Page 92 of Taken By the Heartless Highlander
Several people looked at one another in confusion, and Noah was certain that many of them were not even sure of themselves anymore.
“Ye are fightin’ for a phantom. For a lie. Keira Young is nae more a witch than I am, and her only crime is to care for others. If she were here now, despite everythin’ she has been through; she would tend to all of ye without hesitation. She is a good woman, hounded by a bad man, and this must end before any more lives are needlessly lost for his misguided beliefs.”
After a few tense seconds, the burly man to Noah’s left, who was by far the biggest person there, slowly lowered his knife.
At that signal, others seemed to follow suit. After a few minutes, many of them dropped their weapons on the ground at their feet. Noah nodded to his guards to sheathe their swords.
As soon as the castle guards retreated, the crowd looked far less eager to fight. Many were in pain or injured, their shoulders slumped and tired as they looked about them.
In the silence that followed, cries and sobs rose from those who had been hurt. Noah’s heart lurched as he saw some of his own guards lying dead on the ground ahead of him.
“Ye must leave,” he said finally. “All of ye. Return to yer homes and forget this folly. Ye are better men than this, and I will serve ye just as I always have, in the name of the MacAllen clan and what we hold dear. The righteous honor of our people.”
As the crowd began to shuffle away, Callum turned back to him and nodded, and Noah jumped down from the cart.
“Will ye see to the wounded?” Noah asked. “Bring any of our men back inside the castle and anyone who needs immediate help, as well.”
“Aye me laird.”
Noah made his way back inside, his chest aching damnably and his heart heavy with sadness and regret.
As he walked through the gates, greeting a few of his men who had survived the battle and were tending to their injured friends, his heart soared at the sight of Keira emerging at the top of the steps of the keep.
As she saw him, she ran down the stairs and into his arms. He wrapped her up in his embrace and wished he could never let her go.
“Are ye safe? Are ye hurt?” she asked, pulling back from him, her eyes searching over his body for any injuries.
His own gaze fell on the deep red cuts on her wrists, and the ache in his chest multiplied to an almost unbearable level. He sucked in a breath, trying to hide it.
“I am well,” he said stiffly, but she frowned at him and shook her head.
“It’s yer chest, is it nae? Come.” She pulled him over to a low bench beside the stables where things were a little quieter and lowered him down onto it. “Breathe deeply for me,” she said, her hand holding his. “In and out, nice and slow.”
Noah tried to do as she said, but his eyes kept wandering to the bodies that were being carried in and his ears kept bringing him the shouts and curses of men nearby. He could not clear his mind of anything except what might have happened if he had not found her in time.
“Focus on me, shut everythin’ else out,” Keira said, and Noah closed his eyes, breathing deeply as he felt the strong grip of her cool fingers against his own.
Keira is alive; that is what matters.
After a few minutes, he felt the pain ebb a little and he opened his eyes to see her watching him.
“Is it over?” she asked quietly. “Did we win?”
Noah nodded. “If it can be called a victory. Aye.”
He winced, clutching at his chest as a great wave of pain swept through him.
“Keep breathin’,” she said softly. Their eyes never left each other, and their hands remained clasped together. On the edge of a battle, in the midst of such chaos, she brought with her a sense of calm that seemed to penetrate the deepest part of him.
He moved his hands to her wrists, rubbing gently at the marks that had been left there. He hoped that for the remainder of her life, she never had to experience such misery again.
Noah felt the ache dissipate slowly, and he saw her smile as she recognized the signs.
“Do ye believe me now?” she asked.
“Believe ye?” he asked, curling a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
“That it is yer mind playin’ tricks on ye. The pain ebbs and flows as ye become calmer.”
