Exiles in Time (The After Cilmeri Series) (30 page)

“
Rise,” said
James.

The man stood. “I have just come from
Stirling Castle. King David of England received word of the ambush
of his men and is even now preparing to leave London with an army.
He’s coming to us, my lord.”

James turned his gaze on
Callum.

“
No one should have assumed
he would take the death of his men lightly,” Callum
said.

It was a desirable trait in a leader,
even if it meant one more headache for James. An angry King of
England was not what he wanted at this time, especially one with
his own claim to the Scottish throne.

“
Damn pigeons,” said
James.

“
It was a feat for your man
to ride here from London in five days,” Cassie said, trying to find
the silver lining for James.

“
What the King of England
chooses to do or not do is out of our control,” Andrew said. “It’s
four hundred miles from London to Edinburgh. It will take him weeks
to get here with an army.”

“
Then we have time to
straighten out this mess before he even reaches York.” James spun
on his heel and glared at the noblemen who gathered around the
table, all of whom gazed back at him with firm jaws and new
resolve. “We ride for Stirling Castle within the hour.”

Chapter
Seventeen

Callum

“
Y
ou haven’t told anyone but James about Bishop Kirby,” Cassie
said.

“
I know,” Callum said, “but
I think we’re better off not talking openly about what Kirby has
done just yet. Given that he’s far away with Bruce, he’s not our
concern right now.”

“
He might be if he’s
telling everyone he encounters that John Balliol conspired with the
MacDougalls,” Cassie said.

“
We have a little time, I
think, before that rumor becomes widespread,” Callum said. “If I
can send a message to King David, maybe he’ll have a few words of
wisdom for me as to how to proceed from here.”

Callum hoped that Rhodri, David’s man
in Stirling, would make himself known once they arrived at the
castle and spare Callum the trouble of seeking him out. It would
have been Rhodri who sent the pigeon informing David of the
ambush—and of Callum’s death. David needed to know of Kirby’s
perfidy as soon as possible and that Callum himself was alive and
still working for him.

Located five miles south of
Doune, Stirling Castle sprawled across the top of a crag in
splendid medieval fashion and sat above the farthest downstream
crossing of the River Forth before it flowed into the Firth. If
Cassie’s eyes were big when they’d ridden into Doune, they were
saucer-like at the sight of Stirling. The company came at the
castle from the north as the early evening sun shone from the west,
lighting up the rock on the west side of the river. Given Cassie’s
silence on the topic of
them
as a couple, even more than at Doune, Callum felt
a little sick at the thought that she would turn around the second
they hit the gatehouse and fly back the way they’d come.

“
I am very far from home,”
Cassie said, showing Callum that he’d read her thoughts correctly.
“I have often wondered how different our world would have been if
my people had built castles.”

“
From what I understand,
they had different priorities,” Callum said.

“
Conquest not being at the
top of the list, you mean?” she said. “Yes, you’re right. But
still, if the Incas could do it, why not the Umatilla?”

“
Maybe they’re doing it
right now in this world,” Callum said.

“
I hadn’t thought of that,”
Cassie said. “I hiked to the west coast once, you know, so I could
have a look at the sea. I wondered at the time what it would take
for me to reach America.”

“
A big boat,” Callum said,
making Cassie laugh. That got them inside the outer curtain wall,
but as they came to a halt amidst a hundred other men, Cassie went
very quiet.

“
What is it?”

“
One of them is
here.”

“
One of the men who
attacked you?” Callum said, going still himself.
“Where?”

“
Over there. By the
blacksmith works.” Cassie ducked behind Callum, though with that
five-foot bow on her back, if the man looked her way, he would see
her.

“
Just dismount,” Callum
said. “If we stay calm, there’s a good chance he won’t notice us.
Even if he does, you’re with me. Everything’s going to be fine.”
With Cassie’s hand in his, Callum headed across the courtyard to
the keep. He looked straight ahead and made sure he didn’t make eye
contact with anyone but James, who had made it to the top step
already and stood there with another man, waiting for
them.

“
My lord Shrewsbury.” As
Callum reached him, James Stewart held out a hand to him. “May I
introduce Bishop Fraser.”

“
Welcome to Stirling
Castle,” Fraser said.

Callum bent his head slightly in
Fraser’s direction. “Thank you.”

James gestured that Cassie and Callum
should precede him into the main hall.

“
Callum,” Cassie said, in
something of the same voice she’d used when he’d mentioned
marriage, “Why did James just call you ‘Shrewsbury’?”

Callum and Cassie had resolved to use
their English only when they were alone, so she’d spoken in Gaelic.
Thus James, who was walking a pace behind them, overheard her
question. “My lord, in all this time you haven’t told her who you
are?”

Cassie came to a halt, forcing Callum
to stop too. “It’s not important, Cassie.”

“
Not important?” said James
with disbelieving laughter, looking from Callum to Cassie. “My dear
Cassie, Lord Callum is the Earl of Shrewsbury.”

Cassie kept her face perfectly still
as she turned on Callum and said without expression or inflection,
“Really.”

“
The blame lies with me as
well,” said James, a low chuckle still evident in his voice. “I
didn’t include his title when I introduced him to my counselors at
Doune. I failed in my duty.”

“
As I said, it isn’t
important.” Callum took Cassie’s arm to escort her, but he glanced
at her as they walked towards their rooms, wary now. It was so hard
to read her sometimes.

Fortunately, Cassie didn’t
give him the silent treatment, even if he might have deserved it.
“I was wondering about all the
my
lording
everyone always did around you. Why
didn’t you say something?”

“
I didn’t want you to think
I was trying to impress you,” Callum said. “You knew I was a knight
and King David’s representative. That seemed enough to be going on
with.”

As before, Callum got his own room,
whereas Cassie had to lodge with other women further down the
corridor. James stopped when they reached Callum’s door. “My lord
Callum, back in the bailey, I noticed that the Cunningham boy,
Gerard, caught your attention. Has he offended you in some
way?”

James was interested in everything.
Callum wasn’t sure what to tell him, but Cassie spoke up. “I shot
him once.”

A grin split James’s face. “Did you,
now?”

“
I’d rather avoid him if I
could,” she said.

“
He’s a spoiled pup,” said
James, but then sobered. “If he hurt you, Cassie—”

“
He didn’t,” she said. “It
was a long time ago and ended with both of us being equally scared
of each other.”

“
I’ll keep an eye on him,”
said James.

“
Is Gerard’s father here?”
Callum said. “Should I speak to him?”

James pursed his lips. “I would hope
there’d be no need. Let me feel him out first.”

James bowed and departed. Cassie eyed
Callum, her face set.

“
You’re mad at me,” Callum
said.

“
No,” she said. “I’m not at
all mad at
you
.”
Callum spent a silent ten seconds trying to figure out what she
meant by that, but then she enlightened him. “I don’t like needing
someone to protect me.”

Callum hovered in the doorway, trying
to think of what to say. Women had little power here, no matter how
smart or capable they might be. Many medieval men saw women as good
for sex and heirs, and if by chance a woman inherited land, she
could enforce her will only through the actions of men. Callum
could see why it might make Cassie mad.

“
I want to go home,” Cassie
said, and then she gave him a rueful smile. “To my cabin, that
is.”

“
I’ll make sure you get
back there if that’s what you want in the end,” Callum said. “I
promise.”

But in promising to do what she might
not be able to do for herself, Callum suspected he’d only made her
anger worse.

Callum was given the opportunity to
bathe and got in a good hour-long power nap while Cassie was
prodded into a complete makeover elsewhere in the castle. When he
was finally reunited with her again, Cassie didn’t express
resentment about the dress James had found for her or the elaborate
way the maidservant had arranged her hair. Callum wasn’t so naïve
that he thought she’d somehow accepted the reality of life in the
castle, but he hoped that she could tolerate it long enough to get
through the next week. He didn’t want her to be the object of
gossip and speculation, nor a target. And—holy hell—she was
beautiful.

“
You’re smiling,” she said,
as he walked her down the steps that led to the great hall.
“Why?”

“
Because the most gorgeous
woman in all of Scotland is on my arm,” Callum said.

Cassie’s lips pinched, but not in
anger. She was holding back a laugh. “You see what you want to
see.”

“
No doubt—” Callum cut off
his words when they both stopped short in the entrance to the great
hall. Callum felt his own lips twitching. Cassie could deny what he
saw all she wanted, but she looked unlike any other woman in the
castle, as different from them as a wild rose amidst a field of
tulips. Both could be beautiful, but only one turned the head of
every man in the room. With Cassie’s particular coloring and bone
structure, her beauty was unique. Nobody in all of Europe had her
genes.

Callum should have known there was
going to be trouble, however. She was gracious to everyone who
spoke to her or came to greet her, but her laughter was hollow.
Callum was required to spend most of the meal speaking to William
Fraser, who sat between him and James, while James related in great
detail all that had happened over the last week,
including—finally—Kirby’s treachery.

As the meal drew to a close, William
excused himself and James turned to speak to the man on his other
side. Soon he was deep in conversation. At last, Callum could focus
on Cassie. She stared down at the wine in her cup without drinking
it. As Callum thought back over the last hours, he realized she’d
drunk very little and eaten only a few bites of her
food.

“
What is it,
Cassie?”

She looked up at him. Callum was
afraid she’d be near to tears, but her eyes were clear. “You know
what it is.”

“
The meal?” Callum said.
“The dress?”

“
The expectations,” Cassie
said.

Callum tsked through his teeth,
irritated for the first time that she couldn’t play along, even for
one night. “What kind of world did you live in back in the
twenty-first century that you were able to be yourself all the
time?”

Cassie laughed without humor. “Is that
what you think? That’s not it at all. Quite the opposite. I
couldn’t be myself there—not ever. Growing up as I did in my
grandfather’s house, I lived with expectations about language and
dress, about family and career, expectations that were impossible
to meet most of the time. And don’t get me started on the
infighting and gossip within the Tribe. But still, outside in the
world—” she gestured to the hall at large, but she didn’t mean the
people here, but those back at home, “—I never faced discrimination
because I was part Indian, but nobody understood those expectations
either, or where I came from or why I made the choices I did.
Everybody just wants you to conform, no matter where you live …”
She looked down at her plate.

Callum leaned in. “Don’t you think I
understand that, Cassie? We all live inside our own heads most of
the time. I came back from Afghanistan to a world that has no place
for someone who’s most comfortable with a rifle in his hands, and
yet can’t handle it if his hands don’t smell exactly right.” Callum
touched Cassie’s shoulder and then dropped his hand because he knew
she didn’t want him to touch her. “I had nightmares about the war
every night until this week. I haven’t had a single one since I met
you.”

“
It could be because we’ve
hardly slept,” Cassie said.

Callum had to smile. “I grant you
that.”

To Callum’s left, James had risen to
his feet and Callum caught a gesture out of the corner of his eye
that meant he wanted Callum’s attention. “Earl Callum.”

Reluctantly, Callum turned away from
Cassie to look up at James.