The Warrior's Queen (Border Series Book 6) Read online

  The Warrior’s Queen

  Border Series Book Six

  Cecelia Mecca

  Contents

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  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Epilogue

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  Also by Cecelia Mecca

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  1

  West of Highgate End, Scotland, 1273

  Graeme de Sowlis and his brother, Aidan, heard the scream at the same time. They exchanged a look, and he took off running.

  “Graeme, no!” his brother shouted.

  He skirted the wounded and hurtled toward the burning cottage. Unlike the other buildings, its thatched roof had not been unattached before the raid. Bright orange flames rose high into the night sky. Not realizing they were now secure from their enemy, the villagers ran in every direction, including away from the very structure Graeme now entered.

  Smoke gushed out toward him when he opened the door, but he charged inside, ignoring the loud pop announcing the roof was near collapse. Smoke confronted him at every turn, rendering everyday objects—a bed, a stool—into invisible obstacles.

  “Goddamn it, Graeme, get out of there,” Aidan roared from the doorway.

  He didn’t need the warning to know he wouldn’t last long in here. Graeme knelt and tried to ignore the smoke around him and the flames above him. He saw her boot first. Reaching for it, Graeme pulled the child toward him. She didn’t appear to be breathing.

  Scooping her up, he stood and staggered toward the door. The acrid air would kill them both if he didn’t hurry, but his brother’s cries led them both to salvation. Once outside, he gasped for clean air, sucking greedily as the girl in his arms lay motionless. A crowd had gathered, and as he began to breathe normally again, unease welled inside him. Would the girl live?

  No sooner had he laid her on the ground than an elderly woman shoved him aside and lifted the girl’s head into her lap. His mind felt like it was stuffed with straw, but the murmured word “healer” finally penetrated. It seemed God had not forsaken them completely. When the peasant girl, no more than ten and two, began to cough, another woman fell on top of her sobbing. Graeme was about to tell the woman to back away to let her breathe when the healer did it for him. Pushed to the side, the woman then ran to him, threw her arms around him, and began to sob.

  “Thank you,” she murmured over and over again. “My daughter . . . thank you.”

  “Mistress, I must speak with this man.”

  At the sound of her chief’s voice, the woman disengaged herself, bowed to them both, and ran to her daughter’s side.

  Graeme followed Ferguson MacDuff away from the crowd. As they walked, Aidan fell in beside them.

  “By all that’s holy, Graeme, you could have been killed,” Aidan said. Though he was Graeme’s junior by three years, his protective impulses were more akin to an older brother’s. A situation, Aidan often said, born from his brother’s predilection for danger.

  They came to a stop a small distance from the gathering, somewhere they would not be overheard. “Chastise your brother all you’d like later, Aidan.” MacDuff extended his arm. “I’m too grateful to him to join in.”

  Graeme wrapped his hand around it, a gesture of solidarity.

  “All is secure?”

  “Thanks to you and your brother, aye.”

  Graeme released the man’s arm. “Bloody reivers,” he said.

  Earlier that evening, just as the three men had sat down in MacDuff’s solar to discuss the problem of increased raids along the border, one of MacDuff’s men had come running into his hall to report the attack. The laird had ordered Graeme and Aidan to remain behind, as if either would have done so.

  “This is not your fight,” he had said.

  Perhaps not, but MacDuff was an ally to Clan Scott.

  Brought back from his thoughts, Graeme turned to MacDuff. “The men were English?” he asked.

  “Aye.”

  The three men watched as MacDuff’s people began the task of regrouping after the second attack in a week.

  “There’s something different about this latest rash of raids,” Graeme said, reiterating the words he’d spoken just before they’d received news of the attack. These raids were intended to rile the clans. “Will your men catch them?”

  MacDuff shrugged, but he didn’t look hopeful.

  Graeme looked from his host’s soot-streaked face to his brother’s frown before turning back toward the still-burning remains of the destroyed home. The raiders had stolen enough livestock to devastate more than one family and nearly taken the life of a girl too young to understand the dangers of the border along which she lived.

  “If we are to stop this escalation, we’ll need their help.”

  Aidan spat. “The English. You mean the same ones who—”

  “Our own countrymen are not above reproach in this dispute,” Graeme reminded him. Reivers from both sides wreaked havoc on the borderlands, taking advantage of the growing instability at the expense of all.

  The girl he’d rescued stood, and nearly fell. He rushed forward to grab her, loosing another round of gratitude from her mother.

  “Where will you rest your head tonight?” he asked.

  “My cousin lives just there,” her mother said, pointing to a home not far from them.

  “Your husband?”

  “Dead.”

  “I’m sorry,” Graeme murmured, knowing now why no one had detached the roof when the raiders were spotted.

  He turned back to his brother and MacDuff.

  “We’ll help put this back in order,” he said. “And then I leave directly for Kenshire Castle in the morn.”

  “And I with you,” Aidan said.

  “The attack was against my clan. I’ll be coming as—”

  “Nay, remain with your new babe,” he said, aware he had no right to give MacDuff orders. “And you”—he turned to Aidan—“will ensure there’s no repeat of this night at Highgate.” He spoke not as a brother, but as the chief of Clan Scott. As such, Aidan had no recourse but to agree with him.

  Graeme waited. His brother was only passably adept at following orders.

  “You’ll take the men with you?” Aidan said finally.

  “I will,” he agreed, picking the girl back up.

  Though he had no desire to attend a celebration of any sort, let alone the May Day celebration he’d been invited to across the border, this attack could just as easily have been on Clan Scott land. A meeting with their southern neighbors was more imperat
ive now than ever.

  He would do what he must to keep his people and his allies safe.

  Even if it meant seeing Emma, the woman who had rejected his proposal of marriage in favor of another.

  “Emma, give the poor woman a moment to recover,” Lady Sara said.

  Gillian smiled at her old friend, the Countess of Kenshire, and reached behind her back. “Don’t be silly. I’m happy to answer her questions. But first . . .” She extended her hand to Lady Emma and opened it. “Though it’s already five months past, I wanted to offer congratulations on your wedding.” This had been the longest she’d been away from Kenshire, but their dwindling funds made it difficult to travel.

  Emma stared at the silver-plated comb for a moment and then clasped it between her fingers.

  “’Tis lovely,” she murmured.

  Not quite as lovely as the woman who would wear it, but Gillian kept that thought to herself. Emma, the only sister of Sara’s husband Geoffrey, was indeed a vision. More importantly, Sara loved her, which was the only recommendation she needed.

  “Sara told me your hair was as black as your brother’s, so I thought the amber stones would be perfect.”

  Emma threw her arms around her, and Gillian hugged her back, pleased by the artless show of affection.

  “Thank you,” Emma said, releasing her.

  “So tell me,” Sara interrupted, obviously forgetting her admonishment to Emma. “What is this about the Earl of Covington? It cannot be true.”

  Gillian reached down to lift the sides of her gown as she sat in a cushioned chair in the corner of the solar, where they’d retired after dinner to speak privately. The room had always been one of her favorites at Kenshire.

  She looked at Sara and Emma’s expectant faces. They had been in good spirits all day, preparing for the May Day celebration that had brought her family here. Gillian did not want to sour the mood and tried her best to appear pleased.

  “It is indeed true, though the betrothal has not been formalized yet. You will have to tell me all you know about being a good countess.”

  Sara and Emma exchanged a glance.

  Sara would pursue this. It wasn’t in her nature to do otherwise. So be it. “And you—”

  “Have no choice in the matter,” she said with finality in her voice.

  While her childhood friend’s expression gave nothing away, Emma’s scrunched-up nose conveyed her thoughts clearly. “Isn’t he the one who gave support to—”

  “Aye, he is the one.” Gillian had expected their disdain. The Earl of Covington lent his support to a man that tried to steal Sara’s claim to Kenshire. When that did not work, the man had tried to kill her. “He lacks honor and is loyal only to his title and coin.”

  “And he’s old,” Sara finished. “With poor judgment. The same man who supported Fitzwarren.”

  Gillian pushed aside the unease, as Sara was right. Unfortunately, an unwanted vision of the wrinkled earl was more difficult to get rid of. “There is nothing to recommend him,” she said bluntly.

  “Your father facilitated this match?” Sara asked, reaching out to squeeze her hand.

  “Aye.” She squeezed back and pulled away. “Just as he and Mother were married to forge an alliance between two powerful Northumbrian barons,” she said, more for Emma’s benefit than Sara’s. Neighbors and friends since before they had memories, she and Sara knew everything about each other. In fact, this was the first time she’d ever held something back from her. But the matter was simply too embarrassing to discuss. And this was a celebration to welcome spring and Sara’s baby son. She’d not seen her friend in some time, and she’d not dampen it with her troubles.

  “It is a daughter’s duty to marry according to her father’s will. Unfortunately, my father wills this match.”

  Sara gave her a pointed look. “You’ve always done what was right. Acquiesced to your parents, your father, in all things. But this? Gillian, listen to me . . . you can say no. Your father is much like my own in many ways.”

  All three women crossed themselves in honor of Sara’s father, the late Richard Caiser.

  “He will listen. How could he even think to marry you to such a man? Covington is—”

  “’Tis done,” she said, her voice firm.

  Even though she’d agreed just the day before and the earl had not yet been notified, it mattered not. This wedding would take place. It had to take place.

  Otherwise, her father—her family—would be ruined, something she couldn’t bear to contemplate.

  “We can talk about the old earl another time. I’d much prefer to hear about you and how you came to be with Garrick,” she said to Emma. Turning to Sara, she added, “And the babe. Tell me everything. What is it like? Was childbirth awfully painful? Did you—”

  “You’re as impatient as Emma,” Sara said. “I will tell you everything. As long as you promise to discuss Covington tomorrow. Do not think the matter is settled.”

  Gillian knew that tone, which had become even more inflexible since Sara’s ascension to countess. She would not let the matter go, which ensured she would face another discussion about her unwanted future husband the next day.

  “Very well,” she relented. “Tomorrow. But only happy thoughts today.”

  Which meant no more talk of her upcoming nuptials.

  2

  “Spring may be coming, but it certainly feels more like winter today.” Gillian had escaped her father’s watchful eye by accompanying Lady Emma on an early-morning ride. Sara and her sister had remained behind in order to greet the guests who’d begun to stream in through the gates of the heavily fortified Kenshire Castle. Back home, she could walk from one end of Lyndwood to the other while singing The Song of Roland. Not so here.

  They’d just returned and given their horses to a groom when a gust of wind forced Gillian to pull her cloak more tightly around her.

  “If the sun comes out, there’ll be no need of those,” Emma said.

  Both women looked up at the sky, which gave no indication of its intentions for the day. “So tell me, what does Sara have planned for the next few days?”

  Emma rubbed her hands together. “Never mind Sara. Cook has been preparing a feast like ‘none along the border have ever seen.’ She adores Hayden, as we all do, and says he deserves a king’s welcome.”

  Sara’s newborn son was a lucky boy indeed. “Your brother is so gentle with him.”

  Emma smiled. “Geoffrey is the proudest father in all of England. But I suppose all fathers are that way.”

  Not all.

  “I’m so very happy for them, Geoffrey and Sara, and for you as well, Emma. Sara has told me so much about you in her letters, it feels as if I know you already.”

  Two young boys ran past them, apparently chasing something, or someone. The open joy on their faces made her grin along with them. This was one of the reasons she’d always loved coming to Kenshire. Its occupants were pleased to serve Sara, just as they’d gladly served Richard before her. Her father was not a cruel man, but neither was he as nurturing as Sara’s father.

  “Everyone is so happy here,” she said.

  Emma nodded to one of the two boys who’d just run past them. His friend held a squirming rabbit in his hands. Apparently that was the prize they’d sought. The other lad now had tears in his eyes, and Gillian didn’t hesitate to go to him.

  “Is something amiss?”

  The boy pointed to his friend. “He catches ’em every time.”

  “I see.”

  The boy’s friend bent down and released the poor creature, which scampered away.

  Gillian resisted the urge to wipe away the boy’s tears. Instead, she leaned down to whisper in his ear. “Do you entice him with apples or clovers?”

  When he shook his head, Gillian smiled.

  “Next time, offer your wild hare a treat. It’s still cold enough.” At his puzzled expression, she clarified. “He’ll be hungry, so feed him. Even if your friend is faster, he’ll come to you
instead.”

  She stood, not sure if encouraging the boy to catch wild rabbits was wise, but they’d likely do so no matter what she advised.

  “I bid you a good day, sirs.”

  “We ain’t—”

  “You very well may be someday.”

  The boys glanced at one another and then fled, likely engaged in further pursuit of their poor prey.

  “What did you say to him?” Emma asked as she returned to the path.

  “I just gave him an advantage he didn’t have before today. You were telling me about the plans for this May Day celebration?”

  “Oh! I nearly forgot. Aye, tonight, a feast in honor of the youngest Waryn. Tomorrow, a wagonful of flowers will be brought to make the wreaths and the May Day Queen will be crowned at dinner.”

  “Have you been to a May Day celebration before?” she asked Emma.

  “Nay, have you?”

  “Oh aye, many times. The earl held one most years here at Kenshire, some larger than others. I’ve not always attended though. Some years, my father would not allow us to travel. But in times of peace . . .”

  “Peace. Along the border. Could there ever be such a thing?”

  “I believe so. As long as there are more who wish for it than those who seek to take advantage of instability. Look at what the last years have brought. Who would have thought the Waryns would form an alliance with Clan Kerr?”

  “I certainly never thought such a thing was possible.”