The Viper (Highland Guard #4)(22)

Robert Bruce looked like a man who’d suffered defeat. Who’d nearly been killed—twice. Who’d seen countless friends die at his side. He looked like a man who was being hunted and knew there was no safe place left to hide.

Bella felt the tears gather in the back of her throat. As long as she lived, she’d never thought to see such dejection on Robert Bruce’s face.

She’d been a girl no older than Joan the first time she’d met the handsome, young squire who’d come to train with her father. Even at ten-and-seven, he’d seemed larger than life. Gallant and charming, he’d tweaked her nose and told her she’d be trouble some day. Spirit to spare, he’d said.

Little did he know she’d need every ounce of it when she’d married.

Robert was the only man who’d ever made her think her opinions mattered. He was like the older brother she’d always wanted. Patient. Interested in what she had to say. Kind. And most of all, a fierce protector.

In those months he’d spent with them before her father’s death, he’d saved her from countless beatings at her father’s hand. Bella’s father was a cruel man with a volatile temper, prone to striking her whenever she displeased him—which was frequently. But Robert had an uncanny ability to distract him. To turn his attention from the awkward girl who’d dropped the bread, or dribbled her soup, or laughed too loud.

When some of his kinsmen had murdered her father, she’d been heartbroken. Not in mourning the death of a man who’d seemed a tyrannical stranger to her, but because she knew it meant Robert would have to leave.

She’d seen little of him once she was married, until a few years ago when they were both in London. Her face darkened at the humiliating memories. It was the one time her husband had struck her. He’d caught her and Robert in the garden talking and saw their friendship as something else. She loved Robert like a brother, and now as a loyal subject loved her king, nothing more. But her husband had tried to make it into something illicit.

“Is it true, Robert? Are you sending us away?”

The sadness in his eyes broke her heart. “Not sending you away, Bella, giving you a chance.” When he saw her questioning look, he explained. “They’ll follow me.”

Of course. He hoped to draw their enemies away, giving the women a chance to escape. Even now, he was still trying to find a way to protect them.

“Nigel is holding Kildrummy,” he said, referring to his youngest brother. “You should be safe there for a while. But if the English get too close, I’ve instructed Vi—” He stopped himself. “MacRuairi to take you to my sister, the queen, in Norway.”

He noticed her expression, but put up his hand to cut her off.

“I know you don’t like him, but he spent many months in Norway in his youth.” It didn’t surprise her. Of the Gall-Gaedhil half-Norse, half-Gael descendants of Somerled, which included the MacDougalls, the MacDonalds, and the MacRuairis, the MacRuairi branch was the most closely aligned with the Norse. “He knows it, and if need be, he can get you there. You know how these West Highlanders are in their galleys.”

Pirates were excellent seafarers, but that didn’t mean she wanted to entrust her life to one. “It’s not that I don’t like him,” she explained. “I don’t trust him.”

Robert studied her face, his expression darkening. “Is there something you haven’t told me, Bella? Did he do something to offend—”

She shook her head furiously, cutting him off. “Nay, it’s nothing like that.” A few heated looks didn’t signify. No matter how they affected her.

“Then is it his skills you object to?”

She shook her head again, recalling the half-dozen men littered on the forest floor. She could hardly complain of that. “It’s his loyalty that I question. How can you be certain of his allegiance? The man is little better than a brigand.”

His mouth curved, the first sign of amusement she’d seen on his face in a long time. “Aye, he is that. But you have nothing to fear, Bella. If MacRuairi says he’ll do something, he does it. It’s getting him to agree that can be tricky.”

The distinction did little to reassure her. “Please, Robert.” She put her hand on his arm, her cheeks pinkening. “I couldn’t help but overhear …” She bit her lip. “He doesn’t want to go with us either. He’s forsaken his own clansmen; what makes you think he can lead us? Isn’t there someone else who could take us?”

Robert shook his head. “I’ve made my decision, Bella. I’m not asking you to trust him, I’m asking you to trust me.”

She did trust him. Even with everything that had happened, she believed in him. Her conviction in that had not wavered. Scotland had lost its champion, and its hope for freedom.

“Of course I do.” She bowed her head in acquiescence, tears shimmering in her eyes as everything that had been lost, and everything that might have been, came crashing down on her.

“Go then, lass, get your things. There isn’t much time. The Lord of Lorn will be hunting us.”

A hot lump seemed stuck in her throat, knowing this was goodbye. “Where will you go?” What will you do?

The haunted look returned to his eyes. “We’ll make for the coast. I have friends in the west. We’ll rebuild. Gather more troops and try again.”