“Is that really all you think a chatelaine does?” Emelie was aghast that Dominic could be that flippant or misinformed about the weight a chatelaine shouldered.
“No. I saw Mother do far more than that. But Aggie and Berta made it look simple, so neither Brodie nor I gave it much thought after a while.”
“But Brodie must have if he thought Eliza would make a suitable chatelaine.”
“The alliance was what mattered to Brodie and to me. It would give us access to a waterway to connect us to another portion of Campbell territory. The best way to secure the alliance was marriage, and that meant a wife who could be chatelaine.” Dominic inhaled deeply and released it slowly. “As time went on, Colina manipulated me. At the time, I thought it was endearing that she needed me. I thought it meant she loved me. I wanted to take care of her, and I thought, as my wife, I owed her my loyalty.”
Dominic stared into the distance as memories flashed before his eyes. Emelie sat silent as she waited for him to collect his thoughts.
“Toward the end, she made me choose between my loyalty to her and to our clan. I will forever regret leaving Brodie and the others to sort through the dead and wounded when I rode away from this very place to check on Colina. She threatened she would be distraught throughout the battle and would be ill if she didn’t know whether I survived.”
Dominic’s memory flashed to that horrible day. He knew he was doing the wrong thing even as he rode through the gates and into the bailey. When he found Colina without a hair out of place while he heard how exhausted and frazzled Laurel was, he knew she had played him for a fool. But he was too stubborn to admit it, to accept the humiliation that came from coddling a woman who clearly didn’t need it or appreciate it.
“That was a mistake and a regret I will live with. She didn’t need me. She did it because she needed to know whether she was any closer to being Lady Campbell.”
“Lady Campbell? That’s Laurel. How would she ever be Lady Campbell unless she married Brodie?”
“It was far more complicated than it seemed. But it all unraveled when she tried to kill Laurel. My sister-by-marriage is the smartest person I’ve ever met. She nearly died more than once at Colina’s hand, but when she poisoned a waterskin, she erred. She assumed Laurel would be the one who needed a drink after her ride with Brodie. Instead, it was my brother who drank from it. The dose would likely have killed Laurel, but it only made Brodie ill. We learned it was Graham who’d filled it and did naught to warn us.”
“Graham? You said that Colina had an affair with him.”
“She did, until their deaths.”
“Their? I suppose I never wondered what happened to him. I figured I would meet him eventually.”
Dominic sighed as he looked up at the sky. “I found them together. I found them kissing. Graham ran to warn Colina that Brodie was the one to drink the water, but that he would likely live. I went after Graham when Laurel told me he filled the waterskin. Brodie and Laurel heard us in the Great Hall. I’d guided them there at the end of my sword. Brodie and Laurel arrived to discover Graham had his arm wrapped around Colina, and I was pointing a sword at them both. I would have killed them right there and stepped over their bodies without a second thought had Laurel not stopped me. I suppose it was just as well that she did. Colina confessed to a far more sordid tale than any of us could guess.”
“Oh, Dom. I’m so sorry. It must be so hard to both love and regret someone,” Emelie said as she rested her hand on his thigh again.
“Emelie, that’s what I’m trying to get at. I don’t love Colina. And my only regret is that I married her. My grief isn’t for her. It’s for my lost pride and for what I thought I had. I don’t miss her, Em. It surprises me that I don’t, but then she was pure evil. She married me, thinking it was just her first step in rising to be a powerful woman.”
Dominic gazed down at Emelie, hoping he could convey his feelings and put her misunderstanding to rest.
“The Campbells hold sway throughout the country and at court. She wanted a part of that. Her aunt married David Lamont, their clan’s former laird. She used Graham to feed information to the Lamonts and the MacDougalls. She told them when Brodie would return with Eliza. She facilitated the raid that killed Eliza, so she wouldn’t have competition. She would have killed Brodie and me given enough time. She tried to kill Laurel to keep my sister from figuring out what happened and to get her out of the way.”
Emelie noticed that, once again, Dominic didn’t qualify Laurel as his sister-by-marriage. It was clear he accepted her as close family, and Emelie was glad for it as she learned what Laurel faced upon her arrival. It made Emelie’s hurt feelings pale in comparison.
“She killed your mother, arranged for someone to kill Eliza, tried to kill Laurel, and would have killed you and Brodie. All for what? More work she didn’t do?” The tale Dominic told astounded Emelie. If she didn’t trust him, it would seem too outlandish to believe.
“She wanted the title and what she thought it would bring her. She didn’t want the work or responsibility. She wanted the notoriety. She thought Graham would become laird when Brodie and I died. She wanted me to return to the keep after the battle only to learn if she still needed to do away with me.”
Emelie shook her head unable to believe such a tale. But she knew Dominic wasn’t a liar. And she knew he wouldn’t tell a tale that Laurel or Brodie could easily refute. She suspected things were worse than what Dominic described. She bit her bottom lip before asking, “How did she die?”
“I drowned her.” Dominic said without emotion. “The clan council sentenced both her and Graham to death for treason against Brodie as their laird. They confessed before half the clan, who saw everything in the Great Hall. He hanged from the gallows, but the usual punishment for women is drowning. They say it’s more merciful than hanging, but I will never forget the experience. I didn’t feel merciful, and it didn’t look merciful. Brodie offered to carry out the sentence, but I had to. I had to be the one to purge our clan of the evil I brought in. It was my fault so many suffered and died. It may as well have been me who poisoned my mother or lopped off Eliza’s head.”
“Is that how Eliza died?” Emelie rasped. She wrapped her hand around her own throat.
“Aye. David Lamont killed her, and Brodie couldn’t protect her. It’s why I will always have men with us, Em. You are never to leave the walls without at least three guards. Things are quiet now with the Lamonts, but people begrudge us for what we have, what we’ve fought for, and what we’ve earned. There will always be threats, always people wishing to lay us low.” Dominic shook his head as he looked at Emelie’s ashen face. “I should have warned you of that before offering marriage. I should have made you aware of what you were accepting. I just didn’t think aboot it. I wanted so much for you to say yes.”
“You’re a fixer.”
“I’m a what?” Emelie’s declaration confused him.
“You want to make things better. You wanted to fix things between you and Colina, so you catered to her whims. You wanted to fix things between you and your clan, so you carried out her sentence. You wanted to fix me, so you offered to marry me.”
“I don’t want to fix you. You’re perfect as you are,” Dominic argued.
“I wouldn’t go that far. But you wanted to make things better for me, to take care of me. You’re a mon with an enormous heart who cares aboot others and wants to see the best in them. I find no fault in that, Dom. You believe it’s your duty.”
