Page 14 of Forbidden Kilted Highlander

“Inside,” Ewan barked. “Me study. Now.”

Tav nodded once, curt, and followed him up the steps.

As they passed the stairwell, he caught sight of her again. Agnes, at the landing, half-turned, eyes on him for only a second before she disappeared down the corridor.

He kept walking, not looking back.

Tav stood just inside the threshold of the study. The door shut with a sharp click behind him.

This was Ewan’s sanctuary of old maps and older books. His shoulders squared despite the weight dragging down his spine. The lamplight was dim, throwing long, crooked shadows over the shelves and along the floorboards. The air smelled of tobacco, paper, and something bitter underneath. Disappointment, perhaps.

Ewan Kerr did not sit. He stood near the hearth, one hand braced on the mantel, the other curled into a fist at his side. His eyes, usually keen with calculation, burned instead with restrained fury. The silence stretched, brittle and tight.

Tav knew better than to speak first.

Kerr’s eyes narrowed, as he finally spoke. “This troubles me. They were organized. They had the gall tae attack on me land and nearly succeeded. What happened Tav?”

Tav stiffened slightly. “I believe they were sent. Possibly… connected tae Armstrong.”

Silence. It rang louder than any accusation. Kerr’s expression shifted. The fury didn’t vanish, but it sharpened.

“Armstrong,” Kerr repeated, his voice barely above a whisper.

Tav gave a single nod. “I cannae be certain, but the way they moved, the way they⁠—”

The laird snapped, finally letting the anger crack through. “God above, Tav. Ye bring me daughter back from the brink, sayin’ she was nearly stolen from the woods, and then ye mention Armstrong? Dae ye realize what that implies?”

Tav met his gaze squarely. “Aye.”

“Then ye must also ken why that makes this worse.” Kerr stepped forward, the space between them charged. “If this—if they—have followed ye here? Have targeted her because o’ ye?”

Tav flinched. Just slightly. “That was never me intention.”

“Aye, it wasnae.” Kerr’s voice was quiet, which made it worse.

“I trusted ye.” Ewan turned now, facing him fully. His face was lined—not just with age, but with exhaustion. “Ye, of all men. And they followed her because o’ ye. They kidnapped ye once, and they want tae dae it again.”

Tav swallowed the instinct to explain. Kerr was right. At least about his connection with Clan Armstrong, who was a neighbor of Clan Kerr and definitely not an ally.

Tav had left his home and family some years before to earn money to help his blacksmith business. He was an excellent warrior and had decided to work as a mercenary to make some good coin quickly. He fell in with the wrong crowd and got onto the payroll of Laird Armstrong, a cruel man, who had made him do unthinkable things. One day he decided he could do it no longer, and he got into a skirmish with Armstrong and his men while were returning from a battle, when he tried to leave them. Kerr had seen the fighting and had intervened. He knew of Tav’s prowess and wanted him for his own army, so after he saved him and offered him a job. Tav had sworn him loyalty ever since. Kerr had seen that day that Tav was being taken by Armstrong but Tav had never explained all the details of his time with him.

“I did what I could,” he said simply.

“All yer men are dead.”

Tav’s jaw tightened.

“And Agnes, me daughter, was nearly taken in the woods by God knows who. She should have already been halfway tae Caithness.” The laird’s voice rose, a note of accusation sharpening with every word. “Dae ye realize the importance o’ this mission? Dae ye realize the danger ye have put, nae only me daughter, but our entire clan in?”

“I didnae want tae risk her on the road again.” Tav’s voice was low, rough. “Nae until I understood what we were dealing with.”

Kerr stepped forward, the distance between them narrowing like a noose tightening.

“She was meant tae be delivered tae Laird Caithness. On time, unharmed, and under me seal. This is a political arrangement that determines the continuation o’ this clan, and I entrusted it tae ye.”

Tav nodded again, slowly. The words sliced deeper because they were true. All of them. He hadn’t done what he set out to do. He had failed.

He cleared his throat. “I’ll see it finished.”