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MacLeish surged to his feet, composure straining visibly now. “This is absurd! I advise merchants and clans alike regarding trade movement. That does not make me an architect of conspiracy.”

Gavan’s expression did not change. “Sit down, Mr MacLeish.” The calm authority in the command cut cleanly through the noise.

MacLeish obeyed stiffly.

Gavan’s gaze returned to William. “Did MacLeish instruct you to forge the letters?”

“Nay.” William answered carefully. “But he knew how fear would spread once the accusations moved through the Highlands. He knew which clans would weaken. Which routes would suffer.” Bitterness tightened his mouth. “And who would profit afterward.”

A dangerous stillness settled over the room.

Gavan allowed the silence to stretch before speaking again. “William Sutherland may step down.”

A murmur moved through the crowd as William descended slowly from the centre of the room, fatigue now more visible in the heaviness of his movements. As he passed Sorcha, their eyes met briefly. She saw shame there still, but also relief. The burden of silence had finally begun loosening its hold upon him.

Once William had been escorted to a guarded bench along the chamber wall, Gavan spoke again. “Hugh Calder will now take the stand.”

The atmosphere shifted instantly. Even the merchants near the rear benches seemed to still at that.

Calder rose slowly from his place among his clansmen, controlled dignity wrapped around him like armour. Yet Sorcha noticed the smallest hesitation before he stepped forward beneath the weight of every gaze in the room. His hands clasped behind his back, Calder stopped before the magistrates’ bench, where Gavan sat in the raised central chair with the two bailies positioned slightly below him on either side.

“You have stated,” Gavan began evenly, “that Clan Calder suffered injury through the forged correspondence.”

“Aye.” Calder’s voice remained smooth. “Our name was used without consent.”

“And yet your household maintained close association with Andrew MacLeish and several merchants tied to the routes repeatedly named within those same letters.”

Calder’s jaw tightened faintly. “As do many clans. Trade requires association.”

“Association is not the same as coordination.”

A faint edge entered Calder’s expression. “Careful, Provost.” The warning hung openly now.

Gavan did not react. “Did you ever discuss weakening Munro trade standing before these letters appeared?”

“Nay.”

“Did you discuss increasing Crown oversight within the Highlands?”

“I discussed stability,” Calder replied, his gaze sharpening slightly. “Which becomes necessary when clans allow old feuds and private grievances to govern them as the Munros do.”

A low murmur moved uneasily through the courtroom.

William gave a short, bitter laugh from the guarded bench. “That is not what you said to me.”

Every head turned.

Calder’s expression hardened visibly. “You are a confessed forger.”

“Aye,” William shot back, rising halfway before the guards pressed him back down. “And a fool, besides. But I remember your words well enough.” Shame and anger roughened his voice alike. “You spoke constantly about clans weakening themselves while merchants and Crown officials brought order. You said the Highlands needed men willing to force change before the Crown did it for us.”

“And did I instruct you to forge letters?” Calder demanded sharply.

William hesitated.

The pause mattered. Everyone in the room felt it.

“Nay,” he admitted at last. “But you fed every grievance already growing in men desperate enough to believe fear might force truth into daylight.” His face tightened bitterly. “You knew exactly what suspicions would spread once those letters began moving through the clans.”