Forever Knight: Thornton Brothers Time Travel (A Thornton Brothers Time Travel Romance Book 2) Read Free Page B

sarcasm. “’Tis important. Connor is in the wine cellar.”
    Not even a raised brow. Featherton stepped out of the room, closing the door and striding down the corridor. He woke a small girl sleeping in the kitchens.
    “Janet, wake up, girl.”
    The child sat up, rubbing her eyes.
    “Go and fetch Thomas. Bring him alone to the cellar. No one else, understand?”
    She nodded and scampered off. Robert watched her go. “Still not speaking?”
    Featherton looked at the empty doorway. “No, my lord. The healer said the child had seen such horror she may never speak.” He shook his head. “We do not know all that happened to her.”
    Robert remembered finding the child hiding in a bush. He was after a stag and there she was, curled up like a fox kit, drenched in blood. The child blinked up at him and held out her arms. Never uttered a word. At the castle, she wouldn’t go with anyone else until he reassured her all would be well. Many times he found her trailing after him, but still she did not speak.
    Thomas met them in the cellars. “You cannot help him. ’Tis treason.” His captain of the guard looked down at the Scot and cursed.
    Robert knew the feeling well. “I owe him a debt, Thomas.”
    “Give him gold and send him on his way.” Thomas prodded the big Scot with a booted foot. “Perhaps he will die. It would be for the best.”
    Featherton sniffed. “There is a large price on his head. Many would turn him in for the gold.”
    “Nay. He stays.” Robert took the man’s arms. “We will put him in the empty chamber next to mine. Tell no one.” He looked to his steward. “Janet can tend to him. We keep him locked away until he is healed enough to leave.”
    “Why, Robert?” Thomas looked at him. “You risk all for a Scot who would slit our throats in our beds.”
    “Not now.”
    Janet tugged on Robert’s tunic.  
    “Everyone is still asleep?”
    She nodded.
    “Thank you, lass.”
    Robert bent down. “Help me move him.” They carried Connor silently through the hall and up to the chamber. Robert suppressed a chuckle at the number of weapons Featherton piled on the trunk at the foot of the bed. Two swords, two daggers, and four dirks.
    “No wonder he was so heavy,” the steward said as he laid the last dirk on the pile of weaponry.
    Janet silently entered the room and set about cleaning the man’s wounds. She motioned them over, pointing to the slashes on his chest and the hole in his shoulder and arm. Robert threw the ruined silk under tunic into the fire. Arrows couldn’t pierce silk. The point went in, taking the silk with it. He could see a bit of the fabric in the man’s shoulder. ’Twas good—it could be removed without leaving any of the arrow behind.
    “Damn it to hell.” Thomas ran a hand through his hair. “He needs a healer.”
    Robert looked to Featherton. “Wake the witch.”
    Thomas crossed himself. “Nay. He may be a bloody Scot, but we cannot. She will steal his soul.”
    “You are an old woman. The healer will keep our secret, though she may turn you into a frog for crossing yourself in her presence.” Seeing the expression on his captain’s face, Robert laughed. “I should not jest. In truth, I do not know if she is healer or witch, and I care not.”
    Robert looked out the window into the blackness. In a few hours it would be morning. “Connor McTavish saved my life.” He turned to face the men. “’Twas a year ago during winter. Eight men caught me unaware in the inn. I was…unsteady. The Scot saved me. Fetched a healer. Stayed with me until the fever passed and I healed.” He blew out a breath. “After, when I was still weak as a babe, he tracked down the three men who had escaped. Killed them one by one.” He stared down at the man. “If he had not raised his blade, I would be dead.”
    Thomas cursed. “You told everyone you spent the winter with a woman.”
    Robert shrugged. “Even then Connor had a price on his head. And my pride was