Page 74 of Fragile Oath

“One might think you weren’t happy to see me, Uncle Camdyn,” she said lightly.

“Not your usual level of subtlety,” he responded, sinking into a chair and gesturing for us to do the same.

A flash of white-and-gray fur wobbled down Avani’s back before sliding into her pocket. Albert clearly had feelings about being visible in this room, or by the imposing head of the MacBay family.

“I suppose my subtlety is stolen nearly as easily as my crown these days,” my cousin responded.

“Is that what you think I want?” He met her gaze, his own hardening in response.

She raised her eyebrows in a challenge. “It’s what your actions would imply.”

He shook his head. “There may be an Assembly, but we all know the future of Lochlann lives and dies on your family.”

Apparently not, if it was so precarious, but I didn’t interject.

“And that’s such a bad thing?” Avani asked.

He let out another long-suffering sigh. “It wasn’t, when I thought you were all getting settled. But now…”

“Now my husband is dead,” she said flatly. “And you, like the rest of our people, don’t think I can rule without him.”

“I think that your family has priorities that are not in order.” His tone was gentler now. “Mac would have made a good king, but we both know that isn’t why you chose him. You haven’t left your castle in how long, but you came now, not to see your people, but because your cousin needed you? Rowan married only under threat of a war she nearly started, and the twins refuse to even consider arrangements that would benefit our people.”

Avani clenched her teeth, looking away before she responded. “This isn’t about all of us, though. It’s supposed to be about Davin. Was his engagement not enough for you?”

Gracie shifted, and MacBay shot me a knowing look.

“You can lie to the people, and you can lie to the Assembly, but we both know that engagement was nothing but a ruse from the moment you stepped foot in this kingdom. The other lairds might pay arse-all attention to Socair, but I know damned good and well what a mess you left there.”

“Which was taken care of,” I told him.Mostly.

“Of course it was,” he said with a trace of condescension. “Because you had your cousin to cover for you. Which is exactly my point.” His tone turned more sincere, his fists clenching around the velvet armrests. “You keep playing games and you keep just barely winning, and one day, you won’t. That is not a gamble I’m willing to take when our people’s future is at stake.”

Avani shook her head, a muscle working in her jaw. “Just because we act out of love doesn’t mean we wouldn’t do anything for our people.”

“The problem, my dear, is when it becomes a choice between the two. That’s not a choice I trust you to make.” He pursed his lips regretfully. “Not then, and not now.”

“So you’ll let Davin pay for something you know he didn’t do, just to prove a point to the monarchy?” She let out a disbelieving huff of air. “Do you honestly think a coup is better?”

MacBay ran a hand over his face, his calloused fingers smoothing out his short beard. “I don’t know what he did, actually. What I know is that there are holes in his story and that once again, your family is bending over backward to protect their own rather than consider the bigger picture. Believe what you want, but I have no desire for the crown. I only want to see the family who wears it acknowledging the sacrifices required.”

She held his gaze for a long moment, the air fraught with his disappointment and her betrayal.

“And what of your story, Laird MacBay?” Whatever familiarity had been in her tone was gone now, replaced with the unyielding timbre of the future queen MacBay didn’t think her capable of becoming. “Where were you that night?”

He reared back like she had slapped him.

She only tilted her head. “If we would do anything for our family, and you would do anything for the people, then I’m not convinced that you wouldn’t make a sacrifice for the greater good.”

He swallowed hard, something indecipherable hiding in his narrowed gaze. “I have always been a man of honor.”

“Then answer the question,” I said, meeting his eyes.

MacBay glanced between the three of us before sighing.

“I was here, along with Gracie, in these suites until I went to sleep.”

If I hadn’t been paying such close attention, and if I hadn’t become intimately familiar with the nuances of Gracie’s expressions, perhaps I would have missed it – the minute, dissatisfied pursing of her lips, the blink that was just a fraction of a second too long – all things that told me MacBay was lying about where he was that night.

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