“Aye.”
“Had anyone else? My da?”
“Nay. He never saw you. He only saw the deceased bairn. He was said to go off in the forest for hours and howl, so devastated he was from losing his mate and son. He dearly loved her.”
Coinneach stared at the waterfall. Everything in his life had been a lie. Though he didn’t fault his parents. Once he had been abandoned, he could have died, but they had saved his life. More than that, they had made him part of the family as if Elspeth had birthed him herself.
He ran his hands through his hair. “Who was the midwife?”
“If you’re going to work at the castle?—”
“I am. And I’ll protect you and your mother.”
Aisling’s eyes widened, and her tense posture relaxed.
“I wouldna let anyone harm either of you.”
“But you are at risk also.”
“If I know what I’m up against, I can fight it.”
“She’s very powerful.” Aisling was wringing her hands, looking fearful.
The only one he could think of that would be powerful enough to cause him trouble was the chief’s wife. But he couldn’t imagine she had been a midwife before that.
“No’ Morag,” he ventured.
“Aye.” When Aisling’s words finally faltered, she let out a breath that sounded like surrender. She looked at him, eyes shining, mouth trembling, and for a moment, he thought she might vanish—turn to mist, to memory, to myth. But then she reached for him, pulling his head into her lap, cradling him with a gentleness that undid him completely.
He waited, his face pressed to the warmth of her thigh, until she spoke again.
“I didna know about it.”
He took hold of Aisling’s cold hands, pulled them around him, and wrapped his arms around her. “This has naught to do with you. I dinna blame your mother for what she had done. I’m grateful that she didna kill me like Morag had ordered. You can tell her so.”
“But dinna you see that Morag will want my mother dead, me too, if she suspects my mother told me about you, and she canna allow your da to know you are alive. But there is more. Rupert isna Hamish’s son. Which is even more of a reason why Morag doesna want Hamish to learn you are his firstborn and only son.”
“So Rupert isna my half brother.”
“Nay. What will we do?”
Coinneach rubbed her back reassuringly, not wanting her to worry about it. “I willna discuss this with my parents. They are my mother and da as far as I’m concerned, and Tamhas is my twin brother.”
“What about your birthmark?” Aisling ran her hand over it in a loving caress.
“I willna remove my shirt when I’m at the castle.”
She still didn’t look reassured.
“If only your mother, you, and I knew about it, it would be no problem.”
“Did you talk to your parents about working for Drustan?”
“Nay, no’ yet. I wanted to see what danger lay before us at the castle first.” He smiled at her, trying to reassure her that he wasn’t serious in the least. But he had wanted to meet with her first and learn what her mother had to say. “Come with me, and I’ll tell them about working at the castle.”
“Do you think it will be easier if I’m with you when you do it?”
No, but he wanted to spend more time with her, and if she was free, he wanted to take her with him. “Aye, of course.”
