Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

W atching Stellan's abrupt departure, Mariota's heart sank. She'd hoped for some time alone with him to— well— she wasn't sure what she wanted to do. Pick up where they'd left off in the supply closet? A frisson of remembered yearning tingled along her nerves from her belly to her fingertips and back. She wanted his arms around her, his hands stroking her, his lips teasing her, but none of that might ever happen again. The thought made her regret turn to frustration with herself for letting Stellan walk out. She stood and flattened her hands on the tabletop. She should have stopped him when he stood, grabbed his hand and pulled him down to kiss her. If their time together was limited, shouldn't they enjoy it before they lost each other?

He'd done his best to build a wall between them, to keep their feelings for each other from running wild, a conflagration neither of them could control.

But she didn't know why.

Yes, she did. Her father would be apoplectic if he knew what they'd done already, much less where her thoughts were straying now. She didn't want to find out what he would do if he knew what was simmering between her and the Sutherland heir.

She sank into a chair, her knees suddenly weak with both worry and relief.

Stellan. Not Anders. The pull between them had been with Stellan all along.

That should make her feel better, but it complicated things, too. Before she'd met Stellan, she'd wondered if she would ever be accepted as the MacKay laird. With Stellan in the keep, she was becoming more and more convinced that this was not the life she wanted. Her father's refusal to explain Alber's presence and his neglect of her training had taken a toll. But no matter how miserable it made her, until he was better, she would do what she must for the sake of the clan. Still, she couldn't keep her traitorous heart from imagining life with Stellan at Sutherland rather than here, with Anders.

She probably shouldn't depend on Stellan's help with any more of her da's ledgers. Her da would be furious that she'd shared as much of them with Stellan as she had. Not that he'd seen anything she thought he could use to harm MacKay in the future. Still, her da would call it one more reason she was ill-suited to be laird. Was there a MacKay she could lean on? One of her da's advisors? Would Seamus know enough to be able to help her?

And what would Alber be doing while the laird spent time healing?

"Mariota." Seamus called her name from the solar's doorway. "Though they ken me, these fine lads willna allow me to enter without yer leave."

"Aye, come in," she said, grateful that his arrival distracted her from her thoughts.

"I have some news ye will want to hear," he told her, pulling a chair out from the opposite side of the table and seating himself with a sigh. "I have more to add from some of the old warriors about Alber's early days at MacKay. They are all in agreement that yer da brought him when he was about eleven years old."

"Why dinna I remember more about him?"

"Because ye were younger, I guess. He was homesick as a lad. He didna fit in. Didna try to fit in. Kept to himself and sulked because he didna get the attention from yer da that ye did. Played at being the heir. He thought himself better than the rest of us for having been chosen to come here by the laird, and only obeyed yer da."

"Because Da saved him? No one told him why?"

"Perhaps. I didna find out anything about that."

Mariota thought back to what she'd overheard her father mutter in his sleep. "Is there any chance he could be my da's bastard son?"

"I dinna believe so, but whether he is or nay, perhaps he thought he was, and it shaped him, made him boastful. Even convinced him he would replace ye in yer da's affections and become his heir. "

Mariota snorted at that. She tried to summon some sympathy for the young Alber Seamus' tale made her picture. But she couldn't. "He was old enough when it all happened, he should remember his parents. And he has had plenty of time and support in MacKay to get over any childish notions he might have imagined."

Seamus shrugged. "I would say he never did."

Mariota nodded. "I would, as well."

Two days later, the MacKay had recovered enough to resume desk work in his solar. After spending time with him going over what she'd done while he was resting, Mariota judged him well enough to confront him. She wanted to hear his explanation for what he said while injured and under the healer's sleeping potion. She told Stellan where she was going and let him escort her to the solar, but refused him entry. She needed to have this out with her father in private. No Stellan, no James, no Seamus. No one but the two of them.

Initially, he reacted much as she expected, with his usual denials and demands to keep out of anything to do with Alber. But perhaps he was weaker than she'd judged, because before long, he gave in.

He leaned his elbows on the table where they sat. "Ye want to ken why Alber is still at MacKay? Because I made a promise to his poor mother. His father was a friend. I cared about his family." At her frown, he added, "Nay, no' like that. I loved yer mother." He sighed and sat back. "Alber is nay my son. If he were, I wouldha claimed him years ago."

Her belly tightened. Of course he would have claimed a male heir. She pressed her lips together and let him talk.

"His village was burned on a day I was supposed to be there but didna go. His father and most of the men in the village were killed trying to put out the fire. At the time, I thought their deaths were my fault because I was often seen there, and believed someone had tried to kill me— to eliminate the MacKay heir. We never found out who did it. It could have been accidental, but as fast as it spread?" he said and shrugged. "Nay. I've carried guilt over those deaths ever since. His mother couldna care for her young son, and begged me to take him with me. To care for him and see that he grew up to be a man. I couldna refuse her and leave the lad to his fate in a ruined village."

It was a sad story, but it didn't explain why he allowed the grown-up Alber to threaten her. "Da, some in the clan think he believes that he is yer bastard, and that belief is behind his arrogance, and his resentment of me. Partly, at least."

"Why partly?"

"Because years ago, he tried to accost me. I did what Cook taught me and disabled him."

MacKay winced, then gestured for her to continue.

"He's never forgiven or forgotten that I bested him. Worse, that I have had to do so twice more lately. The first time with Valkyrie's help."

Her father shook his head. "'Tis worse than I kenned."

That made her hackles rise. "Ye did ken. Or ye wouldha had ye listened to what I told ye again and again." She pushed back from the table and stood. "I canna believe ye continue to honor a promise made to protect a young lad until well past the age when ye shouldha forced that lad to grow up. Or forced him back to where he came from. 'Tis yer fault Alber is the way he is."

"Hold yer tongue, daughter. Ye may no' speak to me that way."

"Nay? Someone must. Ye have ignored the danger to me and excused the source of that danger again and again. Who else will he harm before ye see who he really is? Must I lie before ye, ruined and forced to wed with him so he can take over our clan— or even dead once there's a son he can act as regent for —before ye believe me?"

"He will do naught. I will see to it."

She'd heard that before. "Ye owe me yer oath. What will ye do about him?"

His silence lasted long enough that Mariota didn't know if he was thinking or fighting to control the fury she had aroused in him. He looked away from her and drummed his fingers on the table top. Then his mouth pressed into a thin line. "I dinna ken, but I will deal with him," he promised.

"Send him away," she insisted. "He deserves to be banished or worse. I tell ye again, he tried to ruin me. He tried to crush my skull, then flattened his palm on my face to smother me. He nearly killed a valuable hunting hawk. The other lasses avoid him. He's hazarded more than ye will ever want to hear."

He closed his eyes as if trying to unsee the images she painted with her words. "I will consider it, lass." Then he met her gaze and frowned. "Ye have yer friends here. Keep them close by for now. The Sutherlands, too, I suppose. Though I think they've overstayed their welcome. They should leave soon. Their presence says MacKay guards are no' enough to protect ye."

Mariota's heart clenched at the thought of Stellan leaving her behind. "They havena been. And later? Ye are right that the Sutherlands canna remain forever. Neither can Alber, Da. If ye canna deal with him, I will have to. He will force me to."

While Mariota met with her father, Stellan called his men together in his chamber.

"We dinna have much time. Mariota is with her da, and I dinna expect that discussion to last long. Ye need to ken our time here is no' unlimited. We may leave soon, either by being asked to depart, or by summons from Sutherland. Either way, be ready to go."

Their reaction was exactly what he expected. They didn't want to leave until they knew Mariota would be safe from Alber, and that things at MacKay were stable.

"Ye make me proud, lads, that ye take her safety so seriously. I do, too."

"Ye care about more than her safety, Stellan," Erik said.

"Ye kenned?" Stellan's mouth fell open, eliciting a laugh from the others. He shrugged, then grinned. "I shouldha guessed. Ye've been careful no' to call me by either name. Thank ye."

"We're with ye, no matter when or why we stay or go," Camus told him. "Ye ken that."

"I do, and I'm grateful. Naught is decided, but I hope Mariota will go with us."

They broke out in cheers that fell silent as Stellan waved them off.

"We kenned there was something between ye," Elias said, and rolled his eyes, then turned his wide-eyed gaze on Gregor, making the others laugh.

Stellan did, too. He couldn't help it. He had chosen these men purposefully, some of the best warriors at Sutherland, but some of its best men, too. "Ye must no' breathe a word," he cautioned. "No' even to discuss anything we say here now among yerselves lest ye be overheard. Dinna tell a soul, I dinna care how deep in yer cups ye are. Just prepare for any eventuality. Alber is still a threat. Stay sharp."

At that moment, he heard the scrape of a boot on the plank flooring outside the door. Signaling for quiet, he stood, rushed to the door and flung it open.

No one was there. Had he imagined the sound? He looked down the hall toward the stairs in time to see Alber's shoulders and head disappear down them. Nay!

Was he off to tell the MacKay? Or to hole up and think how to use what he heard against the Sutherlands? Stellan considered chasing him, even took a step out into the hall toward the stairs, but he knew it was too late. Alber could have gone in several directions from the great hall. Stellan closed the door and turned back to his men. "I am discovered," he told them. "Alber was out there."

The men jumped to their feet, ready to give chase, but Stellan gestured for them to sit back down. "He may have heard naught, but we canna depend on that. We can be certain he will use anything he knows against us. Against me. We may be leaving sooner than expected."

"We have to do something. He's the source of trouble here, and now he thinks to take on Sutherland? We canna allow that."

" Dinna fash ," Stellan said firmly. "We willna allow him to. His days are numbered. He just doesna ken it yet."

He let them talk for another moment, then held up a hand. "Elias and Erik, head down and hang out near the solar. Mariota should leave there soon. I dinna want Alber anywhere near her. Gregor, check the stables. If he's gone there, he's going to leave the keep. That makes him too hard to track. Find out. Camus, stay by Mariota's door. If Alber comes back up, let him think she's in there. Wait a wee after he leaves, then come down to the great hall and settle down as if ye are off duty. That will confuse him."

"What are ye going to do?"

The question was on all their faces. Stellan grinned. "Wander about. Give him a chance to find me rather than her. When she leaves the solar, as long as Alber is nowhere nearby, take her to the healer. I'd like him to think she's locked up tight in her chamber, just waiting for him to try something. But I dinna want her anywhere near that."

"Why no'? The lass has beaten him before."

Stellan nodded at Erik's question. "She has. How many times do ye think he'll fall for her tricks?"

Erik pursed his lips. His expression was his answer.

"Aye, never again. He's angry and out for vengeance, but that doesna make him stupid."

"I'd like to make him dead," Camus muttered.

"Get in line," Stellan told him, then grinned. "Ye each ken what to do. Out with ye."

After the men left, Stellan made certain he was fully but discretely armed, with extra blades tucked in his boots, the small of his back, even up a sleeve, secured by a tie sewn inside the shirt. Let Alber try something. He was ready.