Page 74 of The Stag & The Owl
“Niels.”
Owen nodded to Roark, who opened the door toNiels.
“Your gang of three is downstairs in thecommon room,” Niels said to Roark.“They’ve been bragging about howthey’re working for this Laird Roger’s men directly and askingquestions about what we’re doing here.”He glanced over at Owen.“My first inclination was to tell them to fuck off, pardon mylanguage, lady.But seeing as how we’re trying to keep our presencehere nice and quiet like, I told them we’re here to load up a tradeship with our whisky and wool.They pushed, wanting to know whosewhisky and what ship.”He shrugged.“That’s when I told them tofuck off, pardon my language, lady.”
Roark chuckled, Owen shook his head, andAlina laughed out loud.
“What was their response to that?”Owenasked.
Niels grinned and tugged on his beard.“Theysized me up and decided their three against my one wasn’t the oddsthey were looking for, so they took themselves back to their tableand commenced to drink and brag about how they’d beat back the tenmen who’d stolen their valuable prisoner.”He winked at Alina.“Anyway, whilst they were drinking and bragging, I went on over tothe stables and warned Liam and Duncan they’d likely be havingvisitors as soon as our friends got drunk enough to be stupidbrave.”
“Think they’ll try to steal anything?”Owenasked.
“Nah.They’ll likely poke their noses aroundand ask the lads questions they’ll get no answers to.Though itwouldn’t surprise me if they showed up at the docks tomorrow.”
“With or without Roger’s men?”
“As much as they were blabbing abouteverything else, the one thing they didn’t say was where Roger’smen are.’Course, they may not know.Want me to ask around?”
Owen nodded.“Aye, I do.Tell Grant and theothers they’ll be rotating shifts between the three of them, two onand one off at a time.I want you rested up for tomorrow.”
As soon as Niels left the room, Owen went tohis pack and pulled out his short sword, stuffed it under hismattress with the hilt sticking out, shifted his waist belt so theblade was center of his belly, checked his boot blade, and lay downon his bed, fully clothed and with his boots still on.Roark didthe same with his short sword and blades, as did Alina.Then theyset their backs against the wall and sat sprawled on their bedshoulder to shoulder.
“You should get some sleep,” he said,wrapping his arm around her and tucking her in to him.
“So should you,” she said, leaning her headon his shoulder.
“We both should,” he agreed.
“But it’s our last night together.For atime.”
Roark hugged her even closer.“Ahh, Aligirl,” he said, his voice cracking.“Your optimism is one of themyriad things I love about you.”
Alina sniffed and nestled her nose into hisneck.“I refuse to believe the fates brought us together only tolose each other forever.”
“I believe in making our own fate, my ladyowl.If we hadn’t, you’d be sailing for the desert lands and lifeas a pleasure woman instead of sailing home to your family, and I’dbe making arrangements to marry Gwyneth rather than going back toconfront my family and hers.”
“And to face charges of murdering Leif,without any proof other than your word you didn’t.”She sat up andgrabbed him by the neck of his tunic.“Promise me you’ll not leaveOwen’s keep for Roger’s right away.Give me time to get home andsail back here with my father.Then you can sail back to NorthShore Keep with us, and we can confront Roger over his lies anddeceit together.”
“How much time are we talking?”
“Four to six days for me to sail to SeaRidge, two days there to prepare, and four to six days to sail backhere, a day to ride to Silver Water Keep for you and a day to getback to the ship, then two days to sail from here to North ShoreKeep, so ten and four to ten and eight days before we made it backto confront Roger.It took us ten days to ride from there to here,with a few stops on the way,” she said with a sensuous smile.“Soeven figuring for bad weather, it would take you ten days to rideback there.Another six to eight days shouldn’t matter toomuch.”
“I don’t know.Roger could get frustrated atnot finding us and start taking it out on my family.Besides, howlong I stay at Silver Water Keep is up to Laird Owen.I don’t wantto impose on him anymore than I already have.”
“You’re no imposition, Roark MacInnes,” Owensaid from his bed.“You’re welcome to stay as long as youwish.”
***
Roark woke the same way he’d fallen asleep inthe wee hours of the night, with his arm wrapped around Alina, andher head tucked under his chin.They’d spent most of the nightsitting on the bed and whispering their thoughts, dreams, and hopesto each other while their time together sifted away.Alina had sung“Somebody” to Roark, her voice soft, pure, and achingly beautiful.It had been the most tender, sad, bittersweet night of his life.And now it was at an end.
“Alina.”He nuzzled her cheek as Owen stirredin his bed.“Time to wake up, my sleepy little owl.”
“Nnnooo.”She burrowed her nose deeper intohis tunic.
Roark grinned.She really wasn’t a morningperson.
“Aye, Ali girl,” he said, hugging her andplacing a kiss on the crown of her head.“Dawn is breaking.”
