“Of course.” He gestured at the knight who had escorted her down. “Please ask Lady Fitzhugh to come down for the breakfast.”
Alana bit her lip. “Thank you, my lord.”
“You’re welcome. Did you see the future, Alana?”
She did not move, hands in her lap. It was a moment before she spoke. “No, my lord, I did not.”
“Then I am not pleased.” His smile was gone, his stare uncomfortably piercing.
She flinched. “I tried, my lord. My visions frighten me and I dread them, but I tried.”
“Trying will not help me and it will not help the earldom,” Buchan said. “We do not have time on our side. Bruce is but a day’s march away. There will be a battle soon. You must try harder, Alana, to see the future for me.”
“I understand,” she said.
“Do you? Did you look at the water? Reflect upon it? Pray?”
“Yes, my lord, I did.”
He studied her closely. “Your father has never spoken of you. I had heard years ago about his affair with your mother, and that a daughter had been conceived. But I had truly forgotten your existence, until Duncan brought you here. Would it inspire you if I told you I am eager to help you now that you have my protection?”
Alana somehow smiled, stiff with tension. She was no fool. If she pleased him and had a vision as he wished, he would be helpful to her—he would find her a husband. “I am already inspired, my lord,” she said, when the opposite was true.
“You should be married, with a manor of your own.”
“No man will have me.”
“They will if I say so,” Buchan said.
Alana could not look away.
“Do you wish for a husband? A home of your own? Children?”
She could only recall Godfrey’s bullying and Duncan’s arrogance and advances—and Iain’s courage in the battle for Boath Manor. She suddenly looked at him. “Brodie Castle is my home.”
“Of course it is. Clearly, you are attached. You do know it would not be out of the question to return it to you.”
Alana gasped.
“Would that please you?” he asked.
She knew she was being played and manipulated. But dear God, it would be a dream come true, to have Brodie returned to her. It would be just.
“I see you would wish, very much, to be the lady of Brodie,” he said softly.
Oh, God,she thought,if only I could have a vision—one that will please him!“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, it would please me so much.” From the corner of her eye, she saw Duncan, who was in shock.
But he did not need Brodie! He had two manors and an estate!
Buchan leaned close. “Bruce murdered my cousin,” he said to her, more softly. “He stole the throne, and even my wife. And now he rapes and plunders Buchan lands. He has destroyed Inverlochy, Urquhart and Inverness.”
Unable to look away, she trembled.
“Will he march on Nairn? Will he march on Elgin, on Banf? Will we defeat him? Will I?”
He was asking for so much! “It is hard enough,” she said, low, “seeking out a vision, much less requiring a specific one to occur.”
He patted her hand. “But you are a Comyn. You are your father’s daughter as much as your mother’s. As a Comyn, you must do your duty to me and mine.”
