Page 12 of To Wed a Highlander
“As you say.”
“And furthermore, Malcolm doesn’t have the capacity for love. He’s too busy, to studious, too… damaged. He barely tolerates Morgana and me, and we’re the last family he has left in the world.”
“And now he has two Berserkers to add to the count, the lucky Druid.” Niall wondered to whom the King’s sister was mated. Berserkers didn’t usually stray far from the Nordic countries, and nearly all of them eventually found their way to the temple of Freya. Some took mercenary work abroad, and then there was the odd bastard or two.
“Nay, he doesnothave two Berserkers becauseweare not mated,” she insisted, crossing two huffy arms beneath those fantastic breasts, lifting them to strain against the thin material of her shift.
“I am,” Niall corrected, not missing the way her eyes followed the more intimate muscles of his body as he bent to reach for his trews and put them on. “And youwillbe.” Just as soon as he talked her into it.
“Don’t be so sure about that.”
“What cause have I to doubt?”
She regarded him as though he were touched in the head. “The fact that I’m actively refusing you should lend you some pause.”
Niall wasn’t one to let something like that get in the way of eternal happiness. If she underestimated his tenacity, that was her fault. “You refuse me now, but I have time to seduce you. And from what I can tell, you’re an easy catch, especially for a nun. I just had to lie there and you gave me your body. I don’t imagine it’ll be too much harder to win your heart.”
He ducked as a book sailed past his head and the flames flared so high they shot up the thin chimney and heated the bricks of the walls. “You—you arrogant, thieving, base, wicked villain…you… you…” She seemed to run out of names, and this being a nunnery, projectiles were in blessedly short supply.
Niall didn’t mind the name-calling, as all the words she hurled at him did generally apply.
“Did you not hear the conversation Malcolm and I just had?”
His little mate asked questions when she was angry. Niall shelved this information for future reference.
“Thereisno time! And even if there was, I wouldnever—”
“Never is one of those words youalwaysend up regretting,” Niall interrupted her.
“Ne-ver.Acceptyou. As my mate,” she finished with a very similar annunciation pattern as her cousin.
Niall just smirked at her. If there was one thing he’d learned about women in his half-century of life, it was that they never meant it when they saidnever.
“Tell me about this Grimoire,” he prodded, hoping to distract her from her ire. “And these Wyrd sisters. Why are you in danger?”
“Why am I in danger? Because ofyou, that’s why,” she snipped.
“We’ve established that. But if my men and I are to protect you, which we will, we’ll need to know from whom and what for.”
She glared at him for a moment, but then seemed to cede the point. “I barely know where to begin,” she sighed. “On top of everything, the whipping, that kiss, this Viking raid… oh and let us not forget the pending apocalypse, I’m rather overwhelmed.”
“Start with everything and go from there,” Niall urged gently. They’d address the kiss again, of that she could be certain. Hopefully many times, and whilst naked, those breasts pressed against his—oh, she was speaking, he should pay attention.
“If you know of Malcolm, then you must know that his father, King Duncan, was killed by Macbeth, who usurped the throne and banished Malcolm to Goddess-knows-where, and gave Morgana, his sister, to the English King Harold for his own self-serving purposes.” she began.
“I’ve heard as much.” Niall eyed the bed upon which she sank to perch, and decided to remain standing.
“Well, Macbeth’s actions were prompted by three de Moray witches who are known as The Wyrd Sisters. They’re elemental Druids, like Morgana, Malcolm and I, except they use dark, evil magick and they were supposed to have died two hundred years past.”
“Why are they still alive?” Niall asked. “Do Druids have longer life spans than usual?” If Berserkers did, it made sense that other powerful pagans would, as well.
Kenna shook her head. “I know not by what dark power they prolong their life, but the fact that they’re here puts the survival of all the world in danger.”
“How so?” he queried.
Scooting to the edge of her small bunk, she used lithe and nimble fingers to wriggle free a brick from her crumbling wall, then another, and another until a pile of a dozen stones sullied her bed.
Niall noticed that she didn’t seem to care, as though she never expected to sleep there again.
