“So ye are saying Isobel Campbell is like a kitten?” Cameron asked.
“All women are like kittens,” Rory Mac repeated.
Graham’s mind, however, was already turning to more important matters. He took a deep breath before speaking. “I spoke a partial truth to Isobel,” he said, wanting to enlighten his men to what Cameron and Rory Mac already knew. The time had come for them to understand the entire plan that the king, his brother Iain, and the rest of the council had set in motion.
“What do ye mean that ye spoke a partial truth?” asked one of the men.
“The king did approve of us destroying Innis Chonnell Castle, but he’ll nae openly say so. David kens that he has nae yet uncovered the identities of all the nobles who wish to see him toppled because he dunnae submit to their wishes. If he openly fights against the Campbells, the king kens those who are plotting with them will become even more careful and he may not learn who they are until it is too late to keep his throne. But he dunnae wish to deny us our vengeance and make enemies of our clan.”
“He offers us vengeance but he will nae publicly support us,” Cameron spat, voicing the same vexation he had shown when the plan had been created.
“Aye,” Graham agreed in a hushed tone. He understood his brother’s anger because he’d felt the same until Iain had spoken to him privately and Iain reminded Graham that it behooved them just as much as it did the king to learn the king’s enemies, as they were the MacLeod’s enemies as well. Graham set a hand on Cameron’s shoulder. He glanced at each of his men as he spoke. “We will appear to have defied the king for destroying the castle and taking Isobel Campbell.”
Cameron scrambled to his feet. “How do we ken vengeance will remain ours? Dunnae ye get the feeling the king will do what he must to get what he wants? What if he demands we give back what we have taken in the name of vengeance? Will we do so, or will we defy our king?”
Graham scrubbed a hand over his face. “He’ll nae do such a thing. He has given us his vow.”
“Oh, aye,” Cameron growled. “But since King David’s return from captivity, we have all seen that he gives and takes away at his will and his will alone.”
Graham’s patience was growing thin. “Nae a thing in life is certain, Brother, except for the truth that we MacLeods will defend one another.” He thought briefly of how he had striven to create problems between Lachlan and Bridgette when his anger and jealousy were still so great toward Lachlan; he’d wanted to strike at him by taking Bridgette from him. Yet for all his crimes against his brother, Lachlan had still protected him. His throat tightened with remorse and regret, and he had to swallow hard to speak. “As for our king, we must trust in him until he gives us a reason nae to.”
“Does that satisfy ye?” Rory Mac asked, his eyes flashing in the moonlight. “Perchance Isobel Campbell will wish to marry ye, and then our vengeance will be sealed. Ye do have a pretty face. Could be that she’s so grateful to ye for saving her from Jamie that she’ll be begging ye to make her yers,” he teased.
An image of Isobel laid out on his plaid, asking him to make her his, flashed in his mind, and heated his blood. The woman was a temptress, and she did not even know it. “’Tis more likely,” he said lazily, “that Isobel would put a dagger in my back than take me for husband.”
“Ye speak the truth now, Brother,” Cameron said with a laugh. “Though ye claim she is innocent, she idolizes her father. And I say with that blind adoration, she’s doubtless plotting our deaths at this moment.”
Graham could not help but glance again to where Isobel was lying. It was more likely she was planning how to escape. He could not imagine that gentle creature planning anyone’s death. His brother’s dislike of Isobel was even more obvious than before, and Graham feared would create animosity between them as he sought to aid her with the king.
Still, now was not the time to sit and worry over that which could not be changed presently. Instead, Graham quickly dismissed the men and told them to rest. They would take shifts to stand guard, and he, Cameron, and Rory Mac had the first shift.
Once the others had departed, Graham, wishing to be certain he was not somehow unwittingly allowing desire to cloud his judgment, asked Rory Mac, “Do ye dislike Isobel as much as Cameron does?”
Rory Mac cleared his throat. “I dunnae trust her, but only because I believe she’ll try to escape and I ken we need her. I dunnae believe she’d deliberately mean to do us harm, though.”
Graham nodded. He didn’t believe she would do anything deliberate, either. It was the accidental harm she might do that concerned him.
He looked to see where his men were resting and, thus, where they needed to stand guard. He smiled at the sight that greeted him. His men had formed a circle around Isobel and Marsaili, though he knew they held no love for either woman.
“Ye have taught them well,” Rory Mac commented.
Graham shook his head. “Nay. Lachlan had their training in the beginning. He taught them.”
Rory Mac chuckled. “’Tis good to see ye properly modest, Graham. God’s truth, it is. There was a time I was certain yer boastfulness would explode yer head.”
Graham scowled, but since it was likely true, he did not protest.
Rory Mac rocked on his heels, a grin on his face. Graham would take the good-natured ribbing from Rory Mac but only because they were lifelong friends. “’Tis amusing, is it nae,” Rory Mac said, “that ye’re modest now that ye have actually become such a fierce warrior and commanding leader, but when ye were a scrap of a man all filled with piss and anger, ye were nae modest?”
“’Tis verra amusing,” Graham retorted, wishing he could change his past but knowing well he could not.
“Why do ye think ye are modest now?” Rory Mac prodded, and his tone told Graham he was truly wondering.
Graham thought about his friend’s question for a moment. “When Bridgette was taken by the Campbells and Lachlan turned to me for help and showed me complete forgiveness for trying to keep her from him, I kenned in that moment I was nae the man I wanted to be. I was a shadow of a man, longing to be someone I was nae, when what I needed to do was to find out who I was inside. I hope I found humility, honor, and above all, fealty to my family because that is the sort of man I wish to be.”
“Ye are that sort of man,” Rory Mac said as Cameron stood silent. With the scowl on his face, he was obviously still stewing from their disagreement.
Graham shifted, uncomfortable with the praise, whichwastruly amusing. There had been a time he longed to hear such praise, a time when he desperately needed it. But now he was more certain of himself and he no longer sought it. “Let us spread out and take watch. I’ve an uneasy feeling.”
