Page 47 of The Queen and the Half-blood
Lara frowned. His slippery responses were starting to vex her. “Aye.”
He reached up, his fingers rubbing the lean line of his jaw—something he did when thinking.
Her wariness grew to misgiving. By the Gods, whom was she binding herself to? She hadn’t even been born for most of his time alive. He cloaked himself in layers of secrecy, and she wondered if she’d ever find her way through them to discover the real man beneath it all.
“I killed the king’s brother.”
Lara stiffened. “King Beorn’s brother?” Beorn was the previous overking of Baldeen, who’d fallen alongside her father outside Cannich.
“No, Col mac Darach was overking then. As I said, it was a while ago … I must have been your age at the time.”
“And why did you kill him?”
His iron-grey eyes hardened. “Revenge.”
“For what?”
“A few years earlier, King Col charged his younger brother Evin with keeping peace in the villages of Dorne Forest,” Alar answered, his attention shifting west, in the direction of Baldeen and its territories. “Like your father, Evin had no love for the Shee or anything faerie. He discovered that a Half-blood lad lived among the locals and turned them against me.” He paused then, his profile almost harsh. “I was around ten at the time … and my mother had just died. They chased me from our bothy and hunted me like a dog through the woods. Evin caught me though and strung me up on a tall pine before leaving me to slowly choke to death.”
Lara’s breathing grew shallow. “But you lived.”
He cut her a veiled look before one hand lifted to the scar upon his throat. “I did … but that’s another story.” He paused then, absently stroking the raised silver line. “Fifteen yearspassed, but I never forgot Evin mac Darach. And when I was ready, I hunted him as he’d once done me and hanged him from a tall pine.”
His words were uttered matter-of-factly. Nevertheless, Lara suppressed a shiver. She deliberately looked away, focusing on the glowing half-moon.
“Does my tale appease you?” Alar asked, a challenge in his voice now.
She nodded, even as her gut tightened. Moments passed before she finally spoke. “There has been another development since I saw you last.”
“Aye?”
She turned to face him, her arms still folded protectively across her chest. “I’ve sent an envoy of counsellors to seek out the chieftain of the Circines.”
He stiffened. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”
“I wanted some privacy.”
“That didn’t stop you from waving that agreement in my face in full view of your hall.”
Heat flushed over Lara. Aye, she’d vexed him. “That was necessary,” she answered crisply. “Besides, you already agreed to sign it.”
His gaze narrowed. “And why have you sent an envoy into The Goatfells?”
“My father made the hill tribes of The Uplands his enemies … but I will change things,” she replied, relieved they weren’t going to argue about the document he’d just signed. “Anything Mor has offered the Circines, I will better. They should have met with them by now. When we march north to take back Strath, the Circines will hopefully rally at our side.”
Silence followed her words. Eventually, he broke it. “You should have discussed this with me in Doure.”
Irritation spiked through her. She didn’t answer to him. “My chief-counsellor didn’t bring up the idea until we’d left.”
His brows drew together, his mood darkening once more. “If you’d told me what you were planning, I’d have warned you that Beathan mac Glen, the chieftain of the Circines, hates you and everything you stand for. Your father captured, tortured, and killed his brother … that’s why he allied himself with the Shee.”
“But I’m not my father,” she replied, her belly clenching. “My envoy will make that clear.”
“Well, I hope you sent your best to speak on your behalf … and that you’ve offered them something that’ll make Beathan see you in a different light.”
Lara scowled. “Of course. In return for their loyalty, they will live without my interference. No longer will we draft hill-tribe warriors into our armies. The Goatfell Mountains will be their domain … there will be no taxes, no laws, but their own.”
Alar barked a humorless laugh. “And you think that’ll be enough?”
