Part 13 (1/2)

”Nay. Ironically, he's with the Scot for the time being, which is another reason I don't mind taking you. It's been almost a year since I last saw Kit.” He looked at Rowena. ”That is if my wife is agreeable?”

”Aye. For this I will go and will even be willing to speak to you on the journey since it's for a good cause, unlike the unnatural tendency you have to want to knock grown men down with a stick.”

Stryder rolled his eyes.

Rowena's gaze softened. ”Now be at banquet tonight, husband. Alexander and William miss their

father and I grow weary of their complaints.” She left before Stryder could respond.

”William and Alexander?” Cat asked.

”Our sons. Since their mother banned me from her chambers in the keep, I haven't been able to see them. Rowena fears they'll become corrupted by my warring ways.”

Lochlan was baffled by his words. ”Did she not understand you were a knight when she married you?”

”Aye, but her greatest fear is to see me fall in battle as her father did and so she ever nettles me over this. Once the tourney ends and I still live, she will be fine.” A small smile toyed at the edges of lips. ”I have learned that the rose is worth putting up with a few thorns from time to time. I know it is only her fear that makes her churlish and if she didn't love me so, she wouldn't care what befalls me. So I welcome her rancor at tourney, but please for the love of G.o.d, never tell her that. I fear should it ever grow worse.”

Lochlan laughed. ”Your secret is safe.”

”Good, now if you'll excuse me, I need to prepare for my next match.”

Lochlan followed Cat outside and waited until they were alone again. ”So tell me of this secretive Brotherhood of the Sword.”

Cat took a breath as she thought about her friends Pagan and Lysander and the scars, both physical and mental, they'd borne. ”They were all prisoners in Outremer. They were held in the same Saracen camp. Stryder was one of the group's leaders and he and the others found a way to escape. But as you heard, the escape didn't go completely smoothly and many never made it home. Those who did set up a network of people to help return others to their families and to help the newly freed to acclimate to their homes again. They are called the Brotherhood of the Sword and they all bear the mark of a crescent moon and scimitar brand on their hands.”

Lochlan ground his teeth as he tried to imagine the horrors Kieran must have seen in such a place. He'd heard enough tales of Saracen jails to know that all of them would be scarred severely from it. If the Scot was his brother, he wondered if Kieran were still sane.

”This Pagan you traveled with--”

”He was a good man, but he refused to speak of the prison. Lysander would get drunk and relay events to us. It was truly horrifying.” She reached out to touch him. ”I'm so sorry that your brother ended up there.”

”As am I.” If he could, he would gladly have changed places with Kieran.

Catarina took his hand in hers. ”What happened that he left?”

”A fight. There was a woman, Isobail, with whom he fell in love. She was supposed to marry someone else and so he ran away with her in the middle of the night, supposedly to save her from her future husband--it was what caused our clans to go to war with one another. Kieran brought her to our home and we welcomed her in. But even from the beginning I knew she was trouble. She even came on to me one night after Kieran had retired.”

”Did you tell him?”

”I tried and he laughed at me for it. It wasn't until she turned her attention to our brother Ewan that Kieran realized I was right. As she'd done with Kieran, she talked Ewan into leaving with her in the middle of the night. She had him take her to England, where another lover was waiting.

She abandoned Ewan and almost ruined his life. He came home, but by then it was too late.

Kieran had vanished. He left his sword and plaid on the sh.o.r.e of a loch not far from our home, so we all a.s.sumed he'd drowned himself in grief.”

”But he hadn't.”

Lochlan winced. ”If only I'd known. I should have sought him. But my mother and Ewan were so destroyed that I never even considered the possibility that Kieran would have feigned his own death. What kind of a.r.s.e would do such a thing?”

”Someone who was hurting so much that he couldn't see past his own pain to someone else's.”

Anger roiled through him. ”It was selfish.”

”Aye. Such things always are. He must have been young.”

”He was.” Still, it was no excuse to have destroyed their mother with grief.

”Then you should forgive him.”

”Could you?”

”I'm not saying I wouldn't beat him for it, but in the end to have him back...”

Lochlan nodded. She did understand. There was a relief inside him at the thought of seeing his brother again...He would give anything to know his brother was alive.

And he hated the thought of what Catarina's family must be going through not knowing what had befallen her. ”We need to get you back to your uncle.”

”We will. I have faith that all things happen for a reason and that he will return to my life when G.o.d wills it.”

Her faith amazed him. She possessed an inner peace that was unfathomable to him. Even though her father was trying to control her life, even when everything around her was in complete chaos, she was calm.

Patting his hand, she smiled up at him. ”Do you think the Scot could be Kieran?”

”I'm not sure. Either way it appears I'll have a brother again.” The only question seemed to be if it would be the brother he'd grown up with or another he'd never known about. Even if it were Kieran, he'd have to learn him all over again. So much had happened since the day of his disappearance...

Lochlan wasn't sure if this was a curse or a blessing. But then again, he had a brother out there.

How could that be anything other than a blessing?

No, this was wonderful and he refused to see it as anything else.

It took them a bit of time to find Bracken and his siblings. They'd rented two small tents that were at the back of the field. One for the women and one for the men.

”Did you find Stryder?” Bracken asked.

”Aye. We'll...” He paused as he realized that he couldn't take Bracken to England. He'd completely forgotten about the man's banishment. ”I'll have to hire a boat to take you into Scotland. Catarina and I shall have to journey back through England to find my brother.”

”You're right about that,” Bracken concurred. ”My trail through England would be a b.l.o.o.d.y one indeed. 'Tis that whole nasty banishment problem that gets in the way. And no offense, I'd rather keep my head attached to my body a bit longer.”

”I certainly can't blame you for that.”

”Bracken?” Julia asked, interrupting them. ”Would it be possible now that Lord Lochlan and Cat are back for Bryce and me to tour the activities?”