Chapter 17 #2
She didn’t want to give it any more weight, as she didn’t want Mabel to worry.
Besides, there was nothing for her to worry about.
She and Callum had had their difficulties, their differences, their struggles, but that didn’t mean she was unhappy with him.
They were still getting to know each other.
She was still getting used to being around him, and friction was bound to surface in such stressful and uncertain times.
Worrying Mabel over this was simply silly.
Mabel narrowed her eyes, as if she didn’t quite believe her. “If ye say so.”
When they reached the stairs, Rhea paused for a moment and turned to her maid. “Lara, will ye please show Mabel her chambers? And then perhaps we can have our meal? Lara will show ye the way to the Great Hall.”
“That would be lovely,” Mabel chirped, smiling from ear to ear. “Just the two of us?”
Rhea nodded. “Aye, just the two of us.”
Though she hadn’t thought it possible, Mabel’s smile widened before she turned around and followed Lara up the stairs.
Rhea went to the kitchens to make sure that the meal would be served soon and then made her way to the Great Hall, only to find Callum already there. The sight of him brought her to a halt, and he immediately noticed.
“Rhea… I heard yer sister arrived,” he said, in lieu of a greeting.
“Ye did?” she asked, raising a curious eyebrow. “Why did ye nae come to greet her?”
“That is yer job, is it nae?”
Rhea realized she shouldn’t be surprised by that. Callum was hardly sociable. If he could spend all day brooding in his study, he would.
“It would have still been considerate of ye to greet her,” she pointed out, without telling him that this wasn’t helping his reputation at all. She didn’t even know if he was aware he had a reputation. And if he was, she didn’t know if he would even care.
Callum stared at her, blinking a few times in confusion. Then, he gave one of his usual grunts of acknowledgement and said nothing more.
Rhea stood there for a moment, before finally making her way to the table and sitting to his right.
Callum had never been particularly chatty, but now he seemed even more closed off, as if they had suddenly returned to the first days of his return from the war.
She didn’t know what had prompted this change in him.
All she knew was that, even as Sienna and Hudson came in, he maintained the same attitude.
Soon, Mabel found her way to the Great Hall, and Rhea quickly stood to usher her in.
“Everyone, this is me sister, Mabel,” she announced as Mabel bobbed a curtsy.
Once all the necessary introductions had been made and the food had been served, she wasted no time catching up with her sister.
“It’s been so lonely in the castle without ye,” Mabel admitted with a soft, weary sigh. “And with Father in such a poor condition… I often daenae ken what to do.”
Rhea had half a mind to suggest to her sister that she come live with them, at least for a while. But Mabel couldn’t leave their father alone, and their father couldn’t leave the clan. Ill or not, he was still the Laird.
And yet the thought of her sister all alone in Castle McAllister pained her. All this responsibility thrust upon the shoulders of someone so young, all her time spent taking care of their father or trying to do everything he couldn’t.
“Perhaps I should go back home with ye and stay there for a while,” she said. But that, too, was far from ideal. These were dangerous times. Leaving the clan now could be detrimental to everyone.
The moment she spoke those words, she felt Callum’s gaze on her, burning like a brand.
“I daenae think that’s a very good idea, me Lady,” Hudson interjected. “With all the attacks—”
“The attacks?” Mabel interrupted. “There have been attacks?”
Rhea had refrained from speaking about the attacks. She had wanted to bring her sister up to date once they were alone, but now it was too late.
“Aye,” she said. “In fact, there was one just yesterday.”
“Yesterday?” Mabel gasped, her hand flying to her mouth, her food forgotten. “Are ye all right?”
“Aye, I’m fine,” Rhea assured her. “We all are. Callum and I… we were at the loch when we saw smoke from afar. We followed it to the village and found everythin’ on fire.”
For a brief moment, she paused and waited to see if Callum would like to add something, but he remained silent. Not only that, but he was also decidedly not looking at any of them, even though he seemed to be listening to her.
“And then Callum rushed straight into the crowd and saved everyone,” she continued.
“Ye should have seen him. He somehow got everyone to organize, and then he helped them put out the fires. He was fighting the flames for so long, and I was so worried about him, but what could I have done? He’s the Laird, and he wouldnae have listened anyway.
He wanted to save those people. And he did. ”
Mabel and Sienna listened to her with wide eyes as she spoke, but Callum kept avoiding her gaze.
In fact, he seemed to be avoiding everyone’s gaze, focusing instead on the food in front of him, which remained mostly uneaten.
He had only managed to cut his meat into tiny pieces, as if he was preparing it for a toddler.
As the conversation drifted to the next ball that would be held in the castle, Rhea took the opportunity to lean closer to Callum and whisper to him, “Ye seem… upset.”
He grunted. “I’m fine.”
“Callum—”
“I’m fine,” he insisted through gritted teeth.
The look he gave her made her lean away, sharp as a blade, ending the discussion before it even began.
Something was wrong; Rhea could tell. Anyone with a pair of eyes could tell, but no one would say a single thing. No one would dare. Even Rhea herself would rather not push it, since she knew just how difficult he could be when he decided he didn’t want to share something with her.
Let him mope. If he willnae speak to me, there is nothin' I can do.
No matter how much her heart ached.