Chapter 4

It was only now that Dunn took the time to examine the castle for his own purposes. If he was going to be there with Elayne and Laird Macgillivray, then he needed to plan an escape route, no matter how unlikely such an escape seemed. If everything went wrong, then he could at least know he had done everything in his power to get out of there alive.

The castle wasn’t so much the fortress Dunn had expected it to be. Sure, there were guards everywhere, watching over the walls, but it was no different from any other castle he had visited in his life. It seemed that Laird Macgillivray wasn’t expecting any attacks, even if he had some enemies, and that gave Dunn some peace of mind. Not only would it be easier to sneak out, but he also didn’t have to worry about a sudden attack led by another clan that could hinder his own plans.

He was also on the search for Laird Macgillivray’s study. If he was going to use this opportunity to find some information, then he had to know where the man kept all his papers and how well they were guarded. It would take him a short while to figure out the laird’s schedule, to know when his study would be empty so he could do his job, but he supposed he had some time to spare. Laird Macgillivray would make sure Dunn was who he claimed to be, and then he would have to come up with a plan of his own, so that was bound to take at least a few days, if not weeks.

Dunn, however, didn’t intend to stay there too long. The moment he had what he needed and the moment he could, he would take Elayne as promised and they would leave.

Hopefully I’ll never have tae see her again after.

She was a beautiful girl, that much was true, and Dunn enjoyed being around her, but there were many other women in the world—women whose fathers weren’t eager to kill him and who weren’t betrothed to a bloodthirsty laird. It wasn’t so much a matter of romance as a matter of self-preservation. Falling for her charms would only spell his disaster.

As he walked through the corridors with their bright torches and their heavy tapestries, wealth etched into every crevice of the castle, he almost bumped into another man while rounding a corner. With some irritation, Dunn realized he had to tilt his head up a little to look him in the eye.

He was a young man, with a mane of blonde hair that was gathered back in a way that would have been neat that morning but was now messy. His dark eyes assessed Dunn for a moment, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he should prepare for a fight when the man, seemingly satisfied, smiled at him warmly.

“Ye must be Dunn Mackintosh,” said the man with a kind of warmth that contrasted his previously serious expression and his large frame. “Welcome.”

“I’m afraid I’m at a disadvantage,” Dunn said, though not unkindly. “Ye seem tae ken who I am, but I cannae say I recognize ye. Have we met?”

“Och nay,” said the man. “I’m Blaine Sinclair, Captain. I heard o’ yer arrival.”

“Captain?” asked Dunn in surprise. Surely, he was a little young to be a Captain, he thought, though in retrospect, perhaps it would have been better to keep his mouth shut. He couldn’t forget he was an unwanted guest in that castle, and if this man was the captain, then his allegiances lay with the laird.

“Captain,” Blaine repeated. At least he seemed amused rather than offended, a small smile stretching his lips. “Me faither was captain before me an’ well… I am good with a sword.”

Dunn didn’t know if he should take that as a threat or not. He was good at reading people, good at unearthing their secrets and getting them to admit things they never would to anyone else, but with Blaine he had the impression it wouldn’t be as easy.

“I see,” was all Dunn could respond without risking saying something out of line. “I suppose word has already travelled far about me.”

“That is what usually happens in castles,” said Blaine with a laugh. “This is the most excitin’ thing tae happen in this castle in years. I’m sure ye can forgive the servants fer speakin’ about ye.”

“I am certainly nae as excitin’ as everyone seems tae think,” said Dunn. “Most o’ what ye have heard is probably false.”

“I’ve heard from the laird himself,” said Blaine with a small shrug. “An’ ye may nae be excitin’, but yer marriage tae Elayne is. Or perhaps the correct word fer it would be… surprisin’.”

“Nae foolish?” asked Dunn with a smirk.

“That too,” said Blaine, laughing. “I cannae say it was the smartest thing ye or Elayne could have done. I’m sure ye ken the laird is furious.”

“I noticed.” How could he have ever missed it? Laird Macgillivray had made sure to tell them precisely what he thought about their marriage. “For what it’s worth, we didnae ken she was tae be betrothed.”

“Would it change anythin’?”

Once again, Dunn was thrown off by Blaine’s words, not knowing how to answer his question. Was he trying to see if what they were telling them was the truth? If they were truly married? Was he already so suspicious of their relationship that he was trying to get Dunn to admit something?

Dunn didn’t know. All he knew was that he needed to tread lightly around Blaine. As dangerous as the laird seemed, it was Blaine who seemed like the clever one, the one who could see right through him.

“I suppose it wouldnae,” said Dunn after a moment of consideration. “Like I told the laird, I love Elayne. An’ I may nae be a laird, but the Mackintosh Clan would be a valuable ally tae ye.”

“That much is true,” Blaine said with no hesitation. “An’ it is precisely what ye need tae show the laird if ye wish tae get intae his good graces.”

Dunn couldn’t help but frown once more. Was Blaine trying to help him? He couldn’t see how such advice could possibly be misleading, how it could be a trap. Besides, Blaine seemed perfectly genuine, going as far as to slap a hand over Dunn’s shoulder.

Perhaps there was no love lost between Blaine and Laird McCoy. If for whatever reason Blaine didn’t like the man, then he could prove to be a valuable ally to Dunn and Elayne. Dunn could work with that.

“One could say that ye are happy with this development,” he said. He was trying his luck, he knew, and it was risky, but he needed to know where Blaine stood.

Blaine narrowed his eyes as if he was trying to peer right into Dunn’s brain. “I dinnae ken if I’d go as far as tae say I am happy, but I am nae as displeased as the laird. Like ye said, yer clan would be a good ally tae us.”

The two men stared at each other in silence for a while, sizing each other up. It was clear to Dunn that Blaine was trying to understand him, to see if he was hiding something, and so he didn’t try to hide his own intentions. It was better this way; he had no desire to play any games.

“Well then,” Blaine said, giving Dunn one last smile. “I will see ye at dinner.”

When he turned around to leave, Dunn did the same, his mind alight with all the possibilities that stretched beyond him.

It was too early for dinner by the time Elayne finished dressing, so she took the opportunity to do what she had been aching to do ever since she stepped foot in the castle: see Isobel.

As always, she found her in the healer’s quarters, where she helped her mother—since her father’s death—with the sick and the injured or, when there was no such work to be done, preparing pastes and tonics to keep as a stockpile. The familiar scent of herbs assaulted Elayne’s nose the moment she entered the quarters, a scent that always seemed to cling on her friend, making her smell like a garden.

“Elayne!” Isobel’s shriek echoed around the walls, momentarily alarming a man who was lying in on one of the beds at the far end of the room. She ran to Elayne, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her into a tight embrace, one that Elayne eagerly returned.

It had been so long since they had last seen each other, Elayne’s visit to her aunt making it impossible to communicate in any way other than through letters. She had missed her friend dearly, and now that they were together once more, she didn’t even know where to start with telling her about everything that had happened.

“Did ye only just return?” Isobel asked. “I didnae hear o’ yer arrival.”

“Aye, only just now,” said Elayne. “But I must speak with ye urgently.”

Isobel’s bright grin fell instantly and was replaced instead by worry. “What is the matter?” she asked. “Is it about…”

Isobel didn’t need to finish her sentence for Elayne to know about whom she was talking. “In a way,” she said quietly as she pulled her friend away from any prying ears. “Come.”

Only when they were out in the middle of the gardens, surrounded by nothing but quiet did Elayne speak again. By then, the storm was passing over them and the ground had turned into mud, but they found shelter under a canopy nearby, making sure to stay out of the rain.

“How did ye manage tae find out about me faither’s plan?” Elayne asked, her voice hushed and barely audible over the rain.

There was suddenly a flush spreading over Isobel’s cheeks and she averted her gaze for a moment, drawing her bottom lip between her teeth. “Blaine told me o’ it.”

Isobel didn’t elaborate, but she didn’t need to for Elayne to know that the two of them had gotten close. “Did he?” she asked, her lips quirking up into a smile. “Dae ye talk often, then?”

Isobel blushed at Elayne’s words, trying to suppress a smile of her own and failing terribly. “We’re friends, Elayne. O’ course we talk.”

“Just friends?”

“Just friends.”

Elayne was certain that wasn’t the case, but she didn’t want to torture Isobel any more than she already had. Besides, there were other, more important things on her mind now. She couldn’t help but wonder what else Blaine had told her. How much did Isobel know?

If I tell her what happened, will she tell Blaine?

“I need ye tae swear tae me that ye willnae tell Blaine what I tell ye now,” said Elayne, her voice desperate. She needed to speak to Isobel about this, but how could she if there was the threat of Blaine finding out hanging over her head? “Please, Isobel… I need ye tae promise me that ye willnae tell him anythin’.”

Isobel frowned but nodded regardless. “I promise ye. Whatever it is, it shall stay between us.”

Elayne didn’t need any more assurances. She believed Isobel and she knew she wouldn’t give up her secrets easily.

“Well… when I found out about the marriage, I was willin’ tae dae anythin’ tae avoid it,” she said. Now that she had started talking, she found it impossible to stop, the words pouring out of her like the rain poured out of the clouds. “An’ I met this man, Dunn. He saved me life on the way tae me aunt’s an’ then I met him in a tavern when I left my aunt’s cottage. We started talkin’ an’ I… I ken it’s insane, but I asked him tae pretend tae be me husband.”

A laugh escaped Isobel, as though she believed Elayne was only jesting. When she realized she was perfectly serious, though, her laugh was cut short, her eyes widening with horror.

“What dae ye mean?” she asked. “What dae ye mean ye asked him tae pretend tae be yer husband, Elayne? What did he say?”

“He agreed,” Elayne said, much to Isobel’s growing horror. “He needed access tae the castle an’ I needed his assistance, so we decided tae work together. It was the only way I could think tae keep Laird McCoy away from me.”

For a long while, Isobel was speechless, staring at Elayne in total silence. Elayne could see the cogs of her mind turning as she mulled it all over.

“Wait… ye said that he needed access tae the castle,” Isobel said in the end. “Why?”

“He says me faither is plannin’ a war an’ he wishes tae stop it,” Elayne said.

“An’ so ye let him come tae the castle? Elayne, what if he wishes tae kill yer faither? What if he harms ye?”

“He doesnae want any o’ that,” Elayne said, waving a hand dismissively. She didn’t know Dunn that well, but she could tell he had no desire to harm her. If he did, he would have already done so. He wasn’t foolish enough to try and kill her father in his own castle, either. There was no way he could escape without being caught and hanged for it. “An’ I dinnae wish fer a war either. I’ve had enough o’ battles an’ bloodshed, Isobel. Ye’ve seen the worst o’ it. Ye’ve seen what wars dae tae people.”

Isobel couldn’t deny that. Though tending to the wounded had hardened Isobel, there was a time when Elayne would hold her in her arms late at night as she cried for all the lives she and her parents couldn’t save; all the lives that had been lost to war for no good reason.

“So what happens now?” Isobel asked after another long stretch of silence.

“Now we wait an’ see what me faither does,” said Elayne. She tried her best to push down the terror those words brought her and the nausea that came with it. For all she knew, he could decide to kill Dunn regardless and enact his plan. Perhaps he would even try to be stealthy about it, making it look like an accident. Who could blame him if Dunn fell off one of the turrets? Who could blame him if he drank too much one night and had an accident?

Even if Dunn’s brother knew the truth, even if everyone knew the truth, no one would be able to prove it.

“Who is this man ye chose?” Isobel asked. “Is he at least handsome?”

Elayne laughed despite herself. Even in her darkest moments, Isobel knew what to say to lighten the mood and help her feel better. Still, guilt gnawed at her at the thought that she had been the one to drag Dunn into all this.

“Dunn Mackintosh,” she said. “An’ aye… he is very handsome.”