Page 33 of The Best of Brenna Grant

Elizabeth

Book 12

Elizabeth falls in love with Gil, the lad who helped Finlay save Kyla. Gil lives at Castle Curanta with Loki.

Chapter 9

Loki and his band of orphans find a few more.

Gil stayed a distance behind Loki, in the hopes he wouldn’t keep commenting on the lavender aroma wafting from his purchase. Though he did his best to focus his thoughts on Lizzie, he failed. His mind couldn’t stop returning to the man he’d seen back at the vendor stalls. Could it have been Morgan?

He hadn’t gotten a really good look at the man, so he’d convinced himself he was wrong. He’d jumped to conclusions because his fears and emotions were driving him, something a warrior should never allow to happen.

He blamed the entire event on his imagination.

Either way, the possible sighting had distracted him more than he wished to admit. So when two lads boldly pushed through Loki, Thorn, and Nari, they were taken totally off-guard. Gil was the only one who noticed that one of them snagged a bag of coins from Loki’s pocket.

“Loki, your coin!” Gil shouted, racing after the lad of around seven winters.

Loki must have finally noticed because he was suddenly directly behind the lad. The two lads had run off in different directions, but Gil and Loki stayed with the wee thief. Nari and Thorn took off after the other.

He led them down a deserted pathway surrounded by trees. It was Loki who caught him, grabbing his collar and lifting him off the ground into the air. It wasn’t long before Thorn and Nari found the other one and dragged him over, cursing and kicking.

Loki placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and said, “Both of you on the boulder and do not move.”

The moment they saw his weapon, they backed up with no further complaints. “Return my coin, you wee thieves,” he insisted.

“I dinnae know him,” the first one said, glaring at the younger one as he crossed his arms.

“The hell you don’t. He is your partner in crime. Return my coin.” Loki leaned forward, using one of his favorite intimidation tactics.

The lad shook his head vehemently. “I have no coin. I know no’ what ye’re talking ‘bout.”

Loki motioned to Gil, and the two picked the lad up, Loki grabbing his hands while Gil took his feet, and shook him. Nothing happened. Loki made another motion to Gil, who hoisted his feet higher, turning him upside down until the coin bag fell from his trews.

“You wee thief. I know ’tis my bag because it has my initials sewn in it.” Loki picked it up and made sure the coins were all inside before indicating to Gil that he could set the lad down.

“Why are you stealing?” Loki asked. “Where are your parents?”

“We don’t have parents.” By the look of their grimy faces and dirty clothing, Gil had to believe he was telling the truth. “Who needs them anyway?” He cast a disgusted look at Loki.

“Tell me the truth about why you’re stealing. I’ll feed you if you’re hungry, but even growing lads like you don’t need this much coin to eat.”

Loki planted his feet apart and stood in front of the one who’d taken his coin, his arms crossed. The lad joined his friend back on the rock.

The smallest of the two, a lad with red hair and freckles, started to cry. The older one said, “Shush, you wee bairn.”

The lad bawled on, sputtering out a few words they could make out here and there. “Kill…catch us…dinnae want….to die.”

“Lad,” Thorn said, moving closer. “We’ll not kill you. We were all orphans, too.”

The older one looked flummoxed by the news, but the small one kept wailing. “They said if we make enough coin for them, they’ll take us to a nice place for orphans.”

Gil was surprised to hear that word of Loki’s work had traveled all the way into Edinburgh, though they did journey there at least once a year. It infuriated him to think they’d been used as incentive for thievery, especially since he had little doubt the men behind this had no intention of following through.

“Stop,” he said to the laddie. “We’ll not kill you.” Hearing him carry on so tore a hole in his heart. Though he’d been older when his family had passed on, closer to the older one’s age, he’d felt like the wee lad in front of him.

Alone with no one to help him, no one to feed him, no one to talk with. He wasn’t surprised to see the wee one with the older one. What would have happened to him otherwise? “How do you know each other?”