For a moment their gazes locked in battle. The challenge in Duncan’s cool gray eyes was unmistakable, but Robert would not be swayed. Finally, his uncle nodded and motioned for the Menzies to leave.
The instant they were alone, Robert bent to the laird and clutched his shoulders. “You have seen my sister. Tell me, was she harmed?”
“Nae.”
“Where has he taken her?” When Cameron didn’t answer, Robert shook him. “You give your loyalty to a man who butchered Menzies.”
“Ask your uncle why the Devil killed them,” Cameron replied weakly. “Better yet, go see fer yerself at Stuart MacGregor’s cottage.”
Robert pulled away from him and raked his hands through his hair. Hell, he didn’t want to see. He’d waited his whole life to serve the realm, to fight at his uncle’s side. But this was not fighting. This was something else entirely.
“Go to the cottage, young Campbell, and see what made yer sister weep.”
“First you will tell me where he took her, and then I will see.”
Robert left Rhona MacGregor’s bedside, stepped out of the bothy, and summoned every ounce of strength he had in him not to retch. Instead, he set his eyes on his uncle staring at him from atop his mount.
“Why was she branded?”
“She broke the law, as did her husband and child. All Scotsmen have the authority to hold MacGregors to the law in any way they see fit. You know this.”
Aye, Robert knew it, but seeing how the proscription was enforced was quite different than hearing about it. Infection festered in Rhona MacGregor’s flesh. She would not live another se’nnight. And for what? Because of her name?
“You do not hold sympathy for them, eh, Robert?” his uncle asked him, his eyes as sharp as twin blades. “The Devil, and any other MacGregor chieftain, would cut off your limbs and scatter them to the four winds just to satisfy their bloodlust. This is the only way to keep them under control. It has been this way for many years. Now tell me where he has taken Katherine. I grow weary of your curiosity.”
Robert strode toward his mount, spitting the foul taste from his mouth as he went. “East.” He told his uncle what Cameron had said. “The Devil took her east toward Badenoch.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“COME INSIDE WITH YE, Maggie. ’Tis goin’ to rain.” Callum knelt over his sister lying on her back in the cool heather not far from the castle.
She opened her eyes and smiled at him. Then she scowled, making no move to obey his gentle command. “Why did ye send Kate away? Jamie says ye hate her.”
Callum blew out an explosive sigh and lifted his eyes to the hills so as not to meet his sister’s accusing stare. He did not want to be discussing Kate. Not when the very thought of her made his arms ache with the need to hold her. He was doing the right thing, he told himself. Finally. “I dinna hate her,” he answered. “But ’tis no’ safe fer her to be here with us . . . with me.”
When he looked at her again, she caught and held his gaze. Her brows quirked curiously at him. “Is it true, then, Callum?”
“Is what true?”
“Do ye think ye are so dangerous that even I fear ye?”
Her question was so unexpected, Callum simply stared at her, unsure of how to answer. His sending Kate away had naught to do with him. Or did it? He was the Devil MacGregor, and all of hell would descend on the Campbells if Kate was harmed. Aye, what he could become frightened him. If anyone should understand that, ’twas his sister.
“Kate spoke true, then,” Maggie said when the memories that haunted him darkened his expression. “Ye’re no devil, brother. But ye are a fool,” she scolded, though her voice was as tender as his had always been to her. “Ye took me away from that terrible place. Ye gave me back my life.”
Callum had never hoped for absolution such as this. He had also never wept a day in his life, and he damn well was not about to begin now. “But yer dreams . . . the terror I caused you . . .”
“Aye,” she agreed. “And each time ye leave Camlochlin to seek yer revenge, and I do not know if ye will return, the verra same terror grips me. This will end only with yer death.”
He took her hand in his as understanding washed over him. Understanding he would have fought to deny, even now, if he had never seen something other than a monster in Kate’s eyes. “I am a fool.” He smiled, then cleared his throat when his eyes stung.
“Now will ye bring Kate back?”
“She hasna left yet, Maggie. But I canna—”
“She has so left!” she insisted, yanking her hand from his so she could slap her thigh. “She took Ahern and bade me call to the guards to allow her departure. I think Graham should have gone with her.”
Callum tried to calm the fierce pounding in his chest but failed as he leaped to his feet. “Nae! She could no’ have left. No’ alone!”
