Highland Mist (9 page)

“You said yourself we were safe here.”

“I know what I said, Glenna. You’ll be returning with me,” he said, and turned to walk up the steep path to the castle.

And for the first time in her life she acted like a petulant child and stomped her foot. Ailsa gasped and ran after Conall. Glenna raised her eyes and found the hem of Conall’s kilt smoking as flames shot up.

“Conall,” she called as Ailsa reached him and began slapping at bottom of his kilt.

He turned and, seeing the flames, quickly jumped into the loch. When he rose from the water, Glenna knew real fear. His steely eyes roamed the area around them.

“How did my plaid catch fire?” he asked her.

She shrugged her shoulders and marched up the hill to the castle. The last thing she wanted was to explain to him how things seemed to catch on fire when she got angry. Nay, better to leave that out for now and control her temper so it didn’t happen again.

They had just entered the bailey when a guard yelled, “Rider approaching.”

Glenna jerked her eyes to Conall. Trepidation pooled in her belly and grew like an unwanted weed. Her mind screamed nay, for she knew it was a MacNeil who approached.

It’s too soon. I don’t have my answers.

But now everything had come crashing down around her. She placed Ailsa in Angus’ arms and caught up with Conall before he reached the steps leading to the battlements. “Did you expect them so soon?”

“Aye. I anticipated them yesterday.”

His flat tone and hard eyes told her much. This was the man that went into battle. It sent a shiver down her body and almost made her miss a step as she climbed the stairs. An image of his sword raised against the MacNeil flashed in her mind. She stopped and closed her eyes in hopes of seeing more, but the vision faded. Her eyes opened to find Conall had already reached the top. She raced after him and came to stand by his side.

A low growl sounded from his throat. “He sent only one man. I’d have thought he’d be here with his army.”

“You’ll yet have your chance to fight him, laird,” she said as she looked down from the battlements at a young lad she had seen once or twice at the MacNeil holding.

She ventured a glance at Conall and found his eyes boring into her. “How do you know that?” he asked.

“I just do.” She shrugged while trying to find the words. “I can’t explain it other than to say I saw it while we walked the stairs.”

“Glenna,” he began then stopped and struggled with something he wanted to say.

He turned back to the MacNeil waiting below.

“I’ve a message for the MacInnes’ laird,” the lad called.

“I’m laird of the MacInnes,” Conall answered. “What message do you bring?”

“Laird MacNeil has requested you return Glenna immediately, and he’ll let you and your clan live. If you don’t, you’ll be responsible for your clan’s devastation.”

She watched as Conall gripped the stone so hard his hands turned white. “As you can see, Glenna is here and well. I’ll return her as soon as the MacNeil returns my sister Iona.”

That surprised the rider for he was at a loss for words. “I’ll give your message to the MacNeil,” he finally said, and wheeled his horse around.

Glenna watched until the rider disappeared from view. When she turned back to Conall, she knew he wanted to ask what she knew of Iona, and she prayed for some reprieve. She wasn’t yet ready to divulge everything to him.

“There’s one question I’ve been meaning to ask you,” he said.

She swallowed hard and bit her tongue to stop herself from begging him not to ask. A shout from a guard drew his attention. His handsome face turned red with ire. “By the saints. She wouldn’t,” Conall hissed, and pushed pasted her.

She watched while he flew down the steps and confronted a woman with long flowing blonde hair. She was stunningly beautiful, even from a great distance. Jealousy sharp and true sliced through her.

It had never occurred to her to ask if Conall was married. No woman had come forward when she had arrived and none had sat with them while they supped. But seeing the enchanting creature arguing with him, made her realize he had asked the woman to stay away while she was here. She sighed deeply and felt something take her hand.

Ailsa. The child had an uncanny knack for knowing when she needed comfort.

“The laird doesn’t like her,” Ailsa said.

“She’s beautiful.”

“Aye. We rarely see them anymore.”

“Any of who?”

Ailsa didn’t answer but pointed instead. Glenna looked up and found Conall and the woman staring at her before he pointed for the woman to leave.

The music Glenna had heard began again as the woman departed. Every fiber of her body urged her to speak to the woman and propelled her feet forward. It was then she realized it was the woman from her vision.

She managed to reach the bailey before Conall stopped her. “Where are you going?”

“Who was that?” she asked, and looked around his broad shoulders for another look at the woman.

“No one.”

The music dimmed until there were only the voices of the people around her.

“Please,” she begged as she looked at him. “Who was that?”

His jaw clenched in agitation. “Her name is Moira.”

“Is she your wife?”

“Saints no,” he spat, and turned his head to look at where Moira had been. He looked back to her, and said, “I don’t have a wife.”

She had seen him have such hatred in his eyes only once before, and that was for the MacNeil. Whoever that woman was, he despised her. But why?

When he turned on his heel and stalked away she didn’t stop him. She needed to be alone and the battlements would offer some privacy. She made her way back up the stairs by the wall and tried not to notice how people avoided her like some plague.

It had been the same at MacNeil Castle, but there they had a reason to treat her like that. She reached the top and nodded to a soldier as she walked to a secluded spot where she could look over the landscape.

The loch was still as stone, not a ripple in the water, and to her left, nothing but beautiful, rolling grassland. In the distance, but not too far away, the mountains rose up and showed their snow-covered peaks, some mist-shrouded.

If there was a more peaceful, stunning place in which to live, she had never seen it. And it probably could be her home if only she wasn’t who she was and there wasn’t Iona.

Before Iona had left MacNeil Castle she had given Glenna a warning. “There will come a day when you’ll need to confess all. It will seem the darkest of days but a light shines through the clouds.”

Iona had always talked in riddles, never answering directly. Glenna still had no idea what she was referring to unless it was to tell Conall what she knew of Iona and…everything else.

“It’s very lovely to look upon,” Gregor said as he came to stand beside her.

She looked over and was surprised he wasn’t wearing his usual leather vest but a saffron shirt instead. “Aye.”

“Do you know how long I stayed at the MacNeil’s?”

She was surprised he had come out and asked her so quickly. “Nay, but that doesn’t surprise me. I knew very little of what went on there.”

“You were hidden away.”

“Aye,” she said, and looked away from his dark, probing eyes. “I’m not sure why the MacNeil was ashamed of me. I’ve never done anything to him.”

“Does Conall know how the MacNeil used you?”

Her head whipped around to look at him. “What are you talking about?”

“I was there that day MacNeil wanted to show you the Mackenzies.”

She felt the blood leave her face as she recalled that day well. She had rejoiced to learn she would leave the castle for the first time, but that had quickly turned to fear when she had been taken to battle. “I…I…”

“Did MacNeil never tell you that you did it?”

She closed her eyes and heard the Mackenzie clan screaming while their homes burned around them. “I didn’t do that.”

“Why else do you think MacNeil wanted you by his side?”

“He said he wanted to show me the cruelty of other clans,” she said, and opened her eyes to stare into his black ones. “Just how do you know so much about my clan?”

He lifted a shoulder. “I listen. Fathers want to protect their children from the harshness of war, not bring them to the fight.”

She had thought the same thing, but when she had asked MacNeil he had become so angry she hadn’t pressed further. “The Mackenzies had taken a boy from our clan and hung him. They left him for the world to see.”

“That was a Mackenzie lad. And your clan hung him.”

Her knees threatened to buckle. The enormity of what she had done weighed heavily on her heart. She still saw the desolation in her dreams. Nothing she could say or do would forgive her for the destruction of the Mackenzies.

“To have the ability to control fire is a great gift,” Gregor continued, his eyes intent upon her.

“But I can’t control it.”

“Why do you think Iona was sent to you?”

That thought had never occurred to her, but now that she thought of it, Iona had asked her many questions about fire. “She wasn’t able to teach me everything.”

He ran his hand through his blond hair. “You’ve learned just enough to be dangerous. MacNeil didn’t want you knowing too much. You were a pawn to be used.”

Nay
, her mind screamed. She knew her father had done horrific things, but surely he wouldn’t have used her like that. She narrowed her eyes and took a step closer to him.

“How long where you at the MacNeil’s?”

“Too long,” he murmured, and quickly lowered his eyes. When he raised his gaze, the shields to guard his feelings were back in place. “MacNeil doesn’t know I’m here. Not yet anyway.”

“What are you proposing?”

“I can get you out of here. Conall trusts me.”

“I didn’t figure on you being loyal to the MacNeil.”

“I’m loyal to only one person, Glenna. Me. Don’t fool yourself into thinking I’m doing this out of the kindness of my heart,” he said, his face dark and menacing.

She looked deep into his black eyes and saw kindness there. A thick stone wall hid it, but it was there. What ever had happened to him had scarred him terribly.

“I’m not leaving,” she finally answered. “Whatever haunts you won’t go away with the MacNeil’s help.”

Gregor’s mouth held the barest hint of a grin. “Are you trying to warn me?”

“Aye.”

“Do you think I’m afraid you’ll tell Conall what I’ve offered?”

“There’s nothing to tell.”

His face became as serious as death. “As long as MacNeil doesn’t come after this clan. If he does all the angels and saints in Heaven couldn’t help you.”

She watched him stride away and knew what he said was true. His offer hadn’t been to take her back to MacNeil. It had been to simply get her out of here because he knew, like she did, that if she stayed and MacNeil came there’d be nothing left of the MacInnes clan.

Her eyes found Conall who stood head and shoulders above other men. His thick, raven hair was held back at the nape of his neck by a leather thong, and she found herself wondering just how long it was.

She couldn’t leave. Wouldn’t leave.

No matter what lengths she had to take to stay out of MacNeil’s sight, she would do it. Leaving this castle, this land…Conall just wasn’t something she could do.

Not when the answers Iona had promised were so very close.

* * * * *

Moira walked into the stone circle and motioned to Frang. “It isn’t going to be easy to gain access to Glenna,” she told him once he reached her.

“What happened?”

“Conall refused me entry and refused to let me talk to Glenna. He wouldn’t even let her near me.”

Frang nodded and walked to the bowl of sacred water that rested atop one of their smaller stones. He gazed deep within it and swirled the water with his finger. Several moments later he raised his head and sighed.

“Conall’s hatred for us has intensified. He won’t open his heart to the truth.”

“What are we to do?”

“Only time will tell. We’ll carry out our tasks and pray Glenna has enough fortitude to break through Conall’s barriers.”

* * * * *

Conall cursed long and low. Just what were Gregor and Glenna discussing? He told himself it was out of fear for her safety, but for whatever reason, he couldn’t go but a few moments without seeing her with his own eyes.

When he had spotted her atop the battlements with Gregor, suspicion and envy ran rampant through him. He was no fool. The women around the castle had fallen all over themselves to gain Gregor’s attention. What made Glenna any different?

But their conversation had been heated. Even from a distance he had been able to see both had gotten angry at some point. And it made him wonder if he could trust Gregor as much as he had first thought.