Medieval 01 - Untamed

caught up the charger’s single rein.
    Without ado, Simon vaulted on behind his brother. Crusader’s ears half flattened at the double load, but the stallion made no further protest. All battle horses were trained to accept double and even triple riders if it came to that, for survivors carried off their injured friends even in the heat of battle. Dominic had once borne Simon to safety on Crusader’s back.
    â€œHang on,” Simon said.
    â€œWait…” Dominic mumbled. “Meg.”
    The words were so slurred it took Simon a moment to understand. When he did, his lips flattened into a silent snarl.
    â€œI’ll see to the witch later,” Simon said.
    â€œNot…safe.”
    Ignoring his brother, Simon turned Crusader quickly toward the keep. Within three strides, the charger was covering ground at a fast canter. A shrill whistle brought Simon’s own well-trained mount cantering behind.
    â€œ Meg ,” Dominic said urgently.
    â€œBurn the witch!” Simon snarled. “Now you know why it was so important for her to go to the cursed place to gather leaves.”
    â€œMeg…?” Dominic groaned.
    â€œAye, brother. Meg . Somehow the hell-witch poisoned you.”
    Simon’s spurs goaded Crusader, sending the stallion into a hard gallop.
    By the time they reached the keep, Dominic was lost to an unnatural sleep.

17
    â€œW HAT DO YOU MEAN , I MAY not enter?” Meg demanded. “He is my husband!”
    â€œAye,” Simon said bitterly. “A husband you didn’t want. You have done every evil thing within your power to defeat Dominic.”
    â€œThat’s not true!”
    Golden bells sang with the controlled fierceness of Meg’s movements as she spun aside to get around Simon. He moved very quickly, blocking her entrance to Dominic’s quarters. She feinted to the other side, then darted forward. Mail-clad gauntlets closed painfully around her wrists. The handle of the basket she carried cut into her palm.
    â€œDon’t try my patience, witch,” Simon said savagely. “I know what use you had for the plants you gathered in that cursed place. It was sickness and death you sought, not life and health.”
    Meg’s eyes widened into startled pools of green. “What are you saying?”
    â€œPoison, you cursed witch. You poisoned my brother!”
    â€œNay! Never! Do you hear me? Never! ”
    â€œSave your lies for your lover, Duncan of Maxwell,” Simon spat.
    Meg bit her lip against a cry of pain. The force of Simon’s fingers closing around her wrists was like being caught between stones. Her breaths came deep and hard, for she had run the entire way from Harry’s cottage, driven by a fear such as she had never felt outside of her dreams.
    â€œI went to your room,” Simon continued relentlessly. “I checked the niche. The potion you fought my brother to make is gone.”
    â€œI took it with me,” Meg said quickly. “I knew Adela would be weak. I was afraid the midwife might have given her too much medicine to kill the pain and thereby slowed the birth. The potion would have countered such weakness, not created it.”
    Simon looked at Meg’s clear, anxious eyes and wanted to crush the Glendruid witch between his hands like an empty eggshell. Only the certainty that Dominic—if he lived—would never forgive the loss of his wife stayed Simon’s fury.
    â€œYou lie very well,” he said through his teeth.
    â€œI lie very badly,” she retorted. “Ask anyone. Now let me by. If Dominic is ill, I can ease him.”
    â€œNay. You’ll not get close to him while I draw breath.”
    Meg bit back the desire to scream at Simon, for she knew it would accomplish nothing but to release the rage that burned so visibly within him. Several deep breaths went by before she trusted herself to speak calmly despite the wild urgency clawing deep in her mind.
    â€œAll Harry said was that you came galloping up to the keep as though the devil were a step behind,” Meg said carefully.
    â€œWe left the devil at Harry’s cottage.”
    She kept talking as though Simon had said nothing.
    â€œDominic could neither talk nor sit his horse,” Meg continued. “You and Thomas the Strong carried him to the lord’s quarters. That was all Harry knew.”
    Simon said nothing.
    â€œPlease,” Meg whispered. “I beg of you. I sensed