Page 107 of Desire's Ransom
Chapter 28
Many decisions had had to be made around the fire before they set out. But Ryland had listened carefully to her advice concerning theclann, and she’d respected his wisdom when it came to warfare.
Now, as they traveled along the road—Temair with her hounds and the woodkerns armed with bows at the fore, and the knights following in formation behind Ryland on horseback—Temair felt a moment of doubt.
She’d been concerned about fighting her kinsmen. But Ryland had assured her that a full-scale battle was unlikely. They could win the day without resorting to violence. After all, if theclannhad little allegiance to Cormac, they would welcome Temair and take her side.
But she wasn’t sure he was right. After all, the rumor persisted that Temair had killed her sister. If they believed that, she would lose her honor price and her claim to thetuath.
Then there was the imposter. What if they believed she was the real Temair and that this vagrant outlaw living in the woods was the fake?
The entourage continued along the road in grim silence as everyone mentally prepared for the encounter ahead. But when they topped the ridge and Temair saw the tower house in the distant valley below, her step faltered.
For six years, she’d imagined what this moment would be like—how the keep would look, how triumphant she would feel.
But now that it loomed in the distance before her, fortified with palisades and plaster, it seemed unassailable. The sight of it reduced her to a child once again, helpless and fearful of the things that had happened within those walls.
She tightened her fist around the hounds’ leashes, wondering if she had the strength to face her father after all these years.
At that moment, Ryland reined up beside her. “Will you ride with me? It will show solidarity.”
Glad to have his support, she handed the hounds off to Ronan and let Ryland help her mount in front of him.
Almost at once, she felt more at ease. He literally had her back. And sitting proudly astride a noble steed, she felt like the entitled heiress she was.
The crofters couldn’t fail to be impressed by the sight. It was probably the first time they’d seen such an imposing army of archers and horsemen. They stopped in the field to watch. A few broke and ran down the road ahead of them, no doubt to alert their neighbors that an English force was marching toward them.
As Temair sat tall and proud at the fore of the magnificent army, people began to take notice of her. She saw them pointing at her and whispering behind their hands.
The cottages grew closer and closer together, and word traveled quickly. Soon people were rushing out their doors to watch the knights pass, staring in awe. Up ahead, a crowd gathered, filling the road, and the knights were forced to stop.
An old woman waddled through the crowd, narrowing her eyes at Temair. “I know ye!” she cackled. “Ye’re the chieftain’s daughter!”
The people around her gasped and began murmuring in speculation.
“Temair?”
“She’s not dead?”
“Those are her hounds.”
“But the chieftain said he locked her up.”
“’Tis the lass. I’d know her anywhere.”
“Look at her eyes. ’Tis her. ’Tis Temair.”
Temair gulped. Would they welcome her or burn her at the stake?
“That’s right,” Ryland proclaimed. “This is Temair, bride of Sir Ryland de Ware and heiress to O’Keeffe, and she has come to claim hertuath.”
His announcement was met with gasps and then silence. For an awful moment, Temair considered they might despise her as much as her father. If that was so, thetuathwould have to be claimed by force. These people—the people frowning and whispering and casting dubious glances at her—might well die. They would never know that this foreign army was fighting—not for their defeat—but for their benefit.
But these were herclannfolk. These were her people. She couldn’t have their blood on her hands. She couldn’t wage war against them.
She gazed again at the tower, still a quarter-mile away. The tower where Aillenn had fallen to her death. The tower where, by some cruel trick of fate, Cormac still lived.
She couldn’t let him continue unpunished. For her sister’s sake, for the sake of all who suffered at the hands of a tyrant, she had to find the strength to be brave.
