Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
Noah stood in the great hall of Dougal Castle alongside his fellow lairds, looking at a map of their lands laid out before him.
He flicked a quick glance at Camden Lyall, whose perpetual smile and easy manner were setting his teeth on edge.
“What is that melancholy expression for, MacAllen?” Camden asked, his booming voice echoing around the halls. “Are ye challengin’ Dougal to a duel? We need some excitement in this place.”
“I would think ye have enough excitement with MacDunn on the loose,” Noah replied irritably. “And why would I challenge me brother-in-law to a duel?”
Camden snorted. “Och ye're correct, ye are friends now, I had forgotten,” he replied, giving Jack a knowing smile across the table.
“Could ye stop, Camden? Ye are pluckin’ feathers to agitate the birds, and there is nae need,” Amelia’s voice cut in as she approached them.
Her belly looked even more swollen than the last time Noah had seen her. Her face glowed, and as she looked at her husband, she was a picture of contentment.
Jack extended an arm, and she settled into his side.
That is a marriage, Noah thought. That is a world I will never ken. Even if Keira accepts me, I can never expect that easy familiarity between us. I must keep her at a distance for her own sake.
There was a rumbling growl behind him as Murdoch Blaine approached the table. He was a hulking figure of a man, covered in scars from head to toe, with much of his face hidden by a mask. But as he looked at the map, assessing the damage MacDunn had left in his wake, his gaze was intelligent and assessing.
“Lady Dougal is right,” he said sternly, giving Camden a reproachful glare, “are we discussin’ MacDunn or banterin’ like fools?”
Laird Moore had a brooding nature and was difficult to get to know. Noah still hadn’t heard him speak more than a few words over all the times they’d met as a group.
“Everyone is in a very sour disposition this mornin’,” Camden remarked as Murdoch scowled at him. “Tell me someone has some good news for us.”
“MacDunn set a village alight near Donaldson clan a week or so ago. He is still rampagin’ through our lands, unchecked. Is that good enough news for ye?” Noah asked.
Camden sighed and glanced at Jack, who shook his head in resignation.
“I think yer temper is rubbin’ off on Black, Blaine,” Camden said to Murdoch, who glowered all the more. “Would ye stop lookin’ like a thundercloud for a few minutes at least?”
“He must be stopped, and soon,” Murdoch said as though Camden hadn’t spoken. “Where did this fire happen?”
Noah leaned over the table and pointed at the village. Murdoch placed a small marker on the map. MacDunn’s exploits were being felt far and wide, and the markers were growing before their eyes.
“Was there any intent this time?” Jack asked, his gaze landing on Noah as he raised his eyebrows, his proprietary arm still cradling Amelia against him.
“Nay,” Noah replied, “he burned it to the ground and took nothin’.”
“And who are yer sources?” Murdoch asked doubtfully. “I have heard he has been laying waste to the villages close to me home, but me scouts say he is lookin’ for somethin’.”
Noah shrugged, irritated at the implication that he was ill-informed.
“He burned the houses and the villagers without a care, and his men left; that is all I was told. Some of them survived but with terrible scars.”
Noah stopped talking abruptly as he realized what he had just said. Murdoch looked over at him, the mottled patterns on his face seemingly more livid and clearer than ever.
Noah swallowed, but Murdoch’s gaze simply returned to the map, his mouth twisted in a scowl.
“And yer source, man! Is it reputable?”
“Aye,” Noah paused. “I trust it.”
I trust Keira; that is the truth of the matter.
Murdoch stood back up and looked at Jack.
“We must send men out to our borders to observe MacDunn’s movements; we cannae have more lives lost senselessly. We must learn his motives above all else.”
“And how do ye propose we do that?” Camden asked.
Murdoch scoffed in frustration, and within seconds, they were arguing amongst themselves about the best methods to find and defeat MacDunn.
Noah’s gaze flicked to Amelia, only to find her staring at him with a puzzled expression.
Finally, as Laird Moore’s voice rose several octaves above the others, echoing off the walls around them, she stepped forward, stopping the debate as all eyes turned to her.
“We have been at this for hours and are getting nowhere. I say we take a moment to refresh our spirits. I shall have some food brought and we can reconvene this afternoon. Murdoch, ye are welcome to rest; I ken ye have traveled the furthest.”
Murdoch grunted, scowling at Amelia. “I dinnae need to rest!” he protested but his anger drained quickly away as Jack gave him a warning glare from behind his wife.
Murdoch cleared his throat. “Thank ye for the offer. I need nae rest, me lady,” he said stubbornly. Amelia nodded and turned back to Noah.
“Come brother; I would speak with ye.”
Her expression was one Noah knew well; it would do him no good to refuse. He was well aware of how much he owed his sister, how much she had sacrificed for him and their clan, and how much he would still do to repay her.
Without a word, he followed her from the room, and the heavy door slammed shut behind them.
Amelia took him to the gardens where, only a few short months before, he had stood and watched her wed his rival. It was strange how things changed in the blink of an eye.
“What is troublin’ ye?” she asked, glancing back at him as she walked through the low-cut grass, her hair swaying behind her. She truly did look beautiful and serene in her surroundings, and he was glad of it.
“Nothin’,” he said stubbornly, wanting to hack off all the heads of the flowers he could see with his sword. They looked happy and content in the breeze, and it was making him angry.
“Och, ye do spout a pack of lies when ye’re irritable,” she said, walking through a gap in a low-cut hedge and stumbling slightly over an uneven stone. She staggered to the side, placing a hand on her belly as she stopped, regaining her balance.
Noah was beside her in a second.
“Are ye alright?”
“Yes, yes, dinnae fuss, I just need to sit for a moment.”
He led her swiftly to a bench behind them and settled her gently on it.
“Do ye need the nurse? Shall I get Dougal?”
“His name is Jack, and dinnae think ye can change the subject so easily,” she said. “And stop lookin’ at me like that; I am just a little tired; I dinnae need a healer.”
Noah grimaced as the mention of a healer flooded his mind with images of Keira. Amelia made a triumphant sound.
“I kenned it!” she said proudly.
He looked back at her, his irritation spiking. “What do ye ken?”
“One mention of a healer and ye close up like a flower at night. Come on, then. Out with it.”
“What are ye talkin’ about?”
“That healer who ye brought to yer castle. That beautiful healer who stormed in on us without knockin’.”
Noah glared at her, but she met his gaze with the same stubborn set to her jaw as his own. He could not help but smile ruefully at how similar they were.
“Ye are the very devil.”
“Why did ye bring her to MacAllen Castle?”
“Deindre went to our grandparents, and we needed her services,” Noah hazarded, hoping it would be a good enough explanation. It was not.
“Daenae give me that. Why did ye bring her to yer castle? From what I was told, she was well settled in the Donaldson clan.”
Noah clenched his fists, trying to keep his voice level and not betray the rage that her innocent question had sparked in him.
“There was a priest. He accused her of witchcraft, tied her to the stake—he was going to burn her alive.”
Amelia’s hand rose to her mouth, and her eyes grew wide with shock and outrage.
“Why did he accuse her of that?”
“Does he need a reason?”
“Men usually do,” she said resignedly.
“She refused his hand.”
“Ah,” Amelia said heavily. “A crime indeed.”
Noah scoffed. “She has two young siblings. I brought them home with me so they would be safe.” Amelia leveled him with a quizzical stare, and he rolled his eyes. “I could hardly leave them there alone could I!”
She just smiled in response.
“It is nae important, either way because they will all be leavin’ Scotland soon?—"
But as he said the words, he stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing the implications of his own marriage proposal.
There was no longer any truth or certainty in that statement. Keira might not be leaving after all, not if she accepted him.
Why did I nae realize that would be the case? And why do I feel so happy at the prospect?
He stood up abruptly, beginning to pace before his sister in agitation, unsure how to feel as he processed this new future he might have created for himself.
“Noah?” Amelia asked gently, her face a picture of calm. “What is going on? This isnae like ye.”
Noah snarled in frustration as he ran his fingers through his hair.
“She has brought nothin’ but trouble to me door. She willnae take orders, despite orderin’ me about on a whim. She’s too clever for her own good and insists on leavin’ when she doesnae have a penny to her name, or any place safe to go. It was hardly me fault I couldnae?—”
He stopped, swallowing back the words that he had almost let slip, but Amelia folded her arms above the swell of her belly and gave him a hard stare.
“Couldnae what? As if I dinnae ken.” He spun around, frowning at her in consternation. “I did see the lass, after all. She is uncommonly beautiful. And here I was believin’ me braither had nay use for women.”
“I dinnae!”
“But…?”
Noah growled in frustration. “She has some kind of a hold on me…I dinnae ken!” he sighed as he rubbed a a hand over his forehead. “Her braither saw us together.”
“Och, Noah.”
“I ken, I ken.” He sat back down beside her with a heavy sigh. “I’ll have to marry her. I’ve betrayed her honor. At least it’ll keep her safe. She can be protected in me castle, and I can continue on as before.”
The silence beside him was ominous, and it took him a long time before he could look at his sister. Amelia’s gaze was contemplative.
“Ye deserve to be happy, brother,” she said softly, “is that what she will bring for ye?”
“How should I ken,” he muttered. “She is a nuisance.”
Amelia’s eyes turned warm. “Yet ye saved her life and took her from her village, ye’ve protected her and her siblings from harm, and now, to protect her honor , ye have proposed to her?”
“And?”
“I am just sayin’—for a woman who is a nuisance; ye are goin’ out of yer way to keep her in yer life. Ye deserve love, Noah. More than anyone I ken, but ye are nae always the wisest at seeing its path.”
“This isnae love, Amelia. I am doin’ it to help her. She’ll be me wife in name only.”
“And her brother caught ye together doin’ what exactly?”
Noah glanced at her impatiently, and she smiled.
“Ye could be happy if ye allow yerself to be,” she whispered, startling him as she placed a gentle kiss on his cheek before rising and starting back toward the castle.
“What if ye’re wrong?” he asked desperately, feeling a knot tighten in his chest as he thought of the terrible end to his mother’s life.. “What if I am just as me faither was. Possessive, crazed with jealousy. I have feelin’s for her sometimes I dinnae ken what to do with. What if the madness in him runs in me veins, too?”
Amelia turned, a hand resting on her belly. She gave him a long stare that reached into something deep inside him that only she could see.
“Ye are talkin’ of someone who isnae me brother,” she said simply. “Yer faither would have left her on that pyre to burn, make nomistake. Ye prove ye are better than him every day. Go to yer healer , Noah; it’s clear to me that’s where yer thoughts are anyhow.”