A Sword Upon The Rose by Brenda Joyce Read Free Book Online

night. It made her terribly uneasy.
    She removed the sling, then pulled open the neckline of his tunic. Someone had secured the bandage. She lifted an edge, and was instantly relieved. “You are healing nicely.”
    “I have been well nursed,” he said softly.
    Aware of the heat in her cheeks, Alana tucked the linen back into the wrappings, and covered it with his tunic. She helped him put his arm back in the sling and tied it. But there was no avoiding contact—no avoiding the feeling of male muscle and bone. “I hope you will rest and heal for a few days, at least. I do not wish for my efforts to have been in vain.”
    “War waits fer no man.”
    She took a step back, to put some distance between them. “Surely you will rest for a few days.”
    “I am a soldier. I have no time to rest, mistress.”
    She was in disbelief. “Then you might die, for you can hardly wield a sword with such a wound.”
    He began to smile. “I will wield more than one sword today, my lady, I will wield two.”
    Alana gasped. “How can you raise a sword in your left hand? And you think to fight today? ”
    His smile vanished. “Why did ye come to help me yesterday? The truth, mistress.” Warning filled his tone.
    She froze. “I truly don’t know. I have told you what I do know.”
    “That ye desperately wished to save a stranger—with no previous thought?” He was dismissive. “Did ye shout a warning to me?”
    She had no intention of telling him that she had visions, and that he had been in her most recent one. She would not tell him that she had foreseen the battle of yesterday, and the treachery committed by one of his men, so that she had, indeed, warned him, not once, but twice. “You could not hear anyone shout from the woods,” she finally said.
    “Aye, no man could hear a shout from the woods. But I saw ye standing there—and I heard ye scream at me, in warning. I heard ye as clear as can be— two times .” His eyes blazed.
    She wet her lips nervously. She had shouted at him to warn him against his assailant. But how had he heard her? It was impossible!
    “Did ye try to warn me?” he demanded.
    “Even if I did, you could not hear,” she began.
    He seized her arm. “I already told ye I heard ye! Confess! Did ye shout at me?”
    Helplessly, she nodded. “Yes.”
    He shook her, once. “How can that be? How could I hear ye—and how could ye warn me of treachery before it happened?”
    Alana cried out. “I don’t know!”
    “Ye shouted at me and there was nothing—then ye shouted again, and that bastard traitor stabbed me. Were ye privy to the plot?” His grip tightened.
    “I was not privy to any plot!”
    “Then ye must be a witch!” he cried furiously, releasing her.
    She backed away, rubbing her arm. She had to lie. “I am not a witch,” she finally said, panting. “And I do not know why I shouted, everything is a blur in my mind!”
    His look was scathing. Clearly, he did not believe her.
    “Ye flush, perhaps with guilt,” he snarled.
    She started; wet her lips. “If I am guilty, it is of aiding the enemy.”
    “So ye admit that we are enemies.” His smile was hard, triumphant.
    She hugged her fur close now, entirely intimidated. “No.”
    “Do ye belong to Boath Manor or Nairn Castle? Or do ye belong somewhere else?”
    Her mind raced. Should she give up her deception? And at least admit that she was from Brodie Castle? For then, perhaps, he would stop interrogating her.
    “So ye still wish to deny me yer identity? Ye only pique my curiosity!”
    She knew she must avoid revealing her relationship to the Comyn family, at least. God only knew what he would do to her if he knew she was Buchan’s niece. “What does it matter, my lord? When you have survived this battle, and this last act of treachery? When I will leave—and we will never see one another again?”
    His smile was hard. “And why would ye think we will never see one another again?”
    She started, incapable of comprehending