After what thehealer deemed was a suitable amount of time, Mariota left the herbal. She would have happily stayed there, but knew she could not, and that a confrontation with her father was inevitable, and imminent. Unless the twins were willing to hide her somewhere within Sutherland’s walls, she would not be able to avoid him.
As soon as she entered the great hall, she spotted Seamus with the other MacKays by the hearth. So he had not joined her father in the Sutherland’s solar? She headed for Seamus. He stood in response to her eye contact and the tilt of her head, then she headed for the back hallway Brìghde had shown her during their tour. It led to the kitchen past the buttery, so no one would think twice about Seamus wandering in that direction. She waited for him down the hallway, close to the buttery’s door. Minutes later, he joined her.
“I walked outside for a moment to get eyes off me, and came back in with a group of Sutherlands before following ye. What happened to ye? What’s amiss?”
“Naught save trying to keep Da from doing something stupid. I hate playing the weak lass, but it was the most expedient way to distract the lairds from their disagreements. Why are ye out here and not in the solar with them?”
“They finished their discussion before I could get there. Yer da rode out to the camp across the glen. I saw no sign of him while I was outside, though I think he’ll be back soon. What can I do for ye, lass?”
“I need to ken what has happened at MacKay since I left,” she said. “Did Alber get punished at all? Why was he in Da’s personal guard? Why is he here?”
“Ye dinna ask much,” Seamus said, crossed his arms over his muscled chest and leaned back against the stone wall on his side of the hallway.
“I ask because my life may depend on it.” The words came more easily than she thought they should to describe something so frightening.
That sobered him. “Because Alber is here.”
“Of course. Did Da punish him after he attacked me outside my chamber? People saw the aftermath. They, ah, helped him from the hallway outside my chamber and down the stairs. I dinna ken what happened after that.”
“Other than a stern lecture, I dinna think anything did.”
“Then what hold does he have on my da?” Frustration tightened her jaw.
“’Tis more than his claim of mastery at Red Harlaw,” Seamus said thoughtfully. “But I dinna ken what keeps him at MacKay, or keeps him alive. ’Twould seem to me anyone else doing what he has done would be banished, lashed, or dead by now.”
“There havena been any witnesses to his attacks on me till after ’twas done,” Mariota said. “Save for the damage to him and some bruises on me, he could claim naught ever happened.”
“If I had seen him attack ye, I would have killed him then.”
If that had happened, perhaps all this would be over and she would have been able to move forward with her life at MacKay. “Thank ye, but I dinna want to be that vulnerable to him again. Ask around, discretely if ye can, about him. Where he’s from, anything ye can find out about him. I doubt we can trust what we alreadythinkwe ken about him.”
“’Twill get back to him,” Seamus cautioned.
“Nay if ye are careful about who ye ask.”
“Some of the older men might remember. But they’re back at MacKay.”
“Then ye must wait ’till ye return, but I need to ken why my da is protecting him over me.”
“Ask him.”
Mariota bit back a laugh that wanted to become a shriek of frustration. “Ye think I havena?”
“Of course ye have. Have ye considered it may be dangerous for him to tell ye?”
“More dangerous than what Alber has already done to me and still wants to do? More dangerous than me, my father’s heir, being ignorant of some secret he keeps?”
“Ye have a point.”
“James,” Mariota blurted out the name as a memory surfaced. “Da’s friend and member of his council. I think he kens something. Mayhap everything.” The day she’d overheard him talking to her father and had to tolerate his presence while her father threatened her came back to her in a rush. Nothing he’d said made her suspect him, just his attitude. The way he and her father exchanged glances. Aye, he knew something.
“I’ll ask when we get back to MacKay.”
Mariota nodded, relieved that she had set something in motion. There might not be any answers to be had, but she knew Seamus would try. He was careful, and he was well-liked. If anyone could find out anything, he would. “I think we’ve been here long enough,” she told him. She tried to door to the buttery. To her relief, it opened.
“Carry out a cask of something to explain why ye have been in here for so long. I’ll make my way through the kitchen and come back to the great hall from there.”
Seamus nodded and entered the buttery. Mariota left him to explore and took a side passage toward the kitchen. It felt good to have Seamus at her back. He was her best friend at MacKay.She didn’t want to get him into any more trouble, but somehow, she had to understand why Alber could do what he did without repercussions. She swore to corner her da again, too. The more she stood up to him, the more respect she hoped to gain. Could she gain enough of his respect for him to share whatever truth he hid, before Alber succeeded in whatever he was determined to do?
