Page 117 of Bound to a Warrior
“I will survive?” Mercy asked.
“That is up to you,” Bliss said.
“I will,” Mercy insisted through the pain. “Duncan knows I wait for him. I will be here when he comes for me.”
Mercy slipped in and out of consciousness after that. Once when she was a bit lucid, she thought she heard a familiar voice and someone saying that Duncan must be told, and she was quick to speak up.
“No,” she moaned, though that was all she could manage.
It was a long and painful night and Mercy wasn’t certain if she would truly survive it, but she fought. She refused to surrender. And finally when dawn broke on the horizon it was done and she lay resting on her stomach in Bliss’s bed. And after a brew that Bliss insisted she drink she fell into a much needed slumber, the last thought on her mind and the last word to spill in a whisper from her lips, “Duncan.”
Duncan sprang up from a sound sleep and jumped up, peering into the dark. He could have sworn he heard Mercy call his name. But nothing but the night’s darkness greeted him. He had taken cover in a dilapidated cottage. There was no roof and only three walls, but it provided enough cover for him for the night.
He settled back down on his makeshift pallet, pulling the warm wool blanket over him. However, sleep refused to return to him. He could not get Mercy off his mind. He worried about her, even more so since he had woken hearing her call out to him.
Could she be in trouble? Or worse hurt?
He cursed his troubled thoughts and almost cursed the mission, but stopped before doing so. While he loved Mercy and would prefer to be with her, his mission had to take precedence, and she had understood that and had removed herself so that he could do what he must. He could not insult her courage by not doing the same.
Not that it made it any easier for him. She may be courageous, but she was petite and ever so vulnerable. He shook his head. He couldn’t think that way. He had to believe her more than capable of surviving on her own. And he had to acknowledge her bravado in doing it all on her own. If she had approached him with such a plan he would have outright refused to allow her to do such a dangerous thing—surrender to the enemy?
He shook his head. He would have laughed at her, while his brothers probably would have recognized the wisdom of it.
But at least he could have offered her help, though in so doing he would have delayed his own mission.
There was no easy answer to any of this and it was already done, so what was the purpose of lingering on it? What was done was done. It would take a good month for him to see this mission complete. He and his brothers had to make sure who was friend and who was foe to the true king, not an easy task, but a necessary one.
Then when he was done he would go get Mercy. He knew as soon as Bailey had delivered her message where she had planned on going. And he was pleased she had chosen a safe place. She would be looked after there and he looked forward to joining her.
He wouldn’t waste a minute retrieving her from the Picts.
Chapter 34
“Ifeel fine. After all it has been two months,” Mercy assured Bliss as they took their evening walk to the cave. “If it hadn’t been for you and your friends, though, my father and the soldiers would have gotten me.”
“Duncan wisely paid heed to your request and did not come after you, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t make certain that you were helped. As soon as we received his message we went in search of you.”
Mercy should have known that Duncan wouldn’t just sit back and do nothing. He had reminded her many times that he would be there for her. And it seemed that even when he wasn’t there, he still found a way to help her.
“I shouldn’t be surprised by his actions; they speak boldly of his good nature. And that Trey had ventured here to see if I had arrived safely also surprised me, though it shouldn’t have.”
“The path he took crossed ours and as he had told me, it would ease his brother’s mind to know you made it here safely, though I saw how worried he was for you. And I dare say I saw admiration in his eyes for you.”
“At least, he heeded my request not to tell Duncan of my injury,” Mercy said.
“What makes you think he didn’t?”
“Duncan didn’t return right away.”
“If he had, wouldn’t then your injury have been for naught?” Bliss asked. “From what I understand you sacrificed yourself so that he could accomplish his mission. If he had returned right away he would have dishonored you.”
“You have a way of seeing things more clearly than most,” Mercy said with a smile.
“Sometimes it’s more a curse than a gift.”
“I believe it is a gift and I am grateful for it,” Mercy said, “and grateful to call you a friend.”
Bliss grinned. “I knew when first we met that we would be lifelong friends, like sisters really.”
