Page 27 of The Iron Highlander
“Nae, before ye were attacked. When ye met my sister.”
Reuben put a hand to his chin, processing the thought. The memory of the kiss came back, and a smile tugged at his lips for a moment. He shook his head and turned to Lily, “I saw her out in the woods, she was shooting the arrow. Apparently, she didnae need any help for anything, and yet my maither had said that she did.”
Lily shook her head, “Then what happened?”
Reuben raised an eyebrow, “Did she say something?”
“Nae, she’s upset,” Lily replied, getting closer to him and folding her arms across her chest.
“At me?” Reuben asked, running a hand through his hair. It hurt, as it was the same arm which Hilda had just wound up.
“Well, that’s what I’m trying to find out, but ye keep ignoring the questions, and asking me even more questions. So what happened after then?”
“Well, we got into a bit of a disagreement…” Reuben began, recalling how close their faces were at that moment. He smiled as it told him what he had been hoping. She wanted him, just as much as he wanted her. But she was just too stubborn to admit it. She could not make that peace with herself. The feeling of her nose touching his own, and the softness of her lips. Reuben bit his lip, and suddenly realized that Lily was still waiting for an answer. “Oh, and then we talked it through, and everything was fine. Right until we were attacked.”
“Alright, thank ye,” Lady Grear replied from the balcony beside the room. She walked in with a knowing smile on her face, winking at Lily.
“I didnae know ye were there,” said Reuben, a little startled.
“Aye, I was just making sure ye were okay. Since ye are, I would suggest ye get to bed, rest now, take an early night. For ye wound to heal, ye body needs rest. I’ll have someone send down some food for ye to eat.”
“I think I can manage,” Reuben began to object, but he saw the look on his mother’s face, and he agreed, walking away. He walked by Freya and Willow who acted as though they were justarriving at the room, and had not been standing there the entire time.
They waited until he had walked away, and they heard the sound of the door to his chambers shut before they walked in, seeing Grear and Lily in the infirmary. The woman walked back and forth deep in thought as she tried to make sense of things as well. She had watched everything, overheard the argument which Kate had with her sisters, and had seen her son’s response to Lily’s questions.
“Our plan didnae work?” Freya asked Grear, with hope in her voice.
“Nae, I think it did. My son, he was distracted while answering yer questions, and he had a good look on his face. I’m sure something positive happened while they were away. It has to be what the Laird recalls. He kept out some detail from what he said to ye, I’m sure of it.”
Freya and her sisters smiled; Willow even let out a low whoop. But then she paused, “So why is Kate so upset?”
“I daenae know, Willow, and I wish I did.”
An idea went through Lily’s head, and she turned to Lady Grear, making eye contact with her. “Does the McDonald family have anything to do with the death of our parents?”
“Lily!” Freya scolded, trying to shut her down immediately, but Grear held up a hand, stopping her.
“I think she has a right to know. Ye all do. Yer parents were killed during the raid, this was fourteen years ago. I heard about it, and I wasnae here, I was out in the battlefield with my son and his faither. He was just a little boy, but he was learning the ropes.”
Intrigued, Freya stopped herself from holding back her tongue. “What battle?”
“We were away fighting off the Jacobites at the time. My son had nothing to do with the death of yer parents. Neither did my husband, nor myself. There were no connections, whatsoever. I give ye my word, and I promise ye that wherever ye got the idea that we had a hand in their death, they are liars, and only hope to create a rift between us.”
The girls nodded. They would believe her, they had to. Grear was not the kind of woman to lie, but Kate had grown up believing this her entire life, and changing the belief would take a lot more work. Freya sat on the chair which Reuben had left, turning to the night sky outside.
“Kate still wants us to leave by the morning. We have to do something if we are going to go ahead with our plan.”
“We need more time,” said Grear.
“But we just have till morning, it would take magic to pull off something like that.” Willow added.
“Not magic,” Lily sat up quickly, a grin spreading across her face as a plan came to mind. “Not magic at all.”
Chapter 14
Kate wokethe next morning with a start. She had spent the night in a chair by the balcony, wrapping a blanket around herself. She had been crying, feeling sad through the night. By morning, she had steeled her resolve. Kate was going to leave the McDonald estate, and she would take her sisters with her. She could not leave them behind, the only reason she was leaving, was because she wanted to take care of them.
She got to her feet and stretched, heading back into the house. Kate passed a few servants who were moving around, carrying out their morning duties. She spotted Hudson who had a pint in his hand. Raising an eyebrow, she tried to make sense of how the man was almost always drinking. It was crazy. He turned to look at her and smiled, raisin the pint in greeting. Kate smiled back and turned away, heading down the corridor back to the room which she had been provided with.
