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Chapter 58
Last Updated:
2022-09-23 03:00:07Related chapters
Wed to a Wicked Warrior Chapter 59
As mid day drew near Fann watched from the window of his solar as the people began arriving. Most were quite shocked to see three women in the stocks right outside the keep. This was not what he had hoped to show his people as a first impression of their new Laird, but the women may have been trying to poison him and it was also important the clan know disloyalty and treachery would both be punished. The serving lad was strapped to a chair in the corner of the kitchen with a pitcher in front of him. He either had to tell them what was in the ale, or prove it harmless by drinking it himself. So far he was either unable or unwilling to do either.Will and An Gille were stationed on either side of the women, warning off the few who thought to do them an insult and telling all who would listen the reason they were in the stocks. Hopefully that would temper the reaction of the people. He didn’t want them to fear him too much to stay. There was no point in having a clan if most of the peopl
Last Updated : 2022-09-24Wed to a Wicked Warrior Chapter 60
Eleanor sat in the field looking from her sketchbook to Storm and back again. Her ability had improved a lot in the past month, but she still could not get the horses neck to look right and with Mairead gone she could get no pointers or lessons to fix it. She’d never be as skilled as Mairead, but her drawings were fairly nice now. Especially when she drew plants or flowers, things that didn’t move much. She was not nearly as good if she had to hold an image of a living creature in her mind and draw it with accuracy after it had moved. She was a bit disappointed that Eliana wouldn’t try learning to draw with her. She had hoped to be close with her sister once again, but she and Eliana had little in common. They had similar eyes and faces, like their mother’s, but that was all. Eliana liked to sit and stitch. She didn’t mind being told what to do and honestly was quite dull to talk to. Eleanor found herself more drawn to Isobel’s strong spirit, and her wild, reckless antics or Mairead’s
Last Updated : 2022-09-24Wed to a Wicked Warrior Chapter 61
The setting sun was coming in through the tiny window bathing her toes in a reddish glow and lighting up the wooden beams above her. Eleanor was lying on her back with her hands behind her head, watching the light dancing on her skin.She’d killed a man. Oddly, she didn’t even feel badly about that. She was certain he was not sent by Fann and her actions had kept her safe. She hadn’t exactly intended to kill him, but of course that wouldn’t matter. A women who killed a man hardly ever got out of it with her life.Padraig had seen to her comfort as best he could. She was in the top of the tower rather than in the dungeon for one thing and plenty of food and drink were being brought to her. She wasn’t shackled either, which had enraged the man’s friend beyond reason. Even Thomas, who knew both men, had seen it as an accident and didn’t feel she should be tried. The emissary too had said that the king would object to such a charge. None the less, since the man insisted on pursuing the c
Last Updated : 2022-09-24Wed to a Wicked Warrior Chapter 62
Fann’s anger and worry both grew as he rode East. At least his brilliant wife had suspected a ruse and devised a way to postpone being taken from the castle. They hadn’t really made a password. He should have thought of that. It was good that Isobel had been able to teach her something about using a dirk in his absence too, he certainly hadn’t taken the time to before her injury and she hadn’t been recovered enough when he left her. Eleanor must have been well healed now to be able to use it so well. He should have come to retrieve her long ago. The bells began ringing as he approached MacInnis keep, but Fann didn’t slow his pace. He continued on and through the gates at full speed, trusting that the guards would recognize his horse. He heard a voice yelling for the archers to hold their fire as he crossed the grounds. Fann leapt from the horses back and was half way to the doors when Padraig and Thomas came out.“Where were you!” Fann demanded angrily, stomping up the last of the ste
Last Updated : 2022-09-24Wed to a Wicked Warrior Chapter 63
The day had passed, and the night, and another day too. She had eaten all the bread that Isobel had left. How long would it take? The fact that she had killed a man was beginning to feel more real to her than it had after it happened. If she let herself think on it she felt like retching. There had been so much blood... The sound of footsteps in the bush caught her attention. She hadn’t heard human footsteps since Isobel and Griogair had walked away. Were they coming back? She held her breath listening and nearly called out when the footsteps stopped at the base of the tree, but something told her all was not well. Friendly visitors would have called to her by now. Carefully she tugged the blanket up to be sure all of her was covered. Isobel had said that if anyone looked up from the bottom all they would see was a piece of bark and blackness. It would appear to be only old, dead tree so long as the blanket covered all of her.It was likely a hunter she reasoned. Perhaps setting a sn
Last Updated : 2022-09-25Wed to a Wicked Warrior Chapter 64
It was a much longer ride to this keep and even Fann’s drestier could not make it in one day. Stopping to rest was torture, but the horses could only go so far, so fast. When Fann’s horse crested the hill below Aslasdair’s keep, the rest of the group was lagging so far behind that Fann couldn’t see them anymore. The flag bearer had handed him the flag when the young man’s horse could no longer easily keep up with Fann’s. With that in hand, Fann had charged towards the keep as fast as his horse, Deahman, could go. He heard a bell tolling in the distance and hoisted the flag as high as he could without slowing his pace until he was nearly in range of an arrow. Then he slowed and looked to see how he was being welcomed. The gates were open. He could see armed men on the ramparts, but none seemed to be ready to fire on him. He slowed Deahman to a canter as he passed through the gates and dropped the flag to the guard as he passed through. There was nobody on the castle steps so Fann scann
Last Updated : 2022-09-25Wed to a Wicked Warrior Chapter 65
A week later the healer said Eleanor was healed enough to ride, so she sat in front of Fann on his horse as they left MacLoud land. Her head was on his chest and her eyes drifting closed in the late summer heat and steady motion of the horse when she heard him speaking to her. His breath was hot on her hair.“Did you unstitch the spot on your dress as I asked?” “Of course, even though you would not tell me why such a hole is needed. It makes me worry though, that it will open and someone will see my undergarments.”“Your bloomers are the same colour as your skirt. Nobody will know.” She felt his hand on her leg and looked down to see it sliding through the hole on the side. He squeezed her thigh through her bloomers. “Open your legs a wee bit. I’m going to show you what the slit was for.” Eleanor glanced around, but the other men were a ways off and didn’t seem to have heard him or to be paying them any attention at all. She looked up at her husband and saw the glint that always came
Last Updated : 2022-09-25Wed to a Wicked Warrior Chapter 66
Eleanor sat on Storm’s back, alone, to ride the last of the trip onto her homeland. Fann had suggested it. Insisted on it actually, saying that although Beck was pretty Storm would be a statement of her position and power. When she challenged his change of mind on letting her ride her stallion alone Fann had grudgingly admitted that he wanted her on the fastest horse in the country if someone attacked and they found they needed to run, and he wasn’t going to be sitting behind to crush her again.She looked down at her new devantiere. Fann said this pattern was the MacDonald plaid, though she was certain she had never seen it before. She wasn’t sure she liked the pattern over much, but Fann did. Or he was proud that it marked the can as one at least. Apparently, most of their clan wore this already. He certainly liked the slit in the side and the fact that her bloomers had been made to match. She felt herself blush at the thought of how many times he’d brought her to climax in these pa
Last Updated : 2022-09-26
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Wed to a Wicked Warrior Epilogue
“You were going to be gone without saying goodbye.” Fann froze, dropping his head. “I thought it would be easier.”“You thought wrong. Anything can happen, husband. Anytime. Especially given what you are going to do.”“I’m sure it is not as grave as that.”“Never leave me without letting me tell you one last time how much I love you.” Guilt prickled at him. He knew how much she wished she had been given a chance to say goodbye to her mother and sister when she went to the abbey. And to some of the nuns when she’d left there. He should not have considered leaving her this way.“I’m sorry. Clearly, I wasn’t thinking.”“Since I am a good, kind wife, and I love you, I will forgive you. I think you’re going to want to punish me though.” Fann wrinkled his brow. What on earth was she talking about?“Punish you?”“Well, it isn’t very safe for me to go riding at night. Alone. On Storm. Is it?” His head snapped up to look at her for the first time. She was standing by the gate of an empty stall
Wed to a Wicked Warrior Chapter 86
The doors to the great hall closed with a loud bang and Eleanor spun around to see an older woman in an elegant gown standing in the doorway, surrounded by guards dressed in the same uniform that the King’s men wore. “Those are complicated questions to answer young one,” the woman said, “but also very simple if you know the story of how you came to be.”“Sister Grace!”Oblivious to the gasps of the others in the room, Eleanor ran and launched herself into the open arms of the woman. It was only when she let go that she noticed everyone else was silent and bowing low. Stepping out of the woman’s arms she looked around nervously, then back at the woman who had cared for her for the past eight years. “Sister Grace? Why are you dressed like that?”“This is who I am.”“Who?”“The name you know me by was a fabrication. The word sister was used to make me seem more like a nun, and Grace was from the title ‘your grace’ as a noble would sometimes be addressed in an abbey. This is why you know
Wed to a Wicked Warrior Chapter 85
The cold, dreary weather had put an unfortunate damper on the mood in the Great Hall. Fann had brought Eleanor down for dinner, hoping the company of some of the children and women folk would cheer her, but nobody was in a very cheery mood. Even little Siofra couldn’t seem to come up with a happy ending to any of her fairy tales. The dinner had been good and the company was welcome, but all were quieter than normal and seemed to just be waiting for Eleanor to retire so they could go home to bed.Eleanor swirled the steaming tankard under her nose, then put it on the table and pushed it away. It didn’t smell bad, it just didn’t smell quite right. She waved her hand over it and the serving boy jumped up to grab it. She’d have to go back to brewing the tea herself. Yarrow flowers seemed to be particularly difficult for the kitchen staff.“You are still an overly picky my wee little harlot. Drink your brew, daughter, and quit giving my staff extra work.” Fann leaped to his feet and knock
Wed to a Wicked Warrior Chapter 84
As the days passed Fann grew tired of sitting in the library watching his wife. Sometimes, with Uilleam at the door, he would leave her in the room by herself, but she got lonely that way. He didn’t want her to grow sad again, so much of the day he was the one locked in her library with her. He hoped the murder of crows would arrive soon for there was nothing in this room full of books and gadgets that held his attention for any length of time. The first few days they had spent arranging the room. A little bit of time every day was spent helping him improve his reading, but mostly he just watched her work and listened to her talk about it. He had considered asking her to do her work naked so at least he’d have something he enjoyed looking at, but if she did that he probably wouldn’t be able to let her get much work done. He interrupted her for his pleasure often enough as it was. They had just enjoyed a bit of coupling and he had fallen asleep. He thought she had too, but when he op
Wed to a Wicked Warrior Chapter 83
The bells rang out from the top of the keep, pulling Eleanor from her slumber. She reached over to find Fann gone, his side of the bed already cold. She sat up scowling. The fur over the window kept out the chill autumn air, but also the daylight. Had she overslept? It was so easy to do when the room stayed dark. Fann, on the other hand, always seemed to wake and have nearly a day’s full of work done before she could break her fast. She padded over to the window and pulled back the fur so she could see up the hill. The rider certainly wasn’t in any hurry, and being alone it was likely he was a threat. There were a few satchels on his horse, perhaps he was looking for a home. Movement at the stables caught her eye and she saw Fann and Uilleam looking up the hill. No doubt discussing if they let the man come or head out to meet him. When no horses were called for Eleanor turned back into the room. If she dressed quickly, she could make it outside to see who it was.Fann stood in front o
Wed to a Wicked Warrior Chapter 82
With fur wrapped around her, Eleanor sat near the fire brushing her hair dry. She had eaten, bathed, and the tub had been emptied but still, Fann had not joined her. He had said that he wouldn’t be long, but it must have been at least an hour since he’d left her.The clan had been busy in the past fortnight. The new furniture Fann had commissioned was already in their rooms. A new bed with a pair of chests at the foot of it, and the woodwork matched that of the new settee, chairs, and table. There was a small bookshelf beside the fire, empty still, but she could unpack some books in the morning. Another chair with very odd legs that would rock when you sat in it was only a short distance from the fire. The washstand was new too, detailed with both wood and iron to match a rather odd table. Those two pieces they had picked up on MacInnis lands just that morning. Leaving her brush on the mantle Eleanor walked over to take a better look at the table. It was very sturdy! A combination of
Wed to a Wicked Warrior Chapter 81
Fann looked to the sky, glad the rain had held off so far. He had sent the carts of seed and furniture on ahead down the road with half the men. The other half had come with him to distribute the livestock to the crofters. Eleanor had insisted on coming so she could be sure to meet everyone. It was probably better that she kept busy anyways, even if the wind was a bit cool and the air came.The gratitude of all the crofters astounded him! At first, their reactions had him feeling proud to be able to improve their lot so much with such small additions. Then it had him furious that Donald had made them go without for so long that the younger children did not even know what goats were! The king had given them many cows, goats, and sheep as part of his deal with Fann. Most had been bred by Paddy’s animals and would have young in the spring. Fann had used his own funds to add to the tally of livestock, buying several young pigs that had been cheap because they were born too late in the ye
Wed to a Wicked Warrior Chapter 80
“You will ride Beck, Eleanor. Storm is staying here.” She glanced around to be sure they were alone before she said, “but Fann-”“No. It is not up for debate. We will be travelling in a large group so there is little chance of attack and no need for his speed. I don’t know how he will react with all those other animals around, not to mention the men and dogs corralling them. I don’t want to put anyone at greater risk in what could very well already be a bit chaotic. Not you, not our clansmen, not even this blasted beast. Beck is sure-footed, calm and used to a wide assortment of creatures. Storm is going to stay here and we will return for him on another trip or Paddy can bring him when he and Lia come to visit.” She sighed and dug a few more carrots from her satchel to feed to him. “Do not try to disobey me on this.”“I won’t,” she said as she stroked the horse and stepped out of his stall, “you are right. He will not be happy with all the men shouting and cracking whips. He will be
Wed to a Wicked Warrior Chapter 79
The bonfire glowed brightly, casting light and heat over everyone in the yard. Lively music was being played and everyone, young and old, was dancing around. She grinned as Fann spun her around, her feet lifting off the ground. They were both laughing by the time her feet hit the ground again. Eleanor couldn’t remember ever having so much fun! Did MacDonald clan never have these parties? There were certainly plenty of children about, so if they had partied like this when she was small surely she would remember it. If it wasn’t something they did, she and Fann would have to start the tradition. It was too good a celebration not to! Their new clan would need to have fairs like the Stuart clan, but the girls could compete just the same as the boys, though perhaps not against them. Different events for lads and lasses as well as for women and men! And then a feast and a party with a big fire, music, dancing... Perhaps they could even do this often! The solstice, maybe another for Christm
