Chapter Thirteen #2
“Ye’ve not answered me,” his sire said, his voice raspy and weak.
His valets clustered on either side of his chair and lifted it between them.
“Ye are not the chief of this clan yet!” Easily carrying the weight of the frail man, the servants returned him to his bedchamber and closed the door behind them.
Drummond turned to Glengarten, who had retreated to the edge of the room to cower and wring his hands. “Inform the council I will see them in my solar within the hour.”
Twitching like a cornered rat, the man shook his head. “I dinna ken if they all are within the keep, m’lord.”
Drummond knew that for the lie that it was.
His father’s councilors preferred the lavishness of Dubh Tower above all else.
The fine, the elite council, consisting of the heads of Clan MacMuirrow’s most powerful families, spent more time at the keep than in their own homes.
“Do it or regret it. The choice is yers, but I warn ye—I am in no mood to be tested.” No one insulted his Evie, and no one undermined his leadership of this clan.
“Aye, m’lord. I shall gather them immediately.” Glengarten fled from the room as if his breeks were on fire.
Turning to the three that the Unseelie woman had brought, Drummond offered them a grim nod. “Follow me, if ye will. Conversations are safer in my personal solar, if ye ken my meaning.”
Silent as a tomb and just as solemn, the men rose and fell in step behind Murdoch as he led the way down the hall. Morganna followed them, but Drummond held back and kept Evie with him. He nodded at the Dark One trailing along behind the men. “Do ye trust her?”
Evie hesitated a little too long for his liking before softly answering, “Yes.”
“What gave ye pause, lass?”
She shot a glance at his father’s bedchamber door. “I thought you said it wasn’t safe to talk here?”
“Aye, I did at that.” He led her out into the hallway and closed the solar’s door behind them. Keeping their pace slow, he escorted her as was proper. “Now, my own, are ye certain ye trust Morganna Nightwhisper?”
“I trust her now. Sort of.” An almost groaning sigh left her.
“But when we first met? Not so much because she wasn’t honest with me.
I now realize it was because she wanted to ensure I traveled across time to meet you, which makes me a little nervous about trusting her fully.
I do believe she’ll do everything in her power to protect us because it helps her in her quest to break that curse.
” She made a face and barely shook her head.
“But I also think she’ll leave as soon as she thinks it’s safe to do so. I’m sort of like a puppy to her.”
“A puppy?”
“Her goal is to find me a good home and move on to the next mortal in the litter so she can satisfy her quota.” She drew her arisaid closer about her, shivering as she did so. “But now I’m worried about collateral damage.”
May the gods help him understand this precious woman and her odd way with words. “What worries ye precisely?”
“This weather. Ada told me that all the winter stores hadn’t been brought in, and you said yourself that you’re concerned about your livestock and your riders.
” As they walked, she fixed a worried stare on the floor, her steps slowing until she finally halted and looked up at him.
“We”—she pointed back and forth between the two of them—“our union, shouldn’t cost lives.
It’s not fair for others to pay the price for us being together.
” Her pained expression filled him with concern.
“I don’t know that I can live with that. ”
“We are bound.”
“I know that, but…”
“But nothing.” He took her hands in his, willing her not to give up the fight before they’d even gotten started. “This cause, our bond, is worth taking a stand. Not just for us, but for the clan, and for those of Craig Durness.”
She arched a brow. Disbelief flickered in her eyes. “Since when do you worry about the magical beings of Craig Durness?”
“Since they brought ye to me.” He would fight anyone and anything, doing whatever it took to ensure their bond remained.
It all may have happened quickly, but the rightness of this union was unquestionable.
He and Evie completed one another, creating a union that was meant to be.
“Trust me, m’love. This fight is well worth the effort.
We must not let this evil win, for if we do, what is to stop them from believing they can do anything to us mortals whenever they wish? ”
“I guess that’s true.” But she didn’t sound convinced. She tipped a nod at the end of the hallway. “I guess we need to catch up with everyone.”
“Aye.”
She looped her arm through his without his even offering, and that pleased him greatly. But her worried look remained. “What are you going to tell your father’s council? About us?”
“’Tis Clan MacMuirrow’s council, not my father’s, and I intend to ensure they understand that our union is not to be questioned.”
“Why do I get the feeling that’s not all you plan to tell them?”
Her insight made him smile. The seal of their bond was gaining strength.
“It is time I laid claim to the chiefship of Clan MacMuirrow. Five years, I have led my people in my father’s stead.
Mended damaged political alliances. Gained favor with the king.
Prospered the clan in many ways despite Glengarten’s attempts to manipulate the council by putting words in my father’s mouth.
Angus MacMuirrow is no longer able to lead, and all recognize that.
It is time to let my father rest, and allow Colban Glengarten to rest his meddling as well. ”
“What will you do with him?”
“Remove him from his post as senior advisor and replace him with Murdoch, whom I trust.”
As they entered the stairwell, she glanced all around, then hiked her skirts up to just below her knees. He groaned. It was not quite as shocking as what she’d done before, but it still wasn’t suitable.
“There’s no one around,” she said before he could complain.
“And about your plans, you’re not worried that it’ll look strange that you didn’t do all that until I showed up?
Heberdy already put the witch word out there.
I’m afraid others will chime in. Glengarten can’t be your only enemy here.
They’ll join forces with Heberdy and go after us both. Rats travel in packs, you know?”
“Leave it to me, m’love.” He admired the sway of her skirts as she climbed the stairs. What he wouldn’t give for enough time to enjoy her before they joined their guests in the solar. Never would he get enough of her.
“Don’t dismiss me,” she said. “Politics are politics no matter the century.” As soon as she reached their floor, she turned and glared at him, her eyes flashing. “And political enemies are just as dangerous as fairies and a septet of pagan gods and goddesses. Maybe even more so.”
“I am not new to this game,” he told her quietly before greeting Griogair with a nod. “Are our guests within?”
“Aye, m’lord.” The warrior held the door for them.
As they entered, their visitors rose from their seats, and Morganna stepped forward.
“And how exactly did ye help with my father, Dark One?” he asked before she could speak or make introductions. “My wife was not welcomed as ye promised.”
She tensed, pursed her lips as if biting back any argument, then offered him a slight nod. “I underestimated the depths of the chief’s poisonous bile. Forgive me. That mistake will not be repeated.”
Drummond waved the promise away. “It no longer matters.” He turned to the other three from Craig Durness, noting that Murdoch had already seen that they each had a whisky. “And now, who are these visitors sworn to protect my Evie?”
The largest and most warrior-like of the three men offered him a polite bow. “Jadrack Greyguard at yer service, m’lord.”
The one in the middle, also muscular but in a lean, feral way, built like one who could run long distances, gave a curt nod next. “Jarrah MacAnany, m’lord, and we have come to protect yer bond as well as yer wife.”
“Aye, m’lord,” said the shortest and roundest of the three, a squat, older man with a long, silvery beard. “Farbis Langisbeard ready to serve, and as long as we protect yer bond and the love which sealed it, yer wife will be safe as well.”
Evie cleared her throat, then turned away, covering her mouth while she coughed as though choking.
“Ye said ye believed in love at first sight,” Morganna told her with the sternness of a tutor. The Dark One jutted her chin higher. “Ye took the oath and sealed the vow. Dare ye suggest no love exists between ye? Dare ye name it as nothing more than lust?”
Drummond clenched his teeth but remained silent, waiting for his wife’s response.
He’d sensed her doubts becoming ever stronger as each new trial to their union reared its ugly head.
The unseasonable storm. The accusation of witchery.
Glengarten’s manipulation of his already deceitful father.
Not to mention her continued wariness about remaining in this time. “Evie?”
She turned back and faced them all, weakly lifting her hands in surrender. “Everything has happened so fast. It’s all so…unbelievable.”
An aching heaviness yanked Drummond’s heart to the pit of his stomach.
How could she still question their bond after all they’d shared, after all they’d felt ever since her arrival at the sidhe hill?
“Life’s events, the wants of the heart, the yearnings of the soul, have no set schedule, lass.
Why do ye insist upon questioning what we are?
What we could become? What we already have and what we could have in the future? ”
“’Tis the meddlers.” Stroking his beard, Farbis gave a wise nod.
“Subtle, they are. Crafty and sly. This is one of the many ways they chisel away at yer bond.” He shook a stubby finger at Evie.
“Fight them, m’lady. Dinna listen to the doubts and worries they plant in yer mind. Ignore their whispers in yer ear.”