Before she could take a step in that direction, sanity returned. He wasn’t alone.
The council wanted her to be passed over? Her stomach sank. Whether she wanted to be heir or not, she didn’t know how she would bear the embarrassment of having her father’s council refute her. She’d always imagined refusing to become laird on her own terms, or abdicating after she found a man who trulyloved her. The idea of marrying for love and leaving MacKay in the control of her hand-picked successor was a pleasant fantasy. Hearing the reality of her father and his council preparing to replace her made her long to return to her chamber.
But she’d been summoned, and making her father send for her again would only make matters worse. She cleared her throat to warn them of her presence and took the difficult paces to and through the door.
“Yer men found my attacker?” She was still angry enough to challenge him.
“My men found Alber unconscious, blood still seeping from the wounds on his neck and face. No matter what he said or did, he does no’ deserve to die,” her father raged once he gave her the news. “Certainly no’ in this way! Killed by yer damn hawk? If the lads had no’ found him when they did, he could be dead.”
“He threatened to ruin me. I had to defend myself.”
He stood and leaned over his desk toward her. “Ye, lass, are of an age to cause more such trouble. There are rough men here. More since Domnhall sent troops to fight Mar. I’ll put an end to this nonsense. I will see ye married. Soon. Then yer husband can keep ye out of trouble.”
“To Alber?” Mariota gasped. This was to be her punishment? Mortified, she glanced aside at James, who was sitting quietly off to one side. He watched her with an expression she could only interpret as disgust. She straightened her shoulders. She used to think he liked her. Now that she knew better, she would not betray her feelings in front of him.
“Nay. And no’ to Seamus,” her father continued, drawing her attention back to his words. “He may be yer friend and protector, but marriage to him does naught for MacKay. We need an alliance. And I know where to seek one.”
Mariota drew a relieved breath. She’d misunderstood his threat and feared he would go along with Alber. She should haveknown better. Still, she couldn’t believe she had to have this conversation in front of one of the council. “Nay, Da, I willna. I dinna wish to marry. No’ with Seamus, and certainly no with a stranger.”
“Ye ken yer place, daughter. Ye will do yer duty for the clan.”
She fought to keep from fisting her hands. Even if her father didn’t notice, James would. “Ye are punishing me for Alber’s actions.”
“Perhaps I am, but for yers as well. Ye must learn what ye do has consequences. In this case, ye nearly cost a man’s life.”
“I told ye what happened. He brought that on himself. Why are ye protecting him rather than me?” If nothing else, she had to make her father understand how dangerous Alber was to her.
He glanced aside at James, and the two exchanged a frown, then he turned to glare at her. “I will no’ argue with ye, daughter. Leave me now, or there will be even more consequences.”
He’d confine her to her chamber, or deny her Valkyrie, or something else she couldn’t bear. She lifted her chin, turned, and left the solar.
“A lass like that needs a very strong husband,” she heard James say before she’d taken three steps past the doorway.
“Aye, she does,” her father said. “I’d hoped to find one at Sutherland, but I may have to look elsewhere.
Mariota could easily imagine they would consider a brute like Alber to be just the type of man to tame her.
She would go to her chamber, but not for any longer than necessary. She needed time to gather her things, and to find a way to get out of the keep’s walls without being seen. Running away was dangerous, even foolish, she knew, but she also knew her father. He’d do what he’d promised and marry her off, probably to some old laird of an enemy clan, for the sake of one of his damned alliances. She couldn’t bear the thought. She’d rather live on her own in a hut in the woods. With Valkyrieto help her hunt, she’d never starve. But first she had to free Valkyrie and get away.
Then she’d deal with the rest of her life.
Stellan raised a hand,ordering the hunting party to halt just below the next rise. They’d tracked the huge stag for three days, headed north toward MacKay. Stellan knew they were still on Sutherland territory, but they couldn’t go much farther. If they didn’t get lucky soon, the stag would escape them.
Their horses nickered softly, but no one spoke. Stellan dismounted, crept to the crest and stretched out on the ground to peer over it. The big stag had disappeared over the hill and into the thicker woods just beyond a wee glen that marked the boundary. Into MacKay territory.
His friend Tormund crept up and stretched out beside him. “See him?”
“Nay, and we’re at our border with MacKay. If he doesna wander back this way, we willna be able to keep after him.”
“Bollocks. We’ve been chasing that bastard for days. We canna lose him to the MacKays.”
“We can and we will. He’s crossed the border.” Stellan raised a hand to forestall Tormund’s objection. “Likely he wanders back and forth at will. If we wait, we’ll see him on this side again.”
Tormund eyed the sun’s position low in the southwestern sky, snorted and pushed up onto his knees. “Unless the MacKays get him first. That’s it then. I’m for making camp. Let’s let him live another day.”
Stellan nodded and got to his feet. As he did, the stag meandered out of the trees and back across the glen’s smallclearing well ahead of them, nibbling at green shoots as he went. “He does no’ bloody care that he’s run us all over the countryside. Look at him.”
Tormund crossed his arms over his massive chest. “He kens we’re here.”
