The Rose Red Bride JK2 by Claire Delacroix Page B

took a deep breath, reddened in the face, then bellowed. “It was not whim that made me pursue you now, lad, nor was it the prospect of reward from the Laird of Kinfairlie and his kind! I have no need of your secrets and your confidence, but I am determined to accompany you from this point forward all the same.”
    “You will not do so.”
    “Aye, I will, and I will tell you why that is so. Nay, do not argue with me. It is not because you make such a cursed mess of what is left of your days, though that would be reason enough. It is because your father saw the truth at the end, and thus he dispatched me to your side. I am to aid you, lad...”
    “The time when you and my father might have aided me is long past.” Vivienne’s captor stood tall and straight, his tone telling her that he did not welcome Ruari’s offering.
    “Have you never erred and regretted your choice?”
    “Of course.”
    “Then so did your father, and you have no right to hold as much against him. The past cannot be changed, only the future can be wrought in new design,” Ruari said sternly. “Thus your father taught me, and thus I know he taught you.”
    “How unfortunate that he did not similarly instruct my brother.”
    Ruari spat upon the ground. “You cannot say that your brother did not change his future to suit himself better than his past had done. There were other lessons he did not heed, to be sure, but that one was the making of him.”
    When the younger man might have spoken, Ruari held up a hand. “We are in agreement, lad, as to the true nature of Nicholas and the weight of his crimes. Though I come late to your aid, my intent is no less strong.” He offered his hand once again. “Are we met in peace, then?”
    “I have no need of your aid. Begone, Ruari.”
    “You have need of all the aid you can muster!”
    “I have the aid of the Earl of Sutherland, and that will suit me well enough.”
    “Do you now?” Ruari arched a bushy brow. “And how much do you know of the Earl of Sutherland that you are so keen to trust his word? What will he have of you in exchange? These are treacherous times for those too keen to grant their trust, and we both know that you are within their ranks.”
    “I know little of the Earl and his intent, but I have no other choice. He at least offered me aid when my own kin denied it to me.”
    “And for what cost?”
    The younger man held his ground and folded his arms across his chest. “Why did you come, then, Ruari? You will not depart without the telling of your tale, so tell it all, then mount your steed and begone.”
    Ruari looked away, his expression pained, and took a few slow paces. He glanced back, his gaze bright, and took a steadying breath. “For many a year, I served a man, loyal and true. I served him willingly, I served him unswervingly. I followed him into every battle, I granted him my best counsel, I loved him like the father that never I had. He treated me well, better than one so lowly born as myself had any right to expect, and never did he ask me for more than my loyalty and trust.” He swallowed visibly. “Until a month past.”
    “No,” Vivienne’s captor said, his voice wavering slightly.
    Ruari bent his head. “Aye, lad, the end comes for all of us sooner or later, and so it came to the man I had served for most of my life. And when he lay dying, when he confessed his sins and make his reckoning, he saw that he had made one grievous error in his days. And because his time was short, he entreated me to set matters aright in his stead.”
    Ruari turned and appealed to Vivienne’s captor. She listened greedily, savoring each detail. “He begged of me to find his eldest son, he asked of me to see the crimes wrought against that son redressed -” Ruari reached beneath his cloak and offered a sheathed dagger on the flat of his hand. The large sapphire trapped in the pommel of the dagger glittered in the sunlight. Vivienne peered at the blade, then noticed that her