The Beast of Clan Kincaid (32 page)

The MacClaren tilted his head. “Rosemary's circumstances changed, married to me. They had been much finer with her family. She never once complained, and always told me she was content, but I always wanted to give her better. So after a number of difficult years, when the Alwyn came to me talking of the king's wishes and wrongs that needed to be righted, I … listened. Promises were made, that I felt at that time I could not refuse. Clans were being displaced at the time, and others elevated to new status. I was determined that whatever happened was providence and that I would do whatever I could to ensure the MacClarens would emerge better from the unrest.”

“And that mine should fall.”

“Yes.” He nodded. He held silent a long moment before continuing. “That night, we frightened a lot of people and made a lot of terrible threats.… but no one was supposed to die. Certainly not your family. You must know, I had the Alwyn's agreement on that. Your father's surrender, and his imprisonment, was to bring about change, and intervention from the crown that would benefit the MacClarens but I had no part in any plot to murder him.”

“Then what happened?” Niall asked, breathing deeply.

“I still don't know to this day.” The MacClaren shook his head. “We received your father's surrender, and he and his men emerged from the castle.… Then, it was as if hell unleashed an army of demons. Men came from everywhere, and killed them all. These men came down from the hills, as if they had been waiting there and … it was over in a matter of moments. The men were gone.”

Hearing this, Niall leaned forward in his chair, a black rage filling his soul.

“Were they Alwyn's men?”

“I cannot say. He withheld all from me, but I know and I swear to you he was not surprised by their appearance. I suspect they were mercenaries, but at whose behest they acted, I do not know though the Alwyn told me they were necessary because I could not be depended on to complete the task at hand. I will tell you now, I have always suspected the men were sent by Buchan, though there is nothing I can do to prove it. Of course he was no earl then, but David the Second's nephew, and hungry for power and land. After a time of imprisonment for rebellion, along with his father and brothers, he'd sworn himself loyal to the king … but you know men like him. They are only ever loyal to themselves.”

Buchan
. Niall rested his elbows on his knees, sickened by what he heard, but knowing of the man's propensity for cruelty. “Then what?”

“Afterward, some months later, I received a royal emissary from Edinburgh who granted me possession of this castle and these lands, with words to the effect that they had been …
vacated
by their prior owner. This angered the Alywn greatly, because he received a lesser portion of land. He has always claimed that I was given what was due to him. Discord has grown between us ever since.”

Niall closed his eyes.

“I do not ask for your forgiveness,” the MacClaren said. “I would not forgive me. I mutely accepted the prize of your father's lands, because I wanted Rosemary and my children to see me as a great man. And I will have you know, I paid a terrible price for it. My wife … she had been childhood friends with your mother. Did you know? And though I kept the truth of what happened that night from her, I know she knew I had somehow taken part and that our clan benefited from an unjust betrayal of the Kincaids. She … never forgave me. After that she looked at me with different eyes. She died not long after, I suspect because she could not live with the knowledge of what I had done. So you see, I bear responsibility not only for the deaths of your family and your clanspeople, but of my one true love as well.”

Niall stood, and went to the window, his mind dark with hate and questions that only the Alwyn could answer now. Outside, his men encamped along the castle walls, upon the hillside.

He was satisfied with all that had taken place in the past hours … but his vengeance was not yet complete.

Turning back, he looked at his wife's father. “Don't you want to know your fate? Whether I have decided to execute you, or will allow you to live?”

The MacClaren stood. “Whatever you decide, I am at peace. I only pray you will look kindly on my girls, Bridget included.”

Niall summoned his council, who would be present when his judgment was rendered. Some half hour later, a woman's voice came from outside the door.

Deargh, who was only just arriving in the company of others, called to him. “Kincaid.”

Niall turned from where he stood, looking into the fire. “What is it?”

“There are women here who say they must speak to you.”

It was the Kincaid clanswoman he had sent to attend to Elspeth, with another anxious-looking young woman, whom he assumed to be her MacClaren maid.

“We went to Lady Kincaid's room, and Ina here observed that a number of things were missing. She was a bit angered by it, thinking her mistress's belongings had been absconded with when the castle was overtaken yesterday. We all know how things go missing. But then we went to your chambers that you are to share with the lady, and it … well, it appears she has gone missing as well.”

 

Chapter 23

Elspeth urged the palfrey into a run, and looked over her shoulder again, certain that any moment she would see Niall thundering after her on his black destrier. When she had emerged from their chamber to find no guard at watch, she had not made the immediate decision to escape. Instead, she had gone to the council chamber and overheard her father's confession.

The torment of the day before returned with smothering force. Her father was a murderer. Her husband had married her for revenge. She had been weak to forget that for even a moment last night in Niall's arms. Is that why he had kissed her? Made love to her? To silence her. To force her to choose?

She could not choose. She only knew she had to flee. To get away so she could think and decide what was right, without either of their eyes on her, making demands for loyalty and love. How much time did she have before her absence was noticed? Not long, as she had marched out of the castle as plain as day to the stables, and calmly instructed Niall's own men to saddle her horse.

Now with each gallop of the animal beneath her, she felt more desperate to get as far away as she could. Taking a less-traveled path that led around a soaring stone crag—she came face-to-face with a group of five men standing beside as many horses. She jerked the reins, startled, not knowing who they were and knowing she must avoid them at all costs.

But Magnus broke away from them, waving his arms and shouting for her to stop.

Seeing him, all her emotions broke free. In that moment, she did not care that he had tried to abduct her, and marry her, or that he had burned down her father's granary.

“Elspeth, what is wrong?”

She dismounted and ran into his arms, breaking into tears against his shoulder.

“Why are you crying?” He grasped her by the arms, his gaze moving over her. “What has happened?
Did someone hurt you
?” He exhaled, and touched her face where faint bruises still showed on her skin.

With a wave of his hand, the men drew aside, giving them privacy so they could talk.

“Who did this to you?”

She pulled her face away. “Hugh did that to me.”

“
What
?” he demanded, his face flushing with anger.

“Your father did not tell you?”

“Hugh was returned to us beaten, along with your refusal to marry him. He was enraged. He still is. That is all I know.”

She backed away from him. “So much has happened since then.”

“Tell me what,” he demanded, following her as she retreated, his eyes dark with concern. “I know that there is an army encamped outside Inverhaven.”

“Yes—it is Niall's,” she blurted, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

“Niall? The mercenary?”

“He is not only a mercenary, Magnus, but the dead Kincaid's eldest son.”

Magnus shook his head in disbelief, his gaze growing intense. “That cannot be. All of the Kincaid's sons are dead. They died along with him.”

“Do you know anything about what happened that night? Was the Kincaid indeed a traitor?”

“I do not know. The Alwyn does not discuss it.”

“Well, believe me in this, Niall Braewick did not die, Magnus, he lived, and … and”—tears flooded her eyes—“he says my father had a hand in murdering his father, as did yours. It is something my father did not deny.” Her lip trembled. Her hands trembled.
Heaven help her she could not stop trembling
. “I don't know how to feel. But he was here existing among us, waiting to have his revenge all along. To take back his castle and his lands, but that is not all—”

“What else is there?” he said, covering his mouth with his hand, looking shocked.

“
I married him
.”

“What?” His eyes flew wide. “Before or after you knew?”

“Before! And that is not even the worst.”

“I don't think I want to hear,” he muttered. “But tell me.”

“I love him.” Again, she fell against his shoulder, burying her face. “I love him and I don't know what to do.”

She felt better just confessing the burden on her heart. She felt miserable too.

He held her tight, and looked down at her. “Tell me what you want to do. I will help you.”

“I don't know,” she said into his tunic, and looked up through tears. “What kind of a daughter would I be to love the man who has taken everything from my father and my clan? And if my father is guilty, how can I love him still, knowing he has taken so much from my husband?”

“I don't know, Elspeth.” He held her in silence for a long moment. “But I will protect you while you decide.”

*   *   *

Hours later, as night fell, Niall still searched the lands around Inverhaven for any sign of Elspeth. After the castle had been searched, he had found Fiona—a kindly old woman he had upset terribly with his questions, but who claimed to know nothing. He had insisted to Deargh that he alone would find her and return her home, but thus far he had found no trace of her.

Elspeth had run away from him, and he had never felt more helpless … more
heartsick
 … or more uncertain of what to do.

His greatest fear was that she was alone, cold and afraid, believing she had no home to return to, and that her husband was a monster. Was that not what he had revealed himself to be on the dais, in those moments after they were married? A man without compassion for others? For Elspeth's young sisters, who had no doubt been terrified, seeing him threaten and humiliate their father. For the scores of innocent MacClarens who now feared for their lives, and their homes. For a young bride with love in her eyes, who saw the man she loved become something else, dark and vengeful—the beast he had tried so desperately to hide from her.

All for revenge. Nay—all for pride. And now she was gone.

He could have claimed justice without inflicting the same terror that had been inflicted on him and his people those years ago.

Inside his chest, his heart felt crushed. He did not consider returning to the castle for even one moment. He had to find her. He had to keep searching, until he did. Lingering in the back of his mind was a terrible guilt that she had only submitted to his lovemaking the night before, out of fear that otherwise he would harm her. No, he had not forced her, but he should have given her more time. He should have waited until the conflicts between them were better resolved.

Just then he saw a rider coming toward him at a fast canter, a man unfamiliar to him. He rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, prepared to respond to any aggression if required. Yet the man continued past him—only to circle back around.

“Kincaid?” he called, grinning.

“Who is asking?”

“I bring a message from Magnus,” the man said.

“What message is that?” he asked, his mood gone instantly suspicious.

“He told me to tell you, he has your wife.”

The man circled again, racing off in a southwesterly direction. Niall followed him all the way to the Alwyn border, where Magnus waited on foot, leaning against a solitary tree. He dismounted, and strode toward him, exerting every ounce of self-discipline not to also reach out and seize the man by his tunic, for if Elspeth had gone to Magnus for protection he must know why, because in this moment he felt jealous and furious and betrayed. Yet he had the sanity of mind to know he had no right to feel those emotions, when it had been his actions that had compelled her to run away.

“You say you have Elspeth,” he uttered. “Where is she?”

Magnus nodded. “I do have her … in a way.”

“
What
way is that?” he demanded.

“I know where she is, which is more than you can say, and you're her husband.” He spoke in a taunting tone. “Supposedly.”

Niall's eyes narrowed on him. “What do you mean,
supposedly
?”

Magnus crossed his arms over his chest, and peered upward as if in thought. “Is a marriage even valid, if one party misrepresents who they were, at the time they took the vows?”

“I never misrepresented myself,” Niall countered.

“How could you
not
have misrepresented yourself?” Magnus narrowed his gaze on him. “No one knew who you were.”

“No one ever asked the right questions, that's why.” He tilted his head, strode close, and narrowed his eyes. He growled, “Now tell me where she is.”

Magnus sauntered away a few steps before turning. “Make me understand why you want her back so badly?”

“She is my wife.”

“Hmmm, yes. And she is my friend. I must know, what do you intend to do with her?” He shrugged, his manner easy. “Beat her? Throw her in your dungeon? Confine her to the tower?”