Page 23 of Her Scot of Bygones (MacLeod Dragons #2)

–Hazel–

EVERY MOMENT BEING close to Dugal on our ride to Sutherland Castle made me feel filthy. Outside of the obvious, there was something vile about him I couldn’t quite nail down, other than it felt slimy. Fortunately, he kept his word and didn’t touch me inappropriately, but still. He might as well have with the way he inhaled the scent of my hair every so often.

I had lost contact with Lucas once we were on Sutherland lands, and the sensation was horrible. He had become vital to me and my inner beast in little time, making me wonder yet again how I could have ever forgotten him.

So it was a huge relief when I sensed him again.

“Can you hear me?”

I asked tentatively, without looking around to see if Flame was nearby and giving him away. Lucas had told me he was following me with the Viking Sword Turned Evan’s Blade, and it would likely reconnect us without Dugal knowing.

“Aye, lass, I’m here,”

he replied, relief in his internal tone.

“’Tis good to feel ye with me again.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

“Has Dugal done anything untoward or hurt ye in any way?”

“Not so far, but there’s definitely something creepy about him,”

I said.

“I’m so glad Aspen wasn’t meant for him. That would have been awful.”

“I couldn’t agree more,”

Aspen said, surprising me when she was there within my mind as well.

“So hang in there, sis, and know we’re all here for you if he breaks his word.”

“I know you are,”

I replied, because I knew that’s what she needed to hear.

“I didn’t think I’d be able to communicate with you, too.”

Evidently, the Viking blade had only connected Aspen and Broderick last time this happened.

“Chara thinks it’s probably Flame’s magic enhancing as time goes on,”

she replied.

“And likely because your inner dragon is surfacing, connecting you to your fated mate and blood relations first.”

I could only pray I was Lucas’s fated mate.

Aspen went on to tell me Sloan MacLeod and one of the king’s men were already at Sutherland Castle, so there was at least one MacLeod present if things went wrong.

“And dinnae doubt you will have me too,”

Lucas swore.

“I know,”

I assured him because I knew he needed to hear me say I felt protected by him as much as Aspen needed me to know she had my back, even though we both knew Broderick wouldn't let her anywhere near this. I wouldn’t want her to be, either. Not while she carried my precious nephews.

After that, we didn’t talk much, but I felt them right there in my mind, and it helped calm me when Sutherland Castle appeared through the forest. Unlike MacLeod Castle, it had fewer rugged corners and didn’t sit on a cliff overlooking the sea, but relatively close to the water, surrounded by trees.

It helped me cope with all this when I recalled Evan talking about it as a boy. He had loved this castle despite its cruel chieftain, because Dugal’s father was worse than him, ruling with an iron fist rather than kindness. So as much as I feared what lay ahead, I looked forward to seeing more of the castle Evan loved, not to mention finally seeing my sister after so many years. To meet her again, knowing we were related this time.

Unfortunately, as it turned out, that meant meeting her mother-in-law, Elspet, the moment we rode into the courtyard, and she was as creepy as Aspen had warned me she'd be. Her silver hair was pulled back tightly, and her dark, beady eyes gave me chills as she assessed me with both disgust and opportunity as Dugal helped me down from the horse.

“So ye’re the one meant for our traitor.”

Her voice was as tight as her hair when she snagged my wrist with her cold, bony fingers and inspected my tattoo with a predatory gleam.

“’Tis a match to be sure.”

That was all the introduction I was going to get, it seemed, before she spun on her heel and ordered Lilias to see me settled, so we could begin the process.

Process? Not liking the sound of that, I swallowed hard and tried to remain calm as Dugal barked orders for the traitor to be made ready, then strode up the castle stairs after his mother.

“’Twill be alright, Hazel,”

Lilias said so softly I almost didn’t catch it.

She stood a short distance away, timidly, if not obediently, and I didn’t blame her. Both her husband and mother-in-law were terrifying. She, however, was the opposite, with her softly pretty features. Although there was a sadness in her thickly lashed, deep olive-green eyes that hadn’t been there when we were younger, she was as kind as ever when our gazes connected. There was also worry I suspected had everything to do with Evan.

It was clear neither Dugal nor Elspet had figured out we’d met before, so I was careful not to respond like I wanted to and give her a big hug.

“Welcome to Sutherland Castle,”

she said cordially, also acting as if we’d never met while urging me to follow her up the stairs.

“We have a chamber prepared for ye.”

“Thank you,”

I replied just as cordially, despite wanting to ask her so many questions.

Was she okay?

Evan?

What had they done to him?

Had she been the one to drive our father away from the clan years ago?

If so, how and why?

I knew most of the MacLeods, well, except for Aspen, questioned whether Lilias could be trusted or not. Now, having remembered our past together and meeting Lilias again, I agreed with Aspen.

She was on our side and in danger so long as she remained here.

Lilias said nothing else when she led me into a great hall as spacious as MacLeod Castle’s, yet it had a different vibe. Tapestries of nature hung on the walls instead of dragons. I found that interesting because I would have thought they would depict even more ferocious, turbulent, wild images than the MacLeods. Unless, of course, they did it on purpose to seem less threatening. Perhaps a means to make their fellow Scots less wary of them than their rival clan.

Lilias led me up more stairs and down several corridors, quiet even when we were alone, and I sensed she did that on purpose. She proved it too when I caught her eye and she shook her head once ever so subtly, telling me I was right.

We were being watched.

“This is it.”

She ushered me into a simple chamber with a bed, a few wooden furnishings, and one small window overlooking the forest.

“I will show ye where there are more appropriate clothes.”

What was the matter with the ones I wore? They were era-appropriate.

“Yet they’re MacLeod colors,”

Lucas muttered.

I couldn’t help notice that although Lilias had left the door ajar, the trunk she led me to was against a wall that put us just out of sight.

“Here is a new dress and our clan’s plaid.”

When she handed them over, her gaze flickered from the folded clothing to me, making it clear something was tucked inside. Then, she leaned close, her voice dropped to a whisper, and she blinked back tears.

“Evan’s still alive, but they have not made it easy on him.”

She closed her eyes, wiping away a tear before looking at me again.

“Please dinnae let him die, Hazel.”

She squeezed my hand, the pain in her gaze making it clear how much she still loved him.

“Please, sister.”

Before I had a chance to respond, she spoke normally again.

“I will await ye in the hallway. I suggest ye make haste.”

She squeezed my hand one last time and left without saying another word. I assumed so that whoever watched us wouldn’t be suspicious.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,”

I said to Lucas, relieved when I discovered Evan’s blade, now a dagger tucked inside the clothing. It seemed Flame had found his way to Lilias, confirming she could be trusted.

“What does she mean by not letting Evan die? What have they done to him?”

“I think the better question is, what does it have to do with you embracing your dragon for the first time?”

Aspen responded, her concern for me subtle but there, however hard she tried to hide it.

“I agree,”

Lucas added as I wrapped my hand around the hilt of the dagger to set it aside, only to feel Lucas grow closer still, comforting me in a whole new way, and he soon revealed why.

“Thanks to the blade, your inner dragon has allowed mine to see through your eyes,”

he said.

“’Tis telling and verra good news.”

I didn’t need to ask to know what he meant. My dragon letting him in like that meant the chances of us being fated mates were better than ever. It also meant whatever had lain dormant in me for so long was right there beneath the surface now, without a doubt, ready to break free. I could only pray when she did it, it was for the right man.

“’Twill be,”

Lucas assured as I hastily dressed and tried to figure out how to keep the blade with me.

“Dinnae,”

Broderick counseled, yet again a good sign my dragon was close, allowing more MacLeods the ability to speak to me.

“’Twill only cause more harm than good if ‘tis discovered, and have no doubt, Elspet will discover it.”

Trusting him, I tucked it back in the chest and joined Lilias, who directed me to follow her down several more hallways and up seemingly endless stairs. Strangely, things became more familiar with every step, which made no sense because I’d never been here before.

“But I have,”

Aspen said, her internal voice a little off and with good reason, when I felt her growing distress.

“What is it, Aspen?”

I tried not to panic because I had a feeling her dragon was trying to warn my dragon that going this way was dangerous.

“Where is Lilias taking me, because I thought the tallest battlement was forbidden?”

“’Tis,”

Lucas growled, his distress through the roof.

“I’m coming, lass.”

Somehow, I kept putting one foot in front of the other despite how terrified I was. Aspen’s inner dragon was right because when Lilias opened the door, I found myself on the same battlement my sister had been on.

My eyes locked on a tall, broad-shouldered man who didn’t need to be wearing their colors for me to know he was a MacLeod. His chiseled features and handsome looks gave it away. With thick, dark brown hair, a beard, pale sage green eyes, and a furrowed brow hinting at distrust of the situation, he could only be Sloan.

His gaze lingered on me for a moment before he homed in on Elspet and Dugal.

“Ye best explain why ye’ve brought the lass up here when ye assured the king after ye tossed my laird’s wife off the battlements, risking her life, that ye wouldnae risk another’s.”

“And I willnae, as I would never go against the king’s wishes,”

Elspet assured a little too smoothly. Her dark, cunning gaze slid my way.

“’Twill be entirely up to her if that happens.”

Well, what the hell did she mean by that?

Terrifying enough, I soon found out.