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Gavan stepped between them, not aggressively, but unmistakably. “If your clan fears what may be spoken,” he said evenly, “perhaps you should examine why.”

A flicker passed through the captain’s eyes. A crack, perhaps.

He recovered quickly. “We fear nothing,” he said lightly. “We prefer stability.”

“You burned an outbuilding yesterday,” Gavan replied. “That is not stability.”

The crowd murmured louder, the word spreading quickly.

The captain did not deny it.

Instead, he stepped back. “We shall see how steady things remain,” he said quietly. “After today.”

William was led past as the courthouse bell began to toll. Once. Twice. Summoning. The people tightened around him like wire.

The bell tolled again. The final call. Snow began to fall once more, light and steady, indifferent to politics.

“Inside,” he said.

William was led towards the door.

Calder men remained in the square, waiting, watching. And somewhere among them stood the one who did not want William to speak.

*

The courtroom’s stone walls were colder than the square. The benches were packed with townsfolk and clan representatives, the scent of damp wool and unease thick in the air.

Gavan took his seat at the raised bench at the head of the chamber, with two bailies seated below him and the town clerk arranging his papers at the end of the table. Gavan did not look at Sorcha as she moved to stand along the wall behind the railing. He did not look at William as the guards removed the man’s shackles.

He looked only at the clerk. “Proceed.”

The hall fell silent as the town clerk rose from his bench. The parchment in his hands crackled softly as he unrolled it, the sound unnaturally loud in the crowded chamber.

“William Sutherland of Clan Sutherland stands accused of unlawfully forging correspondence bearing the names, seals, and authority of Highland clans, including Clan Munro and Clan Calder.”

A murmur moved through the room before fading again beneath the clerk’s steady voice. “He further stands accused of circulating false claims intended to inflame suspicion between clans and provoke Crown scrutiny towards northern holdings and trade interests.”

William stood motionless between the guards.

The clerk continued. “These forged letters alleged unlawful meetings, hidden alliances, and preparations for unrest against Crown authority.”

Several men shifted uneasily along the chamber walls at the word unrest. No one in the Highlands spoke lightly of rebellion now. Not after the years of confiscations, divided loyalties, and Crown reprisals that still haunted the north.

The clerk lowered the parchment slightly. “At issue before this court is whether William Sutherland acted alone in these deceptions, or whether others knowingly encouraged, financed, or profited from the circulation of such false correspondence.”

That changed the air in the room immediately. Sorcha felt it at once. Until that moment, many had entered, expecting a straightforward condemnation. A forgery. A sentence. An example made publicly. Now uncertainty crept through the chamber. Because if others stood behind the letters, then William ceased to look like the architect of treason and began to resemble something more dangerous to powerful men. A witness.

Gavan sat unmoving in the provost’s chair, though Sorcha saw the tension held carefully beneath his stillness.

The clerk resumed. “Clan Calder has formally denied authorising any such correspondence and has likewise claimed injury to its name and standing.”

A clever ploy. Sorcha understood it suddenly. Calder positioned himself not beside William, but beside the accusation itself as another wronged clan, another supposed victim of deception. Respectable and untouched.

Yet somewhere beneath the carefully arranged charges, Sorcha could already feel the deeper truth straining against its restraints. This trial was no longer merely about forged letters. It was about who benefited once the Highlands began turning against themselves.

The clerk lowered the parchment. Silence fell.

“William Sutherland,” Gavan said evenly, “how do you answer these charges?”