Page 49 of Promised to the Forbidden Laird

Donaldina met his eyes. There was no pity in his face. She would have resisted pity. There was only certainty.

“What does that mean for the accord?” she asked.

Roy leaned back slightly. The chair gave a quiet creak beneath his weight.

“It means the King’s plan nae longer fits the world tae which we returned.”

She waited.

“Lachlan was meant tae rule Dun Ard,” he continued. “Ye were meant tae come with me tae Black Craig. The marriage would bind the clans without changing who governed either.”

“But Lachlan is gone.”

“Aye.”

The acknowledgment carried its own sorrow. Roy did not look away from her when he spoke it.

“Dun Ard cannae simply lose ye now,” he told her. “And me own clan cannae remain without its laird. They have already endured me absence for too many years.”

The difficulty she had avoided naming settled between them.

“Two clans,” she said.

“Two strongholds.”

“Two councils filled with men convinced theirs is the only sensible opinion.”

“That may be the greatest danger.”

A reluctant smile touched her mouth.

“Would the MacIvers accept me?” she asked.

Roy’s gaze sharpened slightly, as though he heard the deeper question beneath it.

“They would accept the woman their laird chose tae stand beside him.”

“The accord wasnae yer choice.”

“Nae.”

The answer came too quickly to be comfortable. Donaldina looked down at the map.

Roy continued more quietly. “But the manner in which it is fulfilled may yet be.”

Her fingers tightened upon the parchment. The fire shifted behind them, sending one final flare of warmth across the room.

Roy looked down at the marked holdings again. “We will need tae find another way.”

We.

The word entered her quietly.

Not I will decide. Not the King requires. Not even the clans must.

We.

Donaldina placed her hand on the edge of the map. Roy’s rested near hers, close enough that its warmth crossed the narrow space between them. She did not move away.