Alaric swam to the shore and trudged out, shaking the water from his long hair. He bared his teeth just a moment before he leveled Caelen with a tackle.
The two men hit the ground with a thump and Caelen grunted as the breath was knocked from his chest. He recovered quickly and rolled, thrusting his arm over Alaric’s neck.
Alaric slammed his fist into Caelen’s jaw and Caelen reeled back. Before Alaric could jump to his feet, Ewan hit him hard, driving his shoulder into his belly.
“God’s teeth, are you all trying to kill me?” Alaric demanded as Ewan pinned him to the ground.
“Just trying to knock some sense into your thick head,” Ewan growled. “Are you ready to listen?”
Alaric head-butted Ewan in the nose and then rolled until he was atop his older brother. “You’re getting to be an old man,” Alaric taunted.
Caelen leaped back onto Alaric and the three men rolled, fists and curses flying. God but it felt good to beat the living hell out of something.
Several long minutes later, the three men lay sprawled on the ground breathing heavily.
“Ah damn,” Ewan groaned.
Alaric looked over to see Mairin standing over her husband, her hands on her hips.
“You should be resting,” Ewan growled.
“And you should be doing something other than beating each other into pulps!” Mairin snapped. “ ’Tis disgraceful!”
“I don’t know. It felt pretty damn good,” Caelen offered from his position on the ground.
Alaric slowly picked himself up. “Is there any change with Keeley?”
Mairin’s expression softened. “Nay, she sleeps still.”
Alaric closed his eyes and then turned back toward the loch. Maybe a good swim would clear his head and he could bathe while he was at it. Ewan was right. Rotting next to Keeley did no one any good.
“Ewan, the king and all the lairds grow restless,” Mairin said. “They want to know what is to be done.”
“I know it well, Mairin.” There was reproach in Ewan’s voice, as if he had no liking for her bringing up the topic in front of Alaric.
Alaric ignored them both and waded back into the frigid water. He well knew that the king and the lairds waited for Keeley to die so that he could marry Rionna and seal the alliance.
Gannon tossed him a bar of soap and waited on the banks while Alaric completed his bath. Ewan and Caelen returned with Mairin, leaving Cormac behind with Gannon to see to Alaric.
He hadn’t gone mad with grief yet. Yet, being the operative word.
When he returned to the keep a half hour later, Rionna greeted him, her eyes red and swollen. His heartbeat tripped and sped up, hammering against his chest. “What is it?” he demanded.
“You must come. She is calling for you. ’Tis bad, Alaric. I fear she’ll not last the hour. She is so weak she cannot hold her eyes open, and the fever rages so high that she’s delirious.”
Alaric took the steps at a run and rushed down the hall, barreling past countless people. When he burst into Keeley’s chamber, his heart seized.
She lay still, so still he feared he was too late. But then her lips twisted ever so slightly and she whispered his name.
He rushed to her side and knelt beside the bed. “I’m here, Keeley. I’m here, love.”
He stroked his hand over her face, wanting her to feel his touch, wanting to reassure her that she wasn’t alone.
She was so fragile, so very precious against his hands, so very breakable. He couldn’t accept that she could be taken from him at any moment.
“Alaric?” she whispered again.
“Aye, love, I’m here.”
“So cold. Don’t hurt anymore. Just cold.”
Alarm prickled up his spine.
She turned as if seeking his face. Her eyes opened to mere slits but she didn’t focus on him. Her gaze was sightless as if she looked into a dark void.
“I’m afraid.”
The admission gutted him. He gathered her in his arms and tears burned his eyelids. That a woman who’d feared nothing was now afraid was more than he could bear.
“I’m with you, Keeley. Do not be afraid. I’ll not leave you. I swear it.”
“Take me …” she broke off, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Take you where, sweeting?”
“To place … where we said … good-bye. Where you last … kissed me.”
He buried his face against her neck and wept.
“Please.”
Oh, God, he didn’t want her to beg. The pleading in her voice completely undid him.
“Aye, Keeley, I’ll take you. I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”
She smiled faintly and her eyes closed, as if the few words she’d spoken had completely spent her.
He gently gathered her in his arms and lifted her. He held her against his chest and pressed his lips to the top of her head. Tears slipped unchecked down his cheeks as he strode down the hall. No one tried to stop him. Mairin and Rionna openly wept as he passed. Maddie wore a stricken look and Gannon bowed his head in grief. At the top of the staircase, Caelen stood, his fingers curled into tight fists at his sides.
Then slowly he put his hand out to touch Keeley’s hair and let his fingers slide over her cheek. He leaned down and brushed his lips over her forehead in a tender gesture. It was the first time Alaric had seen him show any open affection or regard for a woman since the woman he’d loved betrayed him so many years ago.
“Be at peace,” Caelen whispered.
Then he backed up and strode away, his jaw clenched tight.
The entire clan gathered as Alaric bore Keeley through the courtyard and around to where the loch spread out to the east. He walked through the trees where he’d waited for her just a week earlier. He stopped at the water’s edge and lowered himself to sit on one of the boulders.
“We’re here, Keeley. Can you feel the breeze on your face? Can you smell the fresh air?”
Her eyelids fluttered weakly and she took in a deep breath. The action caused her immediate pain and a wicked spasm crossed her face. For several long moments she lay in his arms, her chest working up and down with exertion.
“Aye,” she said finally. “ ’Tis wondrous to feel the sun on my skin. I’m tired, Alaric. I’ve tried so hard to fight.”
He could hear the ache in her voice, the grief over the knowledge that she was dying.