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“Moreover, Laird O’Donnely truly believes that me faither was so dimwitted that he would send mercenaries to kidnap Aiden with a missive that clearly mentioned our name. If we wished to kill him, we would have done it cleanly and in a way where nae one finds out. Moreover, me faither’s stamp had gone missing just a few days prior to the kidnapping, but Laird O’Donnely refused to believe our word when we told him this.”

“Oh me,” Astrid whispered, her faith in the MacKie clan getting stronger.

She already knew the entire kidnapping of Aiden just did not sit right, and now, with Flynn’s reasoning, she was almost certain that it was not done by the MacKies. Although, if not them, who could have done it, and why? A million questions rose in her head, but she ignored them all, knowing that this was not the right time to be thinking about them.

“I wish I could sit with me faither and make him understand, but ye and I both ken it would be a fruitless effort.” She smiled sadly at him, and he smiled back.

“I dinnae care any longer, Astrid,” he whispered before moving towards her and taking her hand in his. “Will ye tell me what ye believe?”

“About me brother’s kidnapping?”

“Yes.”

“I dinnae think yer clan did it. I still wish to find out what happened and how it happened, but I cannae see ye or the people of the MacKie clan participating in such a heinous affair.”

Flynn was taken aback by her reply, and a genuine smile grazed his lips. “Ye have truly come to believe our innocence?”

“To some extent, aye. I always believed in it a little, but now that I have gotten to ken ye and the family and have heard about the tales of the past decade, I think ye didnae do it.”

Flynn raised her hand to his lips and placed a small kiss on her knuckles. The merest brush of his lips against her skin was enough to send shivers down her spine. Her entire body tingled at the touch.

“Are ye certain?”

“I am, Flynn,” she whispered softly, her heart warming towards the handsome man standing in front of her.

She knew she had vowed to stay away, but something about him always drew her in. She did not know what it was, but she just could not resist.

“That is all that matters to me, Astrid. Yer faith.”

“Ye will always have that.”

She did not know what it was that compelled her to be this loyal towards a man she wasn’t really betrothed to, but she could no longer shy away from her feelings towards him. It was true she had not liked him when she had first found out who he was. But now that she truly knew him inside out, she could no longer resist or deny his good heart.

She could no longer believe that this man, who was both just and kind, would ever commit such a huge crime against a whole clan. Flynn was simply not cut for it, and Astrid would do anything in her power to make sure that one day the entire O’Donnely clan knew of it.

CHAPTER13

“Where didye disappear off to last night?” Keira asked Astrid as they lounged comfortably in the parlor while the early morning sun filtered in.

One thing Astrid was truly ecstatic about was reuniting with her sister. Nothing and no one in the MacKie castle could ever fill in for Keira, and Astrid had missed having her around.

“I needed to talk to Flynn about something,” Astrid replied honestly, knowing there were no secrets between her and her sister.

“About what?”

Astrid waited for a few seconds before replying, wondering how Keira would respond to the revelation. “I wished to apologize to him.”

Keira raised an eyebrow and sat up straighter. “Whatever for?”

“For what Faither did.”

Astrid knew her sister had never been a supporter of Flynn or the MacKie clan, and she could not blame her, since the two of them had grown up knowing that this was the clan that was responsible for Aiden’s disappearance. Astrid had begun to think differently only because she had come to know Flynn and the MacKies personally, but Keira did not have such a privilege.

“Ye did the right thing,” Keira replied, surprising Astrid. “Faither was rather rude to Flynn, when he was nothing but polite.”

“Precisely!” Astrid exclaimed, glad that Keira agreed with her. “I needed to make sure Flynn didnae feel bad about Faither.”

“What did he say?” Keira asked curiously.