“He is here in the north. Obviously he wishes for lands here,” Sir Alexander mused.
“Bruce has offered him Nairn,” Buchan said. Alana gasped. He glanced at her. “I do have spies, my dear.” He turned back to his brother. “So we need to offer him lands, titles, a wife.”
Alana looked at her lap, filled with dread. First Bruce wished to offer him an heiress, and now Buchan did.
“I thought about this last night,” Buchan was telling Sir Alexander. “I have no daughters to offer and no other available nieces, not since William’s daughter married Alexander MacDonald, betraying us all. You have two daughters, Alex, both of them heiresses, both of them pretty and pleasing.”
Alana flinched. Buchan would offer her sisters? Was this truly happening?
“Alice is your heir,” Sir Alexander shot tersely. He was clearly angry—he did not want Alice offered to Iain.
“Yes, she is my heir...because my damned wife lives when she should have been hanged for her treachery.” Buchan now slammed his empty mug down. “Hanged, her body dragged through the city, her head cut off and placed on a pike. Wine!”
Alana stole a look at him—he was enraged. She had never before thought about the fact that he could not remarry while his wife remained alive, and his wife, Isabella, was King Edward of England’s prisoner. Her sentence for her treason—for crowning Bruce at Scone—was to live out the rest of her years in a cage, like an animal, for all to gawk at and insult.
“How long can a woman live in a cage?” Sir Alexander asked angrily. “If you are fortunate, she will fall ill and die and you will remarry and have heirs. I cannot approve of Alice being wed to a MacDonald savage.”
“I am fifty!” Buchan exclaimed. “As if you wish for me to have an heir of my own! Have no fear, Alex. Alice is far too valuable to pawn off to a Highland savage just to peel him away from Bruce. One day, little brother, if you outlive me, you will be the power behind Buchan, with your daughter its countess, wed to some powerful courtier.”
Alana dared to regard both men now. They were staring darkly at one another, as if antagonists, not brothers.
Did her father covet the power of Buchan?
He no longer seemed amiable and gentle.
“I wish to offer Margaret to Iain of Islay. She has Tarredale as a dowry. I can even add to it—perhaps I’ll give him command of Nairn, once she is with child, and we can be sure of his loyalty. I think the offer a good one. Don’t you, little brother?”
Sir Alexander sat back, his expression grim and unhappy. He did not wish to marry even his second daughter to Iain, but clearly, he would not have a choice. “Will I have a day or two to think about it?”
“Think about it all that you want,” Buchan said. He suddenly stood. “I am done here. I am going to finish my letters. I imagine father and daughter wish to become reacquainted.” He walked around the table and laid his hand on Alana’s back.
She flinched as he did so, looking up.
“I am sorry my men did not free you from the tower, as they were ordered to do. They were cowards, fleeing instead, and they have been punished for their cowardice.”
Alana did not know if she believed Buchan—if he had ordered her and Eleanor’s release before he had fled Nairn—but she forced a smile. “Thank you, my lord.”
Buchan walked away. As he did Godfrey gave her a concerned look. He also stood. “I am going to speak with the sergeant of the watch, Alana. If you need me, I will be in the watchtower.”
She felt oddly grateful to him, as if they were friends. “I am going up to rest shortly,” she said.
He nodded, glanced at Sir Alexander and left.
“Alana, do you wish for me to stay?” Eleanor asked with obvious concern.
“I will be up shortly, Gran,” Alana said, squeezing her hand.
Eleanor looked at Sir Alexander. “You owe her a great deal,” she said sharply, and then she left.
They were alone in the great hall.
For one moment, Sir Alexander stared into his mug, which he clasped with both hands. Then he looked up at her and smiled.
Alana hesitated nervously. “You do not wish to marry my half sister Margaret to Iain of Islay,” she said.
“I have hardly said that.”
“It seems obvious.”
