Leith tried to tell himself over again that Farlan was a fool. Yet he sensed something fine and brave in the statement.
“Look,” Farlan said, “the old chief here, Iain, and our Camraith had an unspoken truce for years and years. Aye, we raided one another’s cattle. There were skirmishes. Men died, men who shouldn’t. All I ask, Leith, is for ye to consider a return to that. Should ye tak’ up the place o’ chief—”
“I will no’. Rory is no’ dead. I refuse to consider it.” Just as once he would have refused to consider this man before him could turn his coat.
Or that Rhian MacBeith might lie to him with her beautiful, merciful eyes.
Chapter Thirty
Agoodly amountof time passed before Rhian returned. When she did, she gave Leith a blithe smile, making a swift assessment.
“Ye look so much better this morn. Does your wound still pain ye? Shall I mix another draught?”
Leith strove to mask any response he might have to the kindness in her gaze, and that soft smile. Yet the very air of the chamber changed when she came in. And that place deep in his gut, where his awareness of her seemed to be anchored, tugged hard at him.
“I do no’ need a draught.” He did not need his senses dulled. If they decided to move against him—
Rhian approached where he lay propped up against the bolsters on the bed, and laid her palm on his forehead.
He found himself gazing at close range into the depths of her eyes. And aye, despite himself, her touch soothed him; her nearness eased the wanting. The warmth of her gaze embraced him.
Mayhap she had cast some spell on him after all.
“Are ye hungry?” she asked softly, not at once moving away after she withdrew her hand.
He shook his head.
“Aye well, once your appetite returns, we will ken for certain ye are on the mend.”
She sat on the bed facing him, her legs tucked up beneath her, and her hands folded loosely in her lap. “Ye should take somewhat to eat whether ye be hungry or no. ’Twill help ye to regain your strength.”
He said, trying hard to discipline his tangle of suspicions and emotions, “And ye want for me to grow strong, d’ye?”
“I want for all my patients to grow strong.”
“Farlan sat and spoke wi’ me while ye were awa’.”
She nodded. “I ken.”
So they’d cleared it with her, had they? All that happened in this room. They spoke of him, made plans for him. Did they all know he’d slept in her arms?
“He told me there’s a chance Rory was fatally wounded during the last attack at the gate.”
That made her gaze quicken. She seemed to study him still more intently. “He took an arrow in the back. No one could tell how grave was the wound, but his men helped him away and they broke off the attack.”
“His death would change everything in Glen Bronach.”
“It would.”
“Since ye ha’ Farlan here speaking in your sister’s ear, there will be no doubt how ’twould alter things.”
She tipped her head as if sensing the antagonism that simmered within him. “Farlan talks to us, aye. ’Tis a good thing. It allows us a hope o’ achieving peace.”
“That is your goal, is it?”
“It is Moira’s goal.” Rhian made a rueful face. “Alasdair has other ideas.”
“He wants to kill me off.”
