Knight Protector (Knight Chronicles) (16 page)

“Excellent.”

“Is that your last condition?”

“Only one more. When Raeb comes we use the occasion to return the MacKai horses to him.”

Colin sighed. “I had always intended to do that, and I suppose a celebration of peace and marriage would be an appropriate time to do so.”

“I’d nae idea you thought to return the herd to Clan MacKai.”

“I knew Clan Marr had nae right to those horses the instant you told of my father and brother stealing them. But I’ve been a bit busy trying to catch spies and keep Scotland from Edward Plantagenet’s greedy grasp. ”

“True enough.” The tightness she’d been carrying in her chest for weeks loosened a wee bit. “Now that we have all the conditions settled, we’d best write our letters to Raeb.”

“Aye. I’ve missed him, you know.”

“I’d better get vellum, quills and ink,” she said into the silence that had fallen.

“Thank you.”

She left, hopeful yet worried, feeling as if nothing had been settled, when she and Colin stood on the brink of achieving every desire.

Colin watched her leave. It seemed he was always watching her turn away. Had she felt like this when he’d left her? Had she felt abandoned and alone with her parents and his father shouting and throwing threats around her? For ten years he’d carried the image of her howling curses, dagger drawn to protect the man she thought she loved. He knew she blamed him for the fight. Since his return to Strathnaver, he’d thought she blamed him for her broken betrothal. Did she also blame him for leaving? St. Andrew knew he was guilty of both, and which had been the greater crime he could not say.

She’d trusted him, before that kiss, so long ago. Now, it seemed as if she trusted him once more. But it was no innocent trusting. She had conditions and insisted on keeping them. He prayed she was right about Raeb and the rest of Clan MacKai, but he had his doubts. The best to hope for from Raeb MacKai, if he accepted the invitation, was that he would protect Sorcha.
I’ll then be free to see to the traitors without fear for her life
. Whatever happened when Coillteach and MacBirnum arrived, he’d best prepare to face it with help only from the few men he had faith in. ʼTwas past time he had a long talk with Ranulf, Davey, and Robert. Recently wed, Clarwyn must be chafing at the delay in what they originally thought would be a quick and easy task.
If I had a wife like Juliana Verault, who is nearly the equal of Sorcha, I would nae want to linger far from her arms
.

Sorcha returned, and they each concentrated on composing their letters. Colin struggled to find the right words. How did you apologize to a man for murdering his parents—even if indirectly done—and plead for that man’s aid in the same breath? He mentioned the possible return of the MacKai horses to sweeten the invitation. Letter or no, horses or no, Colin would have to beg Raeb’s forgiveness and help in person.

Then there was Sorcha. All should be finished when that celebration ended, and one way or the other, Sorcha would leave Strathnaver. Colin would have nae reason to keep her here, and since he wanted her happiness nearly as much as he wanted to make Scotland safe, he would bow to her wishes when the time came. If that left him with a stark and lonely future, well, ʼtwould be little different than the past ten years.

With both letters sealed and in his hand, Colin went in search of his friends. He would send Davey—whose grief over Alex’s murder might yet boil over into violence—off to deliver the letters and stay at Dungarob to encourage Raeb to come to Strathnaver.

Colin found the knights in the kitchens. Davey sat frowning into a mug of ale. Robert penned one of his daily letters to his wife. Ranulf flirted with the maids and filled a trencher with any tidbits he could filch when he thought the cook was not looking.

“I see wha’cher doin’, ye big hulkin’ ox.” Cook shook her spoon at Ranulf. “An’ don’t ye maids think he means anythin’ honest by ye. ’E’s th’ sort will lift yer skirts and leave ’em swingin’ in th’ breeze ’e makes as ’e’s leavnin’ ye fer th’ next woman.”

“You’re giving away my secrets, dearlin’.” Ranulf laughed with the cook then swallowed a mouthful of meat and bread.

“I am about to ride out for the first time since my illness and would like your company,” Colin said to his friends. “I promised my nag of a wife I would nae go alone.”

The big man’s brows lifted. “So you let your wife give you orders?”

The chatter of the cook and maids fell silent.

Irritating as it was, Ranulf’s teasing would help create the impression of an argument between earl and countess. “I’m finally getting outside. ʼTis naught to make a promise to a woman if a man gets what he wants. You know that as well as everyone in this room.”

One of the maids snickered.

“Hmpf. I’ll finish my meal and meet you in the stables before you and the others have your horses saddled.”

A short while later Colin and the three men rode through the stronghold gates, headed for the waterfall where the river Naver tumbled into the loch of the same name. When they got there, they let the horses paw for fodder beneath the thin covering of snow and walked toward the shore, where the noise of the falls would guard their words from any possible followers. Colin told his friends of Coillteach and MacBirnum’s pending arrival as well as the plans he’d made with Sorcha for the celebration and the false argument.

Davey shook his head. “Glad I am I’ll nae have to watch you play the straying husband. A lady’s anger is more than any sane man should stand.”

Colin agreed and sent the squire on his way with the letters to Raeb MacKai.

“You have nae really argued with Lady Strathnaver, have you?” Robert asked.

“’Tis an illusion and useful for getting us away from walls with ears, right?” Ranulf queried.

“Aye, but we’ll continue the dispute for a few days, in hope we will snare a traitor or two. The nearer we come to identifying the English spies and finding the missing letters, the greater the danger to Sorcha. I want you and Robert to keep a closer guard on her than you already are. Even were she not helping me to find the traitors at Strathnaver, one of them could seek to harm me through her. Nor are all my clansmen happy with a MacKai as their countess. Her safety is paramount. Had I my way, one of us would be at her side every moment of every day.”

“Do you think she’d allow that?”

Colin pondered the question. “She might if I persuade her that a false flirtation with you or Robert would add fuel to the impression we want to create that we are angry with each other. I willna do so, however, unless I ken she is protected.” He explained in detail the plot to confide in the chamberlain and steward.

“Robert would be the best choice. He’s prettier than me, and I dinna think Lady Sorcha likes me much.”

“’Tis just your overbearing size and manner, but you or Robert matters little. Though I must admit that Robert will be a more comfortable choice for me. I know he loves his wife and it will pain him even to pretend betraying her. Sorcha will be in nae danger of succumbing to his flirtations.” Saint Andrew’s Cross, he prayed he would nae have to see Sorcha with someone else in order to have her happy. Going through that once with his blackguard brother was enough.

“It might be best if you did hand her over to someone else,” Ranulf muttered.

“What makes you say that?” Colin frowned.

The big man studied Colin before nodding.

“I’ve a few observations about Lady Sorcha that I will share with you now. Then, you may do as you think best.”

“Well enough.” Colin nodded.

“Think you she may be in league with those who wish Edward Plantagenet to rule Scotland?”

“Such a thought never crossed my mind. Why do you entertain it?” Colin kept his tone carefully casual. Ranulf already thought him too involved with Sorcha, and showing how deeply the idea of her as a traitor shocked him would only confirm his friend’s mistaken thinking.

“Well,” the big man worried a thumbnail between his teeth, “she married Brice, which, given the rumors I’ve heard, seems an unlikely pairing at best. Also, you told us at the woodcutter’s cottage that you and she went in search of Brice’s clan badge, which she willingly hid for him.”

“She told me it was his dying request. Sorcha takes such things very seriously.” Colin wasna about to tell them she’d been coerced into the marriage by threats to her family. If she deceived with her actions, could she nae lie as well? Saying anything more would only make him appear a greater fool than Ranulf already imagined.

Colin cast a glance at Robert. Did the Englishman think the same as Ranulf? The man’s expression gave no clue.

Ranulf raised a palm. “Hear me out. You didna find the badge that night and have nae found it yet. Correct?”

“Aye.” Colin’s eyelids narrowed. He didna like the direction the conversation was taking, but he’d said he would listen and so he would.

“Yet she’s been to the piney copse at least once since that night.”

“And your point?”

“ʼTwas Davey’s turn, so he followed her that day. He didna go into the copse but watched her enter and leave. He noted that she took great care to elude anyone who might follow her. ʼTis a blessing Davey is good at his work.”

“If Davey didna see her search for the badge, you’ve nae proof she lied when she told me the badge was gone,” protested Colin, nae wanting to believe Ranulf’s implied condemnation.

“Does any proof exist that she didna take it herself? Did you set a watch?”

Nae, his mind shouted the denial. He was the one who refused to set a watch when Sorcha suggested it.

“If she is betraying Scotland, why tell me about the badge in the first place? When I asked her about it, she could simply have denied knowing anything.” As she had denied knowledge of the inheritance ring.

Ranulf shrugged. “Perhaps to gain your trust. Who can know a woman’s mind, especially that of a traitor? But I know this. That badge was in the pine tree hollow when she left.”

“How could you know that?” Colin knew but he needed to hear the words.

“Because Davey went back and searched every tree until he found it.” Ranulf reached into his jerkin, withdrew the badge, and handed it over.

“Robert, do you agree with Ranulf that Sorcha may be a traitor to Scotland?”

The knight shrugged. “I know from experience that little is what it appears to be on the surface, but I dinna know the countess well enough to make a judgment.”

Colin took the feathers and metal, staring at it as if he’d never seen such a thing. His head spun and the roaring in his ears drowned out even the waterfall. Everything Ranulf claimed was possible. The idea that Sorcha was a spy ran contrary to all he knew about her. Yet she’d been placing obstacles in his way since the moment he arrived.

She insisted he keep to their chamber and pretend to recover his health, when he could have been out observing his people and being actively involved in the search for spies. She’d hidden the
dualchas
fainne
. She’d been in the room when he’d ordered Ranulf to send Alex to follow the steward, when the man left the stronghold in secret. Ranulf would never have betrayed his friend, but Sorcha could have sent word to someone and had Alex killed. She’d broken faith with Brice years ago with that kiss. She’d allowed her betrothal to be broken, then reversed that decision. She claimed Brice coerced her, but could he believe her? Brice was more than capable, but the Sorcha Colin knew now was nae frightened weakling. Worse than all those past betrayals, she’d persuaded him to write a letter to Raeb—Clan Marr’s sworn enemy—and invite him into the stronghold with as many warriors as he could muster. He’d been uneasy at the idea of having armed MacKais within the stronghold, but he’d let his trust in Sorcha discount the possible danger. What had she put in her own letter to her brother? Colin had nae bothered to read it. He’d nae even thought to, he trusted Sorcha so much.

Now he had to face the possibility that she hated him greatly enough to betray Scotland in pursuit of revenge. Which was incredibly stupid when he knew doing so would put her in league with the clan that stole the MacKai livelihood, killed her parents, and left her for dead. She would never ally herself with Brice just to betray Colin. Except that he had suggested just such a strategy—appear to befriend their strongest suspects in hope of discovering something that would destroy them.

He sighed. His actions may have triggered the events that led to the broken betrothal and after, but he’d nae committed any of the crimes. He believed her when she claimed she wanted peace between them. If she wanted revenge on him, she would get it without causing pain to others.

Still, hate was a strong motivator, and the badge was nae explained. Perhaps Brice’s man returned it, or perhaps it was a signal only and not meant to be taken. Why was Ranulf so intent on putting Sorcha at fault?

“Colin, are you all right?”

Pushing aside his conflicting thoughts, he shook his head. “Yes, I’m fine. Why do you ask?” He’d thought Ranulf shared his faith in Sorcha. Did his friend really base his questions about her on the missing badge when there was no proof either way that her involvement was other than she claimed?

“You went pale and silent very quickly for quite some time.”

Colin thought fast. He needed time to decide how best to proceed, and he’d nae wish to argue with his friends over Sorcha. “I’ve had a shock. I’d nae believe Sorcha capable of such deep deceit had you nae given me this proof. ʼTis as well, I’ve asked you to watch over her. She will believe ʼtis protection—and ʼtwill be—but you may also watch for more solid proof of her intent toward Scotland.” He handed the badge back to Ranulf. “You had best keep this safe. I’d nae want Sorcha to stumble upon it among my things. The woman has a mad need for neatness and cleanliness.”

Ranulf took the badge and hid it within his jerkin. “I know few women outside of
tabhairns
who dinna share her madness.”

Colin smiled as widely as his whirling thoughts allowed.

“Speaking of women and their madness,” Colin said, “’tis but one of many things I need to discuss with you in addition to guarding Sorcha.”