Not one man spoke up.
Sheed remained defiant. “OUR SCARIFICE WILL NOT BE IN VAIN. OTHERS WILL FOLLOW AND YOU WILL DIE AND THE RIGHTEOUS WILL LIVE AND RULE!”
“We will see how many feel that way when the torture begins,” Rannick said and walked away.
“You will torture him?” Bliss asked after they were a distance away.
“He already gave me what I need to know,” Rannick said, and Bliss wondered what that was. “He and the others will spend the winter penned like animals waiting and worrying over their fate until each break one by one and we learn all we can from them.”
It did not take them long to reach the healer’s cottage, sitting almost in the middle of the village. Yester trailed a distance behind them, his gait slow due to his wound.
“I will question him before you tend him,” Rannick said, entering the cottage with her. “You will wait outside until I am done.”
“I would prefer to stay and hear for myself what he has to say, so that we may see this problem solved together,” she said, her glance lingering around the room.
Rannick gave it thought before saying, “You will keep your distance from him until I allow otherwise, and you will hold your tongue and not interfere with my questions.”
“What if I have a relevant question?” she asked, going to inspect several crocks on top of a narrow table against one wall.
That she didn’t fear to ask him made him realize how comfortable she had grown with him, how much she trusted him, but mostly how much she loved him. He also realized the pleasure it brought her to be here in the healer’s cottage. He would have to do something about that since when the clan discovered what an exceptionally skilled healer she was, they would seek her help. And he would not have her this far from the keep tending people. There was a place he thought might work well for her, though what mattered more was that it was located close to the keep where he could see her kept safe and reach her quickly if necessary.
“As long as it does not interfere with mine,” he said.
She nodded, then sniffed at a crock she had opened. “From what I see here, your healer was knowledgeable.”
“Berdina was a good healer. My father should have never banished her for something she had no control over, but I suppose he thought it was better to blame her than have the curse blamed for the illness that struck.”
“I think I could work well here,” Bliss said, her eyes filled with delight at the prospect.
“Nay,” he snapped far too harshly and got annoyed at himself for seeing the joy fade from her eyes. He quickly sought to correct it. “There is a larger cottage near the keep that will serve you better.”
The joy returned to her eyes. “That would be wonderful. I would prefer being closer to you in case I had a need to see you, then I would not have far to go.”
His arm whipped around her to bring her against him in a firm hug. “Will you need me often?”
“Aye, very much so,” she whispered and kissed him again, though Rannick did not let it end quickly. He lingered, savoring her sweet taste, her love.
She shuddered when the kiss ended. “You more than stir me when you kiss me. I fear you will tire of my endless desire for you.”
Rannick laughed. “That is something you never need to fear.”
She ran her hand over his beard. “I am so glad I wed you.”
“I am so glad you had the courage to do so,” he said and went to kiss her when a shout came from outside.
“Lord Rannick!”
He rested his brow to hers. “I am going to sneak you away to our bedchamber before supper.”
“We can sup there alone tonight,” she whispered as if planning a liaison. “I will feign exhaustion.”
“I look forward to it,” he said, images of the night ahead stirring his loins.
Rannick’s thought swiftly shifted when Yester was brought into the cottage and seated on a bench by the table.
“Tell me what you know,” Rannick ordered, his hand on the hilt of his dagger at his waist.
“I was sent to join these men to see the task done, but I could tell upon meeting the group that they had no fighting skills. They were thrown together, as if in haste, and I feared they were doomed to fail.”
“Who sent them?” Rannick demanded.
“I do not know. I can only tell you who sent me,” Yester offered.
“Who was that?” Rannick asked.
“An acquaintance I had not seen in a while and was surprised to see here on these shores, a fellow called Jaffee.”
Rannick’s skin prickled at the man’s name. “How do you know him?”
“I fought in a battle with him, and once was enough. I kept out of his way after that, and I was not happy about running into him here. He is a vicious man. I thought to see this done and be on my way. He said it would be quick and easy and paid me good coin that will keep my family fed for the winter and beyond. I couldn’t refuse him. He would have seen me dead if I did. I was to help these men complete the task and was free to go afterwards. I warned them not to follow you from the cottage, after the small group they sent to kill you failed to return. I also warned them that they were no match for your skilled warriors. I even tried to stop Sheed’s foolishness to pose as that fellow Owen, but he refused to see reason. All he saw was victory and impressing whoever it is who is behind seeing the cursed lords and any wife, one of them may have, dead.”