Page 10 of Conquer the Highlander

“I live and fight at a fight guild. I am a professional warrior, paid to entertain.”

“What fight guild?”

Titus paused before answering. The Ludus Caledonia wasn’t something that was openly spoken of. Because of the nature of the business and the vast amounts of money exchanged there on a nightly basis, the location wasn’t openly shared so opportunistic armies and thieves wouldn’t converge on them.

It wasn’t supposed to be public knowledge.

However, it was probably one of the worst-kept secrets in Scotland because it was a gambling guild that depended on the money of visitors, a mysterious place where men fought for money, but nonetheless, those who were part of the guild did not share the secret freely.

Not even bold, brash Titus.

He was careful in his reply.

“The greatest fight guild in all of Scotland,” he finally said. “If ye dunna know what I mean, ask yer husband. Ask him if he knows of the greatest fight guild in Scotland and ye can tell him that is where I have thrived. All of those years at Culroy Castle taught me how tae survive… and I have learned well.”

There was an insult there, something that dampened Lady Ayr’s enthusiasm a little, though she wasn’t quite sure how to respond.

The smile on her lips faded.

“Are you at least happy, Titus?” she asked. “I would hope you have found some joy in your new life.”

He couldn’t decide if she was being sincere or patronizing. With Lady Ayr, it was difficult to know. But he knew one thing – he wouldn’t waste any further time on her. He had better things to do than reminisce about something he wanted to forget.

“Aye,” he said. “I am happy. Thank ye for yer concern, Lady Ayr.”

With that, he simply dipped his head and excused himself, but his gaze lingered on Esme as he quit the shop. She was watching him, her expression almost… anxious. There was an odd shadow of anxiety there that he hadn’t seen before. A look of curiosity, of concern…

Of desperation?

He wondered if it was the same expression he’d had all those years at Culroy. Maybe it was something all wards at Culroy had at one time or another, an expression that suggested they would rather be anywhere but that damnable castle that was commanded by an unpredictable duke and his spoiled son. Try as he might to shake the thought, he knew he couldn’t. It would haunt him.

She would haunt him.

With a final glance to the beautiful young woman, he quit the shop and headed out into the cloudy Scottish day.

CHAPTER THREE

Titus Stewart.

She remembered him.

Even after he departed the dingy little apothecary shop, Esme’s thoughts lingered on the man. Like the other women in Lady Ayr’s adoring throng, she recognized him vaguely. But the young man she had known those years ago was not the same man she had just witnessed.

The man she had just witnessed was magnificent in every sense of the word.

From her youth, she remembered Titus Stewart to be a short, dark, and sullen young creature. She remembered him as keeping to himself. Someone had told her that he was a hostage, the son of an enemy of Lord Ayr, but she didn’t know anything more about him. During her first years at Culroy Castle, she had only seen him on occasion, and she had never exchanged more than a couple of words with him.

Titus Stewart had been a loner.

Esme had been little more than a child when she had come to Culroy. Those had been dark and turbulent days, and she had lived in fear with people who spoke a language she did not understand. But she was sharp and learned English quickly, and as the weeks and months passed, she had come to know the people in her environment, and that included the young men who were squires and wards of the Duke of Ayr.

Titus had been among a group of younger men who squired for some of the older warriors. She remembered seeing him with the Duke’s son, Conan, a man everyone at the castle despised to varying degrees. Conan Stewart was brash, rude, spoiled, and intolerable at times, but he was the duke’s one and only son, and he was treated as if he were the Christ child reborn.

Now, he was a man she was expected to marry.

But she had no intention of doing it.

In Titus, she saw her way out. If he had been released from the hellish fortress that was her prison, then perhaps he could help her find a way out as well.