Chapter One #5
Ellenor rolled her eyes as she started to fill her plate with food.
“Only you, Conan, would assume tonight is about you. We gather like this every couple of weeks so that all the men get a chance to dine with their laird and enjoy a good meal and the comforts of the castle. You just so happened to arrive on such a night.”
Conan grinned. “I don’t recall such gatherings during my previous visits. Are you sure this isn’t all for me? I assure you I appreciate the welcome, but it really isn’t necessary.”
“I don’t think that’s it,” Conor said contemplatively.
Conan blinked and it took him a second to realize that his eldest brother was continuing the conversation that they had been having outside. Conan sighed. “Then what do you think it could be?”
“I have no idea. We don’t even really fight anymore. It is as if someone sapped the energy out of Laurel and all she wants to be is alone.”
Laurel had spent a lot of time in the Star Tower since Conor had been away.
So much so that Conan had noticed and now he felt a little ashamed of feeling glad about her absence when he should have been concerned by it.
He considered Laurel an older sister who infuriated him much of the time, but that didn’t mean he did not love her.
While he hated her meddling in his life, he was not averse to what she had done in his brothers’ lives.
Laurel had been instrumental in the happiness found by all five of his elder brothers and their wives.
If something really was wrong with her, this was not good.
“She has been acting differently, but she seemed healthy when I left. Whatever is bothering her will soon pass, Conor, and she will be back to disagreeing with you, and you will be looking at these days as a brief respite you should have enjoyed.”
Conor chewed on a piece of meat. His brows were furrowed, giving the impression that he was not remotely comforted by Conan’s words.
Conan was not surprised. He was the last person one should go to for encouragement or hope.
One came to him for clear absolutes, and on this topic, Conan had only one to give his brother.
“Go home and demand she tell you what is going on. Speculating here, with me, is not going to calm your thoughts.”
Conor grunted in agreement. “Cole and I have discussed all that we can at this point. He, Dugan, and Donald are going to wait and watch for now. I am not sending any additional troops until we have a better understanding of what is happening between the MacCoinnich clan and their neighbors. So you, I, and Father Lanaghly can leave as soon as we are ready.”
Conan pulled off a small piece of bread. “Father Lanaghly is here? I had not seen him and thought he was at the priory or what’s left of it.”
Conor shook his head. “He arrived about a week ago and, while waiting for you, decided to use the time to prepare the chapel for winter as it is unlikely he will be back until spring.”
Conan pushed back the sudden wave of guilt coming over him.
If he had left when asked and taken the normal route, he would have arrived about the same time Father Lanaghly had.
Instead, his stubbornness had forced the old priest to wait these past several days.
“I’ll go and let him know that I am here. ”
“No need. As soon as you were spotted, I let him know that you had arrived. He said he would be ready to leave in the morning.”
They finished dinner and Conan rose to his feet. “Should I stay in my old rooms?” he asked Ellenor.
For the past few years, he had come north to stay with Cole and Ellenor for several months at a time.
He enjoyed spending time with his elder brother and the soldiers who had elected to leave Conor’s guard in an effort to support Cole and what he was trying to build.
However, that had never been the main purpose behind his visits. Ellenor had been.
When they had first met, he had been shocked to learn how many languages she not only could speak, but read.
With her help, he had been able to decipher several mysterious phrases he had been unable to translate.
After a somewhat contentious beginning to their relationship, it had taken a substantial amount of pleading to get Ellenor to agree to teach him what she knew, but eventually she had and was now one of the few women with whom he enjoyed spending time.
They had both been happily surprised to find out how well they worked together.
Conan had known Ellenor was intelligent, but he had grown to appreciate her rapier wit and direct approach to things.
She also never did anything without reason.
So, when she motioned for him to follow her outside, he did so without question.
They left the hall and Conan prepared himself for more questions about Laurel, but instead she pointed to the large, four-wheeled covered cart sitting in front of the stable. “I thought you should be aware that Father Lanaghly convinced Cole to let him take that with you to the priory.”
“Murt!” Conan muttered. “I thought the church came and got most of the stuff it wanted for the priory.”
Ellenor crossed her arms and tilted her head. “They did. Father Lanaghly said they left almost a month ago. But they left someone behind. That,” she said, pointing at the large cart, “is for her and her items, much of which I understand are mostly documents, books, and scrolls.”
“Her!” Conan barked. His brain had stopped working right after he’d heard Ellenor tell him that they were not simply retrieving a handful of documents, but rescuing some old nun.
“Aye,” Ellenor said. “All I know is she lived at the priory. The church either did not want or could not take her books and things, and she would not leave without them. We would have offered her temporary sanctuary here, but Father Lanaghly thought it might be best for her to be where he was going to be present throughout the winter. Laurel of course agreed, but the herald she sent with the news told us that you were to be told the full aspects of exactly what you were retrieving only after you arrived.”
Conan was fuming. “My brother knows about this?”
The cold fury in his tone took Ellenor aback.
She had known Conan would be mad, which was why she was telling him all that she knew so that he would have time to calm before they left in the morning, but she’d had no idea he would be this mad.
Every man hated to be manipulated and Conan was no different, but for some reason Laurel’s deceit was cutting him far deeper than Ellenor had anticipated.
“Conor knows, but I don’t think he was aware that Laurel kept the full circumstances behind Father Lanaghly’s request. Your brother’s mind .
. . has been a little preoccupied when it comes to his wife, and Cole has tried to minimize anything that might make him more worried about her than he already is. ”
Conan had been worried about Laurel too, but after this last stunt, any sympathy, concern, or compassion he had been feeling vanished.
She had sent him north to get a nun! Not only would he be getting things like the writings of Conrad of Saxony and his sermons on the Speculum Beatae Mariae Virginis—The Mirror of the Blessed Virgin Mhàiri, but a droch-airidh nun!
Conan was more than half-tempted to refuse.
He did not care how many Hail Marys he would have to say.
Father Lanaghly would just have to find someone else.
“That’s why I’m glad you came. Conor really is worried about Laurel, and Father Lanaghly needs someone who isn’t distracted.”
Conan gave Ellenor a sideways glance. “You cannot guilt me into agreeing to go.”
Ellenor grinned. “I don’t need to. You and I both know you won’t abandon Father Lanaghly or your brother regardless of how mad you are at Laurel.”
Conan pursed his lips together and then pointed at the cart and then toward the gatehouse. “I am not driving that thing. Father Lanaghly is. I don’t care how old he is.”
Ellenor gave his arm a squeeze. “Fine. I’ll tell Cole to get one of the stable masters to drive it out to the headland. Now, come see your newest nephew, for it might be some time before you see him again.”
Conan turned to follow her toward the keep when he suddenly realized that he had been manipulated yet again, just by a different McTiernay wife. “Cole sent you out here to warn me, didn’t he?”
Ellenor gave him a wink. “We both knew that surprising you with this in the morning would not be the best way to start the trip.”
Conan was not so sure what difference knowing a few hours earlier was going to make. It did not change the facts.
Three men for one nun.