The creak of the door opening had Elysia turning with fright only to sigh in relief when she saw Lendra.
“I did not want to tell you in front of your sister, for fear of what she would do, but you need to know,” Lendra said. “Bliss was barely gone when Chieftain Emory talked about seeing you and Annis wed.”
Elysia paled. “That can’t be. Bliss secured our freedom to choose our own husbands.”
“Chieftain Emory is a sly man. He will find a way to have it his way and to also make certain he need no longer concern himself about you or Annis, thus keeping his word to your sister about seeing you and Annis kept safe.”
“Thank you for the warning,” Elysia said
Lendra opened the door to leave. “Tongues wag about you and Saber. He would make a good husband. Do whatever you have to do not to wed Clyde. He is a mean one.”
Elysia stared at the closed door. Her sisters were brave and did what was needed. Could she be as brave? The silence grew heavier around her and she glanced around the cottage that had always been filled with talk, laughter, and love. She was alone, truly alone. She had never been alone in her life and the thought frightened her beyond words as did what might happen if Clyde should get his way. Fear had her reaching for her cloak and she slipped it on as she hurried out of the cottage and took off running to Saber’ croft.
THE END… not really! It’s just the beginning of Highland Intrigue Trilogy.
I hope you enjoyed meeting most of the characters from Highland Intrigue Trilogy and getting involved in the mystery that surrounds them. Read on for a sneak peek of The Silent Highlander, book one in the trilogy… Elysia and Saber’s story.
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The Silent Highlander
Chapter 11
Elysia kept her steps swift for fear if she slowed even for a moment, she would lose her courage. She had to stay strong no matter how badly her stomach churned or how wildly her heart beat. There was no one left to protect her. Tears rushed to her eyes and she brushed them away, annoyed with herself. This was no time for weakness. Her two sisters had shown courage and it was time she did the same.
Only a few days ago life had been good. Then the two men arrived in the village, Lawler and Cadell, and everything had changed. But they were not to blame—the curse was to blame.
Elysia hugged her wool cloak close, keeping her steps sure-footed and paying no heed to the crunch of the autumn leaves beneath her feet. She had made a choice and she had to see this task done, though it paled in comparison to what her sister Bliss had done and what her sister Annis had set out to do. And it had all started with the curse. A curse cast over twenty years ago.
She wished she was as courageous as her two sisters. Both had made choices that far surpassed anything she was capable of doing. Her choice offered possible happiness, whereas, Annis’s choice proved dangerous, and Bliss’s choice could prove fatal.
The cottages along with the village faded behind her. It would not take long for her to reach her destination and once she got there… her steps faltered. She did not know what she would say or if she would have the courage to say anything at all.
She pressed her hand against her roiling stomach. Did she really think she had the courage to do this? And how did it benefit anyone but her?
She would be safe if things went as her sisters had been certain they would. But how did that help her sisters? Annis went off on a quest to find the witch of the hills to see if there was some way the curse could be broken. It had to be if Bliss were to survive. Bliss had agreed to wed Lord Rannick of the Clan MacClaren, the cursed lord, to keep Annis out of a forced marriage and in so doing had condemned herself to death. The curse had been cast against three clans some twenty years ago, but it was the descendants of the Clan MacClaren that was cursed to suffer the worst. Lord Rannick had lost three wives in a short time and a bairn as well. No one survived a marriage to him and in his own quest to quell the curse, it was believed he had lost his humanity, that he was more animal than human.
The thought shivered Elysia. How did Bliss survive such dreadful circumstances? And how did Annis survive her quest all on her own? She shook her head. Annis was stubborn and determined. But how did she survive a solitary trek through the woods to find someone many claimed was nothing more than a myth? But what choice had they if Bliss were to survive?