Page 96 of Laird of Smoke
She told them what had happened since they’d become fugitives.That King Malcolm had returned to Scotland.That there had been a brief siege by some of the lairds at Perth, but peace had been made.
She gave them the good news that they were forgiven by the clan and shocked them with the fact that the king had knighted the maidservant Merraid and then married her to Gellir.
She said they could go home safely now.
Hew, however, was a Rivenloch through and through.He wouldn’t accept anything that wasn’t properly executed.So he tasked Eve with getting their wedding document officially signed by the clan lairds of Rivenloch and Dunlop and sealed by the king.Only then, he said, would he feel safe to return.
She agreed, but warned him it might take time.
First, however, she had to make it back to the convent.
Fortunately, Carenza still had the nun’s habit Eve had loaned her.She’d kept it since the night they’d fled.So Eve exchanged her red velvet gown for the habit.
The royal guard might be able to outpace the lady fleeing in red.But he wouldn’t glance twice at the nun strolling back along the road.
Her return to the convent was happily uneventful.She was still beaming from her victorious exchange with Hew and Carenza and her successful escape from the royal guard.
She arrived to even more encouraging news.Her father’s annual stipend had arrived.
That meant she had enough coin to have Adam’s gambeson altered by the tailor in the village to fit her and to purchase a new bow and arrows.She could compete in the upcoming Rivenloch tournament at Darragh and win back the silver she’d lost.
“Whodid you say you were?”
King Malcolm leaned forward in his chair from the far side of the pavilion and narrowed his eyes at Adam.
Adam’s heart pounded.
He resisted the urge to wrench his arms out of the royal guards’ vise-like grip.
Never before had he feared someone would unmask him and discover his true identity.His talent for deception had always served him well.
But this—stating clearly he was Sir Adam la Nuit of Rivenloch and not being recognized by his own king—this made his blood simmer.
Considering the king had been out of the country for some time, and the fact that Adam looked nothing as he had before—with cropped hair, a full beard, and battered armor—he supposed it was no surprise that his identity was being challenged.Still, it was humiliating.
He’d been caught in the forest, exactly as he’d intended.He’d managed to stray far enough away from Fergus’s clansmen on his own to seek out the camp of the king’s army.And he’d allowed the king’s men to take him into custody.
“I’m Sir Adam la Nuit of Rivenloch, Your Grace.We’ve met before.”
“Rivenloch?”he replied, giving him a head-to-toe perusal.“You don’t look like a Rivenloch.”
“I’m…in disguise.”
The guards snickered at that.
Adam felt a muscle tick in his jaw.
The king gave him a smug smile, clearly amused.“In disguise?I see.And what proof do you carry that you are a member of the Rivenloch clan?A seal?A ring?A document?”
Adam sighed.
This was Aillenn’s fault.It was hard not to be angry with her.If the scheming wench hadn’t switched the satchels weeks ago, he’d have the medallion now as proof.
“My clan medallion was stolen, Your Grace.”
The guards snickered again.
Adam felt the veins in his neck bulging.
