“I’m still laird, here, uncle,” I said, my head pounding with feelings trying to surface and the need for drink.
“I only try to help ye, Munro,” Uncle Gordon said.
“I ken,” I replied, and I did. I stared steadily at James. “Ye have gone too far, James, in the name of trying to aid me or nae. Either return the lasses, or ye will go to the dungeon.”
“I’m sorry, Munro. I am. But I do nae ken what else to do.”
He took out his dirk and slid the blade across his finger. I knew instantly what he was doing, and the blood in my veins froze. James took a sharp breath, and his shoulders drew up to his ears, as if he was preparing to go to battle. “I invoke the life debt ye owe me, and my wish is that ye allow yer daughters to remain here.”
Even though I’d realized what was to come, shock still slammed into my chest. If I denied the life debt I owed James, there would be no honor left in me. Slowly, I took out my own dirk, slid it across my finger, and James and I gripped hands. I did not feel any sting from the blade that had cut into my skin, only hot rage. “I grant yer request,” I said, “and my debt to ye is paid.”
I tried to jerk free, but James held tight, gaze locked with mine.
“I’m sorry, Munro.”
“Ye will be sorrier soon,” I seethed. “Having the lasses here will nae change me. It will destroy me, and all of ye with me.”
I yanked my hand from his grasp, swiped up a jug of wine, and tilted it, praying for the haze that would keep the memories away.
Chapter Two – Murieall
Buchannan Stronghold
Highlands, Scotland
I closed the door to my da’s solar behind me, expecting both my parents to turn at my entry, but neither of them moved. Whatever I’d been summoned for, I had the feeling it wasn’t good. Not only had they not turned at my entering the room, but they huddled together, Mama with her shoulders hunched and Da with his head bowed, as if they were preparing for battle. Worry niggled at me.
“Mama?” I called.
She turned, eyes blazing, and crossed the room to take my hand. Then she ran a smoothing hand over my head in the same reassuring gesture she’d used when I was a child and trembling in fear from a storm, or the dark, or howling wind, or I’d woken from the constantly recurring nightmare when Lisette had fallen through the ice in the loch and died. I flinched, even now at the memory of my baby sister, whom I’d led to her death with my foolishness.
“’Tis for the best,” Mama murmured, more to herself than me, it seemed.
“What is?” I demanded, my heart doubling its beat.
Da straightened slowly and met my gaze. “Bruce brought a missive to me from Liam this morning.”
“Bruce has returned without Liam?” I asked, confused, because that had not been the plan at all. My brother and Liam were to have ridden here from the king’s court together. They were both to have arrived today. On Da’s nod, I said, “I do naeunderstand. Liam was to come a sennight before our wedding with Bruce. That was the plan.”
I had every single detail of every single day mapped out from today until our wedding. Plans kept one safe. It was when you deviated from them that trouble occurred. “Has something happened?”
Mama made a derisive sound, and Da nodded.
Dread settled deep in my chest, and my hands curled reflexively into fists as a voice in my head stirred. The dead loved to strike at me with their pleas for help when I was trying to concentrate on something else.
Tell my mama the priest poisoned me.
I forced a noisy exhalation through my nose to dull the ghost’s voice. Once it had faded to the background, I asked, “What?”
Mama squeezed my hand hard, as if she could anchor me. “Sit, Murieall.”
I moved to do her bidding, but trepidation followed each step I took.
Da drew a long breath. “Liam has broken the betrothal.”
My breath hitched. “That can nae be. Liam loves me, and he’s honorable and does nae waver from duty or plans.” That was one of my favorite qualities about him.
Mama snorted. “Yer description of him is exactly why I did nae think him a good choice of husband for ye and exactly why I made the two of ye wait.”
