Page 24 of Bride of Ice
She turned to Colban, swiftly changing the subject. “You must be hungry.”
Colban probablywashungry, but he hadn’t noticed. He was still digesting the notion that Hallie was friends with a wolf.
She didn’t wait for a reply. “I’ll send someone up with breakfast.” Then she addressed Rauve. “Have you seen Ian?”
“Not this morn,” Rauve replied.
Bart rose from the merrily crackling fire he’d laid. “I heard him talking to Gellir at breakfast, m’lady,” he volunteered, “saying he needed a bit of peace and quiet.”
“If you’re done here, Bart, go look for him,” Hallie said. “Maybe he’s in the garden. Or the dovecot. Or hiding in a garderobe somewhere.”
Bart gave her a bob, snatched up the linen bundle by the door, and left.
“As for you,” she said, finally turning her full attention on him, “I expect you’ll try to escape.”
He took a breath, intending to assure her he would do no such thing.
But she smoothly continued, “You won’t succeed. My men are loyal. Clever.And,”she added pointedly, “well-rested.”
Rauve straightened with pride.
“But Iwillhave your solemn oath,” she added, “that you won’t harm my clansmen.”
“You have it,” Colban replied.
Rauve grunted, puzzled by Colban’s ready agreement.
So Colban explained to him, “Like ye, I want this matter settled as quickly as possible. Without bloodshed.” He’d seen the might of the Rivenloch knights. To challenge them before reinforcements arrived at Creagor would be suicide. “A negotiation is always preferable to a skirmish.” He glanced again at Hallie. “Right?”
For one precious instant, Hallie’s eyes softened in surprise. For one precious instant, he felt the warmth of her approval and wondered what it would be like to feel the heat of her love.
Then she lowered her gaze. And when she lifted it again, her eyes were glazed over with ice. She’d returned to being his captor.
Eyeing his claymore, propped against the wall, she told Rauve, “Hang that thing in the armory. Out of Brand’s reach.”
And then, as brisk as the winter wind, she swept from the room.
“She’s a fine one,” Rauve remarked when Hallie had gone.
“Aye,” Colban agreed. It was a shame they were foes. She would make a good ally. And he could think of things he’d rather do with the lovely lass than fight her.
“Sharp,” Rauve said. “Beautiful. Powerful enough to cleave a man’s arm clean off, aye?”
Colban blinked, startled. Then he saw Rauve was examining his claymore. “Oh. Aye.”
“Do all your men carry these?” Rauve asked casually.
The guard wasn’t fooling him. Like any clever warrior, Rauve was attempting to discover the strength of his enemy.
“All o’ them,” Colban said with a glitter of humor in his eyes. “E’en the bairns.”
Rauve smirked at Colban’s jest.
“But ye needn’t fret,” he told Rauve. “My laird won’t attack Rivenloch. Not to ransom a bastard. Hell, I doubt he’ll notice I’m missin’.”
That was a lie. But he hoped, once Morgan discovered that both his right hand man and the Valkyrie were gone, he’d assume that Colban had gone after the lass and would ultimately capture her. Not the other way round.
Under that assumption, Morgan had no reason to come to Rivenloch. The laird’s best course of action was to hold onto the two remaining lasses until the messengers from the king arrived with the documents that would prove his ownership of Creagor.
