“And if we try and fail because I dinnae have the king’s ear as much as Gustav clearly does these days?” I wondered, already knowing my answer, no matter how much good reason fought it.
My heart was winning.
Too much heart for a woman I barely knew…yet.
“’Twill take action rather than words,” Astrid murmured after reading the missive. “’Twill take precisely what your father says.” Her gaze rose to me. “We will need to prove my people are no longer the Viking raiders of old, as King Hákon made it seem weeks ago. That they are loyal to Scotland and want to remain here peacefully, as this is their home.”
It seemed a tall order, yet the determination in her steady gaze spoke to something deep inside me. A sense of belief in Father’s convictions.Herconvictions.
Those of my mother, who had loved Astrid’s people.
But did I need to marry? Was there no other way? “Why not present this scroll to the king this verra night, Da?” I wondered. “Straight away, in fact, so he knows Gustav’s trueintentions? So he knows one of his most trusted men cannae be trusted to see through his wishes?”
“Because the missive is dated,” Astrid said softly, picking up on something even I had not, but then, in my defense, Father had thrown a lot at me since I entered this chamber.
“The only possible way Lachlann could have returned here so swiftly from that date,” Astrid went on, “which his people can prove if asked, is by ship to these very shores.”
“At precisely the time the merchant boat you traveled in washed ashore with Soren’s boats before the Battle of Largs,” I realized, cursing under my breath. “Which puts you there alongside Soren and his men.”
“Aye,” Father said grimly. “With nothing but my word that I saw no one there before making my way back to our castle.” He shook his head. “I certainly couldnae say I did, then didnae send word to King Alexander straight away. Not when combined with our king having put a bounty on Soren’s head when he vanished post-battle, after many swore they saw him cut down.”
“So now you are trapped by your own act of kindness,” I said, sighing. “Having no choice but to try countering Gustav’s foul intentions without ever showing the king this missive.” I shook my head as well. “Or should I say,Iam trapped, at least for now.”
Yet, somehow, it felt like a trap I was glad to be in when that should have been the last thing I felt. In some strange way, although a trap, it freed me from having to push Astrid away anymore for the sake of my father, my clan, but above all, my anger at her homeland.
More specifically, on some level, for my mother's untimely, brutal death.
For my fury at King Hákon’s relentless prodding of my country’s shores and those refusing to release their grip on land that was never theirs to begin with.
Instead, as traitorous as some small part of me thought it, a larger part reveled in the idea of Astrid being mine, bedamned the consequences. Of knowing she would never belong to another, even if it could cause more trouble for all of us than we might be able to handle. Trouble that Astrid would very much be part of, too, and could easily cost her life.
With that in mind, I met her eyes and asked her where she stood, blasphemously hoping she felt the same way I did.
Chapter Seven
-ASTRID-
From the moment I’d entered Lachlann’s chamber earlier to join him for a drink, I had felt a great change upon me once more. It whispered on the wind and rumbled in the distant thunder. It crackled within the fire, then beat within my own heart, a constant, steady thud as we talked and awaited Declan’s arrival because he would come, as he did every night.
Tonight, though, he would come for more than he could understand. Not yet, but soon, and he would begin to see things more clearly.
Memore clearly.
I couldn’t say why I was convinced of it, only that I was, and my premonition proved true when Lachlann revealed Gustav’s diabolical plans. If I were to be honest with myself, I had found Laird MacGreggor changed tonight in ways I could not put into words. Different somehow in the way he spoke to me. How he looked at me.
While still warm and friendly, there was a subtle change in him. Everything seemed the same, yet somehow it was not. I sensed a darkness beneath the light in Gustav’s eyes now. An underlying current of not genuine desire but oily lust deep within his friendly gaze. One I suspected Declan saw just as clearly, where most could not.
So, when Lachlann revealed that Gustav only meant me harm if he married me and that he would somehow use me to destroy my fellow Norse, I wasn’t surprised. Nor was I all that shocked when he requested that Declan and I secretly marry tonight to protect me.
It was a lot to ask of Declan, all things considered, yet he asked me instead what I thought of marrying him, and I could only say what was in my heart.
What was part of my fate.
“I think ‘twould be wise,” I replied, my heart slamming at the idea of it. Of knowing we would belong to each other, even if only in secret, for now. Even if we barely got along. Then I forced myself to say what needed saying, for the sake of propriety, however much I longed for his touch. “With an understanding, of course, that ‘tis not to be consummated straight away for obvious reasons.”
“’Tis a sound request.” Lachlann nodded. “As this is most unorthodox.” There was no missing the hope on his face when he looked at Declan. “And what of you, son? Are you willing to see through my request and honor Astrid’s wishes?”
Declan’s gaze lingered on his father and me for a brief stretch, his eyes troubled as he thought about it, yet like I could see darkness in Gustav now, I could just as easily see a flicker of elation in Declan. A fire for me, burning deep within. Desire that would consume me someday, only breathing new, brighter life into me.
