The Bewitching Twin (21 page)

A
liss watched Tarr and Fiona disembark. Her sister looked wonderful, round with child and a healthy glow to her cheeks. Her red hair was piled high on her head, but not all the fiery strands remained contained. Several fell free, framing her face.

A deep blue wool cloak clung to her shoulders but didn’t hide her protruding stomach. Her sure-footed steps made Aliss jealous; Fiona showed no signs of having been sick at sea and she was heavy with child.

Aliss approached her sister with a smile, ready to greet her with a hug.

“Where is Raynor?” Fiona asked on her approach, and stopped in front of her sister. “He sneaked off to visit you without telling me. I finally discovered where he went.” She paused for a breath. “And please tell me you have come to your senses and have chosen not to remain with the Wolf.”

“Good day to you too,” Aliss said with a gentle laugh.

“It would be if you tell me you’re returning with us.”

“You should not have traveled this distance with your time drawing near,” Aliss chastised, determined to ignore her sister’s persistent nature.

“There was no convincing her of that, once she learned where Raynor went,” Tarr said, looking accusingly in his brother-in-law’s direction.

“I didn’t tell her because I knew this would happen,” Raynor protested vehemently.

Fiona shot him a heated glance.

“He wanted to rescue me,” Aliss said in her brother’s defense.

“Tell me he did,” Fiona said, her hands folded in prayer.

“It wasn’t necessary. I realized how well suited they are for each other,” Raynor admitted.

“What?” Fiona snapped. “You cannot be serious? Aliss deserves someone better.”

“Aliss deserves someone to love her and Rogan loves her,” Raynor argued.

Tarr stepped into the middle of the dispute. “Neither matters, as I have decreed that the choice belongs to Aliss. So there is no sense in you two bickering.”

“Nor was there any sense in you making this trip,” Aliss said. “Rogan and I had plans to come and stay with you within the next two weeks so that I would be there in plenty of time to deliver the babe.”

“She refused to listen to reason,” Tarr said with a shrug.

“My sister is making the mistake of her life and I’m to sit back and watch? I do not think so.”

“It is my mistake to make,” Aliss argued.

“So you admit it is a mistake?” Fiona asked hopefully.

“That’s the point, Fiona, it doesn’t matter. It is mine to make. Just like you chose Tarr of your own accord.”

“He is a good choice,” Fiona said, hooking her arm in her husband’s.

Aliss turned to her husband who stood a step behind her. She had known he had quietly taken a spot behind her, yet he had remained silent, allowing her to speak for herself. She was grateful for his understanding and confidence in her.

She placed her hand on Rogan’s arm. “My husband is a good choice for me.”

“You are stubborn,” Fiona spat.

Tarr and Raynor laughed.

“This is not funny,” Fiona scolded. Then she suddenly doubled over, grabbing her stomach.

Tarr had his arms around her in an instant. “What’s wrong?”

Fiona’s eyes clouded with tears, her tone worried. “A sharp pain.”

Aliss was already at her side. “This voyage was too taxing. You need to rest.”

“The babe?” Fiona asked, concern making her words tremble.

“Will be fine. You’re here with me now,” Aliss assured her with confidence that brought a smile of relief to her sister’s face. “Let’s get you back to the keep and in bed so that you can rest for the remainder of the day.”

Tarr lifted his wife in his arms.

“It is too far for you to carry her all the way,” Rogan said. “We will take turns.”

“He’s right,” Raynor said. “We will help.”

Tarr nodded and hugged his wife to him.

Aliss watched for her husband to catch up with them, since he had lagged behind to issue orders for his men to help Tarr’s men secure the ship and unload whatever was necessary. It didn’t take him long, though it did take Tarr some time before his wife grew burdensome in his arms.

Aliss wasn’t surprised to see Rogan offer to relieve him.

“Raynor can carry me,” Fiona protested.

“Let Rogan carry you for a while, then I will carry you the remainder of the way,” Raynor said and walked ahead slowly.

Aliss was glad he had refused their sister. Fiona would have to get used to Rogan sooner or later and she preferred it be sooner.

They spoke not a word to each other and Fiona kept her arms crossed over her chest, refusing to take hold of Rogan. Aliss could only shake her head and walk alongside her husband in support of him.

Another pain had Fiona grabbing Rogan’s shirt. “Stop. Stop.”

Rogan stopped dead and Tarr reached out to take his wife. She buried her head in his chest, while he looked to Aliss with fear-filled eyes.

Aliss went to her sister and spoke softly to her while she ran her hand over her stomach. She felt no hardness, as some women get just before they go into labor.

“Tell me the truth,” Fiona pleaded.

“You would get nothing but that from me,” Aliss said.

“Then what is it? Have I harmed the babe by traveling here?”

“You may have disturbed him and he simply protests, or he may be getting ready to birth sooner than expected. Either way, I would suggest you do not return home. It would be safer for you to remain here until the babe is born.”

Fiona looked to her husband. “I am sorry. I know you would have liked for your child to be born on your land and in the bosom of your clan.”

“As long as you and he are all right, it matters not,” Tarr assured her with a sweet kiss. “Now let’s get you into bed so you may rest as Aliss ordered.”

“She suggested. She didn’t order me,” Fiona corrected.

“Do I need to order you?” Aliss asked firmly.

Fiona shook her head. “No, you are right.”

“What did I hear?” Raynor said, hurrying over to them. “Did you say Aliss was right?”

“Enough from you,” Fiona said. “It is your fault that I am here in the first place.”

“Your stubbornness brought you here,” Raynor said, walking alongside her.

“
Our
concern for
our
sister brought me here.”

“Not another word!” Aliss ordered. “Fiona, you need to rest and not worry.”

“You heard her,” Tarr said firmly.

Raynor drifted off, Tarr marched forward with his wife in his arms, and Aliss turned to her husband.

“You have remained silent through this all.”

“This is between you and your sister,” he said, reaching out for her hand and curling his fingers around hers. “And as Tarr reminded us all, the choice is yours.”

She drifted up close to him. “It is an easy choice and you helped make it so.”

“Aliss!” Tarr called out.

“Go see to your sister,” Rogan said. “We can talk later if you like.”

She stared at him a moment and tentatively touched his cheek. He was good to her, patient and understanding. She did love him and want to remain his wife, and soon, very soon, she would tell him.

He took her hand and kissed the palm. “Go and worry not about us. It is your sister who matters now.”

Aliss kissed his cheek. “Until later.” She hurried off, a sudden feeling of happiness attacking her without provocation. Rogan made her happy in so many different ways. The realization startled her and yet brought a smile to her face. His courting had worked much better than he ever imagined and he had topped it with the truth when he had taken her to his secret boyhood haunt and confessed his past anger.

She would choose to stay with Rogan, be his wife, the mother of his children. He had been truthful with her and she would remain with him.

Fiona was settled with a modicum of problems and complaints in the bedchamber across the hall from Aliss and Rogan. Tarr reluctantly took his leave, promising his wife he would remain close, while she insisted he go tend to whatever was necessary and not worry about her.

As soon as the door shut Fiona whispered, “You can speak freely now that we’re alone.”

Aliss sat beside her sister on the edge of the bed. Fiona was sitting up, resting against several pillows, dressed in a comfortable night shift.

“You think I have not spoken freely to you?”

“With so many about, it would not be easy to say what you wish.”

“I have nothing to hide,” Aliss said.

“Then you will remain with the Wolf?”

“
Rogan.
His name is
Rogan,
” Aliss emphasized.

“Do you love
Rogan
?”

Aliss hesitated.

“You love him or you don’t.”

“I do,” Aliss insisted. “I just suddenly wondered if I could offer him even a small amount of the love he offers me.”

“Then you do question your love for him?”

“No! I question whether I can love him with the same fervor as he does me!”

“That is foolish,” Fiona scolded. “Love is love.”

Aliss stood. “Not to me. Rest—you need it. I will see you later.” She left the room, leaving the door ajar behind her and Fiona with her mouth hanging open.

She didn’t expect anyone to understand. They would have to understand the depths of her commitment to her healing work to understand her issues with love. She loved healing. It fulfilled her, made her feel worthwhile, and she gave it all she had.

Did she truly have room left to love?

At least love properly? While Rogan filled her mind daily, healing occupied her mind a good portion of the day, so that she often forgot about sharing meals with him. If she loved him as strongly as he did her, wouldn’t she be more thoughtful of him?

He had made it clear that he did not mind her absentmindedness. However, she did. She did not think it fair, especially since he was so attentive to her.

“You look worried.”

Aliss jumped in fright, her hand flying to her chest.

Tarr reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I am sorry. I did not mean to frighten you. Your expression had me concerned about Fiona.”

She took a breath to calm her racing heart and walked with Tarr to a table in the empty hall. “Fiona is fine; she rests.”

“The babe—”

“From what I can tell he seems fine, just fussy,” Aliss said, and attempted to move his worries off the babe. “I am surprised that Mother and Father didn’t come with you.”

“Your father suffered a sprained ankle—”

“Is he all right?” she asked, concerned, then realized Tarr was grinning. “He didn’t sprain his ankle?”

“Let’s just say your sister has been a bit difficult to deal with lately.”

“Mother remained behind willingly?”

Tarr nodded. “Insisted that she needed to look after her husband, though she secretly informed me she would be rested and ready to resume care of her daughter upon our return.”

“She will be upset and worried when you don’t return home soon.”

“I will send a message so they do not worry, though the clan had looked forward to your return. Wagging tongues had it that Fiona would not be half as difficult to contend with if you were there.” Tarr paused, clearing his throat. “Your sister misses you, especially now.”

Guilt squeezed at Aliss’s heart. “I should have been there all along for her. We have always been there for each other. I have been selfish.”

“It wasn’t your fault you were abducted.”

“But what followed is my fault.”

“I would say love should take the blame,” Tarr said. “And we certainly can’t argue with love, and I don’t think you’re selfish. It is good we are here now with you in Fiona’s time of need.”

“I would swim the sea if need be to help my sister.”

“Fiona would have done the same if I had not talked sense into her the day we discovered you were abducted and a ransom demanded.”

“We think alike,” Aliss said, and then asked, “Who occupied this isle?”

“The land belonged to my mother’s people. An older brother of hers occupied it for years until he died. My grandfather bequeathed the isle, then uninhabited, to my mother when she wed with the stipulation that her firstborn son inherit it.

“My father reminded me often enough that this isle belonged to me and should pass to my son and that I was to allow no one to take it from me.”

“Yet you surrendered it to Rogan?”

“My mother told me one day that this land would bring peace to many. She was right. This land has brought clans together and will keep sisters close. It has served its purpose.”

“I
am feeling better,” Fiona said the next morning, when Aliss checked on her. “I slept soundly and I have had not a pain or ache.”

“Which means you want permission to get out of bed,” Aliss said.

“I beg you,” Fiona said with clasped hands. “I promise I will take it easy, rest, do nothing, worry not, just please, please let me out of bed.”

Aliss pulled back the covers. “After breakfast you can come with me to my healing cottage and rest there, then we can talk when I’m not tending someone.”

“Wonderful,” Fiona said. “I have missed talking with you.”

“And I with you, Fiona,” Aliss said, extending her hand to help her sister. “Though I talk with you often in my head.”

“I do the same, I must confess . . .” Fiona said, pausing to slip out of her night shift and into her day shift and tunic. “You mentioned when first we found you how you spoke with me often in your head after the abduction. I did the same, encouraging you to be strong and reminding you every day that I would come for you.”

“I heard every word.” Aliss hugged her sister. “You kept me strong.”

“I think you kept yourself strong and I admire your courage.”

“You taught me.”

“Nonsense,” Fiona said. “We learned from each other.”

They hugged each other tightly.

“Let’s go,” Fiona said, grabbing her sister’s hand. “I am starving.”

Rogan and Raynor stood when the twins entered the hall. Tarr hurried to his wife’s side, his arm going around her.

“You are well enough to be up?”

“So says Aliss,” Fiona said, giving her husband a peck on the cheek. “After we eat, I am going to spend the day with her at her healing cottage, so you needn’t worry. If I deliver, she will have everything at hand.”

Tarr paled.

“She jests,” Aliss assured him, and walked to sit beside her husband at the table while Tarr seated his wife.

Raynor stood to assist.

“Everything looks delicious,” Fiona said, licking her lips while her husband piled her plate with food.

“Rogan has worked wonders with the isle,” Raynor said. “A field is ripe for harvesting, the storehouse is near full for the winter, logs and peat have been gathered and stocked by each cottage. Shelter has been constructed for the animals and the cottages fortified against the cold.”

“You turned a foe into a friend?” Tarr asked with no malice.

“It would seem that way,” Raynor admitted.

“That is good since we are family now,” Tarr said. “Though I am curious, why did you insist on ownership of the Isle of Non?”

Rogan shrugged. “It is a good place. My clan can thrive here.”

“There are other areas where your clan could have thrived; why this particular isle?”

“My father brought me here when I was young and I took a liking to it.”

“It must have made quite an impression on you to remember it after all those years,” Fiona said in between bites.

Rogan stood. “It did. Please enjoy the meal, I have things I must attend to.”

“I offended him?” Fiona asked once he was gone.

Aliss slipped off the bench. “No, he has much to look after. Excuse me, I’ll be right back.”

The sun was bright, the air cool, as Aliss hurried after her husband. She had to keep a quick pace to catch up with him, as his steps were determined.

“Do you run away?” she called out when nearly on top of him.

He spun around. “Go back to your family.”

“What upset you?”

“Nothing. Go to your sister, she needs you.”

“
You
need me right now,” she said, refusing to be ignored.

“I need no one.”

His words pierced her heart like a sharp blade, but she maintained her courage. He had worked hard to win her and she would work hard to keep their love strong. “I think that you do.”

“You care?”

“Yes, I care or I wouldn’t have come after you.”

He grabbed hold of her, to her surprise, and buried his face in her hair. “I’m glad you care. I’m glad you came after me.”

She hugged him tightly to her. “Tell me what troubles you.”

“Aliss,” Anna yelled from the cottage door, and waved. “You’re needed.”

“Go,” he said, and pushed her away.

“No!” She turned and shouted to Anna, “Take care of it!” Then she turned her attention back to her husband, who stood with a look of shock on his face. “Are you all right?”

“I cannot believe you just did that.” He reached out, grabbed her around the waist, and swung her up against him. “God, but I love you so much.”

“Then tell me what is wrong. You worry me.”

He smiled. “Nothing is wrong. Everything is fine now. We’re all at peace.”

He lowered her and they hugged.

“’Peace.’ I have heard that word often of late, starting with Giann and her prediction. Tarr recently mentioned that his mother had told him this land, which he inherited from her, would bring peace to many. He generously gave of his inheritance so that—”

Aliss gasped and turned wide eyes on her husband. “Oh, my God. Your mother bequeathed this isle to you, as your birthright. Tarr’s mother bequeathed this land to him, as his birthright. Your mother left you in order to protect you and your father. She returned to wed a man of her father’s choosing. That man was Tarr’s father, wasn’t he? Tarr is your half brother.”

He took her hand and tugged her along after him, and she realized that he wanted privacy. They walked to the side of the keep, out of earshot and away from prying eyes.

“Tarr is my half brother.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? I asked if there was anything else—”

“What purpose would it serve? It would only hurt others if they knew and what right did I have to ask you to keep my secret? It is better left buried.”

“Doesn’t Tarr have a right to know?” she asked. “That his mother had a first husband and son she loved dearly, was forced to desert them, and was then forced to wed another man and bear him a child?”

“I would want to know that.”

They both turned to see Tarr standing there.

“Fiona isn’t feeling well. I came out to get you, Aliss, and saw you both hurry off. I followed just in time to hear the news—
brother
.”

“I saw no reason to tell you,” Rogan said defensively.

“I have a right to know.”

“Let’s take this inside so that I may tend to Fiona,” Aliss said.

“You go in, Rogan and I have things to discuss,” Tarr said.

She did not like the way the two men regarded each other. “No, either we all go in, or I remain out here with you both.”

That persuaded Tarr to leave. As they entered the hall Tarr called out.

“Meet my half brother.” He stretched his arm out to Rogan.

“What?” Fiona asked, rubbing her stomach.

Raynor shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

Aliss went over to Fiona.

“Tarr need not have summoned you. It is just an upset stomach, which I seem to suffer often of late. I am more concerned with this news.” Fiona looked to her husband.

Aliss returned to Rogan’s side and took his hand.

“Explain,” Tarr said, bracing himself against the edge of the table near his wife.

“It’s simple. My mother is also your mother,” Rogan said.

“I am to believe this?”

“Believe what you wish. It is the truth and the reason why I wanted the Isle of Non. It belongs to me. You acknowledged that yourself when you said that your mother’s firstborn son was to inherit the isle.”

“And you claim to be her firstborn?” Tarr asked.

“
I am
her firstborn.”

“Then tell me about mother,” Tarr challenged.

“You wish to discuss this in front of everyone?”

“We are all family here. And dare I say we are curious?” Tarr said.

Aliss wisely remained silent, as did Fiona and Raynor, though none would dare leave.

“She was loving, kind, and generous, thinking always of others before herself.”

“Many women are like that,” Tarr said. “Besides, how old were you when you say your mother was forced to desert you and your father?”

“A small lad—”

“With few memories,” Tarr argued.

“My father’s memories served well enough, which is why he brought me here to the Isle of Non again and again, telling me of its importance to my mother. She told my father this isle was all she had to give me to remember her by. She loved this place, having spent time here with an uncle and aunt she adored and wished were her parents. She hated her father, and her mother had died when she was young.”

It was obvious to all that his words affected Tarr, who remained silent, his arms crossed over his chest and his fists clenched.

“My father spoke often of how she had told him that whenever I watched a flower bloom on this land, an animal at play, a fruitful harvest, that I was to know that she was with me and would always be.”

Tarr shoved away from the table. “My mother said no such thing.”

“Maybe not to you.”

“You imply my mother did not love me?”

“No, you were her
second
son and she would love you with all her heart, even while her heart broke for a son she had been forced to abandon.”

“If you believe she loved so strongly, how could you truly believe she would willingly abandon you? Would she not have fought to remain with you and your father?”

Rogan gave a guttural laugh. “Did you know our mother’s father?”

“A brave warrior.”

“A bastard,” Rogan spat. “He outlined in detail to my mother what he would do to me and my father if she did not return and serve her clan.”

“Your father should have fought for the woman he loved.”

“He wanted to, though he had barely twenty men who were willing to fight with him.”

“The rest of your clan refused their chieftain?”

“Those twenty men were his clan and would have gladly died with him defending my mother and me, and then what?
Your
grandfather would have killed me anyway and Mother knew it. She wanted to prevent senseless slaughter and made the only choice she felt would serve the greater good.”

“So she loved
you
so much she sacrificed for you?”

“Jealous?”

“Of what?” Tarr snickered. “A tale fueled over the years by a bitter man who probably kidnapped a woman from a clan, forced himself on her until she was finally rescued by her family.”

Rogan stepped forward, his fists restrained at his sides. “My father did no such thing.”

“Really, then how do you explain your similar actions, if not learning it from your father?”

Aliss rushed between the two men, reaching them before her sister, who had wobbled at a good speed to reach her husband’s side.

“Enough,” Aliss warned. “This needs to be discussed, not argued over.”

“He implies I was conceived out of forced lust and not love,” Rogan said. “He is jealous that he witnessed no love between his father and mother, while as young as I was I recall them always in each other’s arms.”

“She was probably trying to get away from him,” Tarr said.

“Stop,” Fiona snapped. “Aliss is right, verbal warfare will settle little. This matter needs to be discussed sensibly.”

“There is nothing to discuss,” Tarr said with a dismissive wave at Rogan. “He can believe as he wishes, I know the truth.”

“You refuse to see the truth,” Rogan said with a jab of his finger in Tarr’s direction.

“You think me an idiot to accept what you say as fact and not challenge your claim?” Tarr argued.

Aliss had a hand braced against each man’s chest. “Shouting and arguing will not get this settled.”

“It needs no settling,” Tarr said, and jabbed at his own chest. “I know the truth.”

“You fool yourself into believing lies because to face the truth would mean that your mother
hated
your father and grandfather for robbing her of the man and child she loved.”

“You cannot face the fact that your father forced your mother, never wanting you in the first place.”

Rogan lunged.

“Raynor,” Aliss screamed, knowing she was no match for the two towering giants she was sandwiched between.

Raynor jumped in and did his best to keep the two heated men apart, while Aliss tugged at her husband’s arm to pull him away. Fiona did the same with her husband.

“None of this matters now,” Rogan shouted. “I got what Mother wanted for me. The Isle of Non is mine.”

“That can be remedied,” Tarr warned.

“You renege on your gift?”

“It was no gift,” Tarr corrected snidely. “It was ransom for return of my sister-in-law.”

“Enough, Tarr,” Fiona warned.

The reminder, however, had done its damage, though not to the intended target. It hit Aliss where it could do the most damage, in her heart. She stood firm, though, and let no one see the pain it caused her, except her sister who knew and shared her hurt.

“This stops now!” Fiona ordered with a strength that shocked both men silent. “You two are behaving like spoiled children who want their own way. You are grown men, warriors who have faced difficult battles and yet emerged victorious. You both should be ashamed of your actions. This matter is not about the two of you. It is about a woman who after all these years and from beyond the grave wishes to be heard. When do you both intend to listen to her?”

Aliss wanted to applaud her sister’s words. She had put the problem in proper prospective for them. Would they realize it and handle it as Fiona advised, with the dignity it deserved?

Aliss nudged her husband. “Fiona is right. Your mother does not deserve being argued over. I suspect she would want you both to act like . . . brothers, long lost and recently united.”

Fiona continued to encourage them along with her sister. “Think of it as a door opened to you both where—”

Aliss gasped. “That is what Giann meant.”

“You met Giann?” Fiona asked, excited.

“Yes, and she recited the prophecy, which was different from what we were told.”

“What is it?” Tarr asked.

Aliss recited the words she heard in her head. “’On a full moon twin babes are born, with their birth sounds the horn, eyes of green, hair of red, destruction comes if for love they do not wed, for true love will open the door, for peace to reign forever more.’”