Page 64 of Once Upon A Haunted Castle
Chapter Two
Castle Knock, Isle of Skye
One Week Later
Alexander MacDonald, secondson to the chieftain, strode into the hall just as his father burst into loud and raucous laughter. Alex had been waiting for his return for weeks and now he had arrived. His matter could wait no longer, but as he watched, his father leaned over and slapped Alex’s older brother on the back.
“Can you imagine it, Connor?” Eoin MacDonald asked, glee filling his voice. “Can you see it?” The others there, elders and the chieftain’s men, laughed.
“I cannot, but I wish I had,” Connor answered. Alex reached the front of the large chamber and nodded to those gathered.
“Oh, Alex, you canna believe the news we just heard,” his father’s face grew red as he laughed once more. “Go on with you, Brodie. Tell Alex what you heard.”
Brodie was a cousin and one usually set to watch over the MacLeod’s comings and goings. From the look of him now, he had ridden and sailed hard and long to reach Sleat from the far west of Skye. Distrust had long reigned between the two powerful clans who each claimed control of huge sections of the isle and the mainland of Scotland as well. Now though, fear filled Alex’s heart and a strange tightness in his stomach began as the man spoke for his own matter involved that clan on the other side of Skye.
“The MacLeod’s daughter defied him in his own hall!” Brodie said. Everyone there laughed again, including his father, but Alex felt no glee at this news. Not when....
“Defied him in what matter?” Alex asked. He hoped his interest was not showing in his tone of voice.
“Does it matter, lad?” one of the elders asked. “No one naysays The MacLeod and lives.”
“He ordered her to marry a man of his choosing and she refused! Stood right in front of him and the rest of them and refused.” Brodie crossed his arms over his massive chest in a mocking action, showing how the girl had done it. “But, Robbie,” he nodded at the elder who’d spoken as Alex’s gut twisted, “the lass yet lives.” Brodie shrugged. “Well, she did when I left there two days ago. Whipped bloody for her refusal, but bowing and scraping now.”
Dear God in Heaven, what had happened? When he had left her, he’d promised to come back and claim her. He just needed to make his case to his own father and gain his support so they could be together. His father had not been at Knock though. Alex discovered that he had been on his own journey and only arrived back this morn. And now, this?
“She’s worth more as a marriage boon than a dead one,” someone else called out.
“A ruthless bastard he may be,” his father said. “But he kens her value. He made his point and she learned it, fear not.”
A few nods and words from all of those present over The MacLeod’s ruthlessness, his iron rule and his understanding of the value of his daughter followed as Alex struggled to keep his tongue behind his teeth.
He needed a plan and he needed it now. As usual, no one noticed as he left his father and the rest while Brodie was finishing his report of the recent activities at Dunvegan and on the MacLeod lands.
Or so he thought.
“What did you do?” Connor asked, coming up behind him and grabbing his shoulder to slow him down. Alex crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged.
“I did nothing.” Connor shook his head as one side of his mouth lifted in a smirk.
“Nothing is it? Someone who does not ken you might believe it, but I ken you, Brother. I’ve been with you when you get on the wrong side of trouble.” Connor’s gaze narrowed. His brother was tenacious when something teased his curiosity. “Then why did you go as pale as Granny’s skin when Brodie talked about the lass?”
Alex considered his options. His brother could not keep anything secret. Connor had never been able to stay silent in his whole life and Alex had been punished many, many times because of his older brother’s loose tongue. Still, he could use an ally in whatever he needed to do to get to Isabel and his brother might be one.
“I ken the MacLeod lass.”
Other than a narrowing of his gaze, Alex could not tell Connor’s reaction to his words. His older sibling was not stupid, so Alex knew he would understand it soon. A swift indrawn breath told Alex the moment Connor had.
“Ken?” Connor’s gaze grew both knowing and intense. “In the biblical sense or in the ‘you passed her in the village and greeted her’ way?” When Alex did not reply right away, Connor shook his head and laughed. “Good Christ! You have a way of walking into piles of shite, do you not, Brother?”
“I must... I have to...,” he began without truly knowing how much to reveal. His brother held up his hand and shook his head.
“First, tell me nothing,” Connor advised. “Then, if Father asks me about your absence or your actions or your plans, I will be able to truthfully answer that I knew not of them. Unless you want him to ken?”
When had his brother realized his failing? Alex could not remember Connor’s acknowledgement of his weakness in the past, but he was glad of it at this moment.
“If you had not left the hall when you did, you would have heard Father order Brodie back to Dunvegan to discover who The MacLeod betroths her to. There has been speculation for some time over which clan he will ally himself with using her hand in marriage.”
“Who does Father think it will be?” Alex asked. He needed to ken who his enemies would be when he claimed Isabel.
