His mouth twisted in an odd grimace. "My father had no intention of sending men to Lorn."
She gasped in surprise. "But the betrothal. You let me believe ..."
He shrugged unrepentantly.
A spike of anger cut through her guilt. "And when did you plan to tell me this?"
"You would have found out soon enough."
"Afterwe announced our betrothal?"
He met the accusation in her eyes without flinching. "Perhaps."
"But why?"
He seemed to purposefully misunderstand her question. "We don't have men to spare. Bruce will be coming after us as well, and when he does ..." His voice drifted off in the wind. "King Robert has grown too powerful. Our allies have deserted us. The Comyns, the MacDowells, the English. My father has much too much to lose."
He gazed back over the wall to the mini-kingdom below.
It was a telling movement, and she sucked in her breath at the significance. Too much to lose. His father wouldn't risk it. "Nay," she said, stepping back. "You can't! Your father can't submit. Bruce will kill him for what your father did to his wife and daughter."
She spoke without thought, and she could tell that the reminder of what his father had done in violating sanctuary and turning Bruce's womenfolk over to the English was not something Sir Hugh wanted to be reminded of. For the first time, she caught something resembling shame on his proud features.
"Bruce has vowed to forgive all the nobles who were against him, if they submit."
"And you believe the word of a traitor? Surely, you cannot think King Hood will forgive your father and the rebellious men of Ross and Moray? The fires have barely died from the 'harrying of Buchan.' "
He did not argue with her. But his jaw was clenched tight as he said, "What choice do we have? The tide has turned toward Bruce. The people think he is a hero--a warrior king who defeated the English. Submitting may be the only way to survive. My father is willing to die if it means our clan will continue."
Anna's mind spun. Never, in all her imaginings, had she expected Ross to submit.
What did this mean for her clan? Would her father do the same?
Nay. Her father would never submit. And for the first time, Anna realized what that might cost them.
Sobered by what Sir Hugh had confided, Anna felt little relief in knowing that her conduct had not been to blame. "Thank you for telling me," she said.
He gave her a long look. "What will you do?"
"Fight," she answered. Even alone. What else could they do?
"You will marry Campbell?"
Her cheeks heated. After what had happened last night it was natural to assume ... But there hadn't been much of a chance to discuss the future.
He seemed to understand her silence. "How well do you know him?"
The hint of warning in his voice roused the little voice in the back of her head that she'd sought to quiet. "Sir Arthur arrived at Dunstaffnage last month with his brother to answer my father's call for knights and men-at-arms."
It seemed to confirm something for him. "There's something strange about him. Something off. He's not what he appears."
Anna sprang immediately to his defense, thinking Sir Hugh must be picking up on Arthur's unusual abilities. "He's just quiet," she said. "He likes to keep to himself."
Sir Hugh looked at her appraisingly, as if he wanted to say more, but instead he nodded.
She was relieved when he told her he would explain things to her brother and parents, making no mention of the compromising situation in which he'd found her, agreeing simply that they didn't suit.
By the time he'd led her back to the tower, Anna was feeling much relieved. With some of her guilt assuaged, she allowed a little bit of the happiness she'd felt in discovering that the man she loved cared about her to return. She couldn't wait to see him--and talk to him.
