“Nay,” he said softly. “She lives still. She was a noblewoman of Clan Ross, the daughter of the Clan Chief. She married my father when she was sixteen. Their marriage was not a happy one and they lived separate lives for the most part. Then when I was ten, my father brought his mistress to live at the castle. An English woman he’d known since childhood. My mother was humiliated.Iwas humiliated. A few months later, he suddenly announced that his marriage to my mother wasnae valid—claimed that my mother had broken the marriage contract by being engaged to another before she married him. Their marriage was annulled and my mother left, returned to her family home with Clan Ross.” He ran a hand over his face. “Then my father married his mistress. She became my stepmother.”
“And your mother?” Molly asked softly.
Conall shrugged. “She married a southern lord twice her age and bore him three children. I havenae seen her or my half-siblings in many years.”
Molly watched him, not knowing what to say. Was this the way it was for noble families in this time period? Everything a calculated game of power and alliance? No wonder Conall had left. No wonder he hadn’t told her about his family.
She put her hand on his arm. “That must have been horrible.”
“It was the way of things,” he replied. “In the Highlands the nobility marry for political advantage, not for love. My father merely decided his marriage to my mother no longer brought him that advantage, so he arranged for a way to move on.”
“But he married his mistress instead. Surely that was for love?”
Conall snorted. “Hardly. My stepmother was a wealthy English heiress. Their marriage brought my father many estates in northern England.” His eyes found hers. “And he would have had me do the same.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ye asked why I left? Why I decided to join the Order of the Osprey instead of remaining my father’s heir? There were many reasons: my father’s greed, his lack of any kind of morality or compassion, the way he treated anyone who dared stand up to him. But there was one thing that became the final straw: my marriage.”
Molly faltered, her stomach flipping. “Your...your marriage?”
“My betrothal, I should say. My father arranged it without consulting me and without my knowledge. He arranged for me to marry a daughter of the Earl of Pembroke. In addition to his estates in England through my stepmother, this would bring him land in Wales as well. After I had seen how an arranged marriage worked for my parents, I refused. I told him I was joining the Order instead. He didnae take it well.”
Alliances. Arranged marriages. Dowries. This was all so strange, so cold and unfeeling and all so alien to Molly. Her own parents had been happily married for nearly thirty years before her mother’s death.
Conall’s deep eyes found hers. “I refused to become him, Molly. That was what he was trying to do: make me in his own image. If I’d agreed? If I’d married a woman I’d never even met? I would have become just like him: a bitter man married to a woman I didnae love. And who knows how I would have treated the children she gave me? Perhaps I would have been as much of a bastard as he is. So when he threw me out, I went willingly. And I never intended on coming back.”
“Yet you did.”
“Aye. I did. Funny isnae it how the paths we tread sometimes lead us full circle. That’s what Irene MacAskill said to me, ye know? That my path would lead me back to the beginning.”
“Do you think she meant for you to return here? To where you grew up?”
“What else could she have meant? She is one of the Fae, Molly, and my Order is sworn to the Fae. I have to believe that she was guiding me to fulfill my mission. That, coupled with what I discovered in Lanwick, is what brought me here.”
Molly slumped onto one of the plush chairs and braced her elbows on her knees. “What you discovered in Lanwick? Is this connected to that man you’re looking for? What did you say his name was?”
Conall lowered himself into the chair opposite her. “His name is Leif Snarlsson. And yes, it’s connected to him.”
“So you think you’ll find him here?”
“I do. We always knew he was being supported by some of the nobility.”
As the import of his words slowly sank in, Molly’s eyes widened. “You’re here to investigate your own family! You think they’re the ones behind Snarlsson’s attacks!”
He said nothing for a long moment. Then he nodded tightly. “Aye, but I need evidence before I can present it to my commanders and to the king.”
Molly didn’t know what to say. She’d had her differences with her da in the past, especially following her mother’s death, but they’d made it up. How would it have been to grow up without that? She couldn’t imagine.
Conall gave her a wry smile. “I bet ye wished ye’d stayed in Lanwick now.”
“Yes, actually. But no, not really.”Then I wouldn’t be with you. She met his gaze. “What do you need me to do?”
“Naught. This is my problem and I’ll deal with it. Ye are to do naught but enjoy the hospitality of the Pinnacle.” His tone was harsh. “If there is one thing my father and stepmother excel at, it’s having the best of everything and this extends to their guests.” He rose. “It’s getting late. I will leave ye to sleep. In the morning, if ye wish, I will give ye a tour of my family’s lands.”
“I’d like that.”
He looked down at her. “Until tomorrow then.”
