Chapter Three
Lillith leaned low over her mount to lessen the cold wind stinging her cheeks.
Her encounter with Rory Matheson had left her unsettled, and the need to reach home and ensure he’d been lying caused her to spur her mare to faster speeds.
She thought of the ongoing feud between her clan and the Matheson Clan, and then she considered what she knew of the king of Scotland from her da.
She knew it was not uncommon for the king to wed his subjects for this reason or that, but her da would not agree to a union for her or Lenora to a Matheson without their consent, or any man for that matter.
He’d promised them long ago that they could wed for love.
And yet, something in Rory’s confident manner made her wonder if there wasn’t some sliver of truth to his words.
“Ridiculous,” she muttered to herself as the trees finally thinned and Dunvegan Castle came into view.
She pulled back on the reins and slowed her mare to a trot.
Something was happening at her home. Even from this distance, she could see that the courtyard bustled with far more activity than usual for this time of day.
Men moved about like ants disturbed from their hill, and horses—far too many horses—were gathered near the stables.
As she drew nearer, she caught the flutter of clan banners she had not expected to see.
The blue and green of her Uncle Brus’s MacLeod standard snapped in the winter wind alongside the white banner of her Uncle Rolland’s MacKay clan.
What in God’s blood were they doing here?
Neither had been expected for a visit, let alone at the same time.
A cold dread settled in Lillith’s stomach, one that had nothing to do with the winter chill. Something was most definitely amiss.
She guided her mare through the castle gates and into the crowded courtyard, nodding to the guardsmen as she passed. Several warriors she recognized from both clans paused in their conversations to watch her ride by, their expressions seeming curious in a way that made her skin prickle with unease.
Before she could fully dismount, the heavy wooden doors of the castle burst open, and Lenora came flying out, her golden hair streaming behind her, and her usually serene face flushed with panic.
“Lillith!” Lenora cried, rushing toward her. “I’ve been looking all over for ye!”
Lenora grabbed at Lillith’s arm with such force that Lillith jerked back instinctively, nearly losing her balance while one foot was still in the stirrup.
Masie gave a bark, as Lillith clutched at her saddle to steady herself.
“Get ahold of yerself!” she snapped at her sister, heart hammering from the near fall, and the mounting fear that Rory Matheson had not been lying after all.
“Ye’ll have me breaking my neck before I’m even off my mount. ”
Lenora stepped back, her hands fluttering nervously at her sides. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice trembling. “But ye’ve been gone for hours, and everything’s gone mad, and I did nae ken where to find ye.”
Lillith swung her leg over and dropped to the ground, keeping one hand on her mare’s flank to steady herself.
She had never seen Lenora this distraught, not even when that stable boy Caleb had broken his leg after falling from the hayloft last summer.
Something truly terrible had happened—like mayhap Lenora being told their da had broken his vow to them, and she had to wed not only a stranger, but their clan’s enemy.
“What’s occurred?” Lillith asked, hoping her imagination was running wild. “Why are Uncle Brus and Uncle Rolland here?”
Lenora opened her mouth to answer, but then froze, her eyes widening as they fixed on Lillith’s bodice. “Do ye have blood on yer gown?”
Lillith glanced down, surprised to see dark specs across the front of her dress. She had no notion how Rory Matheson’s blood had gotten on her, but there it was. The man was the most bothersome and insufferable Scot she’d ever met—poor Lenora, if what he’d said was true.
“I accidentally shot some fool in the woods,” she said, willing it to be so that she never saw him again, and that he most certainly did not appear at her home, yet, even as she willed it, a memory of his piercing blue eyes popped into her head, startling her.
She had no notion why she could recall his eyes with such detail, except, well, they’d had a mocking look in them. That had to be it!
“Ye what?” Lenora’s jaw dropped, and her panic of a moment ago seemed to disappear in the face of Lillith’s revelation.
Lillith shrugged. “He rode right into my line of fire,” she said, holding her reins out to the stable boy who approached them.
“Lillith!” Lenora gasped.
Lillith tried not to sigh at Lenora’s dramatic reaction to the shooting.
It sometimes amazed Lillith how two people who looked identical could be so different in personality.
Lenora was a worrier—about everything—whereas Lillith preferred to live life without fretting.
“It was only a flesh wound,” she said to her gawking sister.
“He’ll live,” she added in a soothing tone.
She omitted the part where she’d left him to find his own way to the castle.
That detail seemed unnecessary presently.
“Who was he?” Lenora asked, following Lillith as she started toward the castle doors.
Lillith hesitated, then decided there was no point in hiding it. “He said his name was Rory Matheson.”
“Matheson?” Lenora repeated, her voice rising an octave. “Ye shot a Matheson?”
“Shh!” Lillith said, glancing around. If what the man had said was true. Their little encounter could prove problematic for her. “There’s nae any need to announce it loudly for someone to hear.”
“Did he say why he was here?” Lenora asked, worrying her lip.
“Aye, though I vow he was lying,” she added, dreading telling Lenora.
“What did he say?” Lenora demanded.
Lillith paused just inside the castle door in front of her sister, studying a face that looked just as her own did.
Her protective instinct for her sister rose, and she took Lenora’s hand and squeezed it.
“Now, do nae get yerself worked up.” Lenora, unlike Lillith, most definitely wanted to wed, but for love, of course, not because she’d been ordered to by the king.
“Ye’re making me worried, by nae spitting it out,” Lenora wailed. “’Tis unlike ye nae to be blunt.”
That was true enough. Lillith took a deep breath and said, “He claimed he was here by order of the king to wed ye.”
At this revelation, Lenora burst into tears.
Lillith stood frozen in shock. She had expected disbelief, perhaps even a bit of hysteria, but not this…
this complete collapse. “Lenora,” she whispered, glancing around to ensure they weren’t drawing attention, but there was no one in the main entrance. “It’s likely nae even true.”
“That’s why I was looking for ye!” Lenora managed between hiccupping breaths. “Aunt Elena and Uncle Rolland arrived a bit ago, as well as Uncle Brus and Auntie Sebille, and Grandmama and Granda. They’re all locked in da’s private solar, yelling at each other with Mama and Da.”
Lillith’s breath seemed to snag on something in her chest—likely worry. Rory Matheson might not have been lying after all. “Did ye listen at the door?” she asked, her voice barely audible.
Lenora looked affronted, drawing herself up despite her tear-stained face. “Of course I did nae!”
But Lillith knew her twin too well. Lenora’s right eye always twitched slightly when she lied—and it was twitching now.
“Ye’re lying,” Lillith said flatly. “What did ye hear?”
Lenora’s lower lip trembled. “Only bits and pieces. Grandmama was shouting about choices and freedom. Granda kept saying something about duty and the king’s command. And then Da…” Her voice faltered. “Da said something about one of us having to wed.”
So, it was true. That arrogant, blood-smeared Matheson hadn’t been spouting nonsense after all.
She thought back to his smug expression when he’d asked about her sister.
“Da would nae break his promise!” Lillith whispered, fury building in her chest. She grabbed her sister’s wrist and pulled her toward the staircase that led to their da’s private solar with Masie following.
Lillith’s heart pounded against her ribs as she took the steps two at a time, practically dragging Lenora behind her.
“Lillith, wait!” Lenora pleaded, stumbling on the worn stone steps. “Ye’re moving too fast!”
“The men of our family are up there deciding yer fate,” Lillith shot back, not slowing her pace.
She did not believe for one breath that her mama, aunts, and grandmama would agree to this atrocity!
Suddenly, Lenora was beside her and then in front of her, tugging Lillith up the stairs.
Lillith grinned at her sister. “That’s the spirit, Lenora!
Fight for yer future, and yer right to wed for love, though honestly, I kinnae understand why ye wish to wed at all. ”
“And I do nae understand why ye do nae wish for a husband.”
“Because I do nae want to be ruled by any man for the rest of my life, thank ye verra much,” Lillith responded as they reached the corridor leading to their da’s solar.
Lillith caught up to Lenora’s stride and pressed a finger to her lips to indicate that they needed to be quiet.
The heavy oak door stood imposingly at the end of the hallway, its iron hinges gleaming dully in the torchlight.
Even from this distance, the raised voices from within drifted to her.
Lillith released Lenora’s hand as she moved toward the door.
“We should nae be here,” Lenora whispered, wringing her hands. “I should nae have listened at the door in the first place. If Da catches us…”
Lillith swiveled toward her sister. “If we do nae ken exactly what’s occurring and why, and where everyone stands, we kinnae fight what they might try to make ye do!”