Page 119 of Bound to a Warrior
Duncan sat around the campfire with his brothers, glad they had all successfully delivered their messages and that all was going well with the mission. Troops were being mounted, comrades being made and more plans being drawn. These past two months had served the mission well, and he never thought he would have been grateful for Mercy’s departure, but he had. Though he would have preferred she had not suffered a wound because of it, Trey had assured him she was well and in good hands. And that Mercy herself did not want him to know of her injury until his mission was done.
He had thought he had known courage. After all, he had been in many battles, faced death a few times, but he had never really known true valor until he had met Mercy. Petite and not having the body strength to truly defend herself, she didn’t let that stop her. She hadn’t even let not being able to swim stop her from jumping off that cliff, and damn, if that hadn’t taken courage. But what he admired the most about her was her audacity in not allowing the fact that she was bastard daughter of the king to stop her from fighting to survive, when truly the odds were against her.
She was quite a woman and she would soon be his wife.
“So do we celebrate a wedding soon?” Reeve asked with a grin.
“As soon as I return with Mercy,” Duncan confirmed.
“I bet Mother already has the whole thing planned,” Trey said.
“She’s been waiting for one of us to bring home a bride,” Bryce said and gave Duncan a jab in the side with his elbow. “She’ll be wanting grandbabies soon.”
Duncan grinned wide. “I can oblige her on that.”
One of their warriors suddenly approached from out of the darkness.
“Something wrong?” Duncan asked, standing along with his brothers.
“The messenger approaches.”
“Here? Now?” Reeve asked, surprised.
“Something is definitely wrong,” Duncan said.
Bryce nodded. “Neil would never take the chance of meeting us anywhere but the designated spot.”
The four men waited anxiously and when the wiry little man appeared, they all tensed. He was sweating from head to toe and they knew he had run a distance.
Trey grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around him, his body trembling.
With labored breath, Neil said, “A trap has been set for the king’s daughter and Duncan.”
“Tell us,” Duncan said, walking over to him.
“Word has been sent to her that you are on your way to her, but that a trap awaits you before you can reach her. The king knows you will learn of it and assumes you will go to her rescue and his plan is to capture you both.”
“He has to be a fool to think we’ll let our brother go alone,” Reeve said.
“No,” Duncan said, shaking his head. “He’s counting on it.”
“That he is,” Neil said. “He believes it is a way of seeing for himself who defies him and being rid of all of you in one full sweep.”
“We’ll rescue Mercy and be gone before the king even knows we were there,” Reeve said.
Neil shook his head. “There isn’t time. By morning Mercy will have left Pict territory.”
“I’ll go myself and bring Mercy home,” Duncan said.
His brothers strenuously voiced their objections—all but one.
“The hell you will,” Reeve shouted.
“Absolutely not,” Trey said.
Bryce nodded slowly. “Duncan’s right. We can’t chance having all of us caught or starting a battle with the king’s men now. It’s not time yet.”
“At least one of us can help him,” Reeve said.
