A light snow greeted the onset of winter and Adara enjoyed an early morning walk through the village. With the bairn active, moving and kicking inside her, she decided a walk was needed to calm him. Often his da’s firm touch would settle him, but she had found herself alone in bed this morning when she woke.

The last two months had been pure joy. There had been no more attempts on Warrick or her life and no sign of Maia or cohorts. She and Warrick spent much time together and when she was not with him, she was with Callie and, not one to sit idle, she kept Adara busy. Her friendly nature had her speaking to everyone and soon Adara found herself knowing those in her clan better than she ever had.

She felt something she never thought she would feel… blessed.

Her hand had healed nicely, though certain chores or movements did bring pain, as did the colder weather. At least it was healed enough where it would not pain her to hold the bairn when he was born. A time not far off.

She had rounded considerably, though she still was not as large as when she last saw Espy only about three weeks ago. It had been one of many visits in the weeks before winter had set in. Espy had made quick friends with Callie and had offered advice on improving her chances of getting with child.

As blessed as she felt, Adara could not help but worry something would come along and steal it all away from her. She tried to ignore the feeling of doom that drifted over her like a gray cloud, hovering for a time before drifting away again. Then there was the lingering question of why her mum and da chose to go so far north. She feared she would never learn the answer since she knew of no one who could tell her.

She had spoken to Wynn time and again, but the woman offered little that would help. More so than anything, she had painted a better picture of Adara’s mum. Young, vibrant, curious, and so beautiful she had a bevy of fine young men after her.

Why wed a crofter?” Adara had asked Wynn.

“Your mum loved your da and your da worshiped your mum. I believe they were made for each other,” Wynn had said.

Their love seemed to be established and Adara was pleased to know that. She only wished she could have seen it for herself.

“More snow will be coming our way today, my lady.”

Adara turned with a smile. “How do you know that, Langdon.”

“The crispness of the air and the scent warns one to prepare,” he said. “May I offer my arm, my lady? There is ice in spots and you would not want to slip and fall.”

Adara reached out and took his arm. “You are most gracious, Langdon, though I wish you would call me Adara as you once did.”

“It is not proper, my lady.”

“Perhaps when we are alone like now, so that I feel I speak with a friend not a servant.” It was not until she had made an effort to talk more with clansmen that she realized she had failed to recognize many in the clan who had befriended her.

Langdon gave a quick look around and seeing the few people about were at a distance, he conceded. “Adara, I am pleased you call me a friend.”

“I believe I felt a camaraderie with you upon meeting since you were as new to the Clan MacVarish as I was and though I did little to encourage friendship, you always had a kind word for me.”

“A new place, new people, it takes time to come to know one another.”

“Even more so when one barely utters a word,” Adara said with a hint of laughter.

“Wise ones know it is better to hold the tongue and listen than rattle on senselessly. I rattle on senselessly,” he said with a grin and a nod.

“There were many times I enjoyed your rattling and still do.”

“That is good to know, Adara.”

“You address my wife disrespectfully?”

Warrick’s sharp tone had both of them turning.

“And how dare you lay a hand upon her,” Warrick said, taking quick strides toward Langdon.

Adara let go of Langdon’s arm and stepped in front of him. “He did nothing wrong. He offered his arm to me so that I would not slip on the ice and snow, and he called me by my name by my request. Something he had done before I became your wife and something I have missed hearing.”

“He should know better and so should you,” Warrick said, his tongue scolding both like disobedient bairns.

Langdon stepped to Adara’s side. “Please forgive my improper behavior, my lord. I meant no disrespect.”

Warrick stared at the man, the deep lines between his eyes a mark of his angry scowl. That she found pleasure talking with the man annoyed him and had since the first time he had discovered they had talked often. He did not care if his wife spoke with other women, but it irritated him when she spoke more than a few words to another man. Or was it that Langdon continued to irritate him since learning he had given his wife the two stones?

He had spoken to the old man about it, feeling foolish upon seeing him. There had been nothing to be jealous and yet here he was again annoyed and jealous at finding the old man talking to Adara.

Warrick was quick to wrap his hand around his wife’s when she reached out to him and just as hasty to tuck her snugly in the crook of his arm. “Langdon is a good man and serves you well.”

“He would serve me better if he kept his hands off my wife,” Warrick said, looking to the man with a threatening glint in his eye.

“Langdon—”

“The man can speak for himself, Adara,” Warrick snapped.

“Aye, my lord, and I shall not be so disrespectful again,” Langdon said and bobbed his head.

“Leave us,” Warrick ordered and with a nod to both Adara and Warrick, Langdon took his leave.

“Not a word,” Warrick warned. “You were wrong and so was he. Do not get him in trouble again.”

Adara glared at him. “So it was all my fault?”

“Of course it was,” Warrick said, keeping hold of her arm as he began walking. “You should not have been walking alone through the village when snow and ice cover the ground and you were wrong for telling him to refer to you by your name. If I had thought it was his fault, he would have felt my fist to his face.”

Adara stopped abruptly, forcing Warrick to do the same. She turned a smile on him. “You are jealous.”

“I am not jealous,” he argued.

“You are jealous? Why are you jealous?”

Warrick rolled his eyes, hearing his sister behind him and grew more annoyed when he heard his wife’s soft laughter. He turned, Adara turning along with him, to face his sister. “I am not jealous.”

Callie stared at him, a wide grin on her full face, and her arms crossed over her chest.

Warrick snapped his finger at his sister. “Your husband needs to take a firmer hand with you.”

“He did last night and I quite enjoyed it,” Callie said, her smile never wavering.

Warrick shook his head. “I have heard enough. Both of you into the keep now and stay there until I give you permission to leave.”

Callie hooked her arm around Adara’s. “You read my thoughts, Warrick. It is far too cold to be outside today. We will see you later.”

Callie tugged Adara along with her and after a few steps, she turned her head to see her husband staring after them, his dark eyes still smoldering with anger. She slipped her arm out of Callie’s, turned and hurried back to her husband. She raised herself on her toes once she was in front of him and before kissing his tightly closed lips, whispered, “I love you, husband.”

Her words settled around his heart and squeezed tight just like they always did. He would never grow tired of hearing her say that to him, and his lips responded of their own accord. They loosened and his tongue slipped out to run across her closed ones, urging them to open for him, and they did.

Adara loved her husband’s kisses. Whether gentle or firm, slow or eager, they never failed to tingle her senses and arouse her.

Warrick warned himself not to let the kiss go on or he would hoist her up in his arms and carry her to their bedchamber where they would spend the rest of the day, in bed and out, making love.

He silently cursed himself for listening to his own warning, but there were serious matters that needed his attention. He rested his brow to hers.

“I will wait in the keep as you say,” Adara said, tracing his warm lips with her finger. “Do not keep me waiting long, husband.” She kissed him when he went to speak, the kiss as hasty as the words that followed. “I have a hungry need for you.” She turned and hurried to Callie, not looking back, worried if she did, she would not be able to leave him.

The two women hooked arms again and continued to the keep.

“I am so glad you love my brother as you do. I would often feel guilty that I found a good man to love me, show me the love that I craved so desperately, and Warrick had no one to do the same for him. Now he does and I am so happy for him. He deserves it after the hell my father put him through. Please do not ever stop loving him.”

Adara squeezed Callie’s arm. “Rest assured, Callie, that that would be impossible. My love for your brother grows stronger every day.”

“Good. Now let us go eat, and after we will stitch more garments for the bairn.”

“We have stitched many already.”

Callie lowered her voice. “We may have need of more.” She was quick to explain when Adara looked ready to cry out with joy. “I do not know for sure, but the possibility grows stronger with each passing day. I just hope it is so.”

“Does Roark know?”

Callie laughed. “From the first day I thought it was possible I said something to him and he has shared each day with me, waiting and hoping that we will have a bairn of our own come this summer.”

Adara offered what she could. “I will pray it is so.”

With wide smiles, the two women entered the Great Hall. They ate and talked and talked some more after settling in Adara’s solar.

A knock sounded at the door before a voice called out. “Roark requests that his wife meet him at their cottage.”

Callie smiled. “If he requested that I meet him there, then things must be finished for the day, which means Warrick will return soon to you.” Callie stood with a stretch. “I intend to enjoy my husband for the rest of the day. You do the same.”

Adara smiled, planning to do just that.

The door opened not long after Callie left and Adara turned with a smile. “What did you forg—” Her smile died on her lips when she did not recognize the servant standing there.

“I knew no one would know me.”

Adara stared at the woman for several silent moments and then her eyes grew wide—it was Maia. She looked nothing as she once did. She was thin to the point of looking gravely ill, her eyes sunk deep in her face and her gray hair had been sheared off above her shoulders that were stooped as if age had taken quick hold of her.

Maia shut the door behind her. “I see by your look that you never expected to see me again. Your knife did enough damage to me, though it also saved me. By not pulling it from my wound it kept the blood from flowing out too strongly and my friends were able to save me, searing the wound, though healing took its toll on me.”

“You will never get out of the keep alive,” Adara warned, praying that Warrick would arrive soon.

Maia laughed. “I came here to meet death. I am not strong enough or foolish enough to think I can best the Demon Lord, but I can make him suffer by taking the life of his wife and bairn.”

“Why? Why do you hate Warrick so much that you want him dead?”

“Sondra.”

“His first wife.”

“You know her name so you know what happened to her.”

“I know she tried to kill him.”

“Liar!” Maia spit out the word like venom. “He killed her for the joy of it. Demons do that.”

Adara needed no convincing that that was a lie. Warrick had been taught to do nothing for joy only for gain. His marriage to Sondra had been arranged for just that. Warrick would have done nothing to jeopardize that.

“Sondra attacked him.”

“She would not have been foolish enough to do such a thing. She knew well she did not have the skill or strength to best the Demon Lord,” Maia argued, shaking her head. “I taught her well like I tried to teach you.”

“You knew Sondra?” Adara asked, trying to make sense of what had happened.

“I raised her, took care of her, soothed her when she took ill and comforted her when she cried.”

“You were her nursemaid?”

Maia did not acknowledge Adara’s questions but her words answered for her. “Sondra was a precious child, beautiful, caring, giving, gentle… far too gentle for the Demon Lord and yet—” Maia shook her head. “It was my fault. I told her that she had a duty to do. That she had to obey her father and wed Warrick. I thought her love for Searle was nothing more than a young lass’s fancy. I never realized how much she loved the young warrior or how much he loved her.”

Adara remained silent, wanting to keep the woman talking, giving Warrick time to return to the keep.

“Sondra was the daughter of a Viking chieftain who had settled in one of the north isles. The King approached her father about a marriage that would benefit the chieftain and the King. Her father was all too eager to compile, the benefits substantial.” Maia shook her head. “I never learned until later that her father had Searle killed when he learned of the young man’s plan to rescue his beloved. Searle had learned of Warrick’s father’s brutality with women and feared what Sondra might suffer even before she wed the Demon Lord.”

“Sondra told Warrick that he had given her what she wanted... death.”

“So that she could be reunited with the man she loved,” Maia said, tears filling her eyes. “When Searle’s family learned about it, they promised revenge and I joined them in their quest. They returned home after Searle’s brother took ill. They did not want to lose him as well. I, on the other hand, have nothing to lose. I lost it all when Sondra died.”

“What had brought you to the area where I had first met you?” Adara asked.

“I arrived here with Sondra to help her learn about her soon-to-be new home, the land and its people, and to prepare her to wed Warrick. I returned with her two brothers and cousins to help them take revenge against the Demon Lord. We lost track of him for a while and was surprised to discover he had wed. I was shocked to see it was you he took as his wife—a mere servant. I knew you could prove beneficial for us and you did when you freed me. You will be my revenge against him. He will find you dead, his bairn cut from your stomach never to know life.”

“You have no time to do such a horrid thing. Warrick will be here soon,” Adara warned.

Maia laughed. “You are a foolish lass. Callie will wait at the cottage for Roark, but he is busy with Warrick. By the time the message is found to be false, it will be too late for you and your bairn.”

Adara felt a catch to her heart. Her husband was not coming. It was up to her to save herself and their bairn.

Maia pulled a knife out of her boot. “You have grown larger with child and that will slow you down.”

“And you are frail from your wound and that will give me an advantage,” Adara said, placing doubt in Maia’s mind as she tried to do to her. But it would not work. She intended to do whatever it took to keep her bairn safe.

Maia laughed again. “I admire you. You are far too courageous to be nothing more than a servant, but a demon grows inside you and you must die.”

“The only thing that grows inside me is an innocent bairn.”

“It is a demon seed and it will grow no more,” Maia said and charged at Adara.

After waiting in the cottage for a while, Callie got annoyed that her husband had yet to arrive. She stepped outside and looked around. Seeing Langdon, she waved him over and asked, “Have you seen Roark?”

“Last I saw him he was with Warrick in the warrior camp on the outskirts of the village,” Langdon said.

Callie, her anger mounting that her husband had sent for her then kept her waiting, set out for the camp. She met Roark and Warrick halfway to the camp.

“So you send for me, husband, then leave me waiting,” Callie scolded.

Roark went to his wife and wrapped her in his arms. “Sent for you?”

“You requested I meet you in the cottage. The servant brought the message to Adara’s stitching room and I hurried here eager to see you.”

“I sent no message,” Roark said and turned to Warrick who was already breaking into a run. “Alert the men.”

The two men went opposite ways. Instinct had Callie following her brother.

Adara was in trouble.