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“He was killed by other Scots lass. We fight between us all the time.”

“And what happened to you later? After the parents who raised you were killed by the English?”

“My uncle, Laird Wallace took me in and taught me everything I needed to know about being a warrior.”

“I see.” She paused. “Is that all you want to be?”

“Why would I want tae be anything else? Being a warrior is in my blood. It’s what I was born tae dae.”

The moonlight slanted across her eyes, and he noticed how she looked crestfallen. “So you believe we are meant for certain things as well.”

“Aye. Dinnae ye?”

Lyndsay sighed. When she did so, her entire body shifted, and he felt the soft warmth pressing against him even more tightly, as though she was getting closer to him despite herself. “I do, but I wish it wasn’t that way. All my life, I have been taught about duty and obedience. I was meant to become the wife of a privileged man. My life was to be his, and then I was to become a mother. But now I suppose all that has changed. The more I think about it, the more senseless it seems. I can’t believe that all these people were meant to die, especially when they had so many hopes and dreams of their own, so many ambitions.”

“Aye, well, the world can be cruel like that. It’s one thing tae be meant for something, and another tae take it. A meal can be put in front of ye, but it’s nae gaeing tae jump intae yer mouth. Ye hae tae eat if ye want tae be fed unless ye are a babe, of course,” Douglas said.

“And is that what you’re doing? Simply taking everything as though it was always meant to be yours?”

Douglas nodded sharply. “It’s the only way tae live. Tae many things hae been taken from me.”

“And where does it end? Are you going to keep this slaughter up until you have killed every Englishman in the land?”

Douglas chuckled. “That would be more than a life’s work, lass. We are nae daeing this for the sake of it. There is a method tae all this.”

“What would that be?”

“Tae take the Highlands.”

“What do you mean? Are you going to declare war on your people as well?”

Douglas shook his head. “Nae war, but we hope that our actions here will encourage people tae join our cause and look tae us as a source of inspiration. Our clan was once a proud clan, one of the most powerful in the land. Over the years its influence haes dwindled.

“I dinnae know how much ye understand about the Highlands, but a while back, Vikings came over and settled in our land. Some of them were kind, others nae sae much. While other clans made peace with the Vikings and welcomed them intae their homes, we were embroiled in bitter wars with Vikings who wanted nothing but our blood. We were never given a chance tae prosper, and over time, we lost our influence. But now we can get it back. Now we can remind everyone that the Wallace clan exists and that we deserve tae be the kings of the Highlands.”

“Kings?” Lyndsay asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Aye, kings. One day I hope tae sit on the throne of Scotland myself.”

“You can’t just become a king,” Lyndsay said scornfully.

“Why nae?” Douglas asked.

“Well… there are things that have to happen first. Firstly, yer Uncle must not have an heir and also there are allies you must make and procedures to go through. You have to be approved and declared as leader, you can’t just sit on a throne and expect everyone to obey you.”

“I can, and I will. It’s as simple as that.”

“Nothing about life is ever simple,” Lyndsay said in one long breath.

Douglas furrowed his brow, annoyed that she didn’t see the world as he did. In his mind, it was an easy matter to become leader because surely everyone would respect the most powerful man in the land, but Lyndsay planted a seed of doubt in his mind.

What if other clans did not fall in line with the Wallaces? What if they did not want a king?

These were troubling questions, and they did not have easy answers.

“You’re not going to let me go to Baron Adams, are you?” Lyndsay asked softly.

“I cannae, lass.”