Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Fourteen-year-old Briana stared.
Her eyes were wide as her maid, Anna, tried to pull her away.
Anna was two years older than Briana, and despite the difference in their apparent status, her best friend.
Briana usually listened to Anna's sixteen-year-old wisdom, but today things were different. Today, she couldn't drag her eyes away.
"Briana, if yer father catches ye eavesdroppin' in here…" Anna hissed.
"A moment!" Briana half-insisted, half-begged.
She and Anna were hidden behind the curtain that separated one of the secret passageways into the Cameron Grand Hall from the rest of the room.
She was peering through the gap, fascinated by the stranger who stood before her father now.
From all she'd heard about the MacKenzies, she'd expected the heir to be rough, even stupid, but the young man who spoke now was eloquent, clean-cut, and far too easy on the eye.
"Me Father values our alliance above all, Laird Cameron," Theon MacKenzie said earnestly.
He bowed his head slightly, though supplication did not suit him.
Briana thought he looked like a prince, not a common laird's heir—tall, dark, handsome, and with storm-gray eyes that, when he glanced toward the curtain, she knew she'd never forget.
"He sent me with these gifts tae remind ye of our dedication tae the good fortune of our clans united. "
Briana's father replied with something that she could not hear, and a muscle in Theon's jaw twitched, but otherwise he did not react. He bowed his head again and turned to go.
"Briana!" Anna insisted again.
"I'm comin', I'm comin'," she grumbled.
She turned to follow Anna back down the passageway but gasped as her heel caught in a loose stone on the floor and she stumbled. She tried to right herself but overcorrected and fell backward.
"Oh!"
It was too late to stop herself. She grabbed at the curtain, desperate to prevent injury, but still landed hard on her back on the stone floor and cried out in pain, the sound echoing like a death knell around the suddenly silent chamber.
She saw Anna, wide-eyed, start forward, but she urgently shook her head, warning her to stay hidden. She was already doomed, but there was no need to see the maid punished as well. Best that only one of them face her father's wrath.
Strong hands wrapped around her arms and, with surprising gentleness, helped her to her feet.
Briana brushed herself down, burning from embarrassment, and turned to thank the servant who had helped her.
Her embarrassment grew tenfold when she saw that it wasn't a servant at all—it was the MacKenzie heir, watching her with curiosity.
Her words died on her lips and she stammered before abandoning the attempt to speak.
"Are ye all right, miss? Ye didnae hit yer head, did ye?" Theon asked.
Briana's young heart pounded at the direct address. He was so strong and handsome, and though she knew the MacKenzies were a suspicious lot despite the alliance, he sounded… kind. Something about his voice made her stomach lurch with a strange pain that was almost enjoyable.
"I…"
"Briana." Her father's cold, foreboding voice dropped like a hammer on the moment, shattering the warmth that had surged through her. "You were eavesdropping."
She didn't try to deny it. She'd long since learned that it would not delay her punishment—in fact, it would only make it worse. Bowing her head, she folded her hands in front of herself and said in a contrite voice, "Forgive me, Father."
"Father?" Theon asked, his voice rising slightly in surprise at the end. He stepped back from Briana, looking back and forth between her and the Laird. "This is yer daughter?"
Laird Cameron nodded, though his expression looked as though he was reluctant to admit it.
"Aye. This is me youngest child, Briana.
Ye'll forgive her trespass, I hope. She isnae blessed with brains or grace, but she has time tae grow, and she's bonny enough she'll make a fine wife tae someone one day. Ye ken how women are."
Theon frowned. He didn't look back at Briana, but there was an undercurrent of annoyance in his tone as he replied, "Any daughter of yers must be very blessed indeed. I'm sure ye undersell her blessin's, as I've nae doubt ye grant her only the finest tutors and lessons in ladyship."
Briana stared at him, wondering what his tone meant.
What was he saying? She didn't have any of those things.
She'd had a governess when she was very young, and her mother had ensured she knew how to read and count and play music, but when Lady Cameron died, all of that had ended.
Her father had been very clear that women had no need to waste resources learning when their role was to serve their husbands.
Laird Cameron smiled. "Me daughter is given everythin' she could possibly ask for."
Theon's answering smile and nod were strangely sardonic. He glanced at Briana, and the warmth she'd seen before seemed to have vanished. "Aye. Of that I have nae doubt."
"Briana, go tae yer brother. Tell him I sent ye, and that he's tae keep an eye on ye until I am free," her father ordered.
It was as though he had poured a bucket of iced water over her head.
A chill ran down Briana's spine. When they were alone together, her older brother Iain was generally gentler with her, though the friendship they'd had as children had lessened more and more over time.
But he would not defend her when their father approached.
Stiffly, she nodded. Arguing would only make it worse. "Aye, Father. Forgive me intrusion." She turned to Theon and bowed her head. "And ye, sir. Me sincerest apologies."
Theon nodded at her. As she walked away, she heard him speak.
"Dinnae be too harsh on the lass, M'Laird. She's a bonny wee thing, and there's nae harm done," he said. "May I return our conversation tae me father's gifts?"
Later that night, Briana winced as Anna gently applied the salve to the angry bruise on her ribs.
It would be hidden by her clothing in the morning, but it would serve as a painful reminder of her trespass for some time, aching every time she breathed too hard until it healed.
Iain had protested slightly as her father doled out the punishment, but he'd fallen silent at a single look from the Laird and stood up for her no more afterward.
He'd even agreed, when it was over, that Briana needed to be taught her place.
Noah Black had been the one to find her afterward, and his pity had stung almost as much as her father's punishment.
At seventeen, he was already high in the command chain of her father's soldiers, essentially the de facto second-in-command.
He never showed her any favor where he could be seen, but he always snuck her little treats or cheered her up when they were alone, and in her heart he'd become the brother that Iain had once been.
He didn't ask any questions, just carried her to her room and fetched Anna before leaving, his face drawn and his eyes dark.
Tomorrow, he'd come and check on her, she knew, but they'd never discuss what had happened.
The strangest thing, though, was that despite the pain in her heart and body, Briana couldn't help but smile even as Anna treated her wounds.
The MacKenzie heir had been nothing like she imagined.
She knew the MacKenzies were brutes, only members of the alliance because it was better to hold them close than allow their dark plotting to go unchecked.
But Theon had defended her, helped her, and been as handsome as a prince in a story.
She could still feel those warm hands supporting her and see that enchanting half-smile.
"Are ye all right? I'm bein' as gentle as I can," Anna said, frowning as she examined the injury. "The salve should help with the healin', but it will hurt for some time."
"It doesnae matter," Briana told her. "There's nae harm done.
" Excitedly, she grabbed Anna's hands. "Oh, I hope Theon MacKenzie visits us again soon.
I'll make a better impression next time, ye'll see.
And I ken that we'll strengthen the alliance that Father's been so worried about, too. It'll solve everythin'."
Anna smiled at her enthusiasm but looked confused more than anything else. "What do ye mean?"
Briana's heart felt lighter than it had in years as she said, "Dinnae ye see, Anna? It will make everythin' better—Theon MacKenzie will be me husband some day. And we'll all finally be happy."
The sun was rising, and Briana stirred from the half-asleep memory with a deep pain in her heart and shame weighing her stomach down. What a fool she had been!
She'd been just a child, a stupid child, who had painted an idea of a prince onto a man who could never be anything other than a brute. Perhaps that could have been an excuse, except…
Except even after she'd learned the truth about the MacKenzies after their betrayal—even after she knew for sure that they were murderous monsters who had planned to kill her whole clan in their bed—the hatred she felt toward him had still been tempered by the memory of that moment.
Logically, she knew that Theon MacKenzie was nothing but a monster, but when she'd seen him in her carriage after all these years, she'd returned to being a hopeful little girl for just a moment.
Well, he'd shown her the truth. He was everything she'd come to know of the MacKenzies and more.
He hadn't hurt her, but only because she had value to him of some sort, she was sure of it.
Did he intend to claim her? She'd briefly thought he wanted her as his wife, which felt ridiculous now, but it occurred to her that his intentions could be much more sinister.