Chapter 10 #2
Aidan was raised with three brothers, and the women he’d come across in his youth fell into prescribed roles.
Maidens looking for a husband. Wives and mothers.
Workers for house or farm. When his world expanded to Edinburgh and beyond, he found women working in manufactories and in the trades: spinners, weavers, milliners, dyers, embroiderers, confectioners, bakers, brewers.
And then, unfortunately, the less savory occupations.
In all his experience, however, he’d never met anyone like Morrigan and her family.
One, a university educated doctor. The next, a political activist and writer.
And then there was Morrigan. Smart and alert, she could assist in a surgery or cut down an opponent with the most lethal of skills. She needed no man to protect her.
He leaned against a post as Sebastian drew two blunt-edged dirks from a rack. Aidan had to admit, he liked the look of her long legs in trousers.
His brother walked across the yard to the two fighters.
The three exchanged friendly words, and then Blair stepped back, continuing to instruct her how to use the longer dagger with Sebastian as Morrigan’s training partner.
The dirk appeared to be a weapon that was new to her, and she focused on what she was being taught.
Aidan watched them. Even with one arm, Sebastian was a formidable opponent for anyone. His skills had been formed as a lad and honed on the battlefield. It took a cannon ball to rob him of his left arm.
It wasn’t long before she adjusted to the longer blade.
He had no doubt she’d be as deadly with the dirk as the sgian dubh.
As she became more obviously comfortable—with the weapon and Sebastian—they began to talk between exchanges.
He could only catch bits and pieces of what they said.
He heard Morrigan ask how he’d lost his arm.
Sebastian’s response was as indifferent as if he were talking about the scar on his cheek.
The two of them were the same in their blunt manner.
Aidan was taken aback when his brother turned and motioned him over with a wave of the dirk. “Why don’t you come and let this lass try these moves on you?”
Morrigan whirled toward Aidan. Her dark eyes rounded with surprise.
She didn’t know he was watching. The fight in the alleyway in Inverness was in the distant past. Their conversation in the library lingered in his thoughts.
If he’d only known this was where he could find her, he’d have been down here every day.
“Are you planning to hide in the shed all morning?”
Morrigan’s challenge was not to be ignored.
Aidan straightened. “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread . . . as the poets say.”
“Well, you’re no angel,” his brother scoffed. “So have a go. You could use the exercise.”
She gestured to the rack. “Grab a weapon.”
“Here,” Sebastian said, tossing him the dirk he’d been using. “She’s tired me out, but I’d still like to cross swords with Blair, if he’s willing.”
“Aye, I’m always willing,” the Mackintosh fighter said, going over to draw some weapons.
“Mark him up a bit more as you please, Miss Drummond,” Sebastian told her. “But pray, don’t kill him. He’s the only brother I have left.”
She cast a sidelong glance at Aidan. “I make no promises.”
With a chuckle, Sebastian moved off with Blair, giving the two of them space.
They began in silence, testing each other with measured attacks. She was good, but he was better. She was fast, but he was stronger. If there was one weapon he could wield better than his brother, it was this one.
“I see you’ve been studying the books.”
“My skills don’t come from pages.”
“Confident.”
“I have to be when I spar with quick-witted barristers.”
“Are you flattering me?”
“No, I’m trying to get you to let down your guard.”
He would have preferred to stand around and talk. But she was the epitome of focus.
Morrigan had tremendous speed, but he also had the advantage of reach and height. When she attacked down low, he parried and knocked her backward with a jab to her shoulder.
She tried to get inside, and he deflected the move. She dropped her hand, and he had a chance to knock her on her ass, but he didn’t.
His instincts were like the hammer on a cocked pistol. He knew what to do, and she recognized how good he was. She couldn’t get to him.
In skirmish after skirmish, Aidan held his own but kept himself on the defensive. Like a gentleman, he held back.
Finally, she dropped her hands in frustration. “What was your brother going on about?”
“What did he say? I couldn’t hear.”
“He said you’re an expert with the dirk.”
“I am.”
“Then attack me.”
“I’d prefer to walk in the gardens or argue with you about your choice of reading.”
She rolled her eyes. “We are in the training yard. Attack me.”
“We’ve been doing well. Just because neither of us have been run through . . .”
She gestured to a straw-covered post. “I’d get more of a fight from that pell.”
“A good lesson for me. I saw what you did to it.”
“Are you going to fight or not?”
“I have been. You’ll have to try harder.”
Morrigan attacked again, but he managed to parry, striking her wrist sharply with his off-hand and knocking the dirk from her hand. He waited for her to pick it up.
“I understand now. You’re being nice to me.”
“I’m not.”
“You have a bias against women being able to defend themselves.”
“Not at all. The world being what it is, I’m in favor of it,” Aidan told her. “Absolutely.”