As the sheer horror of what he was about to do settled over her, Tanon bolted upright and skirted backward on her rump. She turned her face away just in time. She didn’t waste another moment to look back but scrambled on her hands and knees into the cover of the trees.
With the sides more evenly balanced after killing half the ruffians while they hid in the darkness, waiting to attack, the battle ended as the sun spread its soft golden hues over the forest.
From her place crouching behind a thick oak, Tanon watchedWyfyrntear off his dragon helm and head directly for her. A swath of dark crimson stained his shirt, but to Tanon’s great relief, it wasn’t his blood. The rest of his men bore the same battle marks with blood smearing across their arms, chests, and faces.
Her husband broke through the trees and hauled her to her feet. “Are you injured?” He ran his hands over her face. He looked so pained Tanon thought her first assessment of him was wrong and he had been wounded.
“I’m not hurt,” she assured him, though she trembled. She lifted her hand cautiously to the bloodstain on his chest. “Are you?”
He clasped her fingers before she touched him and brought them to his lips. “Nay.”
As she watched Gareth kiss her knuckles, Hereward crashed through the web of trees releasing a deep sigh of relief when he saw her unharmed. He turned next to Rebecca and reached out to swipe away a tear running down her cheek.
“Hereward,” Gareth said, glancing at the bodies scattering the clearing. “Take Rebecca with you to get cleaned up while the men clear the campsite.” He left Tanon for a moment to call to Madoc. “Bring the fallen into the woods, then have the men get some sleep before we leave. Cian, toss me a fresh tunic from my pack.”
Cian ran to his task. After handing over Gareth’s tunic, the youngest of Gareth’s warriors stopped before Tanon and offered her a heart wrenching grin. “I’m in your debt,” he said softly, then returned to the campsite.
Tanon could feel Gareth’s eyes on her, but she didn’t look at him lest he see the raw emotions in her eyes. Fear from standing in the center of a battle still made her legs weak. Relief that Gareth and Cian weren’t killed made her feel lightheaded. She clung to the one thing that prevented her from throwing herself into his arms. Her husband wasWyfyrn.
*
Tanon let Garethlead her deeper into the labyrinth of trees, away from the bodies of the men they had ambushed. Sunshine spilled through the canopy creating columns of hazy, amber light.
Gareth stopped and pulled his bloodied shirt away. “It was a brave thing you did for Cian,” he said. “But you scared the hell out of me.”
She watched the way the light fell over his hair, his sleek muscles. “I didn’t feel brave at the time,” she admitted. She didn’t feel brave now either, alone with him. But looking at him was better than dwelling on the massacre she’d just witnessed.
He smiled. “Without fear, courage doesn’t exist.”
He appeared enthralled when her raven brow wrinkled above her eyes. “How did you know they would come to our campsite?”
“I realized that if Bleddyn told them I was coming, they wouldn’t sit around waiting. He would lead them to us, thinking to catch us unaware before we left. Ambushing them in the woods gave us a better chance at victory. You and your nurse were supposed to be asleep on your pallets. Hereward’s task was to bring the both of you to safety.”
Tanon nodded, losing herself in the husky velvet of his voice, in the staggering depths of his eyes. A chill snaked up her spine. The ruffians would have killed her and Rebecca, and Cian, had Gareth not been so clever. ButWyfyrnwas rumored to be a crafty warrior.
“You’re the sworn enemy of my people.”
He broke their gaze to sit on the dewy grass, moving like liquid returning to liquid, stealthy and sinuous. “Enemy only to those who would try to bring harm to what I love.”
Tanon stared down at him. “You lied to William, and to my father.”
Oh, what would William do if he ever discovered that he’d wed her toWyfyrn? She joined Gareth on the grass, lured by a desire to be near him.
“I had to,” he told her quietly. “My death won’t bring an end to the warring between our people, Tanon.”
Tanon wound her finger around one of the curls that had escaped her clips. She’d spent too many hours already pondering his death. She didn’t want to think about the vibrancy in his eyes fading as his spirit left him.
“You love your people well,” she said feeling a hook of envy piercing deep. “You would do anything for them.”
He swept his gaze over the forest in front of him and nodded. “Aye, I would.”
“Even wed a Norman.”
His eyes slid to her first before he angled his head and gave her a humorous look. “You think I wasn’t pleased about marrying you. Remember, it was I who asked for your hand.”
“For peace’s sake,” she reminded him.
“I admit I was reluctant to wed you at first, but—”