The advisors took the room. “You are considering sending warriors to Loch Lomond?” the Lord Constable asked the king. “This is the purpose of the question regarding King Håkonsson?”
“Aye to both inquiries,” the younger sovereign replied with the prowess befitting a seasoned king.
“Nae,” the Lord Chamberlain argued in almost a plea, “we stay the course. Lady Keirah and Sir Aonghus return with Lord Kollungr to King Håkonsson’s summons and we bide our time. If you must, send missives to any who surround Loch Lomond. We are still only five hundred knights, alongside a small gathering of clans, against a force of nearly twenty thousand! We cannot spare the warriors unto Loch Lomond.”
The king took his throne in a heavy sigh. “Callum MacCade,” he began, “if any in your clan seek to defend their kin,you have my blessing to let them take their leave. However, I will haveyouremain here as we charge against King Håkonsson as a personal guard to me, given my best knights are about to leave with their own purpose.”
Aonghus held silent. The hunting grounds. The honor was given after the fateful day on the hunting grounds, where Callum had taken the shot which ultimately saved the king’s life, even if Alexander never wanted it spoken about. With Sir Brayden, Sir James, and him stepping before King Håkonsson, it left Alexander vulnerable. His eldest brother as personal guard.An excellent choice, lord king.
“Aye, my lord king. I ask only to speak with my brother a moment,” Callum replied.Oh shite.
***
Hear him out first; he is the elder even if only by a year.And perhaps the expression Callum wore, while closing the door, appearing the same as the day of banishment from the clan, was only a coincidence.
“Are you daft, wee brother?” Callum barked.
Heard. Noted.Andnow pissed. “Callum, I did not ask nor wish for your opinion concerning Keirah and me takin’ our leave,” he snarled back.
Keirah shuffled a step closer toward the hearth, far from them. She must have sensed the impending battle. Keeping her distance, mind sharp as a thorn.She knows the MacCade brothers well. He would have smiled if not for Callum stepping up while hissing, “Takin’ your leave?! You sound as if you are traipsing off for a leisure swim in the fukin’ loch! Wee brother, you are taking your lady right to death’s door with the Northmen as guides!”
“’Twas my idea,” she defended him, still by the hearth.
“Pardon, my lady” – Callum bowed his head – “but I see how you look at my brother with eyes awash in love. You would follow him to hell’s gate if he asked you, which is what he is doin’ this very moment.”
Aonghus’s anger sparked. “Do not speak to her in this manner as if she were daft!”
“She is not daft! The lady is loyal to a fault and loves your Scottish arse with all she is!” Callum roared back, then dropped his voice to barely a whisper: “And if youloseher, wee brother, itwillcrush you. I cannot let this cruel fate befall you.”
Aonghus took a deep inhale. He feared for them – that was what this was about? If shock blew as cold as the wind from the arrow slit, they would all have been frozen in place. “I will not be losing Cluaran, but you must trust me; we have a plan.”
The rage re-met Callum’s eyes. “Trust! You abandoned Deidre! Only by the grace of Alec stepping in to appease the lass did we not war with her sire’s clan! But still I regret casting you out. ’Twas the worst mistake I ever made! One that haunts me each day, and I dare never ask for your forgiveness.”
His brother regretted casting him out?!
“However, trust, ha! This is another matter entirely, one which shall not come to pass. You were a traitor to Deidre. Shame. Shame on you, wee brother!”
“He was not, you overgrown arse!” Aonghus heard Keirah dive into the argument.
“Keirah, do not…” Aonghus began.
Callum cut him off, raising his hand at Aonghus. “Let the lady speak.”
“’Tis time he knew the truth,” she boldly declared. “Alec loved Deidre! Or are you so blind? Did you not see how your youngest brother just bolted for the passageway?” Keirah’s fists were clenched at her sides. “You cast out my husband for an honorable deed toward his kin!”
Callum’s brows hit his hairline. “Aonghus, this is true?”
There was no going back now; Alec had warned him a day past he was going to tell Callum when they returned to the MacCade keep.Time to come clean.
“Aye, ’tis true.”
His brother rubbed his hand over his brow several times till it turned scarlet at the pressure. “So, you lied to me Lady Keirah lost her instinct in sense…”
“Thatwas the will of the king,” she quickly clarified. “’Tis only you and Alec who know the truth.”
Callum’s eyes met Aonghus’s, a sadness he had never seen before from his brother shown there. “All these years you lied to me, and so has Alec.” His older brother paused, then turned away, appearing disgusted with himself. “Seems I am the one who is not to be trusted. Why did you and Alec not tell me the truth?” Callum gave a sick laugh. “Nae, I know the root of the reason. Me! I am rather taken aback you have even bothered to speak with me when I showed my face here, Aonghus.” Callum met his gaze. “I cast you out and you feared the same for Alec if the truth came to pass?”
“Aye, your wrath was unlike any I had beheld regarding breaking the betrothal.”
