Her father’s eyes narrowed. “We will speak more on this later.”
It would have been so easy to agree, to pacify him and flee. Instead, she squared her shoulders, noticing the colors in the tapestries around her, bright and bold. Looking back into the eyes of the man who bore her, she said, “Nay, we will not.”
When he blinked, Allie’s voice softened. “When I return to Lyndwood, it will be as a visitor to you and Mother.”
He never used the word “love,” but Allie hoped her father understood now. Though she did not agree with the decisions they had made raising her and Gillian, she did love both him and her mother. Willing him to understand, Allie made one final appeal.
“On your next visit, bring Mother. I miss her.”
And you. And Lyndwood. But I am staying here, in Scotland.
When Graeme walked tentatively toward them, her father did not wave him away. Instead, he nodded to her and joined her brother-in-law. It mattered not whether his nod was one of acquiescence or an acknowledgment that their conversation was not yet ended. She would not waver. Ever again.
21
Toren extended his legs in front of him. “Do you think it will work, the attempt to remove Caxton?”
Reid and his brother had been locked inside the solar for the last hour. The solar provided more light than most rooms at Brockburg, and his brother spent much time in here. It was the ideal place for Reid to recount his time at Highgate. Which he did, with one notable exception . . .
He shook his head. “Nay, I do not. But what alternative do we have?”
“I don’t like it.”
Reid could have predicted his brother’s response. Though tolerant and more cautious than most, Toren was still angry about the attack and even more so about Caxton’s appointment.
“None of us do, but the alternative . . .”
The alternative to peace was war. And though perhaps it was inevitable, both of them remembered their father’s stories about life in the borderlands before the Day of Truce.
Toren sighed.
Reid understood his frustration, but there was nothing to be done. For now.
“Alex was there.”
Toren sat up straighter in his chair. “Why?”
Reid frowned. “To ensure his baby brother was representing Clan Kerr well?”
“He would not—”
“He would, and you know it as well as I do. Alex has had as difficult an adjustment to Dunmure as you’ve had to life without him in Brockburg.”
Toren simply looked at him, holding his gaze, and Reid grew restless under his scrutiny. None quite had the ability to set him on edge like his brothers did. And perhaps Catrina, whose lectures were frequent and varied and very often centered around the female company he’d once kept, but no longer. She claimed to speak so to him out of love, but Reid was certain his own mother would not have taken her role as savior as seriously as his sister.
Even so, he missed her.
“My adjustment need not be so difficult. If only you’d agree to let me start the proceedings for naming you as my second.”
He sat forward and braced his hands on his knees. “Is that what you want, brother?”
Toren startled. “Of course.”
Despite what he’d said to Gillian, Reid tried one last time to warn his brother away. “I am no Alex.”
Toren could not hide his surprise. He’d begged Reid dozens of times to allow him to put his name before the elders. He’d even appealed in their father’s name. But it had all been for naught.
Until now.
“No,” he agreed. “You are not.”
Reid clenched his fists.
“You are temperamental and rash. Your predilection to agree to any challenge is worrisome, and you speak without thinking more often than not.”
Toren’s words were true, but they stung nonetheless.
“I defy any man to lay claim that he is without faults.”
“You did not let me finish,” Toren said. He leaned forward, so close that Reid could have touched him if he so desired. “My answer is yes. For you are also a man more loyal than any other and one who would risk himself for others, even if not expected to do so. I would be proud to have you by my side. As your chief . . . and your brother.”
Could he live up to such an honor?
He thought of Allie. Her smiling face, her bravery and indomitable spirit. That such a woman could love him, want to spend her life with him.
“Notify the elders.”
Toren jumped from his seat and pulled Reid up with him. He embraced him, clasping him so hard it would have hurt had they not been of equal height and build.
“Why now?” Toren finally asked, stepping back.
Wanting to get it over with, Reid admitted, “I am in love.”
He braced himself for his brother’s reaction. To his own ears, he sounded like a fool. And clearly Toren could not have been more surprised.
“Pardon?” He sat back down as if the words had affected his ability to stand.
“I am in love,” he repeated. “And would bring my future wife to Brockburg as the wife of Clan Kerr’s tanist.” The words came more easily now. The idea of him serving in such a position felt much less absurd than it had before Highgate. And though he was not Alex, he did not need to be his brother. He needed only to be the man Allie looked at with reverence in her eyes.
“I see.”
“She is the sister of Lady Gillian Bowman, wife of—”
“Graeme de Sowlis,” Toren finished.
Reid waited and was quickly rewarded.
Toren’s smile was no less irritating than he’d expected. “An Englishwoman? Are there not enough Scots women for you to choose from?”
They were the exact words he’d spoken to Toren when his brother had returned from England with Juliette.
Reid rolled his eyes.
“A fair English rose . . . will she wither here in the harsh north?” Toren continued to taunt.
“Enough,” he said, without passion.
“And so, the end of my brother as I know him. From the training yard to a lover’s knee, bent before his—”
“Enough!”
Though Reid’s was voice raised, his ire was not. In fact, he almost enjoyed the teasing, as if his impending marriage were real. Until she was here, by his side, their plans for the future could still slip away like smoke through his fingers.
“Pardon, my lords.”
Their steward stood at the entrance to the solar, his stricken expression completely eradicating Reid’s smile.
“There’s been another attack. Your attention—”
He did not finish before Toren and Reid were out of their seats and into the corridor. The man hurried along with them, relating details about the attack just across on the southernmost edge of Kerr land. A farmer and his wife had been severely injured attempting to lay claim to what was rightfully his, even if the English reivers attempted to say otherwise about the cattle they’d stolen. Reid thought of Douglas, who’d likely already reached Edinburgh, and of the pact they had just made. He could see the chiefs’ resolute expressions as they agreed to attempt one last chance at peace.
And he knew, as sure as he could be about anything that involved the shared resolve of clans who warred as often with themselves as they did with the English, this time was different.
This time there would be no waiting. No additional chances. The confidence of the border chiefs had already been shaken to its core.
This time peace was not in jeopardy. It was over.
This time meant war.
22
“Whoa . . . enough.”
Panting, Allie let her sword fall to the side.
“Sorry,” she mumbled to Aidan, aware she’d stopped listening to him. Her sword had been swinging about wildly, as if on its own accord. Shoulders hunched, she dropped it.
“Talk to me,” he said, clasping her shoulder.
Aidan. Her friend, her family. When
she’d asked him to resume her training, he’d immediately agreed. The prospect was the only thing that had kept her afloat after meeting with her father.
“I cannot—” She reached for the sword, but he stopped her.
“You can. And will. Allie?” He forced her to look at him. “What did your father say to you?”
“No.” She shook her head.
“Allie?” he asked, his tone firmer this time. Her brother-in-law refused to be dismissed.
“He asked that I return to England with him,” she mocked. “He would happily find her a wealthy husband to whom she could dutifully serve in a loveless marriage.”
“But you cannot . . . Reid?”
She made a face. “Well, of course I will not be going back.”
“What did he say when you told him?”
That was exactly the problem. “I haven’t told him yet. I told him that I needed time to think—”
“Time? Allie, you have no time. I heard him tell Graeme that he is returning on the morrow. I don’t believe he wishes to stay in Scotland any longer than necessary.”
“I know,” she said. “But I have to get Gillian on my side. Father will not be pleased, but he’ll be even less so if she shares her opinion of Reid with him.”
“Gillian may not like Reid, but I do not believe she’d prefer for you to return to England than to marry him.”
When Aidan stopped and looked over her shoulder, Allie said a silent prayer their intruder was not her father.
“My lady.”
“Aidan, Allie.”
Gillian.
She’d been too much of a coward to speak with her earlier. She knew they had to discuss her father’s decree, but her father was the last thing she cared to discuss at the moment.
She turned. “What are you doing down here?”
“We must talk about the other reason Father came here.”
“So you know he wishes for me to return with him?”
Gillian’s mouth flattened.
“Graeme believes you and I should both return home for a visit. You would not have to stay,” she rushed to explain. “But with everything that’s happening—”
“You cannot mean this?”
“I do not like it either. But if Caxton is truly attempting to incite the clans, they will not need much provocation. Until Douglas has an opportunity to speak with the king—”
“Gill, no.” She would not leave now. Reid would think she’d abandoned him. “Father will have me betrothed again—”
“He assured me and Graeme that he would not make a match for you without your agreement.”
“My agreement?” Her high-pitched tone was one she hardly ever used with her sister. “Father has written more than one letter about his intent to marry me off to an Englishman. And you know how I feel about Reid. And father.”
“And you know how I do. But,” she added quickly, “as I said, Father promised not to do anything against your will. I made him. I’d never let that happen when it is my fondest wish you remain here with me. What happened with Covington—”
“Can easily happen again,” she finished. “Just because Father no longer needs coin does not mean he would be happy to see both his daughters married to Scotsmen.” She looked at Aidan as if to apologize, which is when she caught the glance her sister gave Aidan as well.
Ahh, Gill. That was never going to happen. I love Aidan, but as a brother.
Her sister thought what Reid had when they first met, and the knowledge of it saddened her. “Gillian, please—”
She’d never seen her sister behave so stubbornly. In the past, she’d always been able to convince Gillian to see her side. But not in this. She was bound and determined, enough so to sacrifice her own happiness. Because she knew Gillian would never have contemplated a visit to England, no matter how dangerous it was at Highgate, had she not wished to spirit Allie away from Reid. And if she thought there had been something more between her and Aidan . . . wanted her to remain here, at Highgate End . . . Her shoulders sagged.
But the knowledge left her only one choice.
She sighed. “Very well.”
Allie wasn’t sure who looked more surprised, Gillian or Aidan. “I will return with you, but,” she emphasized, “I will not agree to any introductions.”
Gillian ran to her and hugged her tight. “I am so happy,” she said. Allie gave her sister an extra squeeze, not knowing when they would meet again. “You know I love you,” Gillian said. “I only want you to be happy, and safe. And ’twill be good to see Mother.”
“Aye,” she said, letting go. “Aidan and I must finish here. Will you delay Father until I return?”
“Of course,” Gillian said. “Aidan,” she murmured before turning back in the direction whence she came.
Aidan crossed his arms, waiting.
“You’re planning something,” he said. It wasn’t phrased as a question.
Allie pretended to be surprised. “Me? Planning something? Whatever could you—”
“Allie?”
She braced for his reaction and began to explain.
* * *
“If we do this,” Reid said, “it will be in direct opposition to the council’s decision.”
He sat beside Toren in Brockburg’s great hall, along with the other leaders and elders of Clan Kerr. Although they had not caught the reivers responsible for this latest attack, their clan was not the only one to have suffered such an attack. In the last two days, there had been multiple reports of cattle being stolen on the Scottish side of the border. It was an escalation that could not go unanswered.
“The council can rot in hell.”
The others cheered old Edmund, one of his father’s closest friends and the most respected of the elders. The man often agreed with Toren’s decisions. But when he did not, all knew of it. The man was not known for his calm demeanor.
“You would have us go back to the days when Kerr allies were few?” Toren asked the white-haired farmer.
“I would have us do what is necessary to keep our clan safe.”
“We’ve exercised our right to a Hot Trod. Unless we want war—”
The sound of mugs being pounded on the trestle tables drowned out Toren’s response until he demanded that it stop. “Enough!”
Toren was not against a counter-raid, though he wished to proceed with caution. If there was a way to root out the offenders but stay within the law, he would do it.
“They leave us no choice,” a voice yelled out from the crowd. Toren ignored it.
“Unless we want war, which may be inevitable, we must find the English reivers who did this and learn who is behind the attacks.”
“And if they are condoned by the warden and the king is unable, or unwilling, to remove him?”
Edmund asked what all the others were thinking. Although they had no confirmation, the circumstances of the first attack had suggested that possibility. At the very least, they all doubted Caxton would give them justice.
“Then we fight,” one of the elders yelled.
“And if that is exactly what Caxton wants?” Reid asked, bracing himself for the elders’ ire. They were beyond exercising caution, beyond trying to interpret something so inscrutable.
“Caxton can go to hell,” someone yelled as the crowd cheered.
“Toren,” he said loudly enough to force everyone to listen. “We should talk more about this—”
“Talk?” Edmund yelled. “You can talk while your clan takes action.”
“As you would have us do at every provocation, despite the wishes of the Lord Warden.”
“Ahh,” Edmund muttered with a wave of his hand as if to dismiss the idea that they all knew was true.
Realizing what Edmund had originally said, Reid could not let it go. “It is my clan too,” he said. “And I—”
“Are now asking for a position you did not want before.”
The room went silent at Edmund’s comment.
Everyone looked at Reid a
s Toren spoke. “You received my appeal,” he said to Edmund. “Perhaps now would be the time to act on it.”
Edmund put his head down to speak to the other elders. Collectively, they held as much power as their chief, and now his future was in their hands.
“Now is not the time,” Edmund said finally. “When this crisis is over—”
“You named Alex in one day,” Toren said, clearly angry now.
Edmund stared at him intently, and Reid knew what the elder was thinking. He himself had thought it, said it. He was not Alex. And they would not name him today, or possibly ever. It had been a mistake to think he could change that simply because he wanted to.
Shame wrapped around him, choked him, but he did not look away. To return to Highgate as nothing more than his brother’s bodyguard—
“We will eat,” Toren said, breaking the silence. “And before tomorrow, we will either agree on a course of action, or I will take one myself.” When he spoke in that tone, none dared to dissent.
Reid broke eye contact with his father’s friend, but he’d seen something in Edmund’s gaze. If he fell in line—if he agreed with the counter-raid—he would be given the position he wanted.
But Reid had never liked to make things easy.
23
“Until the day I die I will not understand how you talked me into this,” Aidan said. Again.
“You’ve mentioned as much.” Allie looked up at the bright yellow-orange torches that lit the night sky. If Highgate was so named because of its position, Brockburg was even more impressively elevated. From the valley beneath it, she was forced to tilt her head up to see its outline clearly.
Aidan was determined not to spend another night on the road, so they’d ridden well into the night with the four men he’d insisted on taking to ensure her safety. By now, her stomach rumbled and her eyes had begun to flutter shut, a dangerous proposition atop a horse. She caught herself each time and sped forward, anxious to arrive.
The Rogue’s Redemption Page 14
