“Forgive me? I did nothing wrong,” Annis insisted.
“Worry not, I forgive her foolish tongue,” Brogan said with a smirk he knew would get a response.
“Foolish tongue?” Annis snapped and her eyes narrowed in an angry glare that only made him laugh harder. “I would keep those lips locked good or else all will see who has a foolish tongue.”
Brogan took a quick step toward her and was not surprised that her chin went up defiantly. He was so close to her that the fiery green color of her eyes drew him in, holding him captive. It took a moment for him to escape their intensity and say, “Then seal my lips shut good—with a kiss.”
He heard Elysia gasp, but not Annis. Her chin went up higher and she tilted her head back as if she was about to reach up and kiss him and like a fool he lowered his head.
She smiled sweetly, her warm breath whispering across his lips as she said, “You will have your kiss, Lord Brogan—” Her hand shot out with such speed to jab him in the stomach that he stumbled back a step. “In your dreams, for never ever will I kiss you.” She turned. “Come on, Elysia, and do not dare apologize to him.”
Elysia hurried along with her sister, upset at the intense glare she had seen in Lord Brogan’s eyes.
“No one saw us, so there is no reason to worry,” Annis said that night as she and her sisters prepared for bed.
“And how do you know for sure that no one saw you in the woods with Lord Brogan?” Bliss asked, arranging her sleeping pallet on the floor as she did each night, the bed too small to hold more than two people.
Annis had no answer for her.
“It is how you spoke to Lord Brogan that worries me. He protected you the other day—”
“Yet he sees me in the woods and talks to me when he vowed to keep his distance,” Annis reminded.
Bliss rubbed her head, an ache having started and grown as Elysia told her about the incident in the woods. Both sisters had waited to seek their beds until she returned home late from delivering a bairn.
“This must stop, Annis, or you could very well be forced to wed Lord Brogan.” Bliss turned a warning scowl on her when she went to argue. “Understand that no matter how much you might protest or threaten, you would be forced to wed Lord Brogan and be taken from Elysia and me.”
“I am sorry,” Annis said. “It is difficult to hold my tongue around Lord Brogan. I think he enjoys teasing me.”
Bliss rubbed her head again, the ache not easing. “And if Lawler or Cadell sees that, they will be sure to know he is interested in you and tell Lord Brogan’s father who will force a marriage between you both, whether either one of you want it or not.”
“I will stay in the cottage until—”
“No,” Bliss said. “I realized that would seem like we are hiding you. Avoid Lord Brogan if you can, but most importantly hold your tongue no matter what. Lendra told me that Lawler and Cadell will be leaving soon. She heard them talk about visiting another clan. They want Lord Brogan to go with them, but he has not said if he would yet. They also talked about their worry in finding Lord Rannick a wife. They feel there is no one brave enough to deal with him.”
“They are probably right from what Lord Brogan told me about him,” Annis said.
“What did he tell you?” Elysia asked.
“That Lord Rannick is more animal than man from losing three wives and a bairn to the curse and his ventures on foreign soil to find the magic to break the curse only made it worse. He is kept locked away by his father for fear of what his son may do to others. Lord Rannick refuses to have any bairns, which must infuriate his father. He wants the Clan MacClaren’s bloodline to die off so that no more are forced to live the horror that he does.”
“How awful for him,” Elysia said.
“I told Lord Brogan about the witch in the hills and he told me she’s a myth, that he had searched for her and never found her.” Annis’s brow narrowed. “He said something strange. He told me he searched endlessly for a way to end the curse and reached the same conclusion over and over—the curse could not be broken. It had to be fulfilled and he said that was impossible to do.”
“He did not say why it was impossible?” Bliss asked.
Annis shook her head.
“Getting little sleep tonight will not help us when the day dawns tomorrow,” Bliss said, shooing her sisters to the bed.
“We must be hopeful that Lawler, Cadell, and Lord Brogan take their leave soon so this will finally be done,” Elysia said.