’t.”

“Donald MacDonald forfeited everything to save his life. The king left him to run the keep until you return and said he would be provided for by the clan until his death. But he said to tell you that if the old laird and his wife make things difficult for you, you are free to deal with them as you see fit.”

“I’m not sure my wife will accept my method of discipline when it comes to her parents.”

“That is not her place.” Fann nodded but knew full well that most men made do with far less obedience from their wives than was publicly admitted. A happy home required peace, which usually required dealing with the whims of one's wife in a more gentle manner than was acceptable with warriors on the battlefield. “I believe, however," Harold continued, "that the king meant you were free to move them to a croft if having them in the keep bothered you. Or you could send them elsewhere so long as food and shelter were available. Their care was given to you as a responsibility with the laird-ship, but how you provide that or how much you must provide is not in the agreement. Enough to live, that is all that’s required. Comfort was not promised, so even a cave would work."

"I see." The throne room had remained silent all this time. Fann looked around, watching the eyes flit away from him as he turned. Apparently, his marriage was today's entertainment for the courtiers.

"Your wife is in need of rescue, Fann!” Harold exclaimed with a wide smile that lead Fann to believe the king's blind cousin felt Fann would find this wonderful news and a grand adventure. Perhaps the entire thing had been staged. The king was always one to create intrigue where none was found. Fann knew the king well enough to hear the sound of it in his voice. Harold however, was not as easy to read, which could be why he was the one delivering the news. Mayhap the king was watching from his secret passage. “To complicate your task," Harold continued, "we know not where she is, nor who has abducted her, nor why, and she knows not that you are her husband! She should go easily with you if you say, ‘your mother bid me fetch you home,’ exactly like that.”

“Why?”

“Some sort of code I believe, a way for her to know who was safe to leave with if her parents were not the ones to collect her on their own.”

“Did the nuns know nothing of where I should begin my search?”

“No. Only that the men who took her appeared to be barbarian Northmen. Their skin was tattooed and their clothing was made from animal skins. It seems as though they knew who they were there for and where to find her. They took her swiftly from the gardens at dawn and touched nothing else in the abbey. Everyone was in the chapel except Eleanor. Two nuns went to see why she was late for prayers saw her being hauled over the wall. That is all we know.”