“We could appeal to Seamus for help. Failing that, we’ll find a postern gate or climb the keep’s walls and get ye out. Valkyrie, too— let her fly and that problem will be solved.”
“That risks clan war, and Sutherland throwing us into his dungeon, or worse, my da tossing us into his,” Mariota argued.
“We can do it. We must. I canna leave ye unprotected. Even more, I canna leave ye behind.” He would have cupped her cheek but he would leave dirt there. He didn’t care. He reached for her, but she shook her head and brushed dirt from her hands as she stood.
“It willna work, and I fear my da would have ye killed for trying to steal me. ’Twas bad enough when I left on my own. I dinna want to put ye in that position.”
“MacKay willna kill the Sutherland heir.”
“He doesna ken he holds the Sutherland heir. He thinks ye are the spare, and Anders is worth less to him, save as a way to bargain with yer da, or to force me to comply with his wishes.”
While Stellan digested that, Mariota put a hand on his arm. “I dinna wish to sneak away from my da. That will only cause more trouble. I’m going to tell him he needs to name another heir, and that I’ve decided to leave MacKay with ye.”
Stellan felt a smile bloom on his lips that grew from the depths of his soul. “I would like nothing better, but will he allow it?”
“I willna give him a choice.”
“He’s the laird. Yer father.”
“And he kens he has failed to prepare me to take over from him. He must accept my decision and name someone more qualified.”
“Lass, I respect yer decision and yer determination to see it through, but yer da may be more of a problem than ye ken. I willna let ye face him alone. I will come with ye.”
“Nay, Stellan. This is a conversation best had in private with him.”
Mariota’spulse beat fast in her ears, whether from the decision she’d made, from the support Stellan proudly gave her, or from anticipation of the confrontation she would soon have with her father. But when she reached the solar, the door was closed— nay, it had not shut completely, and she could hear the discussion going on inside.
“Word has come that Mar is on the move,” her father was saying, though she didn’t yet know to whom. “If Mar succeeds in claiming Ross, he will drive Domnhall back to the Isles to stay. Domnhall’s aspirations of territorial expansion will be checked.”
“But if it comes to fighting,” another man said, “MacKay will be in a weak position with its laird recovering and his heir a lass.”
“We have many strong and skilled warriors. Survivors of Harlaw most recently, and other battles,” her father said.
“If the worst happens, laird,” another man said, “MacKay will not be safe with yer daughter as laird unless she marries soon. Our coastline is potentially too tempting for Domnhall to use to outflank Mar. They’ll force Sutherland, who stayed out of Harlaw, to pick a side.”
The conversation ceased for a long moment that Mariota supposed was due to her father considering his councilors’ words.
“I fear ye are right,” he said after the long pause, “but MacKay is done with Sutherland unless Anders accepts my daughter and marries her the day after tomorrow. If no’, there are other clans, other potential alliances to be made with her marriage. I am out of patience with Sutherland’s presence and interference in MacKay affairs. I have banished Alber, so they no longer have a reason to remain. If one of theirs wishes to affect MacKay, let him do so as the laird’s husband and the clan’s war leader. If no’, in two days, I will send missives to other clans proposing alliances. My daughter will do her duty to MacKay.”
Mariota wanted to charge into the solar and deny her father his plans, but common sense held her back. Confronting her father in front of his councilors would gain her nothing and only cause him to dig in his heels. This was worse than she could have imagined. She expected him to argue with her about replacing her, but that he would be relieved to no longer have the burden of a weak heir weighing on him. Instead, now, he seemed even more determined to make her laird, so long as the plan James had proposed that she wed someone strong could be enacted. Well, she didn’t want that, not if it meant losing Stellan. She would speak to him after the men left, and after she had a chance to calm the fury that filled her. And her surprise at his revelation. Alber was gone? A tide of relief rolled through her, but didn’t last long. He was still out there, somewhere.
And how dare her father continue to plot without her. And to plot against her, now that he was thinking of wedding her to someone else. She didn’t care who else. Stellan was the only man she wanted. The only man she would have. Her father could make his alliance some other way, because she was leaving.
Despite her sensible decision not to charge into the solar in a rage, the urge to confront him still burned within her. Should she interrupt the council and suggest Seamus to them then and there, or come back another time and speak privately with her father?
Suddenly the tone shifted in the room. She heard chairs scraping and men getting to their feet. James’ voice rang out. “Laird? What is it? Laird! Someone get the healer!”
CHAPTER 18
One of the council ran out of the solar. Mariota ran in, took in the situation with a glance and knelt by her father’s side on the floor behind his desk. His hand lay clenched like a claw over his heart.
“Da! What happened. What can I do?”
He looked up at her with apology in his eyes, then terror.
Mariota clutched his hand with one of hers and with the other, stroked his face. “’Twill be all right, Da. Just relax. The healer is coming.” What was happening? Why did he suddenly look ashen and sweaty? “Da?”
His eyes closed and he shuddered. Beneath her hand, she felt his heart stutter.
