All Chapters of The Invisible Bride (By the King's Command book 4): Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Griogair gripped his dirk, wishing he had opted to ready his bow and arrow instead, but knowing it was too late to try. He’d have to hope for the best against the massive dog with nothing but his hands and a wee dirk. Just as the animal was about to crash through the bush directly in front of him a hare leaped from underneath it in a mad dash for its life. When the dog’s eyes and angle of attack shifted to follow the prey, Gair let loose with his dirk and it embedded in the hare’s neck, pinning the animal to the ground. The dog snarled but picked up the twitching hare. It looked towards the men, then at Gair and back again before finally deciding to take its catch to its master, as the beast had been trained to do. Gair headed out after it, breaking into a slight jog when he left the dense trees.He heard the men drawing their swords as he approached so he raised his hands to show he wasn’t armed to attack.“I just want me dirk back,” he spoke in Scotts as he slowed to a walk and app

With his hand on the hilt of his sword, Gair slipped between two crofts at the edge of the woods and stopped abruptly. The footfalls behind him continued. Slower than his own had been, but not far enough behind for him to have time to really disappear. A long row of wood was stacked just a few feet from one house and toppling over on the end almost to the wall of the other house. There was just enough room for him to slip into the dark shadows of it. He took his bow, quiver, and the satchel of food off quickly, slipping them out of sight under a bush. He lay his sword in the hollow between the fallen logs and climbed in after it. Clouds moved in over the moon, darkening the area further as he slid in and crouched low. The footsteps he’d heard following him grew louder, then stopped. Peering between the logs he saw the shape of a man’s legs, but wasn’t high enough to see the plaid. It might have been too dark out to see the colours clearly in any case. The feet shuffled around in a cir

Everything hurt.That was the first thing Gair thought as his mind eased him awake. It felt like every hair on his head and body was poking him. He felt worse than he had in the palace after spending the night with Charles and his courtesans. Was he ill? No. He didn’t feel as though he were fevered and his stomach was empty but not paining him. It might very well be the only thing not paining him. Was he asleep on a bed of nails? What could he possibly have done last night to make him feel so wretched? And why was he so wet?A sudden flash of light ripped through the air and he jumped in surprise. He was outside? Why had he fallen asleep outside? Just before the light disappeared his eyes focused in on the face of an angel with bright green eyes. Why did she look so afraid? The loud clap of thunder made him jump even more than the flash of light had. No sooner had the rumble faded than there was another bright flash of light. The brightness seemed to cut into his eyes and pained his

Gair ran his hand over the back of his neck and sat down near the fire. Their stack of peat and wood was nearly gone. They’d have to either get more or move on come morning. He had no idea where they could go. He still didn’t know where they were! He didn’t know if he was responsible for the safety of these lasses, though it seemed he was. How on earth could he look after them if he didn’t even know how to get home from here? Even the sky was no help, clouds hid the sun and would hide the stars all night. He couldn’t even tell which general direction to travel in. Well, away from the sea, but other than that... The silence was a gift to his aching head at first, but it soon began to feel awkward. He wanted to know whatever the lasses could tell him, but he didn’t want to let on how clueless he was. “M’Laird’s head pains him,” the lass said, “but I have no poultice to fix it for him. Grandmame will have some. Will we go there tomorrow?” Gair looked from the lass to Isobel. “Yer head

“How in the bloody hell did you lose a sleeping woman!”The Duke’s booming voice froze Izzy in her tracks and she crouched low behind the nearest bush. She couldn’t make out what the soldiers were answering. They’d been asleep when she’d crawled out of the tent and left her shelter. Everyone had. Between having slept the day away and the large number of men around she hadn’t been able to drift off, so when the guards had started to snore she’d slipped out and spent the night out in the bush. She just picked her way between their legs, grabbed up her bow and quiver, and walked out the entrance.She’d only waited until she could sneak away because she hadn’t wanted any of the men to follow her. It had never occurred to her that they would get in trouble when she was not in the tent come morning. Nobody had ever bothered to know where she was before. If her clansmen had ever noticed her gone, they certainly hadn’t searched for her. Well, they had after she’d been gone several months, bu