Chapter Ten #2
Rob took the letter and read it quickly, identifying exactly what she’d read—the MacKenzies’ final offer of ‘friendship’ to his father before his death.
Some of it puzzled him. Some of the reasons to switch allegiances made no sense as though only half the conversation was being heard.
What he wanted most right now, after the woman herself, was her reaction to the offer.
‘And?’ he prodded.
She stared at him for a second or two before laughing. The glorious sound of that laughter, in the midst of such a time and place and situation, gladdened his soul that she was here. Regardless of the strange and dangerous circumstances of her being in Keppoch, he was glad of it.
‘You did it on purpose, did you not?’ she asked as she continued to watch him intently. ‘You left them all over the table because you wanted me to see these.’ Lilidh crossed her arms over her chest and stared once more.
‘Maybe I had no objections to your seeing them?’ He mimicked her stance and raised his brow.
She released a breath and looked at the documents on the table. Shrugging, she pointed at the one he yet held.
‘This was addressed to your father? Before his death?’ He nodded. ‘And it is the first exchange? The first contact?’
‘Something is missing, is it not?’ He asked her the question that had bothered him the most.
Before she could give her answer, the sound of feet shuffling by stopped her. Rob looked towards the door, expecting it to open. When it did not, he strode to it and lifted the latch. No one was there.
He’d dismissed the guards, so it was no surprise that they’d left.
Glancing down the corridor in both directions, towards the stairs and the other end, he saw and heard no one.
None of the doors to the other chambers seemed disturbed, but he knew they’d heard someone outside his chambers.
Turning to her, he put his finger over his lips.
She nodded understanding. He closed the door and walked to her.
‘Would you be able to manage one flight of steps without difficulty or pain?’ he asked, looking for a cloak or something to protect her from the night’s chill.
‘Yes,’ she said as puzzlement filled her gaze.
‘Come then,’ he directed her as he grabbed a thick blanket and tucked it under his arm.
Rob guided her out of his chambers and to the left, away from the stairs. At the end of the corridor, he turned right into a small alcove in front of a door. Lifting the latch and pushing the door open, he held it for Lilidh to enter.
This stairway was one of two that led to the battlements and the ruined tower above.
Though guards were always on duty there, they were less likely to be overheard as he was sure had happened in his chambers.
He took the steps slowly, allowing Lilidh to set the pace and supporting her as she climbed.
Soon, they reached the doorway at the top and he opened it.
The wild winds pushed and pulled the door, so he held it firmly until she climbed the last step and walked through.
Then the winds took her, buffeting her and tossing her hair around her like an impenetrable cloud.
She laughed as she gathered it all in her hands and tied it with some leather strips she pulled from around her wrist. The thick tresses under control, she accepted the blanket he’d brought and pulled it around her shoulders.
‘Walk a bit, but stay away from the edge,’ he said.
Then, as she began to take a few strides in the direction he’d indicated, he went to give the guards new orders.
Lilidh had slowed her pace when he reached her and they walked silently to the other side of the keep’s battlements from where they’d entered.
The sun’s warmth was long gone and the moon had begun its rise in the east. There was enough light provided by that and the torches around the perimeter to see their path. Once they’d reached the place he had in mind, just next to the entrance to the ruined tower, he stopped.
‘Who would spy on you in your chambers, Rob?’ she asked before he could.
He’d been thinking the same thing. The guards said no one had entered from that door and they’d seen no one until Rob.
No servants were expected on that floor until morning.
His business with anyone in the clan was complete, so unless it was a gravely important matter, no one would seek him in his chambers.
That only left nefarious reasons behind the presence and disappearance of an unknown soul.
‘I can think of no one, save Symon,’ he replied. Though after today, he wondered about his cousin. ‘But I do not think it was him.’
At her puzzled expression, he explained more about his discussions with Symon this day and the change or difference Rob noticed in him when he took his cousin’s opinion into consideration.
‘What was it about that letter that gave you pause? You had suspicions before I mentioned mine.’ She
nodded and gathered the blanket tighter around her shoulders. Leaning her head lower to keep the wind from carrying her voice, she gave him the answer he was hoping for.
‘It felt as though I was stepping in when a conversation was already going on between them. This letter referred to subjects and questions that clearly had been opened before this one was written. Is there an earlier one?’
That was it! She’d discovered the problem immediately. As he’d known her quick mind would.
‘None that I could find in my father’s papers.’
‘Who was his clerk? Does he still serve you? That would be a good place to begin,’ she suggested.
‘Brother Donal returned to the abbey when my father passed. I have a new clerk—Brother Finlay has taken over his duties now.’
And Brother Finlay had been recommended by Symon, having previously served Symon’s father.
‘From the look in your eyes, you have just realised something bad,’ she said, gazing at him.
He shrugged, not ready to share this with her right now. She took a step away and then turned back to face him.
‘So, if you will not answer that question, answer this one: why did you want me to see the documents?’
Should he be honest with her? Should he reveal the depth of the problems facing him to the daughter of his enemy?
Well, that was not completely true, if he was being honest with himself.
Connor might be the enemy of other clans and to some of his clansmen, but through it all, Rob had never considered them to be so. He smiled and met her astute gaze.
‘I still find myself thinking about what he would do or how he would handle something when faced with a task or a duty,’ he admitted. ‘He is the most intelligent and wise man I have ever met or known. I usually begin considering something with the words “what would Connor think about this matter?”’
‘And ruthless and cunning,’ she added.
‘Aye, that too.’ He laughed as the man’s daughter described in the words he’d avoided using. For many reasons.
‘And sometimes wrong, though he loathes to admit such a thing is possible.’ Lilidh laughed softly, then grew more serious. ‘So why has this breach opened between you two and forced you to be enemies? Why can you not go to him and solve this without bloodshed or bravado?’
He shook his head and crossed his arms. ‘That is not possible.’ For so many reasons he could never admit to her. For so many reasons.
‘So instead you kidnap his daughter and ask her the questions you would ask him? You seek out his advice from one who learned at his knee along with you?’
From her tone, he could not tell if she was pleased or angry. Her face gave no clue. ‘Just so, it would seem.’
‘I cannot and will not speak for my father, Rob. You know that. But my advice would be to seek out someone you trust who knew your father when these letters were being exchanged and ask about it. There is more behind this offer and move on the MacKenzies’ part than is being done in the open.
Find out what. And...’ she paused and looked at him ‘...you must break from the past and be your own man, Rob. You cannot be the laird that my father is or that your father was. You must claim the chair as your own in your own way.’
Exactly what the man under discussion would have counselled if he’d asked.
If it were only that easy. To break free from the past with all its promises, hopes and failures. To let go of the guilt he lived with every day and accept his place—his rightful place.
‘Sound advice, as I expected, Lilidh,’ he said.
It was not through any fault of hers that only one of the things she suggested could be done.
The second, well, there was too much of the past still controlling him to accept it could be done easily or now.
He held out his arm to her to take her back inside and she accepted it.
They’d almost reached the stairway down to his chamber’s floor when she pulled them to a stop.
‘You at least owe me the truth, Rob. What lies between you and my father now? What keeps you from the friendship you once had?’
Try as he might, the word, the answer, pushed its way out before he could stop it.
‘You.’