Page 29 of Rebellion's Fire

Eua scowled at her, “Not Henry. Adam mac Malcolm.”

It brought Christian up short. Since Eua hadn’t mentioned him until now, Christian had reassured herself that she hadn’t been seen with Adam MacHeth. She’d used the unexpected encounter to learn what she could about his plans and her own past, but somehow in those discoveries and their improper parting, she’d lost sight of his reason for being there in the first place.

She couldn’t help the frown that flickered across her brow. “I don’t actually know. It was I who wished to speak to him. Why? Do you consider him dangerous?”

“The MacAeds are all dangerous. They’re good lords, but everything takes second place to their family’s position.”

“I never met a lord for whom that wasn’t true.” All the same, she understood that the MacHeths took such ambition to the extreme. They’d plunged the whole of Scotland and the Isles into war—three times—because they thought they had the right to be Kings of Scots and wanted to be. “I know he imagines he’s using me, giving us Tirebeck.”

Eua glanced at her quickly and away. “Perhaps. We’re all being used.”

Eua had brought the subject up. Perhaps Christian stood too much on her dignity. “Doeshe have second sight?” she asked.

Eua shrugged. “So they say.Henever has, or not to me.”

“You know him well?”

Eua shook her head. “No one does.” She took a deep breath. “But don’t be fooled, lady. His manner might be…odd, but he’s sharper than all of them. It’s not really Donald who rules Ross, it’s Adam. Even while he was in Argyll with his uncle.”

Christian’s frown deepened. The conversation had gone beyond wary gossip. “In what way?”

Eua shrugged with impatience. “In the way of everything. Administering the land, justice, tribute, raising the men for war.Fightingthe war, for all I know.”

“Interesting,” Christian murmured. The man had already confessed to wearing a mask in war. A mask of ferocity. Was his…peculiaritya mask, too? To lull people into false security, to hide the sharpness of his mind? Did that give him the edge over all the other warlords in Scotland? And yet, he was so young, younger than she’d first thought when he’d been covered in beard and dirt and blood. Cleaned and tidied up, he’d revealed himself as no more, surely, than twenty-three or twenty-four years old. How long could he have been wearing this mask?

She looked at Eua. “You’re saying we’re not safe at Tirebeck.”

“You know that,” Eua said. “The Lord de Lanson didn’t come to be safe, did he?”

“Eventually,” Christian said, determinedly. But until then, they’d all pay the price. She could only try to ensure it didn’t rise too high.

*

When Christian enteredthe hall after finally arriving home, she found her husband and Henry drinking wine. A cask perched on the table.

“You know, this isn’t bad,” William said, swirling the wine in his cup and taking another sip. “It isn’t bad at all.”

“I like it,” Henry said. He cast a smile and a bow in Christian’s direction. “It seems the merchant who gave you the wine to taste yesterday has made you the gift of a cask.”

“A whole cask?” Christian said, frowning. “There must be a mistake.”

“His message was clear,” William said. “A gift to the Lady de Lanson of Tirebeck. Of course, he’s hoping for a large order out of his generosity. Damn it, I might just give him one, too, once things are in order here. Didn’t expect such decent wine so far out in the wilderness.” Ironically, he raised his cup in a silent toast to her. “Felicitations, Christian. You’ve done something right.”

Christian made him an exaggerated bow, which he ignored, and she carried on toward the table of cold dishes set out for the late homecoming. But her stomach churned because she was sure the wine hadn’t been given by the merchant. The gift was Adam MacHeth’s.

Chapter Nine

“While the villagersbuild a church,he’s built a bloody great castle,” Cailean said in disgust, staring through the trees and the relentless rain which had been pouring down for hours.

Beside him, Adam MacHeth didn’t seem impressed or even terribly surprised. “He’s built a little wooden tower.”

Cailean snorted. “Good enough to control nearly all the land around him and to observe any attack from the sea.”

Adam nodded. “Wood burns,” he said.

“I thought of that,” Cailean said ruefully, “but it’s very close to the hall. Eua’s children live in there.”

Adam turned his head and looked at him. It might have been approval or impatience. “Wind,” he said.

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