“He’d best nay cross my path. I’ll make his life miserable while he remains at Sutherland if he so much as looks at ye crosswise. Were things always this bad at MacKay? Ye seem like such a strong, smart lass, yer father must have loved and cared for ye when ye were young. What changed to turn him mean?”
Mariota tensed. She knew why, and didn’t want to share that story. Things had been bad enough after the accident. But perhaps things had gotten worse after Alber arrived. She had been about nine, which would have made him eleven. Old enough to cause trouble, yet she didn’t have any strong recollection of spending time with him. He must have kept to himself, or stayed out of trouble until he was older. He hadn’t fostered away. Her father had kept him close, but perhaps once he was old enough to spend most of his time training with the other men, her father’s interest in him had waned.
So, what about her changed with him? She couldn’t answer that, either, save her encounter with him the first time she bested him. Had she hurt his feelings so badly that he still carried the resentment to this day? It didn’t seem possible, unless there was more she didn’t know. Had her da seen him as a surrogate son? Promised him things that were never bestowed? She just didn’t know, and because of where they were now, it mattered. “Who can say why any lad becomes the man he is?” She was prevaricating, and she could see the healer knew it, but the woman shrugged and let her comment pass.
Mariota’s guilt surged anew. By her rejection all those years ago, she might be more responsible for Alber’s actions than she’d ever considered. The thought made her belly sink.She couldn’t see any way to fix this, now that Alber seemed determined to exact his revenge.
Stellan caught Anders’eye when he reentered the solar. Anders nodded. That simple gesture told him Mariota was with the healer and would remain there until the healer agreed to let her leave. Even her father would not be able to remove her from the Sutherland healer’s care if she insisted on keeping the lass. Mariota was safe for the moment. The healer was a powerful ally to have within Sutherland, and this was the second time she had defended Mariota, even though Stellan was certain she knew Mariota had faked the faint and there was nothing new wrong with her since she’d arrived. Perfect. That would keep the lass out of her father’s clutches, at least for now. Some of the tension Stellan had been holding onto drained out of his shoulders and belly.
Now to deal with whatever the two lairds came up with.
But before Anders could cross the solar and join him, the two lairds stood and the MacKay and his remaining man walked out.
Sutherland tilted his head toward the door. Anders nodded to someone out in the hall and closed it behind the MacKay and his man. He and Stellan moved to the seats opposite their father’s desk.
“Fill Anders in while I consider something,” Sutherland directed.
Stellan nodded. “Ye didna miss much after ye left. MacKay willna say any more about why he brought Alber, but ’tis clear he accepts the man’s lies about his prowess at Harlaw.”
“So why dinna his other men tell him the truth?”
“Perhaps they did. ’Tis an important question, but one we canna answer.”
“Perhaps he has something on the old laird, something he doesna want made public,” Anders said, his gaze distant while he thought.
Stellan disagreed. “MacKay could simply banish him or even kill him for what he’s done. Why put up with threats to himself or attacks on Mariota? What makes Alber untouchable at MacKay?”
“Domnhall? Or one of their other supposed allies, Gunn or Sinclair? Did he foster with one of them?”
“We dinna ken enough to be certain about any of them.”
Anders frowned.
“Her da doesna treat her as his heir,” Stellan continued. “Could he intend to name someone else to succeed him?”
“Certainly not Alber!” Anders objected.
“Nay, but if MacKay is all about power and keeping what MacKay has to itself, he might decide to replace her. If he doesn’t trust anyone enough to use her to make an alliance, he can just marry her to a MacKay warrior or one of his advisors.”
“If he did that, the least he could do would be to let her choose her husband.”
“I dinna think that’s likely, in any case, but ye dinna hear what he said about his proposal to us after ye left. He claimed to be speaking from anger. He wants to take her home, to let things settle down. I dinna ken whether he has truly decided he doesn’t want a neighboring clan involved after all. He could honestly fear MacKay would cease to exist as a separate clan and territory unless he looks farther afield.”
Anders clenched a fist. “So she’s left with rough men like Alber, or old scheming men, ye mean? Those would be her choices? We canna let that happen to her.”
“We canna stop it,” Stellan said, and that made his blood run cold. There had to be a way to protect Mariota that wouldn’t worsen relations between their clans. Not that he thought they were very good at the moment.
Their father had turned to stare at the low flames in the hearth. Now he turned back to them. “I considered offering Mariota a place here. It would be a monumental step to offer permanent sanctuary to another clan’s heir. One certain to cause problems. I’m concerned for her at MacKay, but I see more behind her father’s bluster than, perhaps, he wants anyone to see. He’s worried.”
“For her?”
“Perhaps. In part. It does make me wonder if he would be relieved to have her remain here. Then there’s Domnhall to worry us all. He’s a fickle ally at best, as MacKay kens fine. MacKay was right to be concerned about the current conflict spilling north at some point. And this man, Alber. There’s something between them. Something of long-standing, or his laird would have dealt with him by now.”
“He should have dealt with him anyway,” Stellan said. “Ye would have.”
“Aye, I would, but I am no’ the MacKay and I dinna ken what burdens he carries. Well, some of them, aye. The obvious one being a daughter of marriageable age and his heir. I have to wonder if any of this would have happened if Cameron had not met Mary Rose, but had wed with Mariota MacKay. Where would we be now?”
Stellan and Anders traded a glance. To Stellan, such speculation was not useful. They had to deal with the here and now. Their younger brother was besotted with his bride. Stellan knew neither he nor Anders would wish a different lass for him. And certainly not Mariota. Not when she meant so much to him— nay, he must not think about his growing feelings for her. Heknew there was no future for them, not as long as they were both destined to follow their fathers.
