Now there was an invite if she ever heard one and yet she could hear her mum scold her for thinking so. Then it dawned on her, and she wasted not a moment in asking, “I had a dream about my parents last night. I could hear my da calling my mum,mo ghràdh, and it made me miss them.” She did not need to feign sadness or worry over a lie since her da often called her mum that and she supposed it was why it meant something special to her.
Anwen sighed. “I understand, my lady. I often think I hear my husband call me my love and turn expecting to see him there, but, of course, he’s not, and my heart breaks a bit more.”
“I am so sorry, Anwen,” Flora said, reaching out to comfort her with a thoughtful touch of her arm. “I cannot imagine how difficult it must be for that to happen.”
“In a way it is, and, in a way, it is not,” Anwen admitted. “I long to hear his loving voice call out like that to me even if it is only in my mind. It always brought my heart immense joy and never would I allow another man to say it to me. It would not seem right. It was something I shared with my husband and only my husband. Besides, I fear that if another man called me that I might not ever hear my husband’s voice again calling out to me like he would do and that I would miss terribly.”
That was answer enough for Flora and it pleased her to know it. She noticed then three servants whispering amongst themselves and casting anxious gazes at the door.
“Does something disturb you three?” Flora asked as she approached them.
They all exchanged nervous glances.
“Please tell me. I cannot help you if you do not tell me,” Flora said.
The young lass with light red hair spoke up, though softly. “It is the cleric, my lady. He refuses to enter the keep. If he is too fearful to enter here, then surely he believes no blessing can help this place.”
Another servant spoke up as well. “Which means evil resides here.”
Flora believed that all nonsense, but she realized others did not and she would not ignore or dismiss their fears lightly.
“Continue your work without fear. I will go speak with the cleric and see that he blesses the keep,” Flora assured them.
“He will not obey Lord Torin’s command,” one servant said.
“So, you wonder why he would do so if I asked,” Flora said, a smile spreading across her face. “I have a way with words if you have not noticed.”
She hurried through the keep and outside to see her husband arguing with the cleric.
“Do as you wish with me, my lord, but I am not going in there,” the cleric insisted.
Flora rushed down the stairs ready to do battle with words when the cleric hurried toward her.
“Beware the ghost my—” The cleric gasped, his mouth dropping open and his eyes turning wide as he fell forward against Flora, and they toppled to the ground together.
CHAPTER11
Flora was having trouble breathing with the cleric on top of her, but she had no problem hearing a fierce roar rip through the air. She shoved at the cleric to push him off her and was shocked when he was suddenly ripped off her. The next thing she knew her husband was kneeling at her side.
“Are you hurt?” Torin asked, his heart pounding furiously in his chest, angry with himself for not reaching her quicker and preventing her fall.
“I do not believe so,” she said, patting her chest and stomach and feeling no pain anywhere. She turned puzzling eyes on her husband. “What happened?” Her glance drifted past his shoulder, and she saw the cleric face down on the ground with an arrow sticking out of his back. “Good, Lord, he has an arrow in his back.”
“That he does, wife.” Torin had his men seeing to the cleric, his only concern was his wife. He slipped his arm beneath her back and eased her up to sit, still concerned she may have been injured.
“Who?” Flora asking, her eyes darting around quickly as if she could spot the culprit.
“I do not know,” he said, his anger mounting that someone had dared to attack on his land. “Though it will not be long before we find him.”
“Who would want to hurt the cleric?” she asked, casting another glance the cleric’s way to watch two warriors cart him off without a care. “Good, Lord, is he dead?”
“I am afraid so,” Torin said. “Are you sure you have suffered no harm?”
She was about to dismiss his concern without thought when her eyes met his. She saw worry in them, true worry. He was concerned for her. He genuinely cared and it touched her heart to know his concern was real.
Flora smiled softly and rested her hand on his arm, giving it a slight squeeze, having realized the feel of his taut muscle always gave her a sense of safety. “The only thing I believe I suffered was a brief loss of breath. Otherwise, nothing pains me.”
With his arm firm around her back, he helped her to her feet and kept hold of her until he was sure she stood steady. He had seen many a warrior tumbled to the ground by another warrior only to stand and collapse dead moments later.