A Knight to Desire (23 page)

"I will always come for you. Look at me, Brianna. Do I look tortured?"

She looked at him. He looked strong and whole in spite of the lines of grief and weariness she saw in his face. "No, you are as you always were."

He smiled and some of the weariness vanished from his eyes. "You will be as you always were again, too."

Her gaze dropped to her bandaged right hand. During the last hours of torture, she had pretended that the limb no longer belonged to her; that it was a distant object that could not cause her pain. A sense of that same remoteness still remained. "It doesn't hurt any longer."

"Kaden and I splinted the two crushed fingers, and put the other three back into their sockets."

She frowned. "I remember blood. There was lots of blood."

Simon nodded. "One of the bones had pierced the flesh. We managed to put the bone back in place and sewed you up. There will be a scar, I'm afraid."

She closed her eyes, blocking out the sight. Aye, there would be a scar on her hand and on her soul.

"Brianna, you will be whole again, I promise you." The passionate tone of his voice almost convinced her that he could will that very healing he demanded with his words. Suddenly, he held her in his arms; his fingers tangled in her hair as he rocked her back and forth. "The Grail will see you healed."

The Grail
. "Kaden was able to hide it?"

He pressed a kiss to her temple before he pulled away. "Thanks to you, aye, he hid it from that monster and we were able to use it to heal the men. I've been using it to heal you as well."

"But you were to send it to Bella…" Her words faded at the thought that Bella would now suffer because of her own injuries.

"The Grail has been to Lee Castle already. Now it is back here with you."

Brianna tensed. She had to ask the question burning in her heart. "Does she live?"

"Aye," Simon reassured. "Bella improves daily. The Grail and Abigail's care have seen her through. And now, it is your turn."

"To heal?" She gazed at her damaged hand and her throat tightened. "My fingers are too badly damaged."

"You will heal, and you will fight."

She shook her head. "Nay. I'll never—"

"How many hands do you have?" Simon's words were strong, his voice hoarse. "How many?"

She choked back a sob. "Two."

"I've seen you fight with your left hand before. We'll perfect your technique and build your strength in your left hand. Many great warriors use both. You are a great warrior, Brianna. Not many men could withstand what you did. It proves what we already knew; you are strong, and brave, and special."

Brianna's gaze met Simon's and the faintest smile touched her lips. A warm sensation filled her. How strange after what she'd endured to feel the essence of hope blossoming within her once more. But she did. "Thank you, Simon, for believing in me."

He nodded, then stood. "You should rest. Soon after that, we shall arrive at Staffa. Our first goal is to rescue the knight abandoned there. Once we complete our mission, we shall begin your lessons."

She nodded.

"One more thing. I need you to drink once more from the Grail. Just to be certain…" He moved to a chest that rested on the floor near the foot of her bed. He lifted the hinged lid and withdrew a tarnished tin chalice. After filling it with water from a bladder that hung on the wall, he returned to her side and handed the Grail to her.

Brianna took the cup in her hands and brought the liquid to her lips, drinking deeply. The cool liquid flowed past her lips and down her throat, warming her as it moved through her. The chalice shifted from silver to blue, then green, then gold beneath the lamplight that warmed the darkest corners of the cabin, all while remaining cool to the touch. "How odd. I've never seen any metal do that before."

"I thought the same thing when it changed colors on me." Simon motioned for her to finish the contents.

She stared, mesmerized, at the ever-changing color. "It's almost as if it draws on the life of the person who holds it to return life."

"If that is true, then allow me to hold the Grail for you," he said, taking the chalice from her hands as it continued to shift from silver to gold. "I owe you so much."

Brianna finished all but one swallow, and placing her hand on the cup, pushed it back toward Simon. "Heal yourself, Simon. You are not to blame for de la Roche's actions, not with me, not with the other people he's hurt. Do not lose faith that good will overcome evil in all things."

She raised the cup to his lips. "Do you share this belief with me?"

He drank the remnants of the cup, then smiled. "I do."

Simon looked up from the document he studied to see Brianna standing a few paces away from him on the deck of the ship. The emerald green of her gown contrasted magnificently with her skin and unruly dark-red curls, which seemed to shimmer while her eyes sparkled. He had been keeping his distance from her over the last few hours until he was certain she was healed. They'd been moored off the coast of Staffa for that long as well. He had no intention of going forward on this journey without her. He had to prove to himself and to her that she was still as able-bodied as she'd ever been.

Looking at her now, with the wind in her hair and color blooming in her cheeks, he'd say she was more than she'd ever been before. It was as if what she'd endured at de la Roche's hand had strengthened her. Her sheer vitality sent a sensual shock through him. Every muscle tensed as he fought for control.

Brianna's gaze shifted from him to beyond him. "The cave," she said as her gaze fixed in compulsive fascination on the darkness beyond the opening. "It's exactly as I dreamed it."

"And that surprises you? Everything is always as you dream it."

Her face paled. "Nay, never say that."

Instantly, he knew she was thinking about the battle ahead where he was beheaded by de la Roche. He stood and moved to her, taking her hands gently in his own. "You are a different person than the woman who had that vision. The future is already changed."

She nodded, but her gaze didn't leave the dark entrance. She moistened her lips. "Will we go for him soon?"

"As soon as you're ready. The tide is low which gives us our best chance for entering the cave." He studied her face, saw a slight hesitation reflected in her green eyes. "I could go alone if you'd prefer."

She shook her head. "I'm going."

"I'll tell the others."

From somewhere far away came the high, screeching cry of a seagull as Simon helped Brianna from the boat. They slipped onto the one area of flat rock on the entire island of Staffa. Simon cradled her against his side so as not to touch her hand, and she liked the feel of him there. Close. Intimate.

And there was something else, something even more fragile building between them: trust. She realized with a sense of awe that she trusted him and received trust in return. He was the first person aside from Abigail with whom she could simply be herself — the warrior and the woman.

Sunlight kissed her skin as she and Simon, Kaden, and Jacob headed for the opening of the cave still some distance away over the slick basalt rock. The air smelled of salt and a breeze lifted the ends of her hair, tossing them about her face. She pushed the unbound strands back out of her eyes with her injured hand. At least her hand was good for something. The thought brought a smile to her lips.

"What are you smiling about?" Simon asked as they headed toward the jet black opening in the side of the rock.

"No matter what we find inside that cave, it feels good to be out of doors … with you."

He reached for her left hand. Together they clamored over the volcanic rock toward the opening. Darkness greeted them. Brianna squeezed Simon's hand, trying to quell the infinitesimal shaking in her hand. But whether she was scared of what they'd find or excited at the prospect of rescue, she couldn't honestly say.

He let go of her and rustled around in the knapsack he wore over his shoulder. He produced a flintstone and the makings for a torch which he quickly wound together. He drew a dagger from his boot and struck the steel to the stone. On the third strike, a spark settled on the fibers he'd wound around the wood. He picked up the torch and encouraged the embers with his breath. Soon flames glowed brightly to send golden fingers of light threading into the darkness. The cave funneled into a long strip of black ahead of them.

High overhead, seagulls squawked as they dipped and weaved, chasing the ever present wind. "Ready?" Simon asked.

Her heart sped up as excitement wedded with fear. "I'm ready."

"I'll go first. Stay right behind me."

Her breath quickened as the four of them felt their way along the broken pillars that created a stair-stepped walkway. The entire island was made from hexagonal pillars thrust up from the depth of the sea in what she could only assume was some sort of volcanic eruption centuries ago. The ocean cooled the rocks quickly, leaving fingers of stone stretching for the sky.

As they moved along the naturally-formed path, the temperature dropped and the hiss of the waves mingled with the harsh tenor of their own breathing, echoing against the cathedral-like ceiling overhead.

The torch created a golden kaleidoscope of twisting, dancing light on the cavern walls as they made their way deeper into the cave. Cold dampness seeped into her bones and plastered her dress to her legs as they inched forward along the stair-stepped path.

Simon stopped.

"What is it?" Brianna stopped and peered around him. Light from the torch splashed across the walkway and landed on a human skeleton a few feet away. She gasped.

"This skeleton has been here a while." Simon shuffled forward. "We have to walk past it. They are just bones. Don't be afraid."

They are just bones
. Brianna kept the words in mind as she inched forward along the path. The pale, gray bones reclined against the damp stone wall, the skull angled so that it appeared to watch bypassers with its eyeless sockets, almost daring them to pass deeper into the cave.

A shiver moved along her spine.

As though sensing her emotions, Simon took her uninjured hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "We'll find him."

"I hear something," Kaden said from behind them.

The four of them stopped. Silence fell over the cave except for the deep rushing of the waves as they swelled and receded against the rock.

A groan. "Help … me." The words were faint.

"The sound came from just ahead, off to the right beyond the curve in the rock wall." Kaden's voice bounced off the walls and rang back at her as did the sound of steel against leather as the men drew their swords.

Simon turned and handed Brianna the torch. "Be prepared for anything."

Brianna's breath jammed in her throat as they hurried around the bend. Light from the torch slipped across the body of a man chained by his hands and feet to the slick stone wall. He was suspended from the rock, his feet dangling down. His clothes were in tatters and hung from his emaciated frame. Blood-brown streaks marred his face, legs, and arms, but did not hide the glittering moisture that welled in his eyes.

"Jacob and Brianna, stand guard while Kaden and I get him down," Simon said.

Brianna didn't move. She couldn't. All she could do was stare at the man she'd seen in her vision. He was alive, at least, even though he'd been abused and tortured more intensely than even she had been. Her gaze moved to his hands. They were whole. Her breath rushed from her lungs in a painful sigh of relief. At least he had been spared from that ordeal.