Come the Morning by Heather Graham Page B

manservant to the king, caught him when he had barely entered the long hallway that led to the knights’ quarters.
    â€œLaird Lion, the king would see you now.”
    â€œI know that I must see him, Alan. But if you’ll note, I’m dripping wet. Give me leave, and I’ll wash and change before coming to see the king. I had not meant to keep him waiting awake through the night.”
    â€œLaird Waryk, the king did not stay awake—he has risen again since it is almost dawn. The king would see you now.”
    Waryk shrugged. “Aye, then. I will come.”
    His shoes squished upon the floor as he walked the distance to the great hall. David was there, pacing. It looked as if this might be a long discussion, Waryk thought with dismay. He’d meant to leave the unwilling heiress for some time to consider the error of her ways, but he had not meant to desert her entirely. It might take some time before he could go back for her, and under those circumstances, he’d have to mention the lady to the king after giving him a report of the battle in which he’d rather too easily managed to keep hold of the king’s domains.
    Daylight was coming, and too quickly, Waryk thought.
    She might be in greater danger, for the river would fill, and the Vikings she longed to reach might be ever closer, moving about by day …
    He would have to reach her quickly. He would keep her escape secret if he could, but if he could not …
    She would have to meet the king’s wrath. There was no other way.
    Or else she might well make good her bid for freedom, and they’d both be in danger of charges of treason.
    Of being hanged, or beheaded.
    Or even drawn and quartered.
    Vikings could be very dangerous, he had never deceived himself on that issue. Vikings, in all sizes, and all shapes. Even a Viking’s beautiful daughter.
    Perhaps, he thought, a strange foreboding sending a tremor of heat along his spine, especially a Viking’s beautiful and wayward daughter …

C HAPTER 5
    â€œSire,” he said, entering the king’s great hall, bowing briefly upon a single knee before rising. “I can report—”
    â€œNay, you don’t need to report a word of your deeds, for many great words have preceded your arrival.”
    â€œI’m sure that Angus exaggerated my deeds.”
    â€œMessengers reached me before Angus came to give a report. You’re dripping, by the way, Laird Lion.”
    â€œI stopped by the river.”
    â€œAye, you’ve had a fondness for water all your life.”
    â€œAnd the stars. Your pardon, perhaps I should have come straight here, but—”
    â€œThe leisure time was yours, well deserved. But tell me, did you fall in the water?”
    â€œI went for a swim.”
    â€œHow curious, it was a rather chill night. Were you chasing water nymphs or the like?”
    Waryk grinned. “I’m afraid I ventured too near the water and, thereby, wound up wet.”
    â€œUmm,” the king murmured, aware there was more to the story, but not persisting at the moment. “Whatever your recent adventures, you have returned home triumphant. You gave chase to the rascals, left men in attendance to build new fortifications, and have done us all proud. Perhaps most important is the fact that you have ably and loyally supported me, and no shift in the political wind has ever steered you from that course.”
    Waryk lifted a hand in gracious acknowledgment of the king’s words. “Well, you see, sire, I learned my loyalty as a boy,” he said lightly, but then added on a serious note, “This new action has disturbed me, David. It was much like that which we fought westward a few months before, and farther to the north and east on the border a few months before that. It’s as if there is some unseen, unknown enemy creating dissension where there should be none.”
    â€œAngus told me that you battled a group of