Page 6 of Cottage in the Mist
“I thank you for agreeing to meet with me.” He stood and gave a terse bow, uncertain of the protocol. With his mother dead, there’d been no one to teach him the finer arts at Dunbrae.
“And why wouldn’t I? You’re my husband’s cousin, which makes you my family too.” She motioned for him to take a seat and then sat across from him, her chin resting on her hands as she studied him. “I’m only sorry that it’s me here to greet you and not Iain, for I suspect he’s who you’ve really come to see.”
There was something melodic about her cadence. Different from the voices he heard daily in the Highlands. There were rumors that she’d come from a strange land. And people who even thought she was something more than human. But Iain loved her. And so, for that matter, did Bram’s other cousin, Ranald Macqueen. And since the two men were the closest Bram had come to having siblings, he trusted their judgment.
“I went toTur nan Clach, but they told me that Ranald and Ailis were here.” Ailis Davidson was Ranald’s wife. Although he’d served as Iain’s captain for a brief time, Ranald had inherited his wife’s holding when they’d married.
“And so they were,” Katherine replied. “But Iain was called to Moy and Ranald and Ailis decided to accompany him.” Moy was home to the Chief of Clan Chattan, Iain’s uncle Duncan.
“But you stayed here?”
“I’ve just had a baby.” Her smile grew wider. “And at the moment, neither Anna nor I are up to that kind of a journey.”
“Tis sorry I am then to have intruded.” Bram made to rise. “If they’re no’ here, then I should take my leave.”
“Nonsense,” Katherine said, waving him back into his seat. “Iain would kill me if I let you go.”
Again, her wording seemed a bit strange, but he was too grateful for the welcome to worry over it much.
“So tell me what’s happened,” she said, her expression growing pensive. “We’ve heard about the troubles at Dunbrae. So I’m assuming that you’re here to seek Iain’s help.”
“Aye.” He nodded. “How much do you know?”
“Very little.” She shrugged apologetically. “We’re isolated here and so news is often garbled. Fergus told me this morning that there was some kind of coup.”
He shook his head, not understanding her words.
“Sorry.” She shook her head with a smile. “An uprising. He said there’d been bloodshed.”
“My father,” Bram said, the pain still twisting in his gut. “The intruders killed him.”
“While you were at Dunbrae.”
Katherine St. Claire was more than a pretty face. Bram should have known that Iain would never have fallen in love with a fool. “Aye, and they tried to murder me in my bed.”
“But you managed to escape.”
“With the help of my friend Robby and my father’s man Frazier. If no’ for them, I wouldna be here now.”
“Do you know who it was who did this?” Katherine asked.
“Nay. No’ for certain. But if I had to wager I’d say it was Alec Comyn. There’s no love lost between my father and his. And the bad blood between the clans goes back longer than I can remember. The Comyns and the Macgillivrays are sworn enemies.”
“But I thought a peace had been brokered.”
Bram nodded. His great uncle was the head of the Macgillivray clan, and he had held it with an iron fist, but the old man was beginning to soften with age. “There was an agreement. But clearly the Comyns have no’ honored it.”
“And you think they’re still looking for you?”
“Aye. As long as I live, I’m the rightful heir. And Alec knows I’ll fight for what is mine. But if I’m dead…”
“Won’t your great uncle have something to say about that?” she asked. “Shouldn’t you have gone to him?”
“My great uncle turned his back on my father years ago. I canna expect him to help me now.”
“Well, then you were right to come here,” she said, resolve strengthening her voice. “Ranald and Iain both think of you as their brother. They’ll be only too willing to aid you in regaining what you have lost.”
Bram nodded, thinking of his cousins. He was related to Ranald through his father and Iain through his mother. And because of that, when he’d been sent to foster at Moy, Ranald and Iain, only a couple of years older, had taken him under their wing. They’d been like brothers, dispensing equal parts of advice and mischief.
